Dimensions

by Behzad Salami

Download the MOVIE

Due to Compression, resolution is reduced

Content

 1:   Introduction
 2:   Tools
 3:   Models
 4:   Camera
 5:   Comments
 6:   Screen Shots

            Introduction:

    This project represents something I was always curious to know, what happens after you enter a black hole, do you tear apart to individual atoms and then regenerate in another dimension or do you just become one with the fabric of the universe. I imagined we would enter another dimension if we only had a spaceship that would resist the force of gravity. Well, here is the result. In the process of planning I had the opportunity to poke at a few animation software such as 3D Studio max revision 5, Bryce 5, Poser 4 and Ulead VideoStudio 5. After a careful analyze i decided to use Bryce 5 because it gave me the freedom to create not only scenery but also objects which i can use to create more complex models.

            Tools:

    I used Bryce 5 to do all my modeling, animating and rendering. Bryce 5 is an excellent tool and easy to use. At the beginning Bryce seemed irritating because of it's many buttons that are too small and out of reach but once you practice with it, u find hot keys are available and very useful. Also i used Ulead VideoStudio 5 for sound , merging of video files and compression. I was lucky I had previous knowledge of this program and I was able to add sounds in no time.            

            Models:

    It is quite difficult to create a model in Bryce if u don't know that you are able to create lattices using the Terrain manipulator, you can create amazing shapes even by playing around with the settings. The spaceship is composed of nothing but a 4 Spheres. The wings are spheres that are squeezed together and using the Terrain settings you are able to change the shape of your object by selecting fractal and eroded settings. The spaceship has 2 separate wings which are identical, each is formed out of 1 Sphere, the center part of the ship is a sphere which is stretched to form a egg shape. With built in textures I was able to design a realistic but still a futuristic spaceship.

 Click on Thumbs to enlarge to full quality

The Wings	The Process
Spaceships Body	The Ship

            Camera:

    One of my major difficulties was the camera motion, I used frame keying to tween motion but what I did not know and I had to learn the hard way that tweening is not always done smoothly. I used to second key framing to keep the animation smooth and in the second scene coming out of the volcano i used 5 frames for each key, i found that i could control smaller object with more more key frames that large objects. Camera in an animation is extremely important and the human eye can detect any small jerky or wobbling movement. I paid great attention to make my animation as smooth as possible.

            Comments:

    I must say that I enjoyed doing this project and I like to start by thanking all the people that encouraged me in the process. Special thanks to Kambiz (my bro) who can't stop with his amazing creativity and Sanaz (my girl) who offered me computing power with her pc. Overall this was a great experiment and I hope I will use my knowledge gained in my future career. One advise I would give the future 3P98 student is START YOUR ANIMATION EARLY.

            Screen Shots           

                  (click to enlarge Thumbnail)