Conquering the 3D universe
Self-taught Malaysian YouTuber is impressing millions with his 3D short films and animation, writes Hanum Afandi
GLOBALLY known as Afiq Aiman Cool, the AAC Dream content creator is big on YouTube with his animation content, focusing on VFX (visual effects) and CGI (computer-generated imagery). He has almost 1.61 million subscribers with 535 million views to date and counting.
Born and raised in Kelantan, Afiq is the youngest of five siblings. His interest in editing and animation started at 15 with the hobby gradually becoming a passion.
“I was into animation, VFX and CGI when I was in high school at Sekolah Kebangsaan Hamzah 1. All these led me to create my own YouTube channel, AAC Dream, in 2014. The content was primarily on visual effects. However, due to the discouraging number of viewers then, I decided to focus on animation,” said the 22-year-old YouTuber.
When Afiq ventured into animation, cartoons such as Boboiboy and Ejen Ali were big.
“I got a lot of inspiration from these two series. I also delved into YouTube tutorials to learn about editing. I didn’t attend any formal editing classes,” he said.
Afiq started with Minecraft animation as a humanoid version was too tricky for him then.
The acronym for his channel stands for Afiq Aiman Cool.
“I’m fond of the name as that was what my classmates called me when I did my diploma course on film. I had presented an assignment in class and it must have made an impression on them. So from the old-school Mr T Studio, as it was originally called, my channel became AAC Dream,” he added.
THE CHALLENGES
After months of experimenting with editing with little progress to show for it, Afiq opted for another software named Blender. He was then in his second semester but it was the right decision.
“I took about two years to master all the tools in Blender as I had to learn everything from scratch.
“What’s worse, my personal computer kept breaking down. I also had to spend a lot of money to get a high-end laptop with the right specifications to help me in my endeavour,” he recalled.
With the time and money spent on his passion, Afiq must have felt bouts of discouragement as there was no money coming in from his efforts.
But he persevered and constantly reminded himself to have a positive outlook as he had a strong feeling that what he was doing was “worth a shot”.
His foresight was right. When he started posting his unique videos on his YouTube channel, the number of subscribers grew to one million in four years.
But as his fanbase grew, so did his responsibility as a student in UiTM Puncak Perdana, Shah Alam. Spending time to update his channel constantly became a challenge.
“It was hard to allocate time for AAC Dream. While my content pales in comparison to those uploading daily vlogs (video logs), I still need to create fresh ideas and storylines to catch the audience’s attention,” he explained.
So, what editing tools does Afiq use to create his content?
“I use Cinema 4D, 3DS Max, After Effect, Premiere Pro and Photoshop,” he said.
Afiq admitted that there was a time when AAC Dream imitated other videos but the move blew up in his face because of copyright infringement issues.
“It was a painful lesson learnt — that I needed to credit and ask the original creator’s permission before using their content.
“To avoid having my channel taken down because of this, I decided to focus only on original content,” he said.
WHAT AAC DREAM DOES WELL
The content of Afiq’s first few videos revolves around animation such as Upin & Ipin Full Episode 2019 (Minecraft Animation) and Boboiboy (where the characters resemble Minecraft figures).
After some time, he also started doing real-life CGI situations such as the “Temple Run Blazing Sands in Real Life” and Siren Head in Real Life Horror.
One recent video which caught viewers’ attention is titled I put Colossal Titan in the Godzilla vs Kong Trailer.
“I love creating crossovers between two universes. For instance, Attack of Titan is a very popular anime and the new Godzilla vs Kong is making waves in theatres. It was an opportunity for me to make content on these two shows. The video got almost four million views in just two weeks,” said Afiq.
When multiplayer video game Among Us was the rage on the Internet, AAC Dream wasted no time creating short films in 3D.
Afiq’s short films such as the Maze Runner Fan Film, Temple Run in Real Life, and Harry Potter Warfare have also earned him millions of views.
The pandemic may have imposed many restrictions with regard to making new videos with friends but Afiq is raring to overcome them with fresh new ideas.
“Many ideas are hard to implement now but it’s not stopping me. Viewers love content from games being brought to real life and this is what I’ll be doing after graduation. I’ll have more time on my hands by then,” he added.