Natalie Simonetti stood before the sprawling 150-year-old fig tree and wondered what to do. Her fellow TAFE students had decided to light up branches with angry eyes, glaring across the grounds of Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden. Others opted to illuminate skittering centipedes or pulsating veins running from roots to leaves.

But Simonetti, 21, a third-year 3D arts and animation student, with a talent for impromptu dancing during media interviews, wanted something cuter for her first Vivid Sydney artwork. She looked up at the towering tree, called the "children's fig", within sight of Sydney Harbour, and was inspired by what she saw.

A queue of illuminated sunflowers forms part of Vivid Sydney 2017 in the Royal Botanic Garden. Credit:Wolter Peeters

"Sometimes you see awesome big dinosaurs being projected onto buildings but I was like 'What's around here that I can use that's cute and will make kids pay attention?'," she says. "Bats are kind of creepy. How about possums! Possums are adorable. I like making happy things for the most part. What's more happy than a bright-coloured dancing possum?"

The answer to that question is six bright-coloured dancing possums. Simonetti modelled their 3D movements on footage of her younger sister dancing to Uptown Funk. Her happy animations go on show from tonight, as part of the Electric Forest installation in the Botanic Garden.