“Orbits of Psyche” visualizes the various orbits that the Psyche spacecraft will be taking around the asteroid once it arrives in 2029. The animation is inspired by vintage astronomy and astrology posters, which typically include a minimal color palette as well as value and texture through cross hatching. As the spacecraft completes each orbit, information about the orbit appears, including the focus of the orbit and its expected duration, as well as information about the different instruments used to study Psyche.
To create this piece, I began by animating the movement of the spacecraft and asteroid in Blender, baking the animations, and then importing them into Unreal Engine. In Unreal, I developed a shader to create a cross hatching effect over the asteroid and the spacecraft and rendered. I imported the frames into After Effects and added color, texture, text, and orbit animations.
This project was created during my internship with ASU & NASA for Mission to Psyche, where I developed outreach material and creative projects to introduce the public to and educate them on the mission.
Software: Blender, Unreal Engine 5, & After Effects
Preproduction
For this project, I took inspiration from vintage astronomy and astrology posters. The characteristics that I focused on were cross hatching to create texture and value as well as simple, typically two-toned color palettes.
Style Inspiration Images
Reference Images of the Orbits
Reference Images of the Spacecraft
Initial Sketch for Title
Initial Sketch + Notes for Each Orbit
Process
After initial sketches, I modeled the Psyche spacecraft in Blender and applied simple materials. Because of the shader that would later be applied, accurate colors were not necessary as long as the brightness values were correct. However, in case this model is utilized in future projects, I attempted to still be as accurate as possible when able.
Using a model of the Psyche asteroid given to me by ASU, I animated the Psyche spacecraft orbiting the asteroid in Blender.
I developed a shader in Unreal Engine 5 to create a cross hatching effect reminiscient of the vintage astronomy and astrology posters I drew inspiration from. I then imported the animations from Blender and rendered first a pass of the hatching and then one with a transparent background to utilize as a mask. The renders were then taken into After Effects for compositing, color grading, and adding 2D animations and graphics.
