Initial design
As part of Vectorform's development on the Microsoft Surface platform, I created 3D illustrations and user interface elements for a fun little pumpkin carving experience. Though initially a simple developer test, I created new visuals that helped integrate more depth and layering into the drawing system.
Realtime visual effects
Unsatisfied with the limitations of Microsoft's WPF platform, however, I decided to recreate the entire experience from scratch using Quartz Composer to see how far the visuals could be pushed.
By developing my own collection of realtime-optimised CIfilter blurs and effects (using a subset of the GLSL standard), I was able to add a number of visual features not possible with the original development platform. As the user paints with their mouse, cutaway portions morph and merge, smoothing out brush strokes and creating organic shapes. Volumetric lighting, subsurface scattering through pumpkin flesh, and glows were added to the original flickering candle effect.
Running at 30-60fps, even on older hardware, the experience is a lot of fun to play with; encouraging endless variations as the effects and lighting react to every stroke of the mouse. Though never released publicly, I made the experience available internally for coworkers to enjoy.