This is a short animation I made between, I think, April and July 2024. I wanted to do a realistic late
medieval or renaissance styled setting to try and nail a particular atmosphere and aesthetic of rough wood
and plaster and stone, with a very tactile, hand-made feel. I was originally planning on doing this in a
day-time setting, and sort of regret switching it to a night-time, firelit one. I still used the sunlit
version for the artwork and music video for The Ashbrooke Hermit Living In Retreat EP. The
fireplace should have had more work done on it, but I'm generally happy with how realistic this turned
out. Obviously the camera animation is janky too.
1 / 14
The video thumbnail shot.
2 / 14
I did the book placement and randomisation with geometry nodes. There's some repetition, but all of the
book titles are real alchemical texts.
3 / 14
Was pretty happy with this table design and the floor texture.
4 / 14
Wish I'd put more time into the stonework on the fireplace.
5 / 14
The candlesticks are re-used from my first proper Blender project, 'Grimoire'.
6 / 14
The alchemist character was made with the MB-Lab add-on that comes bundled with Blender. His costume is
a bit shit.
7 / 14
I modelled the chair (and the gold-stitch pattern) and am pretty happy with how it turned out, although
there are some shading issues caused by dodgy topology. This was before I learned about the
weighted-normals trick for clearing up those problems.
8 / 14
The chandelier looks a bit dink in close-up. The chains were a bit of a faff to make.
9 / 14
I like the lighting in this shot. Shame again about the fireplace.
10 / 14
I love the texture of that jug! And the inkwell... hell, even the fireplace stonework looks alright
here...
11 / 14
Can't really take any credit for the wood textures as I'm pretty sure I just copied them from a Youtube
tutorial.
12 / 14
I'm not too happy with how that calcinator turned out, but partly that's cos I have only a very vague
idea of what one is.
13 / 14
I'm quite chuffed with the glassware in this. The alembic looks pretty cool I think.
14 / 14
The text in the book is again a real alchemical manuscript. I maybe should have done more variations of
the scrolls.
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