Kerbal Space Program Fan animation/trailer

[MCWopper]

I have created a Full 3D animation to promote Kerbal Space Program.

Sketchfab models.(the textures are being buggy and I could not find a way to fix it. And for some reason some of the thumbnails don't work ether. sorry about that)

The making off:

This animation was made using:

3ds max

After effects

Premiere pro

Photoshop

Kerbal Space Program

Paint

The story:

I am an student in 3D modeling and animation. I started this project in the last 2 months of my internship as there weren't any new assignments coming until August.

Because of this I suggested that I would create a personal project whiles still following the companies procedures. Although at first my boss was a bit skeptical as he didn't think there was enough time to finish it.

That however did not hold me back, and I started immediately.

Because I'm a 3D modeler and animator, I did not want to import the ingame models as that would kind of defeat the point.

Instead I used the game as a reverence on a second monitor as I modeled every part present in the animation.

I also created the kerbal engineer to be the character in this animation.

The following is a day by day breakdown of the production process.

Day 1(May 13)

I spent most of my time creating the rocket in ksp so that I had a base to work from.

The design is based on the kerbal x. It has been adjusted to have a bit more part variation and make it more appealing to the eye.

I also started modeling the rocket.

Day 2(May 14)

I continued modeling the rocket and made some early renders of what i had completed.

The only parts missing are the landing gear, mainsail engine, ladders, launch stabilizers and the winglets.

Day 3(May 15)

I finished off the rocket and started work on the launchpad.

and here a comparison between game and model.

Day 4(May 16)

It was a bit of a slow day, I only slept for 3 hours so productivity was sort of low.

Anyway today I finished the launchpad by adding the pipes, roads, fuel tower, fuel sphere, fuel cylinders and the flag.

Day 5(May 17)

Started working on the space plane hanger. But I went home early because the piece of **** computer at work could not handle it anymore.

however I did managed to make some progress.

Day 6 and 7(May 18 May 19)

Day 8(May 20)

I put the finishing touching on on the space plane hanger.

To make it all pretty like

Day 9(May 21)

Stared and completed the outside of the Vehicle assembly building.

Day 10(May 22)

Moddeled the inside of the Vehicle assembly building. and also added the lighting to the scene.

Day 11(May 23)

Did a render test to see how long the render would take. Panic was the only course of action as the render time would take a week longer then expected.

To ensure that I could finish on time I increased my work time from 8 hours a day to 15 hours a day for the rest of the animation process.

This day was also texturing day.

I managed to finish the launchpad, environment, spaceplane hanger and the vehicle assembly building.

Day 12(May 24)

Today I created all the texturing for the rocket.

I also made a collection of the textures of every part in the dropbox link below.(there are like 40 images in there)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/492m0b65j63qy47/8KLYyTjDa_

Day 13(May 25)

So today it was time for character animation. And this was a whole new subject that I had 0 experience in.

And it did not go so well at first. I started with the head and version 5 finally satisfied me. I also started on the body.

Day 14(May 26)

Finished of the character and also added the bone structure.

Day 15(May 27)

Being new to the rigging and skinning of characters. The process took a bit longer then expected.

However I did managed to get it all working correctly.

Day 16(May 28)

First day of animation. Because of procedure I had to wait for the models to be approved before I could animate. However the character was already approved so I started creating a walk cycle.

I also designed the blueprints to be used in the animation.

Day 17(May 29)

Continued to animate and also rendered out some shots that would not be visible in the final animation.

Day 18(May 30)

I made some small adjustments to the animation and started rendering.

For the render I used my own home pc(I7 3770k, 2way-sli gtx 670, 16gb ram) and the 4 render pc we have at work for smaller projects (normally we hire a render farm but because its a non profit project the full render farm was a no go.)

and I used the computer at which I work on at work.

I also started editing a lo res version so that I could replace the hd version and be done.

Day ???(June 16)

The render was done and I replaced the low res footage with the hd version and made some small adjustments.

Today the animation was done.

