Eccentric, Mesmerizing, Unique, Weird, Bizarre, Oddly Satisfying: 3D Animation loops by Andreas will make you crazy.
Andreas Wannerstedt is a Stockholm based artist and art director who crafts unique 3D sculptures and mesmerizing looping animations.
The visual outputs of Andreas are both sophisticated and whimsical, featuring simple and playful geometric shapes in balanced compositions, together with organic textures and harmonizing color palettes. His perfectly synchronized animations are often been described as “oddly satisfying”, since the overall effect evokes a strangely hypnotizing feeling which makes the viewer relaxed and even meditative. Although his animations are vaguely based on real world behaviours, they often break the boundaries of tolerances, friction and gravity, enabling endless motions of the cleanest order.
During the last 12 years he’s been doing commissioned work for recognizable brands such as Google, Adidas, IKEA, Coca-Cola, Spotify, Absolut Vodka, Red Bull, Squarespace etc. His animations have fascinated millions of viewers around the world and his work has been highlighted on Behance Network, Designboom, Stash Magazine, Fubiz, Vimeo Staff-Pick, 9GAG, UNILAD, VT, Huffington Post, Business Insider, LAD Bible, FWA, Designcollector, and Mindsparkle Mag among others.
Check out more about his out of the box creativity of 3D Animation loop videos.
Hi Andreas, undoubtedly you are a ‘CG Magician’. How it occurred to you to create such extraordinary niche?
I have been working with design and 3D animation for over 12 years now, and always try to polish and further develop my personal style. My imagery is a product of all the puzzle pieces I collected during the journey, and now I have the technical knowledge to realize the ideas that I envision.
The fact that I’m currently focusing on shorter loops depends heavily on social platforms like Instagram, where this is very suitable.
The biggest question – how you visualize such concepts of out of the box creativity?
The concepts come to me naturally, I often get inspired when I see an object or movement in the real world, and I can quickly visualize the concept and get a clear picture in my mind of how it will look, and how it should be created in the 3D software.
Please share the journey of your creative wonders, from initial though process to final output.
My process starts almost always in my sketchbook, where I quickly outline a few different ideas and approaches. Then, sometime a small R&D round is required to see if I’m capable of actually creating these animations in a way that holds high enough quality technically. During the execution itself, it is not entirely unusual that it ends with something completely different from what I initially visualized. When the animation feels ok, I continue with the textures and lighting, and after the render I add some quick color corrections.
Are you self learned creative artist or you took some official training?
I studied Digital Media at a school called Hyper Island here in Sweden, but it focused more on group dynamics and project management, so I would say that I’m self-taught in 3D and design.
I started with 2D animations back in 1999, when Flash intros where popular on websites, and then I started to focus on 3D animations around 2007. I’ve picked up my skills by doing a lot of personal projects, each focusing on different techniques and specific areas such as modelling, lighting, texturing, render optimization etc.
How much mathematics, physics, and programming you use for each of your creation?
Actually not much at all, just basic math to bring together different movement patterns into a seamless loop. I rarely use dynamic simulations, but prefer to animate everything by hand, thus gaining full control of the animation. Although I try to stick to real world physics, I often have to cheat a bit and break the boundaries of tolerances, friction and gravity.
Your each output is visually rich with lush green scenery, vibrant textures, smooth animation, Hollywood movie level rendering and many more. How you mange it all?
It’s all about the details. As a one-man-army, I have to spend a lot of time in all the different stages of a scene to make sure everything feels right. Concept, design, modelling, animation, lighting, texturing, rendering etc.
Although it takes a lot of time, it is a great advantage to master all areas.
Which softwares you majorly use? Do you use your own scripts or other third party plugins?
I use Cinema 4D for all of my 3D work, and Arnold (C4DtoA) as render engine. I do all of my post production work in After Effects, or Photoshop for still images.
Please explain in brief regarding your client projects like Google, Coke, Adidas, IKEA and others.
I have worked with hundreds of different projects over the past 12 years, so it’s hard to choose a specific project. Before I started to focus on 3D, I worked with a lot of 2D animation, web design and branding etc. A lot of my commercial work for big brands are commissioned by different agencies around the world.
Have you made any physical installations?
No, but I often think of this and hope to realize it soon.
Your each project is mind blowing. But ‘Oddly Satisfying’ is just the best in the league. How you came up with these ‘weird’ executions?
Since we are surrounded by so much chaos in our everyday lives and media, I wanted to create animations that were the direct opposite to this, and it all began with a simple animation where different moving objects just avoided each other.
Ideas for my different “Oddly Satisfying” concepts usually just come to me when I sit and try different shapes in my 3D software. There is something satisfying with several different parts moving in harmony with each other and I am fascinated by the almost hypnotic effect that this can result in.
Check out the entire series:
How you mastered the art of making seamless loop?
Well technically, it’s not so advanced. All animations are based on motion patterns, and these patterns can be planned together with some basic math and some testing.
Can you share glimpse of upcoming amazing future projects?
I will continue with my personal loops, and I also have some exhibits coming up here in Europe. Then I have an ongoing collaboration with Google, so there will certainly be some more interesting projects with them as well.
Out of digital life, what and how is Andreas?
Apart from my digital life, I’m a real family man, and I spend most of my time with my two little daughters. I try to balance all the time in front of the computer with exercise, and also spend a lot of time renovating my house.
In other words, I am a fairly ordinary Swedish man.
Kudos to exceptional out of the box creativity of Andreas Wannerstedt. We look forward for more and more astonishing animation loops.