Poltergeist Design

This is the poltergeist, or rather, it shows several poltergeists. The suit has a celestialite core in it’s chest which functions like a second heart, pumping energy throughout the rest of it and allowing the person inside it to perform supernatural feats of agility and strength, as well as powering their technology. I did three versions as I wanted to demonstrate the effect colour and texture has on the suit as I carried forward ideas from my initial designs earlier. The middle suit is more metallic, like armour – whereas the red suit to the right features two textures – a matte red metal for protection combined with a red, insulating material such as aerogel that helps keep him warm in space. The suit to the left is void of texture for comparison.

Nightmare Design

This is the design for the alien. I did away with facial features almost entirely. It has no eyes, but a large mouth. There is a distinctive difference in texture between it’s softer belly and the rest of it’s body, which is scaled – I used a photo texture of a snake’s underside. It also has a line of bristles or spikes down it’s spine. It has spikes along it side that could be used to function like legs on a centipede, helping it I think this design is better in tune with the roots I wanted to draw from and resembles what I set out to create more accurately.

The Moon

Featured is the crack through which celestialite radiation is leaking. I originally had it in mind that the surface would crumble beneath the poltergeist's weight, but in the end decided this would require more work for the effort. Instead there will be a vacant hole where the surface has already fallen through.

As already mentioned, the moon level is quite plain on it's own, so it is going to have a background view similar to this which makes it a more interesting environment to look at. This will mean having to produce background images for different perspectives, e.g if the camera is looking north, south, east, west - or at least the closest things to that concerning perspective in space. Point being it will need to look like a 3D environment - and having a planet in the distance would obviously not work in every direction.

So I will work with something along the lines of the following.

Direction 1 - 12 O'clock - Looking at the planet directly as seen above.
Direction 2 - 2 O'clock - Seeing the planet towards the left.
Direction 3 - 3 O'clock -Unable to see the planet or station. Space.
Direction 4 - 5 O'clock - Able to see some of an abandoned space station.
Direction 5 - 6 O'clock - Able to see an abandoned space station.
Direction 6 - 8 O'clock - Able to see some of an abandoned space station.
Direction 7 - 9 O'clock - Unable to see planet or station. Space.
Direction 8 - 11 O'click - Seeing the planet towards the right.

The idea being that as the camera turns 360 degrees from left to right, or right to left, there is a consistant skyline. This will be produced by a long, wide image that I can shift from side to side when editing in the background of the animation - which also means it can move if the character and camera move if necessary - as the background may also move if the camera does.

The Underground

When the poltergeist drops into the underground cave beneath the surface of the moon he has landed on, there will be a network of pillars, staligmites and stalactites stretching from ceiling to floor. The character will advance through this cave to a deposit of celestialite which is being guarded by the worm like alien. The character will then retreat back out of the caves for the rest of the story to continue.

I also briefly expanded on some of the poltergeist designs I had been working on. I quite like the lights that criss cross around his suit, but do so in a uniform manner. That on his chest being almost like the straps of a backpack. They come around his shoulders from his shoulderblades to go down his arm and around his waist to go down the front of his legs.

Alien Idea Development

This is the worm like alien I've been developing. It is amalgamation of ideas from different animals. It borrows from crustaceans like crabs or lobsters in that it has a thick shell of sorts, though it also has scales and horns. I've toyed with scale and like this one best - just about big enough to swallow a man whole. It makes it seem more natural in the sense that it isn't impossibly large, or at least a little more similar to what we know on Earth in the form of sharks and crocodiles.

I played around with this design in particular as I liked the idea of the skin on it's face having hard cartilege like plates that function like giant scales. These are capable of moving almost like car mud tire flaps but remain mostly stationary. The ring or crown of horns around it's neck or head are a sort of defence mechanism that it has since outdated with it's size - they aren't so practical, reflecting on them now, but they look intimidating.

A close up of the face I did, as I wanted to sort of finalize the design on where the plates were and how big they were. In the end though, I didn't like it that much as I feel that the eyes are too high on the skull and that it still looks far too humanoid in terms of facial features.

