Feburary 27 - April 14, 2025
Mixed Media Animation - 3D Animation, 2D Animation, Video, Still Images （ 00 : 10 : 11 ）
This experimental animation follows the poetic journey of a jellyfish swimming through an imperfect world—one built from discarded 3D models and half-finished environments. It begins in a realm of wireframes, drifts through a blank, untextured 3D space, and ultimately arrives at a vivid, fully rendered digital world.
The jellyfish serves as a guide through the evolving stages of 3D animation. Nearly every asset in this piece—backgrounds, models, fragments—comes from my own creative archive. Many of these models were originally considered “failures” or unused drafts throughout my animation studies. Yet here, they find a second life, woven together to tell a story about growth, process, and artistic redemption.
Though the models may be technically imperfect, they are deeply meaningful to me. They represent every step of my journey in learning, exploring, and experimenting in 3D art. This piece is not just an ode to the jellyfish I love, but also a celebration of the “scraps”—those forgotten files sitting in hidden folders—finally given a stage to shine.
The wireframe animation segment embodies my exploration of the raw beauty found in the most fundamental elements of 3D modeling—points, lines, and planes.
These delicate mesh structures are not just technical foundations; they represent the very origin of my creative vision. From this minimalist geometry, the richly textured 3D world begins to emerge. More than visual scaffolding, these wireframes symbolize my early fascination with form and structure—before texture, color, or realism ever entered the frame.
In many ways, this part of the animation reflects my own journey—from a curious student discovering the possibilities of digital space, to a creator embracing imperfection as a meaningful part of the process.
These delicate mesh structures are not just technical foundations; they represent the very origin of my creative vision. From this minimalist geometry, the richly textured 3D world begins to emerge. More than visual scaffolding, these wireframes symbolize my early fascination with form and structure—before texture, color, or realism ever entered the frame.
In many ways, this part of the animation reflects my own journey—from a curious student discovering the possibilities of digital space, to a creator embracing imperfection as a meaningful part of the process.
The untextured white model animation segment features a collaboration with my earlier, imperfect character models.
In this chapter, these characters are all reaching for the jellyfish, their movements filled with urgency and tension. This pacing reflects the emotional residue of my countless failed attempts at character rigging and character animation during my early learning stages. For a time, these figures felt like nightmares haunting me.
As my project files grew in complexity, Maya began to crash under the weight of it all. But I came to understand that this collapse was a necessary part of the journey. Each crash, each failure, became part of the process—and I no longer feared starting over.
In this chapter, these characters are all reaching for the jellyfish, their movements filled with urgency and tension. This pacing reflects the emotional residue of my countless failed attempts at character rigging and character animation during my early learning stages. For a time, these figures felt like nightmares haunting me.
As my project files grew in complexity, Maya began to crash under the weight of it all. But I came to understand that this collapse was a necessary part of the journey. Each crash, each failure, became part of the process—and I no longer feared starting over.
I captured and recorded parts of Maya’s rendering viewport to illustrate how the jellyfish gradually transformed from an untextured white model into a fully colored form.
I’ve always found joy in watching those blue placeholders slowly being replaced—square by square—with textures and materials. There was something mesmerizing about the process, as if the world was being painted into existence right before my eyes. I still vividly remember the thrill of seeing my very first model rendered in full color—an unforgettable moment that made all the hours of trial and error worthwhile.
In the final chapter, the jellyfish enters a fully rendered world—but this is not the end of the journey.
For me, no artwork is ever truly finished; each one continues to grow, evolve, and unfold over time. My fascination with jellyfish is still ongoing, and so is my exploration of 3D animation as an artistic language. This piece is simply one waypoint in a much longer creative journey—one that I continue to navigate, one frame at a time.
For me, no artwork is ever truly finished; each one continues to grow, evolve, and unfold over time. My fascination with jellyfish is still ongoing, and so is my exploration of 3D animation as an artistic language. This piece is simply one waypoint in a much longer creative journey—one that I continue to navigate, one frame at a time.
ProcessSoftware: Maya 2025, Substance Painter, Adobe Premiere, OBS
Modeling, nCloth, MASH, BOSS, UV, Rigging, Keyfram Animation, Rendering, Animation Editing
I spent a great deal of time refining both the appearance and movement of the jellyfish to better capture the organic softness of a real-life creature. The animation now flows more naturally, with smoother, more lifelike motion.
This is a direct comparison between the 2023 version and the updated 2025 version of the jellyfish:
Jellyfish’s Adventure (2025) Jellyfish’s Adventure (2023)
This is a direct comparison between the 2023 version and the updated 2025 version of the jellyfish:
Credits:
Director:
Xinyi Liu
Sound Design:
Netics
3D Modeling:
Xinyi Liu
3D Animators:
Xinyi Liu
Yeju Kang
Peihan Li
Kamilla Ismailova
2D Animation:
Lydia Ahn
Rigging:
Xinyi Liu
Character Animation:
Xinyi Liu
Amaris Xi
3D Texture:
Xinyi Liu
Yeju Kang
Special Thanks:
Ricky Zhang
Mingxu Zhang