The Backrooms
Inspiration
I’m not well-versed on the origin and development of the Backrooms concept, but I’ve certainly been taken in by the vibe and the aesthetic.
I was introduced to the work of Kane Pixels and later discovered the work of Onion Wave, and I was pretty hooked. Their work inspired me to progress with environment design and the use of camera movement, in order to produce my own animation in this style.
With such a vibrant mix of existing art in this space, it was difficult to find a way to contribute and still add something individual. Fortunately, with a growing inventory of assets in the pot, I was able to get started with a short sequence that still appealed to my nostalgic nature. If you know me, there’ll be no surprises there.
Technical Exploration
To further stretch my technical abilities and get out of my comfort zone, I used this project as an opportunity to learn more about Geometry Nodes. I mainly used Geometry Nodes for duplication of assets along curves, but the most noteworthy use in this scene was turning on the lights in a randomised sequence. I love how that turned out.
I haven’t used an animated person in my projects before either, and this became a really important element in the scene. The character’s walk gave life to the camera movement, and his physical form provided an opportunity for casting realistic shadows in the scene that would otherwise be missing if only a camera was used.