I borrowed from Jurassic Park in the moment the alien flares out it's plate to intimidate. I also increased the scale to see how it looked bigger.

Here I experimented with ideas for eyes, inclusive of the shape, iris and pupils as well as the skin or flesh around them, as well as the horns I wanted to surround it's head / neck. I also experimented with tail ideas, as that also currently plays a part in the animation.

I produced a digital design but I am unsure if I will go ahead with it as follows. The rest of the alien seems relatively plain or normal compared to the head, and so I will have to look into making the rest of it more interesting somehow.

Moon Environment

The animation will take place in two locations - on the surface of a moon, and underneath a moon, going from the first, to the second, and then back again. There is not much I could do with a plain moon environment, and so I must do what I can to make it more interesting.

The first idea I had was to make the moon an abandoned moon base, but I do not want to spend too much take making models and assets for the environment so I could focus more on the animating of the characters. So what I am opting for is to have some artwork that will suffice as the environment in the background - something like a planet or a floating space station.

So this concept art is based on that; I also experimented with having ships fly by, but I didn't want the area to feel populated.

Poltergeist Design

So I made some quick designs for the poltergeist's suit. They are mostly a test of aesthetic and colour, textures and general appearance, but I have the idea that it is uniform in it's presentation and technologically advanced. It is made of prominently two materials depending on where it need to be on the body - e.g protective and thermal layers or coverings.

First I started off with the design alone in grey and added shading and lighting afterwards to give it some depth and I like the way it turned out. It is void of much detail for the time being as that can come later and I first want to get the shape right. The lights that run over the body are supposed to function as veins that deliver energy from the power core in the chest to the rest of the suit, sort of like Iron Man's suit - only it functions more like a second skin more than a suit of armour.

I also developed the armband concept further, elaborating on how it is worn and where the weapon might be located and how it is fired - as well as a similar Iron Man like weapon on the hand. Whether I will opt for that I'm not so sure but I do like the idea of how the textures are placed to function for extra grip on the palm side of the hand, as over the palm and fingers there is a more rough texture. Over the back side of the hand there is a darker plate of material over the knuckles and bend of each finger, as well as a length along the arm which functions like a chain capable of blocking sharp, blade like objects.

I also toyed with colour for the sake of it, and opted to use colours I typically associate with space - yellows, reds, and blues. Whilst only rough, I am particularly keen on the blue, but I also like the idea of orange. It may not be wise to combine them as they are both opposite colours.

Animation - The Story

So I have been developing what actually happens in the animation concerning the characters and the environment. I need to come up with a storyboard and / or animation to make it final, but the ideas I have in mind are as follows. The story of the animation will be a day in the life of one of the poltergeists. Sent into space in a lone craft, he is called in and directed to land on a nearby moon, after a celestialite deposit is detected in an asteroid that landed on it a few days ago.

Landing, the poltergeist exits the craft and surveys the surface for a while, referring to a visual user interface brought up by a device worn around his arm. He notices a crack in the surface that leads into an underground cave, inspecting it before jumping down into it. He searches round there before he locates the celestialite deposit. However, shortly afterwards he is attacked by the nightmare, which had been lying in wait.

He manages to notice it at the last moment and jumps to avoid it. They stare each other down for a moment before it attacks again. The poltergeist jumps back out of the cave and onto the surface. He interacts with his arm device but the nightmare quickly jumps out and hits him with it's tail, sending him into some rocks. The nightmare charges to attack, but the poltergeist readies his arm laser and fires it at the nightmare before jumping. The nightmare smashes head first into the rocks and dies.

The poltergeist lands and interacts with his armband one last time, signalling that a threat has been dealt with and the location is safe to collect the celestialite somehow.

This all needs to be condensed or expanded into at least 2 minutes of animation. I am planning to produce animation cycles to keep characters and environment seperate so that they are easier to edit, but already I am seeing the kinds of animation I will need to make.

