Mostly made using adaptive subdivision and vector displacement. I like the initial frames and the shockwave distorting the IOR of the air near the ground. The denoiser adds imperfections that ironically make it more realistic and detailed.
This is my 2nd iteration at this effect, and the project is NOT inspired in the Oppenheimer movie, the footage and effects I'm trying to imitate predate the film.
Some things that could be improved:
Spikes should rapidly grow from zero instead of appearing from the start.
Spikes should start deforming more as the ball becomes sufficiently large.
Spikes should follow the support cables & structure (as they currently are it looks cooler but they're not realistic).
Spikes should have a certain dynamic wavyness in the direction normal to the ball. I couldn't figure out the maths for this.
Improve ground effects (requires too much resolution / proper smoke simulation)
