Echoes in the Deep

This latest piece started from a isolated test, and grew into its final form rather unintentionally. This piece is mainly done in Houdini, rendered in Karma, composited in Nuke, and edited in DaVinci Resolve.

This piece may also have the most number of experimental components to date.

A few of these are:

The Main "Bubble"

This object used a distance evaluation on a pre-existing point cloud. This was the initial test I set out to do. Using the distance value I realised I could inversely affect the sizes of the blobs that form the main bubble. When the centre point moves around, the distances change, and so do the blob sizes.

Expansion and Contraction controlled by an Animated Ramp

Using a ramp to semi-parametrically control expansion and contraction that happens in repetition. The expansion and contractions both use the same curve, and they affect a single distance ramp. Even when I am keeping the repetitions quite consistent, there is potential to introduce some variation in each repetition.

I also use the same value to drive the emission count of the secondary bubbles that emits from the main bubble, only when the bubble contracts.

Faux/Fake Custom Spotlight

These moving illuminated areas may look like the result of pointing 3 spotlights at the geometry in the scene, but there are no lights in the scene. There are pm;y 3 moving points that act as the positions of the fake lights. From these points I run VEX code through the points of the curved grid, and determine the distance from the light and how much it needs to be illuminated.

This was the actual set up for the lightning. Coupled with some noise and seemingly random flashes, the lightning flashes were created.

Lightning Flashes Affect Bubbles and Floating Particles

Using the false illumination above, I had to find a way to make the main bubble, secondary bubbles and floating idle particles react to the lightning flashes. In the end I thought up a straightforward way "distill" the entire background's brightness into just 1 value, and use that value to as a multiplier to the lightning flash. It is not accurate, but for this piece it was enough to give each object a link to the flashing lightning.

Sound Effects

Using a few sound effects like bubbles, underwater movement sounds and some human heart pulsing sounds, I was a ble to create a soundscape for the piece.

Credits go to the sound effects artists at Pixabay for selflessly contributing their time, resources and expertise to aid millions of artists in creating their art in turn.

Music

I managed to create a music track for the visuals in a shorter span of time than I usually do. This piece is minimalistic because with the existing underwater sound effects, there would be limited space for the music to fit in without overpowering everything else. I also wanted to create a sense of floating, serenity and space. The beating heart also created a slow and steady pace for the piece. So in the end the track ended up to be about 72 bpm,

I made sure the music balances well with the existing sound effects and released the edit.

For the music track I intend to release it as a single track on its own. I am wondering if I should add more parts and interest to it before mastering and releasing. On the other hand, less is more.

In either case I will give myself some time to think about it before I decide whether to continue to develop it or not.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy watching the piece and reading about the processes that went into it.

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