For the poltergeist, walking whilst searching, jumping, running, firing his laser and interacting with his armband. For the nightmare, attacking, crawling along the ground, bursting out of the ground, flicking it's tail. For both of them, smashing into the rock. I won't commit to this list just yet as some things may yet change.

Celestialite

Trees are green because plants absorb light, but green is the least potent form of light which it reflects back, so we see them as being green. Colour is entirely our perception, we see in 3 colours - that can combine to form multiple different colours. Blue, green and red form all the colours we can see.

Butterflies have five types of colour receptives, and so they can see more than us, e.g they can see colours we don't have names for and can't see at all.

The mantis shrimp has 16 colour receptives.

This inspired something, somehow, about how humans could change in the future. Not necessarily that we would see more colours, although perhaps that could be a possibility. The idea of a substance or resource that naturally generated light energy could be used to fuel things in the same way solar power can do today.

The idea is that at first, humans would not notice this power because the light this substance radiated wasn't particularly bright. However, they learned that it radiated different kinds of light which humans couldn't see or were not aware of - much like infa red or ultraviolet. The humans built special containers to absorb the energy radiating from this material and use it to power their civilization in place of oil, fossil fuels or electricity.

This is how I came up with the function of celestialiate - the futuristic material in question that lands on earth in the story and ultimately shapes the future of humanity, including the development of technology, expansion into space, and how it is sought after by both the humans and other life forms, but not entirely for the same purpose.

Aliens II

Having settled on an idea for the first character, the poltergeist - a futuristic aero supersoldier, comes the time to showcase the aliens.

They are known as Nightmares by the human race, a term that was coined on first contact when they were referred to as creatures that look "something out of my nightmares" by the commanding officer present. They are referred to scientifically as Praegressus, due to their nature of consuming the most sought after substance in the universe, celestialiate.

Upon consuming this resource they evolve - becoming stronger, faster, quicker - or perhaps even smaller, more poisonous, deadlier in some way or fashion, all depending on how the last batch of celestialite they consumed changed them. As a result, it is rare that two of these creatures are the same. Whilst they may have similar roots, one creature might change to have wings so it can fly in environments with an atmosphere, another might develop a mouth strong enough to bore through stone or metal - where as some might be void of any facial features altogether, and land on planets as a symbiotic spore that grows and spreads. As such there are many different classifications of Praegressus, and combatting them is hard because of that.

The human's supersoldiers, the poltergeists, were given personal and hyper-advanced celestialite technology that is mostly able to get the job done. Whereas the humans harvest celestialiate out of the need to fuel their civilization, technology and lifestyle - and do not deplete it so quickly, the nightmares eat everything they can find and once absorbed into them, destroys it forever.

The Praegressus, or nightmare I will be having as a character in my animation will take it's visual design from bugs and insects as explored in my last post, having looked at worms.

Reasons already mentioned in my last post aside, I feel that the worm-like appearance better represents the nature of the Praegressus as being self evolutionary and individual in their function and appearance. I feel that it also better compares them to the parasites the humans in the setting see them as. Furthermore, a humanoid shaped alien would offer little difference in the kind of movements the creature makes in comparison to the human, and I would like the option of being able to explore these.

Utility

Out of the need of not wanting to spend extra time modelling and animating one, as well as a design choice, I am reflecting on how my poltergeist character will access the utility he needs in order to fight the aliens.

What I mean by this is that I imagine the poltergeist being able to achieve and perform a plethora of tricks, but how will he accomplish them? I have thought about the means of an item, like a power ring, but this borders on magic the likes of which I do not think is a part of my animation's setting.

I have also thought about a utility belt, otherwise (in)famously used by Batman. But similarly to that, I don't like the idea of a character literally being able to pull out a special item from his belt that just so happens to have something for every situation.

Instead the poltergiests suit is what will give him his vast array of necessary abilities. Powered by technology it will allow him to blend in and camouflage or become invisible, generate light, sound or thermal energy, and have weaponized offensive / defensive capabilities. It is an astronaut's suit for survival, a ninja's disguise, and a supersoldier's uniform; fulfilling multiple functions at once.

