Final - building the project.

To start off this project, I started with the missile. It was a few simple shapes, grouped together. A cone, and a couple cylinders. The back part, the engine was extruded in.




The ground was created using two CV curves and then a planar surface on the two. I re sized it, and used a select by component to distort and change the terrain of the ground. Using a desert texture found on google, I mapped the image to the surface.

The mushroom cloud was a long process to create. To start off I used a CV cure and created a basic outline of the cloud shape. The curve was then revolved to create the basic shape. Resizing, and using select by component I reshaped the cloud at various locations on the timeline, setting a key frame at each significant change.
I used a cloud texture, and changed the colors of it on the object, to give the explosion a more realistic look.
Also applied a fire particle effect to the cloud, making it diminish as the cloud died out. On top of this I used a fluid effect, creating a 3d box around the cloud. I resized the box with the cloud to keep the effect contained.

Next, a large nurbs sphere was created surrounding everything. A cloudy night sky image was applied to the material to created a more realistic background, and finishing the setting.

Lastly, was the camera work. I used a camera, aim and up, moving to a desired location and setting a key frame. To make the video seem more dynamic I had zooms and pan ins/outs, and swooped it around and under the explosion.

Final - Story board

Final Proposal

For the final I am creating a missile dropping, and the explosive aftermath.

Animation fixes

fixed the pivot point

Animating the Midterm

Now that the main components are complete it is time to animate. You may be asking wheres the target. That was just a simple square primitive placed at the end of the field. I did run into one problem though. I couldn't figure out why my image of a target wouldn't map to the surface correctly. This is something that I will eventually figure out, but I ran out of time to deal with this small problem, so I just made a circle primitive and placed it on the square.

I started out at frame 1 with the arrow up taught and ready to go. I then set a few key frames pulling the arrow and string back to fully taught the arrow and bow. It holds for a moment and then launches into the target. This was done but a few key frames, one at the point where the arrow is ready and then one at the end in the target. Using a few more key frames and adjusting the angle I made the around move up and done.

I have two videos, same thing, just different camera angles.

The Bow

Creating the bow was a tricky task. I going into it had to idea how I was going to make it. To be blunt I pretty much went in winging it. So I though what is the basic shape of a bow? It is just a bent cylinder, right? So I went ahead and created a cylinder. Now the hard part, making it bow, to turn it into a bow. with much fiddling around with different options I pressed the right click options, and on the pop up menu was Edge. I though well maybe this will actually let me grab portions of the cylinder. It did and I was able to select a portion of the top and bend it in, and the same on the bottom. The center portion, I selected and pulled out. This created a bow like object that I needed.

The string of the bow was created by using a 3 Part Arc. Started at the top end of the bow, one in the center and ended at the bottom. I then copied the curve and moved it slightly next to the original. The two curves where lofted together, and the origin curves deleted. It its very difficult to see the string in the picture, nut I assure you it is there.

To add another touch to the bow, I made a loft for the arrow to be placed on, so the archer has easy support keeping the arrow steady. It was made with a simple square primitive.

Update and Screen Shots

Creating the arrow, was easy enough. The shaft was created using a cylinder, the quills using a square. To add the angle on the quills, I needed to extrude on face and then expand it out at an angle. These where then copied and distributed in a row. These rows themselves where then copied again and placed where the needed to be to get the standard three areas of quills of an arrow. They where then colored, 2 red and one white ( to allow the archer to know what quill faces out.)

The arrow head was created using a pyramid polygon primitive. It was flatten and stretched out a bit to make it more of an arrow shape. To make the are look more organic, I first used extrude on the back face and pulled it out ( the part that connects to the shaft). Did this a few times making it smaller each time. After I got it to where I wanted it, I used the Smooth command to make it look less ridged, and more like a hand craved arrow head.

To add to the look of the arrow, I added a butt to it with notches, so the bow string can have something to grip onto when pulling the arrow back. this was done with a rectangle, and extruding a small portion, then coping and reversing to get to even sides. I then attached them to a small cylinder and placed ot at the back end of the arrow.