After modelling a Coca Cola bottle for another project (Nostalgic Scenes), I thought I’d expand on this prop by creating a mecha-inspired bottle opener animation. The mechanism isn’t based on anything in particular, but was really the result of designing my way through a problem. I’d started the process with the movement of the bottle opener lever, and had to work backwards from that; creating a mechanism that rotated around an awkward pivot point and also moved linearly forwards and backwards, towards and away from the bottle.

The sound design involved capturing a number of sounds from a variety of objects and tools around the house and garage (power drill, tape measure, bottle, metal grill) using a Zoom H4n recorder. I concentrated on each element of the animation to best emulate the materials used and the type of impacts seen. Acting out the movement of these objects to fit with the animation is always pretty fun.