FLAKES

A wintery webGL experiment

In the winter of 2014 B-Reel and Plan8 collaborated on Flakes to celebrate the holidays. Inspired by the study of somatics, seeing similar patterns and symmetry in nature; we decided to focus on an execution where sound could determine the unique shape of a flake.

On desktop users simply tap the keyboard to form their flake. A specific sound and shape is tied to each keystroke, building out a musically dynamic visual treat that is unique to each turn. On mobile, users can simply shake the phone to randomly generate their flake.

We built a very simple interface that allowed the designer to go in and pair shapes, sounds and animations to keys. Using this streamlined process, we were able to perfect the visuals of the flake in real time in the webGL environment.

Flakes was built using the popular ThreeJS library for WebGL and makes use of the built in isometric camera to produce the unique perspective of the 3d snowflake.

Sound design was created by our friends at Plan8 and balances ethereal atmospheres with elements that give our musical world the same weight as the flakes themselves.

Role: Creative, Producer

Art Direction/Design: Sylvain Theyssens, 3D Exploration: Anton Woll-Soder

Development: Charlie Clark, Joe Zhou

CD: Ben Hughes

Sound Design: Plan8