So for the next approach I wanted to focuse more on the animation itself. The idea was to find out how different styles of animation actually look and feel when they’re projected onto various surfaces, especially organic ones like plants and flowers as that is something I still want to explore. I mostly thought the animation itself would be the main focus, but I realized quickly that the object you’re projecting on plays just as big of a role. Maybe even more as it’s the canvas that need to match. So this time was all about experimenting. I went back to some loops I had made earlier in After Effects, just some basic stuff like flowing lines, waves, and one with more chaotic movement and bright white areas. The first test was with my big Monstera leaf. I focused on just one leave with big holes and clear structure, and I didn’t expect the result to be that different depending on the animation. However it was. When I projected the animation with strong lines, it worked really well. The structure of the leaf kind of guided the movement. It looked like the animation belonged there and the lines followed the leaf’s shape in a calm, quiet way. The whole thing felt very intentional, even though it wasn’t planned to fit that exact shape. I was surprised by how harmonious the result was.
But the moment I switched to the more chaotic animation – the one with more movement and bright areas – it felt not fitting and a bit wrong. It clashed with the natural texture and rhythm of the Monstera. Instead of adding something, it distracted from the leaf and just didn’t work. The animation no longer felt like it was interacting with the surface but just slapped on top. Next up: I wanted to use the Lavender flower. Small, thin, vertical, and textured. When I used the wave animation here, it didn’t really work. Most of the effect got lost because the flower is so detailed and broken up into tiny parts. It looked static and flat, like the animation was struggling to land anywhere properly. But when I tried a stripe animation with vertical movement which is soft it worked. It almost felt like the Lavender was moving with the wind. Super subtle, but so much better than the “arty” stuff.
These differences became really obvious when I looked at the footage I took. In the videos, you can actually see how much more natural certain combinations feel. The Monstera with the line animation looks slow and meditative, while the same leaf with the chaotic one looks messy. These tests showed me something I already expected but again good to know is that you can’t just create one “good” animation and expect it to work on every surface. The object is part of the visual. It shapes the outcome. If the animation and the surface don’t match, it feels off or even if the animation looks cool on its own. Projection mapping is more like a collaboration between light and object. Every surface has its own texture, shape, and depth and the projection needs to respect that. In a way, it reminded me a bit of sound design in film. You can have a beautiful soundtrack, but if it doesn’t fit the scene, it ruins the mood or creates a total new one.
