Lucas Zanotto is an animator, director and designer from Italy, based in Helsinki. Zanotto’s 3D and kinetic sculptural loops, posted through his Instagram, consist of the short movement of simple shapes that cleverly bring characters to life. In their simplicity, and their character-fullness, that they’re so mesmerising and powerful: they speak to the importance of playfulness and the big impact that the simplest design – when done right – can have.
This week I have tried to recreate one of his works using maya.
I first modeled each item I would use: the face/ball that would rotate on itself, the cylinders that the ball would roll onto and the features of the face as well.
I after animated each component: the ball would only be animated on the Y axes and the cylinder on the z axes making the ball moving onward, which is just an illusion. The goal was to create simple animation that look elaborate.
I after set up the lights to render after the scene and assigned different surfaces to the assets recreating the aesthetic of Luca Zanotto.
Playblast video:
I after rendered the animation and imported it into after effects and composited it with a sound that I have downloaded from Freesound when the ball rolls.
Final Animation: