Digital Holiday Card 2020
Project Information
- Software Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Audition, Illustrator & Photoshop
Project Description
This end-of-year holiday video was created as a digital greeting card, featured on a custom landing page and shared on LinkedIn to celebrate the close of 2020. With no specific direction beyond “something festive” and “something automotive,” I drew inspiration from the #300 Baldwin 2-8-0 locomotive stationed in my hometown of Rusk, TX—a recurring motif also featured in a separate 3D model project. The “automotive” element was brought to life with two new vehicles loaded onto a flatcar pulled by the train.
This was one of the most complicated holiday cards I’ve produced—largely due to the challenge of animating the locomotive’s drive gear without the help of a rigging plugin. I explore that process in more detail below.
One of the most technically challenging aspects of this holiday motion graphic was animating the locomotive’s drive gear. While realism wasn’t strictly necessary for a festive animation, I felt that this particular detail—being such a visually captivating element—deserved extra attention.
Without access to any FK/IK rigging plugins, I developed a custom system using null objects and heavily scripted expressions to approximate the mechanical movement seen in real locomotives. While not a perfect simulation, the motion was convincing enough to feel authentic—and added a sense of intentional detail that helped the animation stand out.
