APPOT: A Long Jog

A 3-minute animated short for CMU's 270° CAVERN

3D generalist, ETC
Made on my own
Blender
270° stereo 3D
2026

A young inventor mixes an apple seed and a carrot, grows a strange new fruit called the Appot, eats it, and can't stop running, until he finds out that water is the answer.

Job: Part-time 3D Generalist, Entertainment Technology Center, CMU (2026)
Length: About 3 minutes, 11 scenes, 33 shots
Platform: CAVERN at CMU ETC: 270° curved wall, 3 projectors, stereo 3D with shutter glasses
My role: Story adaptation, script, character design, character modeling and rigging, animation, scene layout, lighting, effects, rendering
Environments: Built from free asset packs to fit the timeline. I laid out, lit and color-tuned each scene for the CAVERN.
Tools: Blender (Cycles, Rigify)
Render: One panoramic stereo camera, 270° × 50°, top-bottom stereo, 5760 × 2400
Render time: About 1 min per frame × 6,000 frames ≈ 100 hours
Supervisor: John

A person standing in the CAVERN, a dark room where a curved projection wall wraps around them showing a colorful market scene

The canvas

What is the CAVERN?

The CAVERN is a room at CMU where the screen wraps 270° around you, and everything is in 3D with glasses. So I didn't make a film for a rectangle, I made one for a whole room.

Picking the story

The story

I read 13 short stories and picked Appot. Running is perfect for a 270° room, because the whole world can rush past you. The cause and effect is simple: eat the fruit, can't stop, water fixes it.

I turned it into a script and a shot list, and planned every shot for the left, center and right wall. I also added a new opening and ending: Gilbert starts alone at the playground and ends with the same kids around him.

The original short story text of Appot, written in first person by Professor Gilbert, describing how he planted an apple seed in a carrot and could not stop jogging after eating the fruit — The original story I adapted. Scroll to read.

My wide storyboards

Wide hand-drawn storyboard of the plant growing over time: first day, 41 days, 61 days, 21 days and 1 year, ending with an orange fruit — Plant growth, planned across the whole wall.

Wide storyboard sketch of a road running to the center, with houses on the left, Gilbert running, and trees on the right — The road scene: one vanishing point in the center, the world on both sides.

Character

Meet Gilbert

Gilbert is a curious kid inventor who thinks he is very cool. Round and chubby so he feels friendly, big glasses and a lab coat so he reads as a tiny professor.

First drawing
Base mesh
Shape and face
Final Gilbert

I modeled and rigged him in Blender, and filmed myself as reference for his moves.

My walking reference.

The hardest part

Rendering 270° in 3D

Blender viewport showing six camera frustums arranged in a ring

My first try used 6 cameras in a ring, stitched together. Where two cameras met, the ground broke: lines didn't match and the light jumped.

The answer was Blender's built-in stereoscopy with one panoramic camera. One camera, one render, no seams. The cost: it only works in Cycles, so rendering took about 100 hours.

6 cameras vs. 1 panoramic camera

Stitched six-camera render of the playground: the ground breaks where camera views meet

Before

One stereo frame of the backyard in top-bottom format: the left-eye image on top, the right-eye image below

One final frame in top-bottom stereo: the left eye on top, the right eye below. The CAVERN glasses split them so the room looks 3D.

Lessons from the wall

Testing in the real room

My first test on the real wall was too dark and hard to read. I learned to push colors brighter, avoid dark areas, hide seam lines behind trees, and keep action in the middle distance.

My first CAVERN test.

The forest, before and after the test

Final forest: bright low-poly pine trees with Gilbert and a glowing idea bulb

After

After the test I made the forest much brighter and gave it its own space, apart from the playground.

Directing the audience

Designing for comfort and attention

A fast first-person run in a 270° room can make people dizzy. The camera only moves forward, never turns or tilts, and the road gives the eye one place to rest. Cartoon speed lines make it feel fast without moving the camera faster.

The city run, with speed lines.

Each new scene starts where the eye already is. The forest scene ends with Gilbert on the left, and the backyard scene starts with him in the same spot. I did this with the picture only.