HAPPY VALENTAINS!
For Valentine’s Day this year, we created VALENTAINS, an internal yearly concept project exploring different generative AI takes on the occasion. This very first VALENTAINS 2026 we explored how generative AI can generate material libraries and turn them into motion and symbolism. On top of that, we added some generated audio and music to add emotions.
An Open Source AI Material & Motion (and Sound) Exploration
The idea was simple. Start with a clean 3D heart. Apply different materials. Make it beat. Then let the surface break, melt, crumble, burn or shatter until a warm red heart is revealed underneath.
Each heart began as a structured 3D base form. We then generated our own material library using Open Source AI models, including asphalt, concrete, marble, stone, leather, ceramic, soil, ice, and paper canvas to mention a few. Using image editing workflows, these textures were applied precisely to the same heart geometry, creating twelve identical forms with completely different surface identities.
From there, we animated ten of them using first-frame and last-frame logic with an Open Source AI video model. Cracks follow the heartbeat. Materials respond to motion. Hard surfaces give way.
The result is a symbolic sequence where rigid materials reveal something softer beneath. You could interpret it as resilience, vulnerability, or simply that love breaks through.
The entire project was built using Open Source AI models, structured inside ComfyUI pipelines, and executed on EU-based servers.
If you are curious to see how the materials move, break, and transform, and to explore the technical breakdown behind the workflow:
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