Coke Billboard
Designed and executed a forced-perspective 3D billboard animation for Coca-Cola in Times Square, creating the illusion of dimensionality from a precise street-level vantage point.
Outcome
The final animations launched in Times Square and remain live today. From the intended vantage point, the billboard convincingly extends into physical space, creating a three-dimensional Coca-Cola moment within one of the world’s most iconic advertising environments.
Role
Motion Designer
Type
3D Animation
Date
November 2022
Tools
Cinema 4D, Realflow, Redshift, Octane, After Effects
Challenge
Coca-Cola commissioned a Times Square billboard designed to appear three-dimensional when viewed from a specific street-level location. The goal was to create a convincing forced-perspective illusion that made fluid and foam interactions feel as though they extended beyond the flat LED surface.
The challenge required aligning digital animation with physical space and accounting for billboard scale, architectural surroundings, and viewer positioning in one of the most visually complex environments in the world.
Role
I was responsible for:
Concept development for the forced-perspective illusion
Reconstructing the Times Square environment in 3D
Developing three custom fluid and foam animations
Simulation refinement and art direction
Aligning animation to physical billboard dimensions and viewing angle
Approach
The illusion depended on precision. I treated the project as both a spatial engineering problem and a motion design challenge.
Key priorities included:
Accurate measurement of the billboard’s physical size and placement
Identifying the ideal street-level viewing position
Rebuilding the surrounding Times Square environment in 3D to simulate real-world perspective distortion
Designing animation that would read clearly at massive scale
Process
Forced Perspective & Spatial Validation
To ensure the illusion worked in reality:
I recreated the Times Square environment in 3D to simulate the exact viewer vantage point
Calculated viewing angles and distortion to align animation with the physical LED surface
Ran small-scale forced-perspective experiments in my apartment to validate the concept physically before final execution
These experiments helped confirm how exaggerated geometry would resolve when viewed from the correct angle.
Fluid Simulation & Iteration
Using RealFlow within Cinema 4D, I:
Developed fluid and foam simulations interacting with typographic forms
Iterated extensively on viscosity, splash behavior, and scale response
Balanced physical realism with readability at billboard scale
Ran multiple simulation passes to stabilize motion while preserving energy
The fluid needed to feel dynamic and tactile without breaking the illusion of dimensionality.
Reflection
This project reinforced the importance of spatial thinking and validation when digital work intersects with physical architecture. It demonstrated how controlled simulation, perspective engineering, and iterative testing can transform a flat surface into an immersive spatial illusion.
