Get a sense of the universe.
This short film documentary project aims to deliver a sense of the breathtaking scale of our universe. The film has been created completely in 3D and in association with Melodysheep’s soundtrack, by permission of the author.
Going from smaller to larger, viewers will explore moons, planets, stars and galaxies, together with numeric, science backed data to aid on giving the most info with every shot.
Believing is seeing.
The target of this project is to realistically represent every element of our universe that the viewers will be exploring, in order for them to get the most true to life perception possible.
For this reason, an extensive and detailed work on research, texturing, lightning and rendering was carried out, staying true to real scientific data about each and every element portrayed in the film, from trusted sources like NASA, ESA, and lectures from certified authorities on the field.
As real as we can get.
Creating space scenes is as complex as flexible. One can only imagine the kinds of celestial bodies that exist in the vast universe. In this way, I can let my creativity roam free and literally give birth to fictional planets that may exist out there.
On the other hand tho, we humans are making great progress on universe research each day. This means that we already know many locations where there are stablished rules, looks and measurements.
In order to get a film as realistic as possible I have to pay special attention to the way I fine tune my 3D modeling, texturing and VFX, since the combination of every technique can result in life-like scenes, or in complete chaos.
Base model
This is the basic 3D shape which will serve as our base model.
Base texture and heightmap
This layer contains the base texture with each planet landscape, as well as a heightmap to help achieve a more realistic and detailed look, specially in close up shots.
Extra effects layers
In this step I take into consideration wether the element under construction has any extra effects needed. For example, here the Earth needs to have some clouds, while another celestial body like the Moon doesn't.
Atmosphere layer
Similar to clouds, I must first take into consideration wether this layer should exist at all. I usually refer to scientific data to make sure I stay true to real life scenarios.
Lightning
Lightning must be represented realistically, depending on the location we are creating and how the light sources are affecting such location.
Background skybox
To wrap it up, I add background skybox extracted directly from NASA's official website.
