Paper Sound Machine

Art Direction · 3D Design · Animation · Simulation · Sound Design

A personal project exploring the idea of a fictional sound machine — designed, modeled and animated from scratch as an exercise in product visualization, motion and sound. The project became an opportunity to experiment with hard-surface modeling, Houdini simulations and sound design within a single piece.

STYLEFRAMES

PROCESS

I started the project as a challenge to create a motion piece where sound and image would be equally important. The idea quickly evolved into a fictional mechanical instrument: a small machine that prints music onto a continuous sheet of paper, gradually becoming more chaotic as the film progresses.

I began with a clean hard-surface model, keeping the mechanism simple enough to feel believable while still leaving room for exaggerated movement and animation.

I then designed a visual language for the paper itself, creating a set of symbols that could behave like a fictional musical notation. Some of them reference the project title, while others were designed purely around rhythm and shape.

From there, I explored camera angles, materials and lighting through a series of keyframes, gradually defining the visual language of the final film.

For the final animation, I used Houdini to simulate the paper as it moves, folds and accumulates around the machine, before bringing everything back into Blender for lighting, rendering and final animation.