Behind the Scenes: Isometric Animation
by Alina Khan · BlenderNationExplore how Kate, a self-taught artist from Poland, uses various techniques to create a visually mesmerizing animation.
INTRODUCTION
Hello! My name is Kate, and I am a 3D visualiser living in Cracow, Poland.
My journey with 3D started, as it did for many of you, thanks to videogames! I love games! One of the first games I played on my first PC was “The Sims.” I just fell in love with the part where you can build and furnish your own house.
That is how I started learning 3D software on my own and trying to do things like game assets. Examples of my first attempts can still be found on my DeviantArt—I was a self-taught 3D artist at that point. To improve my skills in modeling and lighting, I started on architecture renderings. Not long after CG Cookie and Blender Guru announced a contest for the best architectural rendering created in Blender, I took my chances and placed 2nd with my entry :)
This way, I got free access to Andrew's amazing Architecture Academy course. It helped me to improve my skills on the fly. And then came the kids. I needed a job that allowed me to take care of my kids and work whenever I had time for it. That is how I got into architectural renderings for over 9 years.
Now having three sons who are old enough to let their mum take care of her career, I am trying to come back to the 3D industry and shift my focus from strictly architecture (although I really love it!) to animation and game art.
And that is why I have attempted to create this animation.
INSPIRATION
The idea actually came from the internet. I saw that isometric visualizations were very popular lately, so I searched for some inspiration to create my own. That’s how I found Mr ViscousRealms, who absolutely owns it! The artwork that inspired me can be found here.
I did my first attempt at creating animation like he did. But I didn't feel satisfied. Mainly because I wasn’t keen on interior design, and—oh boy—I am into interior design!
PROCESS
I decided to improve my animation by adding some extra content. Not only in terms of more animations, I wanted to show off some of the stuff I’m good at. So I decided I will show how changing an architectural style can totally change the perception of the room.
I have chosen 4 different styles:
- Green boho
- Retro
- Classic
- Glamour
In my animation, these styles are very overdone. Normally, you probably see these styles in a very subtle form.
References
I started with references:
Green boho and retro:
Classic and Glamour:
Planning
Having the styles sorted out, I needed to plan an interior so that in every style, I would have the same types of furniture in the same place (sofa in the same place, wardrobe in the same place, etc).
Animation Techniques
Then I had to find a way to do all those fancy animation effects that ViscousRealm introduced in his animation.
I studied his work very carefully to see what kinds of animations he used.
Some techniques were already known to me. Some I had to learn from scratch. The one that took the longest time to learn was animation based on nodes. And I didn’t do it with geometry nodes but rather animation nodes.
To learn the stuff I needed, I used a tutorial series made by Zach Hixson:
I just can't overstate how awesome this series is. If you are looking for a high-quality tutorial, then I highly suggest you look at Zachs work.
Animation nodes helped me create the effect of placing the floorboards by simply influencing them with a control object. This is the cool result I got using animation nodes:
NOTE: The yellow cubes on the second animation were made by simply keyframing the rotation, scale, and position.
Animation
Most techniques I used can be seen here:
The lower floor panel dropped down from the top of the screen.
It had location and scale keyframes to give the impression of it growing up as it fell. I have also added a SIMPLE DEFORM modifier set up with a BEND value swinging between -250 -> -200 -> -250 -> 20 -> 40 -> -20 -> -30 -> -23 -> 0. This way, I have achieved a bounce effect.
The upper floor panel had its size keyframed from (0,0,0) to (1,1,1) and followed a simple curve. In the result, it grows progressively as it moves along the curve. This is the kind of animation I used the most.
The walls had their size keyframed from (0,0,0) to (0,1,0) and then to (1,1,1). This way, they were invisible in one keyframe and in the next one they popped up as a long, flat object that grew and unbent. For the bending, I used a SIMPLE DEFORM modifier with a BEND value keyframed from 360 to 0.
The windows and doors just followed a curve.
The holes for windows and doors were made by cubes that had their size keyframed from (0,1,0) to (0,1,1) and finally to (1,1,1). They were used as BOOLEAN objects. The BOOLEAN modifier was added to the walls.
The animations I mentioned are very easy to master. Using them in a creative way makes the animation look interesting, and that’s what I was aiming for. Most of them are just the same techniques, but some of them turned out much cooler than the others. Here are the examples:
Books following a curve. They have their scale keyframes from (0,0,0) to (1,1,1), so they almost come from nowhere at the beginning of their way along the curve to the point where they reach their full size at the end of the curve. The result is messy at the beginning, which is what I wanted to achieve.
Moving objects along a curve was also used in unrolling carpet—the trick was to make the curve and the rug move in a way that it looks like the rug stays in place. I found this kind of animation very tricky but also gave really cool results.
Here you can see a different approach to creating an unrolling carpet, using bones:
4) I have also used shape keys. In this example, the result is very similar to using BOOLEAN objects, but the results are much more predictable and the UVs can be defined by hand
At this point, it was just a matter of combining various types of animations so the result gave the impression of “creative chaos” forming into neatly furnished and stylized rooms.
RENDER: Isometric Animation
I have defined a timeframe for the room to get furnished, rotate, and then unfurnish. It was the same timeframe for every style.
Green boho architectural style:
Retro architectural style:
Classic architectural style:
Glamour architectural style:
Thank you for reading!
About the Artist Katarzyna Zajac aka Zajeczyca is a freelance 3D artist from Cracow, Poland, currently working as a visualiser and interior designer in various Polish companies.