Client
Personal Project
Services
3D Design, Modeling & Texturing, Photorealistic Rendering, Narrative Environment
Concept & Inspiration
“Lost Artifacts” was born from the idea of creating an abstract mechanism where pure geometry — cones, discs, and spheres — becomes the material for a hypnotic dance. The inspiration draws from studies in minimalism and kinetic art, with a nod to the precision of clockwork machinery and the reflective surfaces of high-tech objects.
Technical Analysis
Procedural Modeling
- Discs and cones are generated using Geometry Nodes with input parameters for thickness, radius, and subdivisions.
- Spheres are instanced for better performance and evenly distributed along the perimeter.
Striped Patterns
- The striped shader is built in Blender’s Shader Editor: a mix of object-space coordinates and a gradient ramp to control stripe frequency and orientation.
Shading & Materials
- Principled BSDF with metallic = 1 and variable roughness for sharp but not overly specular reflections.
- Globe shader: Glass BSDF with IOR = 1.45 and slight chromatic dispersion for a prismatic effect.
Animation & Rig
- Driver node on rotation angle linked to the current frame (#frame / 2) for a full spin every 120 frames.
- Opposite rotations (positive and negative) emphasize dynamic contrast.
Lighting & Rendering
- Two softbox-style white area lights at 45° along the X and Y axes.
- Rendered in Cycles with OptiX denoise, balancing 256 samples with render times under 5 minutes per frame.
Visual Description
- Form & Rhythm: A pair of concentric horizontal discs connected by a central double cone rotate in opposite directions on a shared axis. The animation highlights symmetry and the continuous inversion of planes.
- Striped Motif: Procedural black-and-white bands — created with shaders or UV projection — generate moiré illusions and enhance the sense of motion.
- Materials & Reflections: Glossy metallic surfaces and small transparent globes floating around the structure add glints of light, reflecting and distorting the striped motif.
- Environment: A pitch-black background isolates the structure in a “theatrical void,” focusing attention entirely on the motion.
Challenges Faced
- Shadow Noise Control
Darker areas under the crowns required balancing acceptable render times with visual clarity. A tuned combination of sampling and denoising preserved organic detail without grain. - Leaf Translucency
To simulate realism, I experimented with thin shaders allowing uneven light transmission, recreating the subtle glow typical of dewy leaves.
Key Skills
- Geometry Nodes & Procedural Modeling
- Shader Programming (pattern generation, glass & metallic materials)
- Rotational Kinematics (drivers, keyframe-free animation)
- Minimalist Lighting (softbox and contrast-based setup)
- Render Optimization (denoising and instancing)
