Wisp — Snap Spectacles

Wisp World from Liquid City brings whimsical adventures onto Snap Spectacles — playfully exploring the world around you through true AR glasses, built for Snap’s fifth-generation Spectacles ahead of the public launch of Specs.

Process

I built the character end to end — modelling, rigging, animation, and shaders — and the real job was breathing life into it. All of it happened inside Snap’s own engine, Lens Studio, so the two-and-a-half-month project doubled as learning a new system from scratch.

The important part is the face: it’s driven entirely by shader. Blinking, face shapes, expressions — I created custom maps and built a state system inside the shader itself, so the character’s whole performance runs through it.

Fig. 01 — Grindle shader tech art

Custom maps and a state system living inside the shader — blinking and face shapes never touch the rig.

Fig. 02 — Grindle character states

Fig. 03 — Early state explorations

Fig. 04 — Playthrough excerpt

The Wisps — character lineup render — Fig. 05 — The Wisps

Fig. 06 — Hand-tracked intro