OK, so I scrapped my ship design and rebuilt it from scratch.  I’m happier with the new design, and now I’ve started animating new camera moves for this scene.
This is a screen shot showing the current state of the Earth model in Maya, as well as the ship, sans particles for engine flames…

Click the image below for a larger version – it will open in a new window.

Here’s a quicky render to check the camera move with a semi-textured earth in the shot.  Work continues full-speed ahead…

[EDIT: Video removed]

This is a note for Suzanne… Just a reminder that we discussed the fact that I would be working on scene 1 this semester for both Professional Project 1 and Self-Directed 1. (Research and implementation of particle systems and dynamics for self study, the rest of the scene, i.e. compositing and any tracking to fall under Professional Project 1).

Scenes 2,3 and 4 contain live-action footage (shooting this weekend) and post-production will be done next semester.

Here is a “quick and dirty” playblast of the camera move for the first scene, including a trail of “bubbles” to indicate the smoke and debris trail behind the ship.  Work continues on the modelling of the ship and this entire scene will be completed in Maya and composited in Shake.

[EDIT:  Video removed]

I have been pretty busy with 3D modeling tasks for this project, and I’ve been studying up on various aspects of particles and dynamics systems in Maya.  At the moment I am experimenting with some fire and smoke particle systems in 3D – I will be posting some screen shots and some small test clips and so on in the next week or two.  I may even have some storyboards ready to post…