Not every poltergeists suit is the same, however. They come with trade-offs or add-ons, effectively spare parts which can be interchanged. These spare parts are equipped on an armband or bracelet worn on the forearm, which can be interacted with by the poltergiest. They can be made to function up to several purposes, and can be fitted with a combination of devices tailored to the job the poltergeist has to undertake. For example, if they are about to engage in a fight, they may replace the torchlight attachment they used in their last mission, which was to explore a cave, with a laser beam projector - capable of killing the aliens.

All in all I feel this gives the poltergeist room for having adequate strengths and weaknesses as a character, as he can have the advantage or disadvantage depending on his thoughtfulness and resourcefulness. Ultimately his character and personality will likely not be explored to a great degree. As a soldier raised from birth incapable of disobedience, it is unlikely he has much 'character' as it is. But I do wish to show a thought process of sort behind the utilities he wishes to use or neglect - or if nothing else, consider it.

Game Inspirations

I have looked at games as well as films when it comes to finding source material to draw inspiration and ideas from.

Global Agenda I have used before on other projects. When I think of futuristic soldiers, I think of the Agents from Global Agenda. In their respective setting they are dangerous beings fighting for freedom and independance. Humanity has survived a third war but liberty did not. Only the oppressive Commonwealth and the few factions it has left to assimilate have survived. Because no army can stand against it, resistance is waged with these elite operatives; so dangerous to the government that it has initiated it's own counter agents.

The similarities I have are the visual appearance and in some sense, the origin; as it is also the governments of humanity in my story that ultimately decide on the creation of the Poltergeists.

I've mentioned Starcraft II and the Spectres already. The visual design of the characters is similar to what I have in mind and wish to expand on; futuristic suits that feature a sort of luminescence, reminiscent of bio-technology, or simply technology that humans aren't in possession of yet.

Sam Fisher from Tom Clancy's spec ops franchise is also something I have used as a reference. Despite being set in modern times, it features the use of advanced modern technology. The black-ops appeal of the game is also something I think the Poltergeists share as covert agents, operating under cover of darkness - or at least, the cover of anonymity and without record of existence.

Ultimately however, I borrow inspiration from whatever and wherever I can. even from games or films that aren't set in the future or don't feature many of the themes I have in heavy consideration. These have no discernible source and may simply be ideas that spring to mind after reading a certain word, or story, or seeing something in particular - sometimes they just crop up at random in my head. As always I put such ideas to scrutiny consideration and few are taken forward for further development. The most notable of these would be the name of the poltergeist character - which isn't a name at all, but a number, or a code.

Timeline

Some of the timeline detailing the story of the setting in which the animation takes place.


2099 - Earth develops warp capabilities one year before a multi-billion investment deal from public and private funding. Ghoste Aerotechology Conglamorate, who took on the responsibility of delivering, met the deadline a year early, and marked the beginning of the expansion of the human race into the rest of the galaxy.

2108 - A meteorite containing the first samples of celestilate land on earth and are recovered for GAC's warp-drive capabilities. Expanded upon, "jump-drive" capabilites are developed that exceed that of the warp-drive, allowing matter with mass to travel faster than the speed of light. Deep earth mining operations for more of this resource begin.

2118 - Jump-drive becomes fully developed. Space is heavily invested into for military, public and privatized use, and an all-nation government known as the Pantheon is formed under the GAC.  Space travel is publicized, private travel extends as far as the Solar System. "Pioneer" humans are bred, born and raised to be sent out into deep space to the nearest galaxy, Andromeda, and seek out an already identified and established planet suitable for life, but rights groups delay the launch. Deep Space Pioneer Flight Alpha-Alpha-One-00, or DSPF-A-A-1-00 is launched as the first space vessel sent out to colonize space.

2146  - War has not been seen since 2057, leading to decreased dependance on militry and the relocation of it's usual funding to exploration and research efforts by most nation's space programs. The Pantheon allocates each nation to research particular fields in order to encourage interdependance and cooperation with one another. Earth's climate is destabilized and the long-term effects of large scale core-mining operations for more celestialite are not addressed.

