Nasa Gallery Research
Here I have gathered reference images for when I get around to the practical section of this project. This way I can ensure I mimic the textures of the planets and stars as accurately as I can. I have gathered images From Nasa's public image gallery and collated them in the galleries below. I have also analysed each gallery individually.
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This task has helped me to get an idea of how difficult the planet scenes may prove to be. In order to make this project as photorealistic as I can, I may need to use textures from Websites or google to give me the best appearance possible. However this will most likely prove to be a catastrophic issue when breaking the planets into other pieces and parts. This will be because the texture cannot be mapped onto multiple separate objects in a way that looks uniform when those objects are connected. A way that i think i could combat this is by destroying the planet by hitting it with an asteroid and using the wave of fire that covers the planet to mask the changing the texture into something procedural. A procedural texture
Nasa gallery search results for 'Sun'
In my practical work, the sun will probably be a simple light set to a really high setting. But i have gathered these images just in case the visuals don't not look as good with this method. The alternative will be to shader the sun using these reference images i have gathered, and hide lighting in other places to make the overall aesthetic better. This might be a better approach because it increases my control over the lighting and could make it significantly easier for me to increase the realism of the textures and shaders that i use. An idea that i am toying with, is to have a cross between having a bright light and a textured sphere represent the sun. In which case i could try and give the effect of a camera changing its exposure to justify the change from a light to a shader. In my opinion this would be a cool idea to implement. But it could be quite difficult to pull off.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Mercury'
I imagine Mercury will be one of the easier planets to texture, as it doesn't have any colours that i would have to get right with the lighting. On the other hand however, I may have to create a custom height map for the craters on the planet. Which could prove to be difficult. In the storyline of the film for this project, mercury will probably get used as a blunt force object to break apart other planets. This could be an issue for texturing because the texture shouldn't move on the object as the planet breaks into pieces. This would mean that i may have to hide the change in texture from one solid ball into many chunks of rock behind another planet or glare from the sun.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Venus'
The search results for Venus were interesting. I like the idea that there is a scanned texture of the entire planet that can be put on a sphere to quickly create a texture. Also, because the planet is monochrome in colour, the same texture can be used as a height map in blender by converting the colour data into black and white luminance data. Even without a scan to texture it, Venus seems at first glance to be one of the simpler planets to texture. It benefits the texturing process that Venus, like Mercury, has no clouds or atmospheric gas that moves around the planet at a different speed to the planet's rotation.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Earth'
Earth will be a very difficult planet to create a shader for. Probably the most difficult of all. Not only will i have to get the shape of the islands correct but also the colour variation across different areas of the planet. Such as the equator and the poles. Furthermore, Earth also has clouds that move at a different speed to the planet's rotation. This makes it impossible for me to download and use a premade texture, as it would lack the parallax effect that the clouds from a custom shader can provide. Overall i know that Earth's shader will take a lot of time to perfect, will probably be quite difficult to complete and will pose quite a few challenges along the way. One massive upside however, is that once i have created the texture once, i won't have to do it again. Instead i can simply import the texture into every other project file that it needs to be used in. This will apply to the shaders used for the other planets too.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Mars'
Mars will be one of the easier planets to create, as there are nowhere near as many strange shapes and abnormalities in the planet's surface. The main difficulty in this one will most likely be creating the frozen poles. But if I can make Earth, then Mars Should be a walk in the park. Mars also includes small surface imperfections that could prove to be difficult for me to create without using a texture.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Jupiter'
I imagine Jupiter will be one of the more complex planets to create in terms of providing enough detail. The overlapping swirls will be the most difficult part i imagine. However i think that once i find a technique that works, it would then just be a case of repeating it with more different colour layers on top of each other. Jupiter will definitely have to be made using shaders, as that way i can control the individual spinning swirls and rings. Furthermore, Jupiter is a gas giant planet and he destruction will probably require advanced smoke physics that will almost certainly require the college's computers to program. Let alone Render.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Saturn'
I imagine the creation of Saturn will be like a very easy version of Jupiter. Saturn's texture doesn't require any complex swirls or rings moving at different speeds. The texture is very uniform and at first glance seems simple to create. Also, Saturn will require a shader because it is a gas giant. When it comes to making the rings around Saturn, for far away shots i plan to use a circular plane with a hole in the middle and texture this plane using a similar method to the texturing on Saturn itself. But for close up shots i will probably create a ring of asteroids using particles that are set to mimic objects from a collection, and contain these particles within the volume of a torus (Doughnut).
