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Ryan Warnick created this great 3D of what he imagines the Liahona may have looked like. He shares his thoughts below:
Several years ago, I put together a video animation of the Liahona (one of my favorite symbolic elements in the Book of Mormon) as a personal, artistic project – and as a way of expressing my feelings about the Book of Mormon and, specifically, this metaphor for how we can receive direction from the Lord if we listen to the Spirit. I decided to revisit that project since my skills in 3D modeling and animation have evolved over the past four years. I rebuilt the Liahona in a “steampunk” style and played with some glass textures and more interesting macro camera shots. The result is a somewhat more cinematic version of the original.
The 3D animations with the glass and metallic textures were render-intensive. 15 computers, with 118 cores, rendered for approximately 40 hours. The 3D model was built completely from scratch in Maxon Cinema 4D, with editing and effects done in AfterEffects. The music track is called “Soul Battles” by Ryan Taubert and is licensed through Musicbed.com.
His original project is in the video below:
Another great video about the Liahona is below (yes, diligence is spelled incorrectly):
In 600 BC before the Babylonian captivity of the Kingdom of Judah, the Lord commanded the prophet Lehi to lead is family to flee Jerusalem. While in the wilderness the Lord provided a sacred compass called the Liahona Described as a brass ball of curious workmanship, it had spindles that would provide the direction for them to travel. It functioned according to how faithful and diligent they were. The Liahona led Lehi and his family through the very harsh and unforgiving Arabian deserts. The compass was symbolic of the words of Christ Just as Lehi’s family were led to the promised land, we can be guided throughout or lives by being faithful and diligent in heeding the words of Christ.