Logan Woodward
Logan Woodward
Project 1: Planet Animation
2/17/2022
All Videos
All Videos
Treasure (Wire)
Treasure (Final)
Planets: Stage 4 (Final)
Stage 4
The End Of The World As We Know It
(Final Animation)
This stage had the most changes and took the most time. I decided to add it all into a single stage due to this magnitude and a desire to not diminish the significance of the other changes I made before.
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During this stage:
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I added back the colors to the planets that were stripped in the earlier stages (I thought this was a very necessary and overdue change)
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I added a background to the animation (I did this by adding 3 flat rectangular cubes below and behind the planets, and I colored these cubes black to emulate the vacuum of space)
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I added and colored a cute little animation of the sun activating with two keys to become a giant cannon laser to destroy all the planets.
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Stage 3
Rhythm Is Right
(Setting the tone/ Music)
This stage was a big inspiration for the direction of this animation. I added music to this stage. This stage consisted of both adding music, and adjusting the music to sync up to the rotation of the planets. This music was taken from a YouTube link:
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and converted to mp3 using this software:
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Youtube Link to MP3 Converter​
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and converted from mp3 to AIFF (Audio File expected by Maya) using this software
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Although this process was complicated to look at, it was not long to implement. I originally manually tried to record to audio, but this led to many issues in quality and sound. This process was smooth and efficient for actually getting the quality I was looking for. The biggest issue was that I needed to adjust the music within Maya itself (starting time), but once I figured that out using this short video provided on the Maya forum regarding this function.
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Go to 5:33 in this video, and this is how I learned about the Trax editor, which is an incredibly intuitive way adjusting sound starting time in Maya.
On a side note, during this stage, I decided that this would be a good time to convert all of my cubes into spheres, and this reset all of their color, and some of their size properies. All these issues
Stage 2
Taking Maya for a Spin
(Changing Orbit)
This section is where things got interesting.
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I began by doing my first change, and changing the rotations of the planets in Maya. I did not want to try anything too crazy until I really felt comfortable with the technology. I got a solid grasp of both Key Frames, and the actually process of animating using this stage. The results are not super interesting to look at because at the end of the day, it is just some planets with some whacky intersecting orbits.
Stage 1:
Coming Out Of The Gates Swinging
(Finishing Tutorial)
This stage was me following the tutorial, I did not take any creative liberties up to this point because I did not want to mess up the technology before I could even begin. This is a group of several cubes (cubes were recommended by tutorial in order to see the planet/moon stationary rotations better) orbiting in unison pace around the Sun. They are colored based on the colors suggested by the tutorial.
