The Secret Life of Everyday Things How Sebastian Marek transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary to create a surreal 3D motion design piece.

Freelance CG Artist Sebastian Marek has always been fascinated by the idea of bending the physical rules of ordinary objects — pushing their function into playful, unexpected territory. From deforming skateboards to the inflated umbrellas he designed for the Cinema 4D 2024 splash screen, his innovative works contain a rare blend of inventive concepts and striking visuals.

With his latest project, "The Secret Life of Everyday Things," Marek allows everyday objects to develop a life of their own.

We spoke with Marek about his workflow in Cinema 4D and Redshift, how he managed to make the transitions in his piece seamless, and the individual objects feel so alive.

Marek: The surreal tone came naturally once I started treating objects less like tools and more like characters with their own internal logic.

Sometimes it’s a visual analogy — like the steam iron gliding across fabric like a yacht over water, or the office fans rising and rotating like a fleet of synchronized drones. Other times, it’s about flipping expectations: a microwave that freezes instead of heats, or a washing machine where the drum drives the entire body into motion.

Marek: I usually start by building a simple animatic to figure out whether the animation and story work before diving into details. That early structure gives me a clear sense of pacing and how the scenes will connect — especially since this project relies so much on rhythm and motion. Sometimes that just means animating a cube with a cylinder in the middle to represent a washing machine, but even that rough sketch can answer a lot of questions early on. Working this way also really helps with prioritizing production time.

Once the flow feels right, I move into Cinema 4D and start refining the scenes. I use keyframe animation for most of the motion, but MoGraph tools play a big role too — especially when I need control and flexibility. The Plain Effector was especially useful in the radiator scene, where I needed to animate each fin bending individually while keeping the motion fluid. I used a similar setup for the office fans, combining Cloner with the Plain Effector to choreograph their synchronized, dance-like movement with precision.

Marek: Redshift was essential for achieving the look I had in mind while still keeping the workflow flexible. Since most of the shots are about shifts in mood and lighting, I needed something that let me move quickly while staying in control.

Throughout the project, I often relied on Redshift Sun and Sky to explore different lighting moods while maintaining a consistent visual tone across all scenes. Volumetric lighting also played a key role in moments like the radiator scene or the final office shot — helping to shape the atmosphere and guide the viewer's focus.

On the material side, I leaned heavily into procedural workflows. I used Maxon Noises and Tile nodes for many of the simpler patterns and built elements like bathroom and kitchen tiles entirely with Cloner setups. That gave me reliable results in close-up shots. Sharing procedural materials across multiple scenes also helped speed up the process and reinforced a cohesive look throughout the film.

Marek: Flow was probably the most intentional part of the entire piece. I wanted the short to feel like a single, uninterrupted breath — where transitions weren’t just cuts, but natural movements from one scene into the next. Each object passes momentum to the next through shared motion or visual similarity.

Much of that seamless feeling came from how I used the camera — not as a passive observer, but as a presence with its own intention. A dolly zoom heightens the surreal tension as frozen spaghetti is revealed. A slight jolt reacts to the washing machine’s landing — small gestures that keep the world feeling responsive and alive.

That sense of motion helped tie everything together, making the journey feel continuous, like a single unfolding shot.

Marek: Not directly, but I thought of each object as having its own behavior—its own rhythm and way of existing within its environment.

But it wasn’t just about the object itself, it was also about where it lived. The radiator sits in a moody, jazz-club-inspired living room. Its slow, swaying motion reflects that atmosphere — subtle, almost like it’s moving to the rhythm of background music. The washing machine feels clumsy and off-balance, breaking tiles as it builds tension, as if it’s struggling to stay upright. The fans, placed in an office setting, move in a disciplined, coordinated way — almost like they’re at work, following some quiet routine. Even the steam iron has a handwritten label on its side, like those often seen on yachts. It’s a small touch that gently reinforces the metaphor without drawing too much attention.

Marek: I hope it inspires people to break from the usual roles — just like the objects do. I want them to look a little closer, experiment, and try something they wouldn’t normally try.

Especially now, with so many new tools and AI-driven workflows, it’s easy to focus on output and forget about intention. But for me, that’s still the part that makes the process meaningful. The idea behind an image is what gives it weight. And that’s what makes it worth making.

Marek: From the beginning, we knew we didn’t want traditional music. It was more about texture and tone — something that felt like part of the world rather than layered on top of it. In the radiator scene, for example, we used a soprano voice to echo the metallic, resonant interior. Combined with touches like reggae vocals, this approach gave the piece an unexpected contrast.

At first, we considered giving each scene its own sound, but that quickly felt too segmented. We eventually shifted to a more trailer-like structure — a single, continuous track with evolving layers and vocal textures. This approach supported the transitions and gave the film its flow.

Giovanni comes from a music production background, but he has an intuitive eye for visuals. Even during the styleframe phase, he would point out when something felt off — for example, if the lighting didn’t align with the mood of the sound. That early feedback helped keep everything emotionally in sync.

Marek: The microwave sequence was probably the most complex — both technically and creatively. Getting the frosted effect to feel convincing was a challenge at first. I created an animated procedural texture in After Effects to simulate frost and applied it as a bump map on Redshift’s glass material. That method created a subtle but effective illusion of freezing.

Another tricky element was the growing snow inside the microwave. I sculpted a base mesh and scattered thousands of tiny elements with Matrix to mimic frosted snow. Then I animated the structure using Pose Morph to create an organic, time-lapse-style growth.

Balancing the look and render efficiency was key — particularly with animated bump maps, glass, subsurface scattering for the pasta and sauce, and all the layered materials visible through the door. Rendering efficiently had the potential to be a major challenge, but Redshift managed it surprisingly well and gave me the flexibility I needed.

Marek: I’m hoping to allocate more time this year to focus on short animations like this one. I already have a few ideas I’d like to explore. I see them as a chance to experiment with new workflows and techniques that could feed into future projects.