Client:
Personal Project - 100%
Period:
Oct - Dec 2022
Services:
3D Modeling
Motion Graphics
Tools:
Cinema 4D
Octane
Illustrator
After Effects
Element
To Stucture





Sequence · S02
The strap
drapes.
Iridescent panels animate across the frame, fold along a single axis, and resolve into the rubber-strap form. The shader is a custom Octane material — same dispersion logic as the Sapphire Crystal case, so the two read as one object.
Material · custom Iridescent shader


Sequence · S02
The body
assembles.
Liquid enters frame. Screw and second-hand geometry drives X-Particles emitters; flocking + orbital constraints pull the parts toward the case until the body resolves.
FX · X-Particles, constraints + flocking

Sequence · S03
The watch
settles.
Body and strap join. A black cloth drops over the assembled watch, simulated with C4D Cloth and slowed to close the sequence. The final frame holds on the Big Bang Sapphire Crystal.
Sim · C4D Cloth, slow drape


Sequence · S03
The watch
settles.
Body and strap join. A black cloth drops over the assembled watch, simulated with C4D Cloth and slowed to close the sequence. The final frame holds on the Big Bang Sapphire Crystal.
Sim · C4D Cloth, slow drape
Featured in Insydium




Takeaways.
Locking the previz early was the single decision that kept six weeks on track. With S01–S03 defined before modeling, tone and pacing held across shots even while I was learning new tools as I went.
Tools followed the shot: X-Particles for the orbital body assembly, a custom Octane Iridescent shader to tie the strap to the Sapphire case, C4D Cloth slowed ~40% for the closing drape. The Sapphire material itself was the hardest part — refraction + reflection on a transparent case ate render time and forced an Octane denoiser pass on every frame.
The bottleneck in a one-person pipeline was the render queue. Next time, a distributed render setup gets built in week one — not improvised at the end.
Next Project
DOOMED
→
Sydney Hong
Seoul, KR
© Sydney Hong 2026 — Portfolio