Nasa gallery search results for 'Uranus'
I don't have much to say about the shader for Uranus, a simple diffuse shader node will do. The lighting will do the rest. However, just like Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is a gas giant planet and will need a shader for the same reasons as Jupiter: so that i can control the destruction and flow of gasses specifically to how I want it. Furthermore, there was a very limited selection of images for Uranus so I gathered as many as i can. thankfully, Uranus has a simple texture.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Neptune'
I imagine Neptune will be equally as difficult as Mars or Saturn. The only main difficulty might be the single dark spot. As node based editing doesn't like to give you one of something. Not easily at least. But i think that if i was to use some lighting tricks i could simplify the process. However it might be a better idea to create the effect using shaders so that the texture stays uniform when the planet destruction begins. On top of this. Neptune is another of the four gas giants in our solar system, meaning it will also require a shader so the destruction can be controlled specifically.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Pluto'
Pluto thankfully seems like another fairly simple planet to create. By the looks of things, it will use similar nodes and methods as Mars. I might be able to simply duplicate the material for the mars planet, change a few variables and the colours and then that would probably be all that is needed for Pluto.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Kepler'
Kepler is a planet outside our solar system. Just like Gliese and Kapteyn B it hasn't been properly photographed yet, as no satellites have reached it yet. Despite this, it is said to be a planet capable of supporting life. Which is why i chose it for one of the alien planets in my film. All i have to go off of in terms of reference images, is artists illustrations of the planet. These illustrations are what i will use to create the alien planets. In terms of creating Kepler, it seems as simple as creating land, water and clouds. I could reuse the cloud nodes from the Earth texture for this and tweak some variables. It also benefits me that there are no specific land shapes that are required as there are no photos of Kepler.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Gliese'
Gliese is another planet outside of our solar system. Just like Kepler and Kapteyn B it hasn't been properly photographed yet, as no satellites have reached it. Despite this, it is also said to be capable of supporting life. Which is why i chose it for another one of the alien planets in my film. All i have to go off of in terms of reference images, just like Kepler and Kapteyn B, is artists illustrations of the planet. These illustrations are what i will use to create the alien planets in my film. In terms of creating Gliese, it seems as simple as creating land, water and clouds. It benefits me that there are no specific land shapes that are required as there are no photos of Gliese. I will probably reuse the cloud nodes from the Earth texture for this and tweak some variables, as i will with Kepler.
Nasa gallery search results for 'Kapteyn B'
Kapteyn B is my final reference planet from outside of our solar system. It too hasn't been properly photographed yet, as no satellites have reached it. Just like Kepler and Gliese, it is said to be capable of supporting life. Which is why i chose it as the final reference for the alien planets in my film. All i have to go off of in terms of reference images, just like Kepler and Gliese, are artists illustrations of the planet. These illustrations are what i will use to create the alien planets in my film. In terms of creating Kapteyn B, it seems as simple as putting some lines and imperfections over a gradient surface, then adding some simple clouds using a noise texture and doing some fine tuning.
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Finding textures
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I have come to the conclusion that it would be significantly easier to use texture maps for the planet surfaces when the object is a whole and doesn't split into chunks. So i started researching and trying to find textures that i can use. During my research i came across a forum with an abundance of links and alternative methods to obtain or create textures of the planets in our own solar system. It also contains links to various generators and tutorials for creating randomized textures of alien planets.
One of the links from the forum above send me to a page on the NASA website that i didn't know about. This was interesting, as this page shows all the texture maps that NASA has made of the various planets in our solar system. I really like this because it is presumably the most realistic set of photos that exist. However there are some places in which this gallery lacks. One of which is the fact that it doesn't include texture maps of all the planets in our solar system. It is lacking Mercury and Uranus. Furthermore some of the textures appear incomplete and blurry. Pluto is a good example of this. The top and bottom of Pluto's texture appears stretched and blurred. This is an issue, meaning i will have to find another texture for Pluto from an alternative source. Another major issue with this gallery is the fact that the textures do not include normal maps or specular maps.
