CompuServe Thread

/* 1. Begins in darkness 2. Approaches a light source 3. The light source becomes Galaxies 4. Fly into and through a Galaxies 5. Stars/Solar Systems Appear 6. Fly into and through our Solar System 7. Fly by Saturn, Jupiter and other known planets 8. Fly into our Earth 9. Fly through Clouds 10. Fly into Ground */ You can get 1-7 by recording Star Trek Next Generation opening sequence. <ducking> Sorry I had to throw that out there. 🙂 -dave

Robert Yes this is Very advanced. 1. you posted on Animator forum I assume that Ani Pro is what you have to work with 2. You said you "need" to do this I assume either your boss or a client has requested this treatment. I assume that means you also have a dead line & budget "need" is a strong word 3. Simular treatments appears on TV a lot I assume you want to duplicate look. – As in Hyper Real Resolution – 4. You didn't state whether deliverable is digital .FLC or video tape (format) or other 5. you didn't state playtime My conculsion is you are probably hosed. [ I could be wrong] I am not trying to be wise ass [ been there – tried that – got hosed!} So First question – what are production values? equals the "look" = time & money If High – like you want the ultimate fly in [60 seconds + – lots of detail & effects -24 bit color – D3 or D5 fields etc.] – you are going to need stuff that they keep locked up at ILM – bail out now! medium ok realism – this is very broad range you probably need 3D studio – lots of help and and some serious time & money there are meshes available of solar system and earth beware – do not try to do this in one monster mesh. As good as 3DS is, I do not think the entire universe will fit in single file. try tape TV fly in – then slow mo or single frame. Key is smooth cuts & fades. Jump cuts will give viewers air sickness. one problem – where do you plan on crashing on earth? effects amount of detail as you come down – unless you have lots of time and $ I recomend aiming at featureless desert or ocean. The faster you fly the less detail you have to build – sort of. low productions values looks may look like cartoon, or with more work pretty OK – you may get by with Ani Pro there are some nifty galixies that are in library rendered by Ed K using particle system – I don't know how he feels about letting you use them – won't hurt to ask – he's good guy best zooms work by making big picture – the shrinking – play backwards – other way you get chunky pixels – try it once planets use Lgrad I use clip art or other programs art/paint if I need detail – then fly cels around Better yet – how much time do you have to spend on this – one day , one week, one month, one year? plan 8 hr work for days – then expect to work 16 hr days do you have help – how much? how much equipment? how much experience do you have? good luck (really) let us know how things go. Dave