Hi guys, don’t miss this incredible music video “High in Heave“, where 200 drones flying created a 3D animation face in the sky, created in Cinema 4D using AR toolkit Moves by Maxon to create a truly unique musical experience 3D animation movements.
New music video filmed with 200 animated drones using Cinema 4D + Maxon Moves
High in Heaven
Working with Drones
In 2018, Hobbes teamed up with Firefly Drone Shows to bring world-class aerial performances to the skies. The Hobbes team undertakes the design of the various shows, focusing on animation, flight paths, and lighting. Firefly then takes the reigns, piloting their fleet of custom-built drones to bring the designs to life.
Two years into the partnership, we were itching to experiment and explore new possibilities with the medium. We aimed to connect with our audience in a more meaningful way and kept coming back to the same idea: creating a larger than life human face in the sky. With the go-ahead from Firefly, we were able to quickly develop the idea from a concept into a tangible prototype.
A Cosmic Entity
Designing the “drone face” was a key step for “High in Heaven.” As the sole focus of the video, it was crucial to hit the right balance of likeness and abstraction for the look we wanted. The portrait is defined by confident line work, which lends itself to the drone format, and is reminiscent of stone carving features, contributing to its monolithic quality. Moves by Maxon made it easy to start with the very likeness of Josh and gradually shift into the “cosmic entity from space” look we were after, born from the stars and gazing out into the landscape.
High in Heaven behind the scene
Moves by Maxon
Features from Maxon’s Cinema4D are like a swiss army knife for drones —specifically Moves by Maxon, which ended up playing an essential role with its real-time face capture capabilities. Using this app, Josh and Louie were able to record multiple performances from their studios in California and send us the data to import seamlessly into Cinema4D. We then used pose morphs to blend between the performances, tuning based on the track. For example, we would dial in the “energetic” takes when the song picked up or the “stoic” takes when we needed the face to be more monolithic or observant. Our vision was always the same, but the timely release of Moves by Maxon earlier this year couldn’t have come at a better time for this project.
Real-world Constraints
The single hardest challenge to overcome with drones is speed. Firefly Drone Shows must adhere to the FAA regulations on keeping drones below their 15mph limit when flying as a swarm (though drones can fly upwards of 50mph on their own). This poses a critical issue when you want realistic facial movements from a 300-foot head.
Flying the drones in sync with Josh and Louie’s facial trackings would force them to fly well over the limits allowed. To counteract this effect, we slowed down our animation by five times and shot the drones flying at 20% speed. We then sped up the footage by five times to sync it back up with the vocals. This technique gave us the best results and addressed many of the issues with a fleet of drones.
High in Heave Credits
Hobbes Team
Nick Forshee, Adam Zimmer, Eddy Nieto, Ben Dresser, Ashley Carey, Samantha Griffith
VWLS Team
Josh Epstein, Louie Diller, Graham Rothenberg, Justin Spindler
Firefly Team
Kyle Dorosz, Ryan Sigmon, Connor McGaffey, Dave Ketelhut, Bryce York, Josh Cobb
Hiatus Team
Edited by Josh Beebee, Produced by Joshua McGee
Ground Footage
Cy Abdelnour, Eugene Wilson
Special Thanks
Pine Knob Ski Resort, Holly Cloud Hoppers, Out of Office Management