Engine Animation: Features

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This project was to showcase the features and benefits of a single piston combustion engine. The 3d software was 3dsmax with rendering in v-ray. The compositing was finished in After Effects and Premiere. An engineering model was provided that needed converted, cleaned up, uv unwrapped, textured and rigged. Scroll through the project to see a variety of steps and results. Thanks!

Engines are extremely complex and have so many components that an exploded view can look artistic. The exploding engine is created using a particle system where rotation, velocity and collisions can be controlled. The final impact dust during the supersonic reassembly was done using a particle system as a birth for a smoke simulation.

How its made

Engineering model conversion and cleanup. Hero asset preparation, naming, layering, retopology. A model imported from parametric software requires some work to render properly. Geometry either has artifacts like ripping and tearing or double faces which render black. Tubes and curves that appear jagged or faceted, also needed to be rebuilt.

Early material and lighting tests. Multiple metals, plastics and composite materials were needed to be built from reference photos. A few of the rough metals were made in substance designer. Unwrapping the model was simple for most geometric shapes except a few odd shapes that required custom uv's. The lighting studio needed to be simple; but provide enough diffuse light, highlights and reflections to define the shapes.

Rigging and animation testing. The rig was more complex than expected for being just a single piston. The relationships between each moving part has a place in an advanced hierarchy that took a lot of trial and error. The most difficult was the rotating lobes that control the spring loaded valves. A custom parameter was then created to control the engine speed that would affect all the parts to move at the same ratio.