french artist xavier chassaing takes viewers of his experimental film ‘dry lights‘ on a sojourn through an electric desert landscape, unfolding as an imagined environment of luminous cacti and glistening canyons. moving from within the depths of hidden caves to vast cliffs, pulsating rivers of light flow throughout the panorama, creating a botanical choreography.

 

through a realistic 3D construction of actual space — the ethnobotanical garden in oaxaca, mexico — chassaing suggests that surrealistic fantasies can exist in reality. in ‘dry lights’, this alternate world where plants are alive with light at night was made possible through the use of highly specialized software that allowed him to render trillions of polygons instantly.

 

 

dry lights xavier chassaing 3D desert-world
xavier chassaing illuminates a hypnotic 3D desert landscape
all images courtesy of antivj

 

 

 

chassaing spent a week filming ‘dry lights’, taking in the complexity of the environment in order to accurately convey a constantly changing physical landscape. carefully selected visual references prevent viewers from perceiving the work as merely a psychedelic environment; rather, the abstract situation itself lends itself to a four-minute magical journey to an alternate dimension. 

xavier chassaing illuminates a 3D desert-world for dry lights
viewers sojourn through an electric desert landscape that lights up by night

 

 

 

the artist’s visions are rooted in his childhood in the french countryside, where he spent a lot of time in the forest. the boredom that ensued invited imaginary worlds as tools to combat this monotony, eventually leading him to become a magician. chassaing utilizes his flair for illusion in the immersive desert land of ‘dry lights’: ‘I literally spent a year and a half alone in a cold desert at night trying to bring billions of cacti to life in an intricate choreography. and with 3D rendering, nothing exists on its own, there are no happy accidents. I had to navigate through a lot of painfully disappointing images before getting to what I love about 3D – its endless potential for creation.’

dry-lights-xavier-chassaing-3D-desert-world-designboom-12
the film reveals an alternate world where plants are alive with light at night

dry lights xavier chassaing 3D desert-world
the imaging was made possible through the use of highly specialized computer software

dry lights xavier chassaing 3D desert-world
chassaing studied the complexity of the environment in order to accurately convey it in 3D

dry lights xavier chassaing 3D desert-world
the surreal situation lends itself to a four-minute journey to an alternate dimension

dry lights xavier chassaing 3D desert-world
light moves from within the depths of hidden caves to vast cliffs

dry lights xavier chassaing 3D desert-world
the imagined environment includes luminous cacti and glistening canyons

dry lights xavier chassaing 3D desert-world
a field of cacti are illuminated by night

 

 

project credits:

 

 

editing, lighting, clarisse rendering, compositing, environment td designer, sfx: xavier chassaing
music, sound design: thomas vaquiž
producers: nicolas boritch, xavier chassaing.
executive producers: antivj, mathematic.tv, xavier chassaing, guillaume marien, proyecta.
artistic director: dor shamir
houdini artist, compositing: xavier leconte
houdini artist: thomas van maele
artistic adviser: ilana shamoon