This assignment involved producing a hard surface realistic / fantastical model of a spaceship suitable for a game engine. We needed to come up with our own storyboard on how we would like to present the finished model. I am going to attempt at documenting my process down below as this is not.
Pre-Production:
The model I chose as a reference was the iconic all time favorite USS Enterprise from Star wars. I used references from various shots from the movie to come up with a storyboard on presenting my model. To make my presentation more interesting I additionally had the planet earth put in there as a prop for some of the shots.
The storyboard for the same is as below:
- Storyboard, 2016
Modelling:
I used polygonal modelling for this assignment. The blueprints I used were:
Dreadnaught, n.d
Wireframe of the model as a result was:
Spaceship_Back, 2016
Spaceship_Front, 2016
Spaceship_Left, 2016
Spaceship_Top, 2016
UVMapping
The UV Map for this asset was created using the UV editor to select elements & then relaxing them out. The model is divided into a few parts named as below:
- Top
- Bottom
- Propeller
- Missile
- Stand
Each of the above had a separate UVW map. The maps I ended up making for each were:
- Diffuse map
- Bump Map
- Specularity Map
The Final UVMaps look like the below.
(Spaceship_UVW Maps, 2016)
Texturing
This part of the pipeline was what I ended up spending a considerable amount of time on. Since until now I had only done texturing using available textures mixed with a little self-created texture to assist, I was keen to actually do this whole texture from scratch myself & see if I can make it as realistic as possible. The references picture used were:
By the end of it each UVW Map (Diffuse, Bump & Specular) looked as below:
(Spaceship_Top_UVW Maps, 2016)
(Spaceship_Propellor_Maps, 2016)
(Spaceship_Missile_Maps, 2016)
(Spaceship_Bottom_Maps, 2016)
Scene Assembly
I assembled a basic scene to get a fair idea of how my world would look like. This gave me an idea of how I wanted to take my shots & the lighting, camera etc requirements. The assembly I came up was as below:
Spaceship_Scene Assembly, 2016
Lighting
For this animation I have used a 3 point lighting system in all the shots. The Key light & fill lights were setup in warm tones though at different intensities & the rim light was a cool blue colour in the same hues as picked up from the environment.
Animating
It was during this phase that I added desired motions to various assets using controls like their position, angle etc. Keyframes were meticulously set to make sure all object work in tandem when seen together. The storyboard was brought to life at this stage.
Editing
The final rendered videos were edited in Premier Pro to add music, title page & some effects for the final output.
References
- Aneesha Rai, Storyboard, 2016
- (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2016, from http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/federation_data.php?filter=Dreadnaught
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Back, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Front, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Left, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Top, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_UVW Maps, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Top_UVW Maps, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Propellor_Maps, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Missile_Maps, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Bottom_Maps, 2016
- Aneesha Rai, Spaceship_Scene Assembly, 2016
- Rai, A. (2016, April 12). Star Wars spaceship 3d Modelling. Retrieved April 12, 2016, from https://vimeo.com/162480386
- (2012). Space ship VFX test with Blender and After Effects. Retrieved April 12, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDlE4UIMVHE
- (2014). Blender Animation:Space scene test. Retrieved April 12, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuQlAqHvwNs
- (2013). Star Trek Into Darkness: Enterprise rising from the ocean. Retrieved April 12, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPOvBPRYkts
