Mohne Dam Model - Reactor

Obviously apart from the Lancaster bomber itself another very important factor of this animation is the Mohne Dam.

After a few goes at making the dam with a few differant process i eventually got one i was happy with. The scale isn't actually correct but is fitting to my current model.

Although i have a dam now modelled i will need to completely remodel the center (section that explodes) using individual bricks so that i can apply the reactor modifier to it to give the exploding effect desired.

Below shows the current dam model in the scene. this is just to show the process so far before i begin work on the new dam with the reactor modifier included.

Terrain Creation - RAF Scampton

The home of the Dambusters was RAF Scampton. for the take-off and landing scenes i will need a model of this and these are some images of the process used so far to model it.

The image above is the airfield how it looks today that i am using for referance. Below is a scale map of the airfield which i have used in 3ds max to try and accuratly re-create the airfield

These images below are rendered images from within 3dsmax.

This image shows the first runway being shaped and fitted to overlay the image below

This image gives you the idea of how i am going through the modeling process

This image again shows the overhead view this time with the second smaller runway included in the model

Below is a completed runway and taxiway layout for the airfield with an added tarmac texture

Below is the airfield with a tempory texture to show you what i am going for. this angle is based on the first image from the modern day airfield photo.

The aircraft hangers above are of a typical WW2 style hanger. I dont know the exact location or number of hangers there was at Scampton at the time but this is still tempory as i am still researching into it and more buildings are still to be added to the scene as well as other scenery objects such as trees and cars and aircraft.

Below are some images of the process of the hangers being made.

Terrain Creation - Mohne Dam

For the scene with the dam i've chosen the most famous of the primary targets to be hit, the Mohne dam.

using this map of the area i created an image in photoshop to use as a displacement modifer to a plane to get the disired terrain close to looking like the real thing.


After using the image and creating the terrain shape i added the water and textures to the landscape. This is how the Mohne dam scene looks so far. (the pink box represents where the dam will be placed when finished)


The final scene will be much darker as the raid actually takes place at midnight so the only lighting will be the moon and the spotlights around and some street lighting.

For a quick test of water moving i made the scene dark and added one light to represent moonlight reflecting on the water, this is shown here in this short video.

Not brilliant quality but you can just about see the surface of the water moving in the reflections.

The next part of this scene is to be the dam completed which i'm working on now as well as starting the scenery at RAF Scampton for the takeoff and landing shots.

Constructive Criticism

As a little hobby and being very interested in WW2 millitary aircraft i play a game called Aces High 2 by HiTech Creations http://www2.hitechcreations.com/frindex.html

as in most games you get squads and i've asked the particular squad i'm in to be part of my research and a source of constructive criticsm. The particular forum with this a private forum but i will post the responses from them on here when they come through.

Personal Project - The Dam Busters

For my final project of the year at university we are given the option to create anything we want with any form of animation. I have decided to go for a short re-make of the dambuster raids 'Operation Chastise'.

This is the proposal i have submitted to my lecturer:

Personal Project Proposal

For my personal project I've decided to go for the short dambuster movie. I've planned on doing this one for a while and after a lot of thinking I've decided as it is my final project I will go for it and at the same time enjoy doing it because the whole story of the dambusters is quite an interest of mine and with my uncle that used to fly the Lancaster for the BBMF I should be able to get some nice reference for modelling and any other useful information as part of my research.

I'm currently reading the biography of Guy Gibson the leader of the dambuster raids to learn more of the day and eventually come up with my own script.

After a lot of thought about this project I realise its going to require a lot of work to get the results I'm imagining but its something I really want to do and prove to myself I can.This sort of work is along the lines of the type of work I'd like to go into after university.

(modelling, video compositing)

The idea will be that the project will be based on the day its self, starting from the morning with ground crew preparing aircraft through to the mission 'operation chastise' itself starting with the take off and shots of the planes flying low over the sea before reaching the dams and then finally returning back to the base.

For the animation itself it will all be done in 3ds max but with the characters in it played by real people to later be green screened into the animation.

I'll mainly be focused on a nice model of the Lancaster bomber externally and internally and hopefully a pretty good bomb run with bouncing bomb with spray particles as it hits the water and a realistic as possible exploding dam and the end of it.