Wisp Vision Pro — Rafe Johnson

Wisp World is a tiny forest spirit for Apple Vision Pro — a living ornament for your desktop. You feed it and talk with it to help its world grow, and because visionOS runs it alongside your other apps, you bond with it over time. It’s set in the world of Liquid City’s game Overbeast.

I returned to Liquid City as freelance technical art lead. I built the Wisp itself — its body, shaders, states, VFX, rig, and motion — and its home, the Knoll, with all its materials, FX, shaders, and animation.

Process

This was early Vision Pro development: much of the work was discovering what the device could do — shaders, materials, particle systems — inside tight constraints and a three-month deadline.

The character took after Pixar’s Soul. Most of its animation — blinking, talking, gaze — lives inside the shader, driven by code as its mood changes.

In-headset capture — the Wisp forest spirit beside its mossy world on a desk, labelled Meet a Forest Spirit — Fig. 01 — Meet a forest spirit

Fig. 02 — Wisp character development

Most of the character's animation lives inside the shader — blinking, talking and gaze are shader states, driven by code as the Wisp's mood changes.

Wisp character in the Apple Vision Pro simulator — Fig. 03 — Simulator capture — Apple Vision Pro

Fig. 04 — In-headset capture

In-headset — talking with the Wisp, its world blooming above a conversation panel — Fig. 05 — In conversation

Close-up of the Wisp — a glowing, soft-faced forest spirit among moss and plants — Fig. 06 — The Wisp, up close

The Wisp's face — a glowing teardrop head blinking and shifting expression — Fig. 07 — Character head

Soft sculpted forms growing and multiplying — the world taking shape — Fig. 08 — World, growing

Fig. 09 — Title fade-in

Credits

Creative direction — Keiichi Matsuda, Anna Mill, Jackson Deans
Motion design + 3D art — Salvi de Sena
Technical direction — Jasper Stevens, Grigor Todorov