Projects · Without You
Bachelor Project 2 · 2022–2023
Animated Short · Bachelor Project 2 · 2022–2023

Without
You.

3D Animation · VFX · Compositing

Watch
Role
3D Generalist
Project Manager
Duration
6 Months
2022 – 2023
Tools
Blender
Houdini
Nuke
DaVinci Resolve
01 — Project Description

Overview

Without You is an animated short about human greed. Ants peacefully inhabit their world — until humans invade, determined to harvest their powerful mushrooms as an energy source. When humanity's exploitation destroys the earth, the ants discover a way to fight back.

We wanted to create a stylised film that humorously tackles human greed and climate change, told entirely from the perspective of ants. The visual direction was heavily inspired by the game Grounded — lush, oversized, and slightly absurd.

Still 00
Still 00
Blender · Houdini
Still 01
Still 01
Blender · Houdini
Still 02
Still 02
Blender · Houdini
Still 03
Still 03
Blender · Houdini
Still 04
Still 04
Blender · Houdini
Still 05
Still 05
Blender · Houdini
02 — Behind the Scenes

Process

After a major setback early in production — requiring us to restart almost from scratch — the team pushed hard to deliver a finished product. The restructure was painful, but it ultimately led to a much cleaner story, with Josef Schinwald's guidance helping us shape a more coherent narrative arc for the protagonist.

03 — Responsibilities

My Role

For Bachelor Project 2, unlike the first, we worked as a team. Students who had performed particularly well in BP1 were offered a Lead position — I was given that responsibility, which meant guiding teammates, organising workflow, and making sure nobody felt overwhelmed.

Midway through, the project was completely restructured, making the semester challenging for everyone. I focused on keeping momentum going and ensuring the team could finish successfully. In the end, my main responsibilities were:

Lead
Management · Direction
Project management & workflow organisation
Feedback & tutoring for team members
Communication with audio & voice actor
Singing for the credits (beautiful voice confirmed)
3D
Production · Finishing
Animation, layout & rendering
Lighting & simulations
Compositing (Nuke)
Modeling & texturing support (lead by Bernadette Erkinger)
04 — Takeaways

Learnings

Key skills built across leadership and technical production.

Management
First Lead Role
First time managing a project
Giving constructive feedback
File structures are important
3D
FX · Pipeline
First Houdini destruction simulation
Assembling team assets into a unified final scene