NEXT-GEN Nescot week 16 - 3D animation storyboard (Exploratory vehicle)

During week 16 we were tasked with using our exploratory vehicles to create a short animation in Maya. For this task, I created an animation storyboard of the spaceship to give an idea as to how I would map out the movement of the spaceship and minor background animations. These were used to give an extensive appearance to the spacecraft, however in the final build they are hard to notice.

Draft concept of the animation can be seen below

 

After putting the stroryboard together, I created the animation of the spaceship with a blank background to plot the movement and appearance of the animation. I then animated the jet engines to rotate in the opposite direction of the ships movement to make it look more like it was propelling the ship. I also animated the jet engine's fire to move slightly during the animation depending on the speed of the ship. This was done by using the storyboard for inspiration and as a directional source for the animation to follow.

Animation draft can be seen below

Overall I believe I did well on this assignment because the animation of the spaceship closely resembles the storyboard and has a smooth and easy to see movement pattern. On the other hand, I believe that I could have improved on this animation by adding a rigged character and making them get out of the spaceship after it landed.