Bricks in Motion
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Hey guys!
Ok, so all day today I've been experimenting with how to animate a ship floating in outer space. I was having to much trouble green screening. So I finally resorted to doing it this way. Obviously, I made it spin WAY too fast, as I want to make it appear to be slowly drifting through space (dead in the water, so to speak). Other than that though, how's it look? too dark? absolutely terrible? Let me know! 
I like it! If it's drifting in space aimlessly, then, yea, it should probably be slower... that is, if you're following sci-fi physics. If you were doing real physics, the ship would travel at the same exact speed that the engines stopped at and drift in that direction until a force stronger than it (like gravity or an asteroid) slowed it down.
Now that you have had a lesson in real-life physics, I'd like to say, keep the sci-fi physics. 
The only problem is the lack of stars; feels more like a vast nothingness than space. I have no idea how you have this rigged up, but you could use black poster board with a lot of tiny holes in it, and a light shining from behind the poster board for stars. Just an idea, not sure if it would work. You'd also probably have to mask out whatever rig you have the ship on frame by frame in a photo editor.
Thank you both for the comments guys!
The only problem is the lack of stars; feels more like a vast nothingness than space. I have no idea how you have this rigged up, but you could use black poster board with a lot of tiny holes in it, and a light shining from behind the poster board for stars. Just an idea, not sure if it would work. You'd also probably have to mask out whatever rig you have the ship on frame by frame in a photo editor.
I agree with you there. I'm actually using a couple of black foam boards for the backdrop, so poking holes is a possibility. As to masking, I actually had to use that technique to make this clip, so that wouldn't be a problem. Might give that a try tomorrow.
The use of miniatures and a black backdrop has always been one of my favorite methods of showing space.
Greenscreen/CGI rarely looks natural, and unless done well, just can't beat the simplicity of this method.
Backyard is right, adding some starts would be nice, and that's a great way to do it. Just don't over do it.
Squid did a great job keeping the stars out of focus and subtle, so you may wanna look at that for inspiration.
Honestly, their absence gives a certain sense of emptiness and loneliness which is kinda cool, but it does leave a lot of emptiness in the frame that doesn't look appealing.
Great job on the lighting, that's a one-lamp set up right? The deep shadows look fantastic.
The movement needs to be slower and more smooth to look space-y, could you get one rig to spin the ship, and another to move the camera? When I did a similar shot in my Doctor Who film, I found moving the camera and leaving the ship still looked smoother than vice-versa.
I think a tiny bit of vertical bob might help the look
Prichard,
Thanks for the input. Yes, one lamp setup (LED booklight, actually). Squid's setup looks way brighter than mine (you can actually see the black color of the backdrop, rather than just darkness like in mine. I've been working on the star setup and hope to try some animating in an hour or so. Last night, I worked out a crazy little technic rig that allows me to slowly move the ship forward and spin it at the same time by turning a single crank. I should really post a picture of it, actually...
I think a tiny bit of vertical bob might help the look
Totally agree with you there, though how to accomplish that is beyond me...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ3xg8JFflw
Your welcome
W-O-W 
I actually have all the pieces to make that! Filming right now with my improved original rig. I'll post a link to the new clip once it's done.
Am I on the right track?
I think it's a lot better than my first attempt, but it still needs a little work. For one thing, I need a bigger backdrop (hence the mysterious disappearance of stars towards the right end of the screen). Also, you may notice the masking is a tad sloppy at one point, as this is still just a test. As Prichard said, it would probably look a lot better if the stars were out of focus (again, I need a bigger backdrop).
Last edited by Brickcrazy (January 26, 2015 (08:41am))
That was is way better, it really looks like it's drifting
This second test is pretty good, you have improved some aspects from the first one. But I would add a camera movement in order to give the viewer the feeling that is floating in the space too.
Looks fantastic, great improvement on an already great clip!
My only gripe now would be the camera angle. I feel it doesn't look right being basically level with the ship.
If it was further down, or higher up and looking down, it would show more of the ship and give it a better sense of floating in three planes, rather than just a straight-on right-to-left movement. Although having several shots of the ship would solve that problem, and having one shot like this would be just fine.
One last tip, I'm sure you'll be using several angles for the space scenes, so be sure to use several extreme close-ups. The closer you can get, the bigger the ship seems, and the easier it is to sell the scale involved. That also allows you to focus so close that the background is guaranteed to be out of focus.
Thank you all very much for the encouraging comments and helpful input. I'll be sure to keep all of them in mind as I continue filming.
This second test is pretty good, you have improved some aspects from the first one. But I would add a camera movement in order to give the viewer the feeling that is floating in the space too.
I think that sounds like a cool possibility. I'll have to do some more experimenting...
Looks fantastic, great improvement on an already great clip!
My only gripe now would be the camera angle. I feel it doesn't look right being basically level with the ship.
If it was further down, or higher up and looking down, it would show more of the ship and give it a better sense of floating in three planes, rather than just a straight-on right-to-left movement. Although having several shots of the ship would solve that problem, and having one shot like this would be just fine.One last tip, I'm sure you'll be using several angles for the space scenes, so be sure to use several extreme close-ups. The closer you can get, the bigger the ship seems, and the easier it is to sell the scale involved. That also allows you to focus so close that the background is guaranteed to be out of focus.
The straight-on angle was due to the fact that my backdrop was too small. I got a larger one yesterday, which should make everything much better.
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