2179 - Earth becomes a dying planet. The Pantheon establishes contact with DSPF-A-A-1-00, which by this point has become a colony. This information is privatized as to not prevent panic as every availble penny becomes poured into a secretive evacuation project. Another secretive project to collect and database the entirety of mankind's knowledge is also undertaken.

2198 - Earth is abandoned, leaving roughly 90% of it's population on the planet which succumbs to war, poverty and the eventual decimation of the surface of the planet within a few years. The Pantheon is abolished. Those who are selected to board the flight to Andromeda Colony One are done so by their age, ethnicity, gender, field of expertise and other critertia to maximize the field of knowledge within the new humanity. 2 billion people leave on celestialite-fuelled Super Star Sailor class vessels on the journey to Andromeda.

2257 - Andromeda Colony One expands over the new homeworld of the human race, Adamete. The population rises steadily and Celestialite is harvested from passing meteorites in order to repeat another depleted core situation such as on Earth. More Pioneers are developed and sent to establish colonies throughout the rest of Andromeda.

2401 - The human race now spans seventy planets over the Andromeda Galaxy. Pioneers are developed and sent out to explore and settle on other nearby galaxies. The human population is at around 100 billion, and human anatomy has since adapted to be different to how it was on earth, adjusting to lighter gravity.
2550 - The first confirmed encounter with the Nightmares. 3 colonies fall before weapons technology and brought up to speed and a military is once again established for humankind to begin defending itself.

Film Inspirations I

Some of the films I've looked at for inspiration.

Set in the future, Starship Troopers is a setting in which the human race is under threat from the "bugs", a primordial but savage extraterrestrial race. Conflicts with the bug often come with many heavy casualties and losses due to their overwhelming numbers, size and, amongst many other variables, the human's lack of knowledge in combatting them.

This is somewhat resolved by the end of the film as they find a "brain-bug" that thinks and forms strategies / commands for the bugs. But they learn that dealing with them means finding out these bugs and taking care of them.

I draw inspiration because I am developing my alien race as bugs, or insect-like creatures, and so I find their behavioral patterns of having a hive-mind, and everything from the noises they make to be an example of what a bug-like alien could be like.

Similarly I imagine the way the foot soldiers deal with the bugs is the same way the regular soldiers of my animation story's time period deal with them, and they develop the poltergeists as a means of having supersoldiers to combat them.

The film also pokes at other things, such as the social structure - one has to become a 'citizen' to vote - and citizenship is earned through service in the mobile infantry - likely other means too, but through the infantry seems to be a quick-fix for it as they frequently mention 'service guarantees citizenship'. Despite the film's slapstick nature at times, it does have it's moments that makes it interesting to watch and re-watch, and it has played a part in shaping my animation.

Astronauts of the Future II

In my vision of the future where humanity has suffered great loss and consequently expanded into the universe, ethics is no longer as much of a concern as it is dropped or neglected in times or instances of necessity. As such, humanity can often turn to it's darker side in order to solve problems.

The astronauts I have in mind are no exception. They function as both astronauts and soldiers, a special caste of fighters that are raised from birth in order to have the skills they need by the time they are adults to combat the alien threat, specially trained to do so using hyper-advanced technologies specially suited for their profession. Sent out into space in cryo pods, they are awoken and briefed if necessary to take care of threats. Given how they are raised, they are incapable of disobedience and know only of the most effective ways to kill the aliens they are dealing with.

They are known as poltergeists, as their gear and training have them behave like ghosts that operate in the darkness of humanity's efforts to survive. Most of the public are not aware of the poltergeists existence and were created out of necessity. They wear a special suit of armour that allows them to survive in space and combat the aliens with far greater efficiency.

I take a lot of inspiration from Stracraft II in their design, from their characters known as Spectres. Whether they perform a similar or the same function I'm not so sure as my extent of knowledge in the game is minor, and they were more like parallels I could draw similarities to. As for differences, that can also be looked at. For example I imagine them being solitary space soldiers, whereas the spectres seem to be psionic or psychic to some degree, all abilities the poltergeists can perform come from training and technology. 

