In an infinite universe, anything that could be imagined might somewhere exist.” - Dean Koontz, Dead and Alive
Picture this: The six movies of the Mirage Project have a total running time of about one hour. And it took 30'000 hours rendering to create just the raw visuals of the movies.
A massive amount of time - isn't it?
Sure - but compared to the normal production process of CGI (computer generated imagery) we were lightning fast.
So what is the difference between the CGI that we got so used to see in many movies today and the technology we used in the Mirage Project?
Usually, each CGI element in a movie needs to be modelled individually. Each detail has to be designed. Dozens or hundreds of people work together in teams to build and animate these models.
All six movies of the Mirage Project have been created by just two people.
The key to our approach? We have been using fractal formulas to generate our intricate worlds.
These formulas look rather simple - maybe half a page of programming instructions. But these few lines contain all the information to create a whole worlds with endless details.
The result is often unpredictable - sometimes breathtakingly beautiful, sometimes just chaotic. With fractals, you never know what you will get.
The amazing thing about fractal formulas is that they often create worlds that look eerily like a real place. The reason for this is that fractals are based on fundamental laws that can be observed in nature - chaos and repeating structures.
And as in the world around you it is possible to go closer and closer and there are still more details to explore - details that no one has built in a model, details that simply emerge - that's why we called these world Mirages.
Are they real? Well, who knows - the cosmos is a pretty big place...
For more information about fractals and the work it took to get from a simple formula to a finished Mirage check out our tech section .
The first of the six mirages, City In The Sky, is out now - Watch the full video here.
The soundtrack for each Mirage Project video will be released via our Sonarpilot Audio label on all streaming platforms, world by world, monthly through till Christmas. A fully mixed Mirage Project soundtrack album will land on December 4th 2020.
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We hope you will enjoy the Mirages - we look forward to hearing from you!