Tambour Horizon Light Up
Watch face animations for Louis Vuitton's Tambour Horizon Light Up, from LED-synced graphics to a library of dynamic faces.
A long-term collaboration with Louis Vuitton
Since 2019, I've directed the watch face animations for Louis Vuitton's Tambour Horizon connected watches, from the first version through the Light Up edition. Louis Vuitton and Bressan Design Studio design the faces.
I direct the animations and oversee the art direction and technical delivery, and I run the project and the client relationship, while Rémi Loger handles the animation itself. Over the years we've made dozens of these together.
Crafting the Light Up animations
For the Light Up edition, the work went beyond the screen: the animations had to drive the real LED lights around the bezel.
I ran the R&D to find the right system, working in tandem with the Louis Vuitton developers to sync our animations to the watch's LEDs. I set up an export pipeline that samples the value and color of each LED straight from the animation, so the work stayed artist-friendly to make and easy for the developers to integrate.
Modular, dynamic assets
A key challenge was delivering the animations in layered formats to support dynamic variations. The time display had to sit between animation layers, so I set the elements up by their Z position on screen. I also specified masking assets for dynamic recoloring, letting users pick gradient colors and generate their own variations while keeping the brand's look.
Canvas
The Canvas face adds depth and motion with parallax and spinning effects, triggered by interaction. We refined the pattern over several iterations to land a dynamic, engaging result.
LV24
The LV24 face animates time zone flags and indicators in a 3D tunnel for a striking perspective effect, with colors and LEDs adapting to the user's preferences.
Digital
For the Digital faces, we turned Louis Vuitton's monogram icons into glowing neon lines with 3D depth. Four animations each highlight a monogram shape for a clean, modern look.
Vivienne
The Vivienne face brings Louis Vuitton's mascot to life with playful animations triggered by touch. Layers and masks let developers customize colors dynamically.
Chinese New Year
Building on the CNY 2020 and 2021 faces, I reworked the shading for the 2022 animals with a frosted translucent material, light coming from inside them.
Credits
Louis Vuitton
- Production
- Gaspard FlorentzHugo Charles
Bressan Design Studio
- Concept Direction
- Daniel Lazzari
Sfeir
- Production
- Vathenbala Balasubramaniam
Point Flottant Studio
- Direction & Art Direction
- Mattias Peresini
- Technical Direction
- Mattias Peresini
- Project Management
- Mattias Peresini
- 3D Animation
- Rémi Loger
