FINDING A NEW HOME:
Habitat Loss Caused by Climate Change
For my honors capstone, I decided to create a short 3-D animation using the software program Maya. As this was a solo project, I spent some time working on this from September 2021 until April 2023. From drawing the storyboard to rendering each frame, I enveloped myself in the 3-dimensional moving imagery.
elements
3D Modeling
Rigging
Storyboard
Animating
Rendering
Music Score
Climate change considerably affects humans, but it is easy to forget how it also affects the other neighbors that share this planet with us: wildlife. In 2022, due to climate change, summer temperatures rose to a high record in certain areas and have caused wildfires to set off more easily. Wildfires can force people close to the vicinity to move out and relocate themselves. That means the wildlife who live there may also have to find a new home.
This capstone explores this concept in a short 3-D animation where a fox sees and lives through the effects of climate-induced wildfire. In this visual narrative, all audiences immerse themselves in his journey and the decisions he makes. The project, therefore, creates a connection that is easier to relate to or empathize with. After seeing this animation, it is easy to see how climate change induces the loss of habitat to animals and not just humans. One must be mindful that this planet is not just ours, but it is theirs too.
Scroll down to learn more about the process of creating this animation
The Creative Process
This honors capstone can be divided into 4 main sections shown below from how it started, developed, and came to life.
1
Modeling & Rigging
When I first realized that I wanted to do a 3-D animation regarding foxes, I knew that modeling the fox would be the first challenge. I sketched out the front and side of the fox and created the model of Maya based on the drawings. I then added a pre-made rig which had to be tweaked and modified to work with my fox. Once that was done, I worked on modeling the scenery.
2
Storyboard
This next part, I took a break from the computer and worked on the overall story and getting the message across. With my sketchbook, I started sketching possible keyframes. And after a few revisions, I had my final storyboard. The image to the left shows part of the storyboard.
3
Animating
With my storyboard complete, it was time to create an animatic. An animatic is like a rough draft that plans the animation. Once I finished the animatic, I was ready to animate on Maya.
I started with animating key poses my fox would need to do like running and jumping. Afterward, following the storyboard and animatic, I worked with animating and camera placement. After some time, everything was done on the Maya side.
4
Rendering/Final Touches
After animating came rendering. And it is important to note how time-consuming this can be. It can take a long time to render just one frame or one short scene. And sometimes, I would have to rerender if a scene did not turn out how I wanted. However, once all the scenes were rendered, I could put it all together on AfterEffects.
On AfterEffects, I also added the title of my short animation and the ending credits. I then went and searched for free sound effects to use. However, I knew the background music was something I would struggle with, so I composed a piano piece to go with the animation and played and recorded it. With that, everything was done, and the honors capstone was complete.
