With work ranging from animated short films to interactive digital experiences and large-scale event projection mapping, CraveFX prides itself on its use of cutting-edge software and technology to meet and exceed creative challenges.

We've been drawn to the CraveFX projects on Instagram in recent months, especially “Moirai – Thread of Life”. Could you help us understand how you came to choose INSYDIUM Fused products for this project?

 
‘Moirai - Thread of Life’, directed by Ina Conradi & Mark Chavez, is an animated short film that revolves around Southeast Asian Fabrics as our primary interest, drawing inspiration from the fabric material and construct to artistically reinterpret quantum theories and phenomena through the character - Moirai - the Greek mythology Goddess of faith and destiny who controls the metaphorical thread of life.

Due to the experimental nature of the project, we looked into creative ways that we can work with CG particles, threads and cloth from the early stage of the project. The aim was to be able to create unique visuals for the abstract portion of the film where the main protagonist is pulled into another dimension in which her ‘self’ entwines and connects with the larger fabric of the universe.

That was when we came across X-Particles and the INSYDIUM Fused suite. It fulfilled the range of simulations that we needed (particles, trails, cloth, fumes, advection and weaving action etc). The tools, integrated well into Cinema4D, support the Redshift renderer which we are using at the studio, and most importantly, we loved how artist friendly the INSYDIUM tools are.

It allowed our guys to get a quick head start, to focus and spend their time on artistic explorations and simply just having fun with the tools to see what they can get out of them. It almost felt like we were going through the same process of exploration and discovery as the main protagonist as we worked on the film.

It also helped that there were an abundance of tutorials online that we could learn and get inspiration from. Big shout-out to the INSYDIUM YouTube learning channel and Bob for all the awesome tutorials!

Can you tell us more about the team that worked on it?

The animation production team consist of around 8 people who had their hand in the 'Moirai' project, among which are 3D generalists, animators, illustrators and not forgetting project managers. All of them are very talented individuals who are extremely passionate in their craft. The team worked well together and their effort was validated when they won the award at SIGGRAPH Asia 2023.

Congratulations on the awards that “Moirai – Thread of Life” received – do you have any plans to follow up the storyline? We'd like to know what happens next!

Moirai is third in a series of short films we've collaborated with Ina Conradi on, although not set in stone, it is likely we will embark on the next collaborative project this or next year. We hope to similarly harness tools from INSYDIUM to help achieve our vision.

What is your favorite type of simulation to work on?

We love working on abstract simulations, no matter whether is it particles, cloth, fluid or fumes. It allows us to create rich and out of this world visuals that is not possible to re-create in real life, and challenges us to think of creative ways to make use of the available tools to push the aesthetics further. Sometimes we get happy accidents and the result is a surprise for us too!

Can you tell us, from the INSYDIUM Fused collection, what is your favorite tool to use?

Definitely X-Particles. Not only is it versatile to have a use case for most projects, its comprehensiveness allows for top notch visuals when in the right hands. Flow field and spline flow would be our go-to tools. Simply the ability to art direct the animation using splines makes it very valuable and helps to elevate it above the native Cinema 4D toolset. The ability to customize the emitter shape as well is already also something you can’t achieve natively.

The recursion tool is fun to use and helpful in adding a higher level of detail, but is limited with the computation demands. A simple request would be for shatter to have "noise surface" and "keep original surface" options like the native Voronoi, to allow for detailed cracks without deforming the mesh surface.

Are we allowed to know what you are currently working on? Anything exciting that we should keep an eye out for?

We have some really exciting stuff coming up in the interactive space.

The current state of the creative community in Singapore sounds very exciting, how is it changing from your point of view?

In general, the creative community in Singapore is characterised by its dynamism, inclusivity, and willingness to experiment. As technology evolves and social consciousness grows, we can expect the community to continue pushing boundaries and making its mark on the global art scene.

Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us. Before you go, please could you give us one piece of advice for an aspiring motion designer.

Embrace AI as a tool to learn faster and push boundaries. Also, use social media as a platform to create your own personal brand.
Using AI for the initial stages of preproduction is great in getting a wider variation of options and styles. Being able to have iterations with different color palettes or mood lighting allows for possibilities that might have been overlooked.

From a purely learning perspective, AI definitely has an edge over traditional search engines by being able to accommodate to specific contexts and question structures, while present results might be hit or miss, the possibilities of the future is a personal tutor that can respond instantly to your questions.

For more information about CraveFX and their work, please visit www.cravefx.com.