A normal map is a map similar to a texture, but it uses it's colour data to tell the computer which parts of the texture to raise or lower. A normal map won't raise or lower the topology of an object however. Instead it works with the direction of the lighting to simulate shadows on the object, giving the illusion of bumps and recesses instead of actually creating them. This is useful if you are trying to keep the vertex count low in an animation.
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A specular map is similar to a normal map. However instead of using its data to determine the height of certain areas of the texture, it uses it's data to create different amounts of roughness over different areas of the texture. For example, the blue parts of a texture could be metallic, the red parts could be plastic and the green parts could be rock. A specular map, like a normal map, works with the light in the scene to create glares and reflections on surfaces.
Mood-boards
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In this section i have attached three mood-boards that i have created to refer back to during the creation process of this project. I created these so that i could match the visual appearance with my work as best as possible.
This mood board showcases a combination of photos from my inspiration sources as well as some images from google. I intend to use this mood board when deciding how i should make the chunks of planet look during their destruction. Areas of this mood board are also useful for reference when creating the textures for waves of destruction circling the planets.
This moodboard consists of images from google that inspire ideas about the appearance of the machine that the monks will be interacting with. I really like the idea of a cyberpunk/Sci-Fi reactor core. I am also a big fan of the aesthetic of having cells and modules protruding from the machine. I plan to refer back to this when creating my machine during the practical aspect of this project.
Within this moodboard there is a collection of images of alien planets that i also got from google. I will refer to these when creating the textures for my planets. I chose a diverse set of planets to use as reference for different terrains and materials. This way i have examples of a wide range of planetary surfaces to choose from.
Solar Smash
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Above and below i have attached footage and photos of my gameplay of Solar Smash. I decided to play this game in order to study it's mechanics, art style, animation and effects. One thing i noticed throughout the gameplay was that there would often be a flash of bright light at the impact point where two objects collide. My guess is that this is used to hide a messy texture change or a bit of dodgy game mechanics. This sneaky trick wouldn't be noticed by someone who wasn't intentionally looking for tricks that the game uses. Because of this, I may use this same technique in my practical work in order to hide a messy change in texture if i need to. One thing i really liked about this game was the textures they used. The earth texture was really high quality and even had a visible atmosphere. I also really liked the textures of the destroyed planets. You can clearly see the cracks where the planet has opened up and the texture looks realistic. A very notable point about the mechanics of this game is that there is never a point where the planet splits into chunks but still retains its original texture. Every time a piece of the planet splits off from the rest, that piece uses the lava texture with the burnt up surface. After seeing this in action, i feel that attempting to split a planet in two while still keeping its texture as each piece moves individually may actually prove to be an unnecessary amount of work to achieve an unrealistic result. This will certainly affect my plans for the production process.
After considering this mechanic, I have realized that having each chunk of the planet use a destroyed lava texture would be far more realistic. This is because in reality the ozone layer around the planet would dissipate upon the planet's destruction. Therefore exposing it to the heat of the sun without protection, causing it to burn up. I don't think i would have noticed this fact if it wasn't for studying this game.
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Universe Sandbox
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Universe Sandbox is a game where you can mess around with an abundance of scenarios to do with celestial objects such as planets, suns, moons, etc. Here I have attached three videos that explore the possibilities and capabilities of this game. However the main focus in my research of this game are the visuals and aesthetics. I really like the appearance of the planets. I am a huge fan of the halo of atmosphere around them and I would like to find a way to create this in my work. Furthermore, I really like the textures used for some of the planets. One thing about this game that I noticed was that in some areas a bright light appeared when two objects collided together. My guess is that this is used in a similar way to Solar Smash, where a bright light is used to hide a change in texture or geometry. However i also noticed that this trick was used a lot less in Universe Sandbox. My guess was that this is because the game is played on a more powerful device. One advantage that my project has is that the visuals will only be rendered once into a video, rather than rendered in real time like a game. This means I can create a project that is more taxing on the render speed because the time it takes to render will not matter and won't be seen. Another feature of this game that I really liked is the diversity of objects that can be used to cause destruction. I would quite like to have this same level of diversity in my project.
Languages and font
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I have decided that the scrolling text animation in my film that provides some backstory might look cool if it had a translation into an alien language alongside it. On the left I have attached a PDF document containing the first iteration of the scrolling text itself in English. I have also attached the same text converted into three other languages and fonts. One thing to make note of however is that some of the fonts are actually more commonly used as ciphers rather than fonts. But I don't think this will affect the overall appeal of the final scrolling text animation in the film.
