Playing With Scale
When the BBC Four documentary Secrets of Size, presented by Jim Al-Khalili, set out to explore the mysteries of scale in our universe, we were invited by Fluid Pictures to help tell that story visually. Working alongside Fluid Pictures and Furnace Films, we created more than 30 original graphics and animations that journeyed from the familiar reaches of our solar system to the immense structures of the Milky Way and beyond.
This project was as creatively rewarding as it was fascinating, blending precision with imagination to capture the scale and beauty of our universe.
Building the Universe
Visualising Laniakea in 3D was as much a technical challenge as it was an artistic one. The immense number of interconnected strands that make up the cosmic web made it difficult to accurately analyse and represent
the underlying data in a meaningful way.
To tackle this, the large-scale structure was first sculpted in Maya, allowing us to establish the major flows and forms of the supercluster. These volumes were then converted into thousands of hair strands, creating the intricate network of filaments that defines Laniakea. The result was a workflow that balanced scientific accuracy with the visual complexity needed to convey the vast scale of our cosmic neighbourhood.