Aliens

Reflecting on the nature of these aliens I have in mind I was originally drawing inspiration from the terrifying and fear-inspiring demons of the Diablo games, particularly Diablo III. They certainly look like they are from another world and carry the kind of aesthetic I have in mind, of having features evolved to kill. But I realised that even the titular character pictured has two arms, two legs, and very little difference in animation rigs besides a tail and how they are actually animated. Whilst I think animating the same rig differently would also be a good test and demonstration of my animation ability I think it would be better to have two different rigs altogether.

So I have been looking to other sources of inspiration and have found them in insects, as they have evolved so different and have such a diverse range of species, and I think basing an alien on an insect-like race makes sense and is already established in science fiction - I also looked at cave and deep sea creatures because we know so little about the creatures that live in those places that they still seem very alien to us.

This creature, a bobbit worm, is nothing short of freaky and I looked further into worm-like creatures.

I found another worm-like creature which also came across as being a very unusual, alien-like creature. Hagfish have elongated, eel-like bodies, and paddle-like tails. They have cartilaginous skulls (although the part surrounding the brain is composed primarily of a fibrous sheath) and tooth-like structures composed of keratin. Colors depend on the species, ranging from pink to blue-grey, and black or white spots may be present. Eyes are simple eyespots, not compound eyes that can resolve images. Hagfish have no true fins and have six or eight barbels around the mouth and a single nostril. Instead of vertically articulating jaws like Gnathostomata (vertebrates with jaws), they have a pair of horizontally moving structures with tooth-like projections for pulling off food. The mouth of the hagfish has two pairs of horny, comb-shaped teeth on a cartilaginous plate that protracts and retracts. These teeth are used to grasp food and draw it toward the pharynx.

They can also produce a slime as a defence of offensive mechanism. By now I'm quite set on the worm-like body and features.

But last but not least another one of my favourites I looked at was the siphonophore; a collection of many jelly-fish like creatures that are independent but act as one organism. I like the idea of many organisms acting as one and may keep this idea in mind, but I figure this may be quite hard to portray.

Life in the Universe

Whilst the first character in my story and animation will be a human, or at least a humanoid, the second character I have in mind for him or her to interact with would be an alien of some sort. It is a feasible choice for the setting but also appropriate; the alien has far more potential as far as design and animation possibilities concern.

They say there are either two truths; either we are alone in the universe, or we are not, and both are equally terrifying prospects for us. What is life out there in the distant corners of reality like? It could be that they are super-advanced killers, or it might be that in comparison to them, the humans are the super advanced killers. For example, perhaps our saliva is toxic or perhaps if they come from a very quiet environment, the sound of a human yelling at them could kill them. I'm not looking to break any standards with my animation though and it's unlikely something like this will make it into the animation.

But there is the debate of whether the aliens could be smart or not; whether they have a drive to exist and develop like humans do - perhaps these are the questions the humans could be trying to answer.

But I have thought about the situation in which the humans meet the aliens for the first time, and how that came to pass in the story, and ultimately shaped the situation we will see in the animation.

In my story first contact will be a little bit different. By the time humanity first meets extraterrestrial life, they have already left Earth and colonised the Andromeda galaxy over several different planets. They aren't friendly, either, and begin consuming the resource the humans use to fuel their civilisation in the absence of fossil fuels. The humans fight to keep their resource whilst the aliens do so to evolve and become more powerful and dangerous, partially inspired by this cinematic from Starcraft II. The zerg on their homeworld of Zerus prey on each other in order to grow stronger and evolve, and how they evolve depends on what they kill and eat. The main difference is that the aliens I have in mind feed exclusively off one resource, which evolves them very gradually and differently. Some might form wings, others might burrow underground whereas others might not have legs or arms at all, or have many instead like a centipede.