I hope you have enjoyed the read and I would love to hear what you think

Edited July 10, 2013 by MCWopper

[stabbing_robot]

****in' amazing.

Will you be releasing assets?

[TriggerAu]

I am well impressed. The animation flows well, the audio is great using the in-game sounds. Makes me want to go play the game, and I'm guessing that was the point. Job well done!

Loving the quality of the renders and especially the blueprint plan and the last few with the VAB and the spare parts, is just how I imaging the Kerbal building process.

[Mekan1k]

Dude- Squad should hire you.

[The Destroyer]

AWESOME.

Man, that was great.

[MCWopper]

****in' amazing.

Will you be releasing assets?

not sure. I am working on adding sketchfarm preview models to this page. however I'm having problems with textures loading.

[SuperWeegee4000]

All of my yes. Please take it.

[rewdew2]

HOW DO PEOPLE KEEP GETTING 3D models of all the game assets!?!?!?!

[Capt'n Skunky]

HOW DO PEOPLE KEEP GETTING 3D models of all the game assets!?!?!?!

They make them from scratch.

Love the work and so do the devs!

Cheers!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[Aetherdyne]

Good job. I am also a 3d artist, though mostly in my spare time, so I'm always interested to look at other's work. I especially liked that you got the Kerbal walk down pretty well.

Though I haven't gotten my own project (a teaser for a video series) very far along yet, I've nearly gotten my Kerbal modeled, at least.

[Needles_10]

How did you...

[RocketTurtle]

Wow... that was *cries* beautiful. Have some rep.

EDIT: Also could you maybe have a download for the Kerbal?

EDIT EDIT: Ohh! Since these are your own models you should upload them to Shapeways for people to buy!

Edited July 3, 2013 by RocketTurtle

[rewdew2]

Good job. I am also a 3d artist, though mostly in my spare time, so I'm always interested to look at other's work. I especially liked that you got the Kerbal walk down pretty well.

Though I haven't gotten my own project (a teaser for a video series) very far along yet, I've nearly gotten my Kerbal modeled, at least.

<image snip>

Oh please let's let the pro's set in. (i'll let you know if one get's here)

but then again... i have been working on all the stuff you see there for a few months.

[iBotz]

Freaking awesome man! A little CC here, it looks like your assets are picking up color from the grass and giving it a greenish tint I'm not sure how 3DSmax handles it, but in the program I use (modo), I would make the grass material only visible to camera and not to reflections/refractions. But overall, the detail in your modeling and is sweet! 9/10!

[RocketTurtle]

Ah, a coughing fit! *Cough* Shapeways *cough*. *Cough* Download *cough*.

[-Gamah]

Welp, if you aren't on squad staff within the year, I will be legitimately disappointed...

[rewdew2]

Welp, if you aren't on squad staff within the year, I will be legitimately disappointed...

Well here's the thing

you never know where life will take you.

Sometimes you go where you want, sometimes your life takes a turn for the worse.

Sometimes you make better content that the original producers of it. (in which case you might get hired, or asked to stop)

[AustralianFries]

Congrats on getting in the newest KSP weekly.

[kerbo]

I really hope it is okay that I save 2 of the pictures. They will make great desktop backgrounds.

[palker]

Great work I cannot believe how fast you finished the rocket model.

[rewdew2]

Wait.. two whole months two render 1 minutes and 13 seconds?

Going nights (8 hours) for 60 days. Thats like 5 (considering you did two renders) minutes for one frame...

[GJames]

Wait.. two whole months two render 1 minutes and 13 seconds?

Going nights (8 hours) for 60 days. Thats like 5 (considering you did two renders) minutes for one frame...

HD renders do take quite a while...

[Raptor831]

Just have to say, that was a great trailer! And I love the ending. So Kerbal...

[Rareden]

nicely done, i presume you used vray for the renderer judging by the sky, hdri lighting map would have worked well with that

HD renders do take quite a while...

depends on your machine and render settings.

[TaranisElsu]

Very nice. And I loved the ending