Funny Santas
Generative Render SeriesA generative cast of Santa Claus renders. A Blender script randomized the outfit, pose, background, and accessories on every frame, so no two Santas come out the same.
Funny Santas started as an excuse to play with procedural generation instead of posing a scene by hand. I modeled and rigged one Santa, then wrote a script that treated everything else as a variable. Hit render, get a Santa you've never seen before. Hit it again, get a stranger one.
The script picked from a wardrobe on every frame: the classic red suit, ugly Christmas sweaters, a Hawaiian shirt, a hi-vis vest, full camo, a yellow raincoat, even boxer shorts. Then it stacked on accessories more or less at random — a graduation cap, a crown, a top hat, a pirate hat, a conical straw hat, woolly beanies, sunglasses, ski goggles, 3D glasses, boxing gloves, mouse ears. A pose got pulled from a small library too: the dignified T-pose, a dab, a sumo squat, a yoga warrior, a boxing stance, mid-dance. The background snapped to a random saturated studio color, and the props in the scene shuffled between the gift basket, a jute coal sack, a sleigh, and the occasional hot air balloon, sports car, or F1 car parked in the back.
The whole point was the surprise. The combinations that shouldn't work are the ones that land: a crowned Santa doing the splits in a hi-vis vest, a camo Santa in flip-flops mid-yoga, a boxing Santa wearing mouse ears. You can't really design something that absurd on purpose — you just let the dice fall and keep the best rolls.
These were made in Blender in 2021, and the images here are collages of my favorite frames out of hundreds the script churned out.