Creating a Mandelbulb
The main aim that I had when thinking of what I wanted to create in blender for this exhibition was something that successfully mimicked the structural appearance of a virus and something that could be animated between different formations and positions to create an illusion of growth and change. The method that I settled on in the end was through the use of Mandlebulb fractals as, once set up, I would be able to alter their mathematical parameters to create an evolving animation and their infinitely scaling formations were certainly reminiscent of the Covid-19 virus diagrams and 3D models that have been plastered all across the news. However, in order to do this I would first need to convert a series of complex mathematical equations into node sequences and groups to mimic the computational process that would be undertaken if you were to try and solve this equation. Given my limited understanding of GCSE math I found this to be extremely challenging; however, after a long stint of trial and error and a lot of failed attempts and crashed files I was presented with a useable node group that visualised itself as a complete volumetric with only a few minor glitches and errors left to be resolved.
Alternative Angles and Colour Implementation
To accompany the video outcome, I also rendered out a series of alternate, close-up shots to be interspersed amongst the final video to highlight key areas of the work and the points that underwent the most change throughout the duration of the simulation.
After the Mandlebulb had been formed I still needed to add colour to it to more accurately respond to the medical diagrams seen on the news and internet to represent the Covid-19 virus. I was able to achieve this by pairing a Color Ramp node to each string of the original mathematical formula. This was essential to the creation of the layered effect that provides the image with a sense of volume and depth. By having more saturated colours connected to the densest volumetrics at the core of the simulated formation and lighter colours connected to the areas of lower density. After making a few alterations to the blending of the colours as volumetric density changed I was happy with the result and allowed the outcome to bake into the render which allows me to view the result in real-time within blender without me needing to export the keyframes and edit together a full-resolution final cut.
After Effects Overlays for Exhibition
The intention I had for the exhibited video was to create a narrative-led piece set in the 1970s-1980s which presented my work within the context of the research I had done into viruses and biological structures. I created the dated projection effect by layering together filters and creating a LUT profile in Adobe After Effects which allowed me to import any footage through it and layer the effect over the top of it. I then set out to create a rolling shutter esque projector transition which I accomplished by locking the imported images to an empty adjustment layer that would shift them in and out of frame in quick succession to create an illusion of an analogue transition.