J.C. Petrofsky | Portfolio

Demo Reel

Synesthesia: A 3D Music Visualization Project

For my senior project, I wanted to create something that represents me by combining the aspects of motion design I enjoy most: beautiful 3D lighting, procedural workflows, and music synchronization. My inspiration came from Animusic, a series of early 2000s computer animations featuring unique instruments that visually play the music you hear.

One of the challenges I faced was creating the music itself. Unlike my usual electronic music compositions, I couldn't rely on fancy sound design tricks. Every instrument had to be physically represented in the 3D scene, which turned the process into a compositional exercise focused on creating good music with the specific instruments I had chosen.

To model the instruments, I used Blender's Geometry Nodes. This non-destructive modeling approach allowed me to easily modify all the keys simultaneously and add consistent differences in length as the pitch increased. Additionally, I could reuse the Geometry Nodes setups for different instruments, such as the vibraphone and xylophone sharing a single setup. All the animation driven by the cubes is also animated inside Geometry Nodes, enabling deformations like cymbal wobble.

To convert my music notes into animation data, I used the MIDIAnimator Blender addon (https://github.com/jamesa08/MIDIAnimator). However, the addon has some limitations: it's not entirely stable, only supports note-on events, and doesn't work well with fast notes in long animations. To overcome these issues, I applied basic linear motion to the position of a row of cubes and used the cubes' positions to drive the internal animation curves in the Geometry Nodes trees.

The Fern

These are the shots I contributed to in the CoMotion 2024 title sequence. These shots, designed by Haze Nguyen, aim to recreate the look and feel of a researcher's pen drawing. Unlike the other glamorous 3D shots with realistic lighting, the challenge for the fern and the DNA was to maintain the aesthetic of a pen drawing while avoiding any uncanny CG elements in the shader and animation.

First Geometry Nodes Tests / Process

This project provided the perfect opportunity to delve into Blender's new Geometry Nodes system. By utilizing Geometry Nodes, I was able to create a procedural and parameterized fern, allowing for quick iteration and easy art direction. Additionally, Geometry Nodes enabled me to pass attributes, such as custom normals, to the pen shader, further enhancing the hand-drawn appearance.

Stylized Shader

Using Blender 4.0's new Repeat Zone feature, I developed a custom curve generator to create a curling stem for the fern. By looping the leaf creation process along the stem, I was able to animate each leaf individually, unlike instances. This approach allowed for greater control and flexibility in the animation process.

To further enhance the fern's structure, I reused the curve generator for the leaf branches and sub-branches. The sub-branches were then lofted into a mesh to form the leaves, resulting in a more realistic and detailed representation of the fern's foliage.

One of the main challenges was ensuring that the fern looked like a 2D drawing and seamlessly fit with the other 2D and fake 2D elements animated by Lauren Neu. To achieve this, I created a custom shader that instanced a line texture 128 times at random offsets. By carefully tuning the shading and utilizing custom normals passed from Geometry Nodes, I was able to mask each offset, creating the illusion of a hand-drawn fern.

JBL Sculpture Series

To infuse my artistic identity into the designs, I focused on incorporating my signature style of creative and elegant light usage. Each speaker features internal lights that pulse in sync with the music, as well as a light strip nestled within the metal frame.

I created three home speaker designs that seamlessly blend elegance and functionality as home decor pieces. Each speaker is crafted from a basic 3D form and named after a Greek letter that resembles its shape: Gamma, Theta, and Delta. A golden metal frame encases the fabric-wrapped center, adding a touch of sophistication.

Recognizing the importance of showcasing both the visual and auditory aspects of the speakers in an advertisement, I composed the accompanying music myself using Logic Pro to capture the exact mood I envisioned.

The entire 3D process, including modeling, texturing, animation, and lighting, was carried out from scratch in Blender. Each shot features a carefully arranged set of lamps to ensure precise light reflection and highlighting.

At the beginning of this project, I was exploring color science by developing my own tonemapper—a function that forms the image from linear light values by compressing the dynamic range. Throughout the project, I gained a deeper understanding of these concepts, enabling me to achieve a more natural and polished result.

Finally, I assembled the shots and incorporated text using After Effects, presenting the "Sculpture Series" speakers as a cohesive collection.