XMAS—MMXXII

— PROJECT DESCRIPTION

By the end of 2022, I've developed, animated, and composited a dynamic sequence for Christmas Day at Storz & Escherich.

— CERTIFIED CLASSICS

The "find shortest path" algorithm is used to automatically connect snowflake statues and the neon source. The same algorithm allows me to easily drive neon "circulatory" animations.

— GENERATIVE AF

Here are the main elements used in my scene. Every prop is created procedurally in SideFX Houdini to maintain proper art-directability and fast adjustments.

— RELIABLE CONNECTION

The "floor wires setup" is driven by vellum simulation to avoid tangling and geometry penetrations. Mattias Wolf from Storz & Escherich helped me to connect static pre-simulated wires with the corresponding snowflakes.

— INSTANCE IT!

I use instancing quite intensively to strategically fill up the environment with generated props, simultaneously keeping scene efficiency as high as possible. The main challenge of this project was to place secondary instanced objects on top of already instanced props. Such as hanging icicles and platform crystals.

— CONTROL FLOW STATEMENT

One complex logic inside the for-each loop is used to create multiple versions of the snowflakes, their platforms, and accurately placed neon tubes. As well as, changes inside the "loop" affects each outputted prop.

— CHERRY ON TOP

In the compositing stage of production, besides the overall shot balance, I want to emphasize the illusion of how neon light breaks through the wet camera lens.