New uperstage spacecraft

[bentothemax]

Hi,

 

As some of you know . . . my dad works at NASA, and for a project they are doing, my dad asked me to do an animation of how the ship would unfold once in low earth orbit. I can't post the animation becuase i dont have a website,

 

This picture however is going to be used on a poster for NASA. NASA headquarters saw my video and so did alot of people in my dads group, and i got alot of good comments (im not bragging just wanted to share)

 

here it is . . . i dont know what it's name is, but its gonna help people go to Mars

[OdinsEye2k]

Looks like a Crew Exploration Vehicle to me.

 

Very cool, Ben. I also like the design - I think your dad's group is looking very much in the right direction.

 

As a small crit, it may be worth making the clouds more opaque in some places to add reality to the earth - really cover up some land. I really like the pattern in the clouds though (the perpetual low pressure over Seattle - heh, rain city).

[Ed Doyle]

What an exciting thing for a young person to be involved in. I think your work is terrific.

Good luck to you . You're young enough by far to see a manned mission to Mars. At 69 years of age that's not likely for me, but I'm still hoping.

 

Ed Doyle

[Mr. Jaqe]

"My animation will be used by NASA, but I don't want to brag about it"?!

 

Remember to mention that it was done in Animation:Master, it'll be great publicity

 

Nice pic, how did you do the atmosphere? Two layers, one with high transparency and one with glow or...? However, isn't Mars a bit close, or did I miss something? Are we colliding?

[bentothemax]

Well . . . Mars is close because for the common person to be able to see the spacecraft pointed in the general direction of Mars.

 

 

Mr doyle . .. you might see one yet . . . in around 2014 were going back to the moon, then based on that mission, the plans for mars are around 2021 . . . i think.

 

Thank you for the comments

 

I had 3 spheres for the earth, one for the earth, one for clouds, and one for the glow of the atmoshpere. The glow is done with a 3 layer gradient, which i could post up if anyone is interested. The clouds are done with an enhance AM fbm plugin. (took me a while to figure those out)

 

Ben

[higginsdj]

Ahhh - so you are going to compete with Maas are you. Maas' animations are reasonable but a little too 'clinical' for my liking - but that could be a NASA requirement

 

My only real concern with the image is the proximity of Mars to Earth. If we were that close we'd be travelling there daily I'd also recommend softening the edge of Mars just a little. It doesn't have much atmosphere - but it does have some.

 

What type of engines are those? The housing for them doesn't look big enough. Are they Ion drives? If so the 'exhaust' should be much bluer. The small solar panels should be slightly reflective and the pattern no quite so obvious. Are the big panels additional solar panels? If so then they need the same texture/treatment as the small ones. Also the base of the bell shaped engine port looks too small. Considering the trust that these 'main engines' produce they would fall off.

 

The main capsule seems to be only 1/2 textured and the surface seems to be a little too rough though who knows what new surfacing options NASA are developing (well your Dad probably does )

 

Cheers

[Mr. Jaqe]

Ben, I am very interested in knowing how you created your earth, so post away!

[bentothemax]

all of the black pannels are radiators to distribute the heat . . . the engine is nuclear electric hybrid, the thrust is very low, only about 8 pounds i think for each thruster, but it builds up over time.

 

The reason half of the capsul is texured is beyond me . . . thats just what my dad said 2 do i'll fill in more later . . . but now its time for dinner <_>

[OdinsEye2k]

I think that the texturing is meant to be the high-heat reentry shield:

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/1534782.html

 

I really hope NASA gives metallic shield a try this time around. It should be easier to install and more durable than the Shuttle tiles (although there are the so-called TUFI tiles that should boost their strength).

 

There's a weight and maximum heating hit you take (which is why they did the tiles to begin with - no matter how much NASA gets mocked for their decisions they are often quite intelligent for the time), but I think enhanced re-usability should be the goal this time. Go easy and go often.

[Kamikaze]

Looks really great!!! hope you find a way to post your animation, won't Hash put it on their animation site?

 

looking forward to more,

Michael

[bentothemax]

I'm thinking i'll put it up on the videos site . . . if i can. I'll post the link here when im done.

 

I might be able to but it in my sbc yahoo dsl breifcase thing, then post the link. I have 610 megs so i think thats pretty good . . .

[bentothemax]

http://www.geocities.com/ghorvat@sbcglobal.net/Homepage.html

 

save the link under "my favorite links" that says download spaceship animation

 

 

 

 

Thats my animation for the mostpart

 

Ben

[bentothemax]

Edit: I wasn't supposed to put that up yet . . .i will when it gets approved . . . if it does

 

Srry, my dad says it most likely will get approved, but he wants to wait so you guys dont get a full sneak preview

 

Ben

[dreamin3d]

Hey Ben,

 

That's really cool. Glad you are in a position to use your talent.

 

BTW. I live in Virginia near a NASA facility. In fact my Grandfather worked in the Apollo Space Program there.

 

Good stull, keep it up,

Rob

[Nycer]

Very impressive, Ben. Congratulations and keep up the great work.

[bentothemax]

ok, heres an update.

 

My dad is at a conferance in Tuscon, where my image is on a 8x10 curtain. ( i rendered it out again at 5000 by somthing pixels . . . i forgot, but its huge) The final image, slightly altered by NASA with some words and stuff, is about 11 megs

 

 

here is a little chor with all of the atmosphere stuff in it. You can change where you see the atmosphere and where you dont, by chaning the position of the bottom gradient in the material. Its hard to explain, but play around with it to see what i mean

 

Ben

Atmosphere.zip

[agep]

Thanks Ben By the way, Congrats, It must be cool knowing that NASA is using your stuff