Storyboard

This is the storyboard for my final project.

Rocket explosion

This is the end of the flight where the rocket crashes into the ground and explodes

Rocket flight

This is the rocket in mid flight.

Rocket launch

This is the beginning where the rocket takes off.

The Final

For the final I decided to expand upon the rocket that I used in my midterm. At the end of the rocket's journey, at the point when it hits the ground, I made it explode using a 3-d fluid effects container. This allows for a large realistic explosion. Also, to make the scene seem more real, I had the ground look like sand rather than just the color brown. The nurbs sphere that surrounds the scene, used as the sky, was also made to look like it had clouds. The sand and sky looks were created by finding images on Google and then uploading the file into Maya. Then the skins were dragged onto the corresponding shape. Also, the camera angle being used in the render was changed to make it impossible to see where the ground ends to create a more realistic feel.

Self Evaluation: I think I really expanded my knowledge of dynamics with my particles and the 3-d fluid container that I used for the explosion. I think overall I did a good job of creating an interesting scene that has a very "explosive" conclusion. I think I may have been able to create a more thorough environment with trees or hills or mountains or something.

Images of these things will come soon enough when my computer decides that it wants to cooperate.

Midterm

Main idea: A short clip of a rocket blasting off and coming back down to Earth.

Storyboard: A rocket blasts off from the ground with a huge trail of fire following it. It reaches its maximum height as it passes by the bright sun in the sky. Then it plummets straight down to Earth in a trail of fire.

Creation: The rocket was made using the CV curve tool and then rotated around to make the base. Then, a wing was made by putting another curve on the rocket base with a curve in space above it and then lofting them. After that, the wing was duplicated three times and spaced at 90 degree intervals around the rocket. An emitter was placed on the back of the rocket and grouped with it to allow for the fire coming out of the exhaust. A point light was also attached to the back of the rocket so that when the rocket was near the ground it lit it up like the fire would do in real life. The particles coming out of the emitter were changed to a cloud-like shape and colored to appropriately come out of the rocket bright yellow and finish a dark red. The rocket was set on a motion path which enabled it to blast off and come back to Earth and can be seen in the picture above. The camera was also set on the motion path which enabled the video to have some unique angles. The sky illusion was created using a Nurbs sphere that encloses the scene and was shaded a sky blue. The sun glint was a directional light set at a high intensity pointed at the "sky."

Self Evaluation: I believe I did a good job of using many of the techniques we used in this class and bringing them together into a single project. The CV curve tool, rotation, lofting, particles, and motion path were all used to create this scene. However, for the final project I am thinking of trying to create a large particle explosion when the rocket crashes into the ground at the end of the scene. I think it would be an amazingly dramatic ending to the scene.