This minute and a half animation was the culmination of hours of work, utilizing the skills and resources I gained in my Animation 435 course. Given an open ended prompt, I chose to animate a space duel between two opposing space ships. I always loved watching space battles in sci-fi movies and shows, so I’ve been trying to recreate them with animation software for years. This led to a very specific animation style, using a lot of camera tricks and special effects.

One of the largest parts of this animation is its use of special effects. I spent hours researching particle effects in maya, trying to create advanced effects such as the wormhole opening up, or the smoke coming off of the damaged ship. One of the most important effects though is the textures and designs of the ship and environment. I took a large amount of time to create the perfect environment for a space duel, space itself. I resorted to creating a “skybox” or sphere rather, and utilizing a star texture to create the background. The planets however took a lot longer to perfect. I create clouds, a moving sun, and shadows to give the planet a semi realistic feel to it.

With all of the visual effects in place, the only missing component was the sound effects. Animating in maya took a very long time, but it would have been meaningless without the sounds to accompany it. I utilized many diagenic and non-diagenic sounds to fill the atmosphere and tone created by this piece. The music and sound effects made the animation not only speed up, but created a pathos that pushed the story. As a final component, I added a voice over component to try and fill any missing story components.

https://vimeo.com/153871565