Astronauts of the Future

A prominent theme in sci-fi settings is in space and I have no doubt that my animation is going to be set in space somewhere. What I have been thinking over is the affect the future technologies I discussed earlier will have on the astronauts of the future, those who actively work in space or at least those who go to space.

It may be that in the future, advanced robots may instead be sent up to do the work of astronauts. Space is costly to get to and a dangerous environment to be in. Robots would be lower maintenance, with no food requirements and no sleep requirements. It may be that they have to substitute that for a power source or something else, but the advantages of it are obvious.

"Capable of carrying crew and cargo to the space station, Orion will be shaped like cone-shaped space capsules of the past, but it will take advantage of 21st century technology in computers, electronics, life support, propulsion devices and heat protection systems. It will be able to rendezvous with a lunar landing module and an Earth departure stage in low-Earth orbit to carry crews to the moon and, one day, to Mars-bound vehicles assembled in low-Earth orbit.

Orion will be the Earth entry vehicle for lunar and Mars returns. TRC Inc. and IBRL will help NASA study and understand the potential injury risks associated with different landing scenarios. The NASA Project Leader summed it up as "This is truly a critical effort that is at the top of the space suit element list of priorities."

http://www.trcpg.com/future-space-travelers.aspx

This is an idea in development and the concept behind the beginning of future space exploration and colonization. The space suits of today seem clunky, like an old diving suit.

In the future, or at least in my setting, I want humans to be advanced enough to be using newer, smarter technologies that eliminate some of the problems modern astronauts face.

Atrophy: a wasting away of the body or of an organ or part, as from disuse. An astronaut's muscles can atrophy after time in space.

Cosmic radiation: high-energy radiation that is emitted from the sun to all directions in space. Humans in space need some protection, especially during times of high solar activity

Countermeasure: a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. Astronauts exercise as much as two hours a day with special equipment as a countermeasure against bone loss and muscle atrophy.

Demineralization: the loss, deprivation, or removal of minerals or mineral salts from the body, especially through disease, as the loss of calcium from bones or teeth. Since this happens during prolonged exposure to the microgravity of space, nutritionists work to improve levels of calcium and other minerals in space diets.

Distill: to heat a liquid to make it a gas and then to cool the gas back to a liquid so that it is pure. One way to minimize the amount of water that has to be supplied from the earth is to distill waste water and fluids back into drinking water.

Fluid: a substance, as a liquid or gas, that is capable of flowing. Ordinary methods of dealing with fluids, such a pouring, will not work in space.

Microgravity: in the freefall of orbit, a person experiences a slight gravitational attraction to the earth called microgravity, although the overall sensation is that of being weightless.

Nutrition: the science or study that deals with food and nourishment, especially in humans. Good nutrition is important in an astronaut's food choice to maintain health and prevent bone loss in space.

Orbit: to move or travel around a central object in an orbital or elliptical path. The earth orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. The space shuttle orbits the earth every 90 minutes.

Physiology: the branch of biology dealing with the functions and activities of living organisms and their parts, including all physical and chemical processes. One of the major activities on the space station is to study the changes in physiology brought on by living in a near-weightless environment.

Recycle: to treat or process used or waste materials so as to make suitable for reuse. Astronauts recycle water to minimize the amount that must be carried into space and stored.

Weightless: the condition of being in a continual freefall during orbit so that all sense of gravitational attraction is lost. Astronauts need some time to get used to being weightless in space. They are able to move and install very large parts of the space station because these parts, which weigh several tons on earth, are weightless in space.

Inspirations

When coining and developing the setting I wanted to base this animation of mine in, I thought it was important to reflect on what would be most relevant.

By now I know I want the animation to be set in the future, but how far into the future should the animation would be set? If I look back at the historical evolution of information, technology and the progress humanity has made in the last one hundred years, and the hundred years before that, it is impossible to say predict for sure how technology of the future will change. But I have looked at technology in development to get an idea behind the technologies of tomorrow, so that the sci-fi ideas I develop may come with a little modern backing on whether or not they are possible.

