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Escher’s Waterfall

Internship project from 2012 · 3ds Max, RealFlow and Mental Ray

White-on-black wireframe of Escher's Waterfall in 3D, with the tower, the waterwheel and the surrounding town

Escher’s Waterfall was my first project during my internship. For school, I could choose between a work of art and an amusement park. I chose Escher.

That turned out to be quite a challenge. Escher drew a waterfall that doesn’t add up optically: the water flows down and yet comes out at the top again. On paper the illusion works, but in a computer the laws of physics apply.

The tower of Escher's Waterfall in 3D, with the pipes one below the other and the waterwheel, in a grey town

Three pipes, one below the other

Water naturally wants to flow downwards, so I had to switch off gravity. Even that wasn’t enough. In the end, I placed three pipes one below the other, with a cut-off. That way, the water could still complete the circle.

Escher's Waterfall in 3D from above, with water in the lowest pipe by the waterwheel

From model to final edit

I created the building, the town and the cameras in 3ds Max. I simulated the water in RealFlow and rendered everything with Mental Ray. For the editing, I used After Effects and Premiere Pro.

Next project: Set Fire to the Rain →

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