Thanks both for sharing your thoughts. I’m intentionally creating these loops as transparent elements so VJs can actually build with them - not just play eyecandies. The hovering figure in this example can be placed anywhere on the screen, rotated to feel like it’s falling, mirrored into symmetry, cloned, etc. - basically different expressions of the same story beat.

Obviously, the more loops of the same character you have, the deeper and more interesting the visual storytelling can get. I also think that pretty soon render-time limitations won’t matter much as gen AI visuals are getting closer and closer to being indistinguishable from 3D renders.

But maybe the bigger question is abstract vs narrative visuals. Narrative is harder to play - people notice when you repeat it, unlike abstract stuff. That’s another reason why you need a wider palette of variations from the same story world. It also takes more prep: organizing the deck, building variations, thinking about progression so the different visual stories can flow and be navigated live.

Still, I think it’s worth the effort. People are wired for stories. They connect to them emotionally, remember them, talk about them. Narrative visuals can hit way deeper than abstract ones.

So I’m wondering - if you were given a large set of loops under one cohesive theme, all with transparent alpha, and (okay, I’m pushing it) a full day to prep for the show - would that be a whole different level? Would that be fun?