Sharing one of our latest tornado diorama where we combined not only craftsmanship but technology as well. We’ll talk more about the technical side and how it all works in another reel.
Also we recently started livestreaming on YouTube, where we now share the full process behind our dioramas, experiments, mistakes and everything happening behind the scenes.
Testing the geyser mechanics in a model. An ultrasonic mister, fan and microcontroller are used to dynamically adjust airflow and simulate the eruption effect.
We recently completed a small custom diorama on a very tight deadline. When it comes to epoxy there’s only so much you can speed up, so the only place we could really move faster was at the 3d modelling.
We put together a rough concept and ran it through @tripo.ai to quickly get a clean starting model. It doesn’t replace craftsmanship, it just gives us a smarter place to begin.
From there everything still comes down to manual work and getting the details right.
We’ve completed the NM Balloon Fiesta model. A big part of the work went into the interactive system. The main focus was the motion mechanics of the balloons making the scene feel alive rather than static.
Each balloon is attached by an ultra-thin thread to its own custom bracket. Inside the bracket we integrated a motor, motor driver, laser distance sensor and a microcontroller.
When the system runs the motor starts winding the thread pulling the balloon. At the same time the distance sensor continuously measures how close the balloon is. Once it reaches a predefined minimum distance the microcontroller reverses the motor direction through the driver.
As a result every balloon moves independently along its own path, creating a natural and dynamic motion.
Here’s another piece from our upcoming insect exhibition.
The abdomen of this firefly is illuminated just like in real life. The model follows the same approach as the others and it’s built using CT scan data.
The scans give us a strong foundation to work from, but turning that data into a printable model still takes a lot of time. There’s a lot of cleanup, adjustment and refinement before it’s ready for 3d printing.
But without CT data reaching this level of detail would be extremely difficult.
Here’s how our museum-scale dragonfly model turned out.
The eyes were probably the hardest part. We managed to recreate the faceted structure so it actually catches light and gives that subtle depth. When you move around it, the effect feels almost like a full 360 view.
We also pay a lot of attention to the environment. We don’t like showing insects as isolated objects. It’s important for us to place them in a setting that feels real. In the end, it’s the small details that make everything come together.
We honestly hesitated before starting this one. Working with large volumes of epoxy always comes with risks. One mistake and you’re back to square one.
But the idea of sealing an entire futuristic city with lighting inside was too interesting to ignore. We wanted to see if we could create real depth, where the light actually lives inside the material not just on the surface.
