Maya SpaceShip: Practise

I spent time trying out the tools of Maya to create a space ship to help me when i start recreating the ships for my animation. This is useful as it allows me to experiment with tools before having to use them in the creation of my models

To keep pieces identical i have used the mirror tool, but i have found that this only works well with one polygon, objects consisting of more than one polygon cant be moved together, which can cause problems if I wanted to change where I originally place the object.

I have created separate models apart from my main model so i will be able to add them to my ship at my leisure, this can be helpful because I can keep an initial copy that i can make adjustments to and copy them to place on my ship model.

I have experimented on adding shapes within another shape to create an illusion that it is being held within it.

For this thruster I have used bevels and extrudes to create a throttle shape.

I have added all the parts i have created together to make a rough design of how i wanted my ship to look like.

I have changed the body of my ship to look more similar to the ships on my mood board.

Mood Board

To help me prepare for creating 3D models on Maya 2017 I made a mood board of ships to get various ideas of what details there are.

Story Board

I have made a story board to help me plan out my 30 second animation.

In my animation the main character ship is chased by two enemy ships. After narrowly avoiding enemy fire, the ship does a barrel roll to get behind the pursuing ships and fires two rockets blowing up the enemy ships. The animation ends with the main character ship flying away.

For this scene I plan to have a panning shot of the main subject. I have chosen a pan as it draws attention to the ship

The next scene will widen the shot bringing into focus the main subjects pursuers. This allows the viewer to realize that the ship is being chased as the pursuers appear behind the main ship. 

Next scene adds a sense of danger and urgency. The shot goes to a view next to the pursuers as they fire at the chased ship.
I chose this camera angle as it gives the viewer the perspective of the pursuers leading to the next shot.

The next scene will have the main ship disappear from the pursuers view momentarily adding suspense.

Then the camera will go back to the perspective of the main ship pulling an evasive maneuver to get behind the pursuers allowing the audience to realize where the ship went.

The ship fires two missiles and blows up the pursuers.
I chose this shot for the finale as it shows the outcome of the chase clearly. the main ship flying away and the pursuers exploded.