Some things can fall forever.
A 3D animation of a house of cards endlessly falling and rebuilding in a smooth loop.
The sound of a Shepard tone adds to the illusion, making it feel like the cards are falling forever. The visuals and sound combine to create a hypnotic and surreal experience.
A 3D animation of a house of cards endlessly falling and rebuilding in a smooth loop.
The sound of a Shepard tone adds to the illusion, making it feel like the cards are falling forever. The visuals and sound combine to create a hypnotic and surreal experience.
Type
Non-commercial
Non-commercial
Year
2025
Role
CG Artist
2025
Role
CG Artist
Credits
CG Artist / Artie Hinz
Sound Designer / Alexander Maslyuk
CG Artist / Artie Hinz
Sound Designer / Alexander Maslyuk
Research and Development
To keep the house of cards from collapsing all at once, I used an invisible ball attached to the camera to trigger the fall row by row as the camera moved past. To simplify the animation, I hid any cards not visible in the frame. I also adjusted the Rigid Body settings, giving the top cards different parameters from the bottom ones to slow down their fall.
For sound, we added the Shepard Tone, which creates the illusion of constant descent while staying in the same place, enhancing the feeling of an endless loop.
the House
Shepard Tone can fall forever too
The Shepard Tone is an auditory illusion that creates the perception of a sound that is continuously rising (or falling) in pitch without ever actually getting higher or lower. This effect makes it seem like a tone can "fall forever" without reaching an end.
