Tryba’s latest video is a layer-lapse of New York City, NYC Layer-Lapse. This is a very unusual and very cool time-lapse of New York City that completely blurs the line between day and night.

Traditional time-lapses are constrained by the idea that there is a single universal clock. In the spirit of Einstein’s relativity theory, layer-lapses assign distinct clocks to any number of objects or regions in a scene. Each of these clocks may start at any point in time, and tick at any rate. The result is a visual time dilation effect known as layer-lapse.

To create a layer-lapse effect, I am assigning a unique equation to hundreds of buildings simultaneously. For each frame, every building is calculating and deciding which time of day to reveal.

Admittedly, this film is still a combination of mathematical and manual animation but my goal is to create a layer-lapse film where all the animations are simply decisions made by each layer after analyzing the music and the script it was assigned. By making layer-lapses run on mathematics, there are also some really cool avenues to create interactive physical or virtual art installations where a person could actually touch and manipulate a layer-lapse scene in real time.

Credits | Julian Tryba