for Unit 404
This concept design was developed for Unit 404’s VisP Voyager project.
The prototype combines the aesthetic of aquatic lifeforms—specifically comb jellyfish—with the visual language of high-performance gaming hardware.
predecessor
These items are part of an asset library that was created using 3D scans, photographs, and measurements as references to model a collection of photorealistic, technically accurate server components. A custom Geometry Nodes setup automated the placement of the distinctive white labeling on circuit boards using image-to-ASCII conversion driven by generative JSplacement textures as image input to ensure an intentional looking textflow.
With this work, I express my love for technology and CGI, while lamenting the corruption and moral fragility of tech and digital spaces.
Starting with a 3D scan of the face, a digital avatar was created using Epic Games’ Metahuman software. A custom choreography was captured with the Xsens and Rokoko motion capture systems and transferred onto the avatar. The avatar’s clothing was then physically simulated using Marvelous Designer, adding realistic movement and material behavior.
In TouchDesigner, the raw motion capture data was translated into numerical values, capturing the position and rotation of each sensor-equipped part of the body. This stream of data formed a living texture, applied directly to the simulated body and clothing. The numbers flowing continuously across the avatar’s surface visualize the body not as form, but as a continuous stream of information.
Paralachs is an interactive installation featuring a holographic 3D salmon that rotates to align with a single viewer‘s perspective using a machine learning object detection module. Each movement of the fish corresponds to a single perspective, mediated by a webcam, thus simulating the so-called parallax effect.
As Paralachs detects only one viewer at a time, the result is a solitary fish suspended in restless movement, twisting only for the singular gaze that meets it. Each point of view contradicts the next and the next, each rotation twitches further into confusion and ambiguity. Until perspective itself becomes like an animal observed; a Lachs unsure of its own coherence.
These icons were developed as part of the visual identity for the art collective Unit 404. Drawing from early-2000s aesthetics particularly the Frutiger Aero style— they form an OS-like interface, shaping the collective‘s digital presence.
Unit 404These Sprites are part of the „Sosciencity“ modification for the game Factorio. The mod is about an architect who crashes his spaceship on an alien planet and tries to build a new life for himself and his fellow travelers. The social system of the protagonists consists of a caste system in which each caste holds a very different world view. The architect has to fulfill various tasks in order to satisfy all members of society, for example by ensuring that each person has the living space that meets their aesthetic needs.