Aerogel, for example, is an interesting material. Also known as frozen smoke, Aerogel is the world's lowest density solid, clocking in at 96% air. It's basically just a gel made from silicon, except all the liquid has been taken out and replaced with gas instead. If you hold a small piece in your hand, it's practically impossible to either see or feel, but if you poke it, it's like styrofoam. Aerogel isn't just neat, it's useful. It supports up to 4,000 times its own weight and can apparently withstand a direct blast from two pounds of dynamite. It's also the best insulator in existence, which is why we don't have Aerogel jackets: it works so well that people were complaining about overheating on Mt. Everest.

Gallium is a silvery metal with atomic number 31. It's used in semiconductors and LEDs, but the cool thing about it is its melting point, which is only about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. If you hold a solid gallium crystal in your hand, your body heat will cause it to slowly melt into a silvery metallic puddle. Pour it into a dish, and it freezes back into a solid. While you probably shouldn't lick your fingers after playing with it, gallium isn't toxic and won't make you crazy like mercury does. And if you get tired of it, you can melt it onto glass and make yourself a mirror. This multipurpose element could have many practical uses. But it reminds me of another important material that has been developed lately.

The Ministry of Defence has awarded £100,000 to a small company that has developed a special substance that hardens immediately on impact. It is hoped that the shock-absorbing substance will soon be fitted onto the inside of soldiers' helmets reducing in half the kinetic energy of a bullet or piece of shrapnel and hopefully making them impenetrable. The gel, called d3O locks instantly into a solidified form when it is hit at high impact.

"When moved slowly, the molecules will slip past each other, but in a high-energy impact they will snag and lock together, becoming solid," said Richard Palmer, who invented the gel. "In doing so they absorb energy." The d3O gel has already expanded into a range of sporting goods and is found in ski gloves, shin guards, ballet shoe pointes and horse-riding equipment. The substance relies on "intelligent molecules" that "shock lock" together to absorb energy and create a solid pad. Once the pressure has gone they return to their normal flexible state.

The gel is stitched into clothing or equipment that is supple until it stiffens into a protective barrier on impact. If the product is taken on by defence contractors it could be used to reduce the current bulky and restrictive armour used by troops in on the frontline with gel pads inserted into key protective areas. Mr Palmer said it was the equivalent to comparing "cumbersome" RoboCop to Spiderman with the latter's protection "nimble covert and flexible".

This is the kind of smart techology that I see becoming more popular in the future and supports some of the ideas I have had in mind.

Project Begins

The project I have set out for myself is a two to three minute long animated piece that will feature two characters. It was originally going to be a platform game, but I had an exhausting list of ideas which seemed far too ambitious on reflection, and so I opted to do something that would allow me to do what I want in greater detail. The film is set in the future, and the two characters will be vastly different in their appearance in order to demonstrate a broad and versatile range of animations. This should facilitate my aspirations and develop my skills.

I have opted to approach producing this animation in three parts throughout three months - spending the first to develop ideas and produce designs and art for the characters, environments, summarize story, produce storyboard and so forth. The second month will be dedicated to creating and animating the characters, though I understand this may be the most time consuming part and am prepared to compensate by cutting into the third month which will be used for editing the animation with sound or visual effects. I will be using Maya for the animation, and whether or not I animate the characters within the environments, or seperately and edit them into similarly seperately rendered environments I am not sure. I have a feeling it may be easier or may feel more natural that way, and will be of more aid when it comes to adding visual effects as I am not trying to work solely with one layer, and it also allows me to adjust things in ways I otherwise could not. It is likely I will do this but I am keeping all cards on the table to weigh pros and cons over time, at least fro now.

I will be trying to stick to this as best as possible, and I anticipate there will be plenty of problems that will test whether I can do so punctually. But my project is already underway; I have thought out a storyline of sorts for the setting and I am roughly aware of what sort of a task I am undertaking already. The concepts of how I might model my characters or environments are all in my head, but it is of course, most important to give manifest to those ideas and ensure they come across cleanly and as intended - and if for whatever reason that is not possible, be sure that any compromises are ultimately necessary and worth whatever cost they have on the animation as a whole.