Stirling Engine Animation Case Study
The purpose of this project was to create a high quality animation that informed the viewer how a Stirling engine functions. My own personal goals for this project was to create high quality metallic textures, rig a mechanical device and create something with educational appeal expanding simply from entertainment media.
Like all projects, this one started with gathering references and inspiration
After gathering ideas and information about Stirling engines I had created a rough idea of how to create a storyboard to present the information to the audience.
With preproduction out of the way it was time to start production and create the base mesh. Overall the process went smoothly, there were some small issues with 5 poles on the fly wheel spokes creating artifacts during subdivision, but after moving them further back and creating some supporting loops I was able to redirect the topology.
After creating a solid base mesh, the engine was brought into substance painter where textures were created. Focus was kept on a realistic metallic feel by creating anisotropy reflections. Next the engine was rigged for animation by creating a series of parent and point constraints to locators allowing the pistons to rotate around the crank shaft. A constraint switch needed to be animated to allow for an exploded view of the engine and still have the rig system functional to move after the engine recombined.
Additional shaders were created and animated to allow the x-ray or transparent view giving the audience a look inside the engine as it functioned as well as providing a transition for the hot and cold visual aids. After the creation and animation of a motor and light the project was rendered and exported to compositing software where the voiceover was recorded and the final animation was made.