Exploring 3D animation, motion graphics and projection mapping through self-directed learning.
Inspired by VJ culture, live festival visuals and immersive projection mapping.
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Bringing digital visuals into physical space
The Visual Design & Front-End Development Minor is a 30 ECTS programme built around self-directed learning. Rather than following a fixed curriculum, students define their own focus, set individual learning objectives, and determine their own deliverables across a series of five-week sprints.
This open structure gave me the opportunity to shape the minor around the areas of visual design I wanted to develop further. I chose to focus mainly on 3D animation, motion graphics, and projection mapping, while also exploring front-end development.
Through experimentation and learning by doing, I gradually developed my skills using Blender, After Effects, and Resolume. What interested me most was exploring how digital visuals could move beyond the screen and become part of physical spaces, which eventually led me towards projection mapping and live visual experiences.
The first sprint focused on building a foundation in both After Effects and Blender.
In After Effects, I experimented with psychedelic motion graphics, exploring color, rhythm, looping animations, and visual intensity.
In parallel, I started learning Blender from scratch, focusing on basic 3D concepts such as modeling, lighting, materials, and simple animation.
In the second sprint, I went deeper into Blender, increasing the complexity of my 3D animations and experimenting with more organic forms.
At the same time, I started learning Resolume, a software widely used for projection mapping and VJ performances.
The goal of this sprint was to understand how digital animations behave when projected onto real-world surfaces, using a beamer and a physical projection setup.
A selection of 3D animation experiments created during the minor.
This minor gave me the opportunity to explore areas of design that I had wanted to learn for a long time, particularly 3D design and animation. I started with very little experience in Blender, so a large part of the process involved taking courses, following tutorials, experimenting, and learning through trial and error. Seeing how much I was able to create as my skills developed made this one of the most rewarding parts of the minor.
I also finally had the opportunity to explore VJing and projection mapping, something that had fascinated me for years through my interest in live visuals and festival environments. Learning how to create visuals and bring them into a physical space through projection was one of my favorite parts of the experience, and it is an area I definitely want to continue exploring beyond this project.
Another important learning was becoming comfortable moving between different tools and workflows. I often found myself using several programs to create a single outcome, combining 3D, animation, graphic design and projection rather than treating them as separate disciplines. This made me more confident experimenting with unfamiliar tools and showed me how much I enjoy working at the intersection of different forms of digital and visual design.