Abstract Spiral Animation in Blender

Today we’ll be creating an abstract spiral animation. To do that we have to create a spiral first, which we’re going to do by means of an add-on. The add-on is called Add Curve: Extra objects and it’s available in Blender out of the box, so you don’t have to install anything. I’ll be using the 3.0 version of Blender.

Here you can see the animation:

So, let’s get started. Here are the steps for you to follow:

Step 1 – Activate the Add-on

Delete the default cube and save your file. Now go to the Edit menu and select Preferences. In the Blender Preferences window that pops up select Add-ons from the list on the left and start typing part of the name of the add-on you’re looking for in the search box (A). Then check the checkbox next to the name of the add-on you want to enable, which is Add Curve: Extra Objects (B).

 You can now close the Blender Preferences window.

Step 2 – Add the Curve Spiral

Hit Shift + A and then under Curve Spirals select Spheric. Set Turns to 6 (A), Steps to 100 (B) and Radius to 10 (C).

Step 3 – Bevel the Curve

Let’s add some thickness to the curve. In the Object Data tab under Geometry, under Bevel set Depth to 0.1 (A) and check the Fill Caps checkbox (B).

Now the spiral looks more solid. But it’s still a curve. Let’s turn it into a mesh.

Step 4 – Convert the Curve to Mesh

Go to object mode, right-click the spiral and under Convert To select Mesh. Then right-click again and select Shade Smooth.

Step 5 – Add an Emissive Material

Now we’re ready to add a material to the model. It’s going to be an emissive material. The brightness of the material is going to be animated.

First, switch to Rendered shading (A) so that you can see the material right away. Then go to the World tab (B) and set World Color to black. In the Material tab add a new material and set its type to Emission (C). Set the material’s color to any color you like, for example green (D).

Step 6 – Animate the Spiral

We’re going to animate a couple things. Three, to be exact. These are: position, rotation and color. As far as position is concerned, the spiral will move from the left to the right, rather slowly. It will also rotate on the Z axis and change its color to a brighter shade of green and then to red.

Before we start animating the spiral, though, let’s set the duration of the animation to 20 seconds. As the current value of FPS (frames per second) is 24, there are going to be 24 frames each second. So, if we want the animation to take 20 seconds, we need 20 x 24 = 480 frames. So set End frame to 480 (A).

Next, go to the View menu (B) and under Align View select Align Active Camera to View. Then select the camera and move it so that the spiral is visible somewhere in the left part of its view (C).

And now let’s add keyframes. Let’s start with the position and rotation. Select the spiral. Make sure you’re at frame 1 and hit I. Select Location & Rotation keyframe. Then go to the last frame. Move the spiral to the right part of the camera view. Then hit R Z -1440, which corresponds to four full revolutions on the Z axis. Hit I and select Location & Rotation to insert another keyframe.

Go back to frame 1 and play the animation. The spiral should move from left to right and rotate at the same time.

Now we can animate the color. The spiral should start green. After a while it should start getting brighter. Finally, it should turn red and get less bright. So, go to frame 1 and keyframe Color (A) and Strength (B). To do that, just hover your mouse cursor above each slot one by one and hit I or click on the little diamond sign to the right of each slot.

Now go to frame 220, don’t change Color or Strength and keyframe them again. This way we’ll make sure neither Color nor Strength will change between frames 1 and 220.

Next, go to frame 280, set Strength to 20 and keyframe just Strength.

Next, go to frame 320, set Color to a shade of red (A) and leave Strength at 20 (B). Keyframe Color and Strength.

Next, go to frame 420, set Strength to 1 and keyframe it.

Finally, go to the first frame and play the animation.

To make it look a bit more interesting, let’s add another rotation. Go to the last frame. Hit N to open the sidebar. Set the X Rotation to 720, hover your mouse cursor over the Rotation X slot and hit I to keyframe it.

Play the animation again. Everything should be working now, so let’s render it.

Step 7 – Render the Animation

We’re ready to render the animation. Save your file before you start in case anything goes wrong. Go to the Output tab (A) and select a folder where you want the animation to saved (B). Set File Format to FFmpeg Video (C) and under Encoding set Container to MPEG-4 (D).

Let’s make a test render. Go to the Render menu and select Render Image. If your test render is fine, go to the Render menu again and select Render Animation. After a while you’ll be able to see your animation.