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The first font is called the Pigpen Cipher. The cipher is believed to be an ancient cipher and is said to have originated with the Hebrew rabbis. There is also evidence that suggests that the Knights Templar utilized a pig-pen cipher during the Christian Crusades.
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The second font is a random alien looking font that I already had sitting around somewhere in the bowels of my laptop. I don't have much to say about this other than the fact that it appears at first glance to be more complex than the Pigpen Cipher, which is something I quite like.
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The final font is the Galactic Standard Alphabet (SGA). The Standard Galactic Alphabet or SGA is used in the Commander Keen series of computer games. It was created by Tom Hall, who originally just wanted to make the writing on signs in the games look futuristic or alien. Then he realized that he could create a whole alternative alphabet and add cryptic messages throughout the games. The SGA is now used in multiple popular games including Minecraft and Quake 4.
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Out of all of these fonts and Ciphers, I think the one that most appeals to me is the SGA. This is because of its wider use in areas relating to futurism and alien intelligence. I also feel that it uses much more appealing and alien looking shapes than the other two options.
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Example Audio
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I want the audio in my film to be as good as possible and match the feel of the film as best as i can get it to. I get the impression that i will struggle to find some music that achieves this unless it was in a style similar to that of Hans Zimmer. The difficulty there is that most of the songs and music made in this style are likely to be copyrighted. My method to resolve this is to search on youtube using the 'creative commons' filter. This will allow me to find music that I am able to use freely and without copyright infringement providing it is published on YouTube.
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This orchestral atmospheric music is really cool to me, it reminds me a lot of the type of music that Hans Zimmer produces. I feel that they would work very well as background music or atmospheric music for my film. Unfortunately the collection of music in this video is copyrighted. If it wasn't, I would use this music in my film. One thing that really appeals to me about the soundtracks in this video is that they were created for a space and Sci-Fi genre. This would make them perfect for use in my film.
This video to the right is an in depth description of how space music is made. For me this method of creation is an absolute last resort. One that I almost definitely will not need to use. This video was not very helpful, but i thought i'd include it as an example of the methods I plan not to use. The complexity and difficulty of this method makes it pointless to use in a 3 minute film.
This video is a very in depth walkthrough, analysis and description of how space sound effects are made. This video covers a lot of the more Sci-Fi sounds rather than the noises that can be attributed to destruction. I probably won't end up using these. However the techniques for editing audio could prove to be useful in one way or another down the line. That is why I have attached this video.
I find this video very intriguing. This is because the audio in this video uses complete silence to create a really satisfying explosion noise. The implication here is that the initial 'boom' is actually an implosion that sucks in all sound with it and doesn't allow any sound to escape. The use of this interesting technique emphasizes the sudden surge of noise from the explosion, creating a really cool sound.
This scene is another amazing example of using silence to create a really cool effect. I really like that the pause for silence is longer than the example above. I feel that this audio combined with the distant camera angle far away from a giant object creates a sense of scale and implies that the sound takes longer to reach the camera than the light.
This video is really interesting to me as it inspires the idea to slow down and pitch shift some of the noises within it to possibly create a really cool set of cracking and breaking noises. This inspiration was only enforced when I listened to the video at 0.5 and 0.25 playback speed. With a small amount of editing, these sounds could be really cool to apply to my work, especially if combined with a lack of sound beforehand.
This is another example of some really cool sound effects created by ice. The fact that this is a glacier I think makes it sound closer to the sound a bunch of colliding asteroids would make. As with the attachment above, i think this set of sounds would be really cool after a small amount of speed and pitch shifting.
This video is more professionally shot, this makes it easier to sample the audio if I choose to. The quality of audio in this video is probably the best that i have found so far in my opinion. I really like the booms and explosion sounds. They would work really well in my film. So good in fact that I may not need to edit them. But I imagine that if I did they would work even better in my scenes.
The footage to the left is of the Beirut explosion in 2020. This footage itself is not my main focus of the video, I have attached it because it is a realistic sound of an explosion. The boom comes after the explosion itself because the sound has taken longer to reach the camera than the light. I want to mimic this in my work. However I also may choose to sample the explosion audio from this footage and edit it to better suit my work because this explosion is the closest example I have found so far to what I believe a space impact would sound like.