Animation Test

Thinking towards my final animation, and having in consideration that I am new to 3ds Max, I am performing some tests to get an idea of the things I can do to carry out the animation that I have in my head.


The following is a short animation (6 seconds) that I made of the X-Wing flying by, cockpit camera and camera following the X-Wing. I created a simple terrain (a plane transformed into an editable poly and having its vertices pulled up and down) with a grass texture and some foliage taken from 3ds Max.

This is just an example that I have used to get me started with the time frames, the cameras and the different ways of using them.


The animation is made of three different clips which I put together using Windows Movie Maker and used some sound effects to make it a bit less crappy.


The Cockpit part was recorded using the PATH CONSTRAINT tool. I made both the camera and the X-Wing follow 2 parallel lines. I needed to use this because if I simply used a free camera and moved it at the same time as the X-Wing, the beginning and the end positions were correct but the camera was being left behind during the movement.


The other two are just free cameras (did not need to use target cameras for the moment). The first one is standing still waiting for the X-Wing to pass by and the second one simply moves at the same time as the X-Wing.


I am a bit worried since I found the overall quality of the video rather low. The X-Wing is specially difficult to see at some points and I wonder if there is any way of high-lighting it. I Rendered all the clips in 800x600.