In my final semester of undergrad, I completed a capstone project intended to be a culmination of my knowledge taken from my previous semesters of college. Given complete creative freedom, I wanted to take the opportunity to create a project that was related to a possible career path I’d like to pursue: theme park attraction development. Taking inspiration from an idea I had for years, I created a conceptual 3D design and animation of an original attraction themed around the Amazon rainforest.
The project includes a 3D animation of the attraction’s ride-through, 3D printed pieces of the attraction and laser cut wood with educational deforestation information (both used for presentation purposes). Multiple software packages were used to create this project including: Maya, Photoshop, Substance Painter, After Effects, and Audition.
My goals for the project were:
- Treat the project as an exercise of how people in the industry go about creating attractions
- Animated ride-through that shows how this attraction would showcase the beauty of South American forest ecosystems and also show the harsh realities of deforestation all while having an overarching theme of conservation and prevention
- High attention to details and storytelling based on research of Amazon biodiversity and South American culture
The story and background of the ride/animation is a water-based attraction taking place on a branch of the Trombetas River (a smaller river off of the Amazon river). The story also includes aspects of the Lupuna tree myth as this myth works well the theme of deforestation. The lupuna tree is seen as the guardian of the forest in South American mythology and if disturbed it sends pain and agony to its attacker. The attraction starts in a lush area of the rainforest educating about the importance of the forest’s biodiversity. A white monkey is seen with the lupuna as guardians of the forest against deforestation. Going down the river, the boat enters an area of heavy deforestation where the monkey can be seen nearby sadly overlooking the destruction. Coming into a clearing, all nearby construction machines are mysteriously out of commission as a large lupuna tree is seen in the distance as the only tree left standing in the area. At the end, the boat enters another part of the forest that is thicker and the white monkey is seen watching over a lupuna sapling, symbolizing the guardian being reborn.
Creating and Setting the Scene
Rendered Scenes from Animation
Click here to watch the full animation
3d Printed & Laser Cut Additions to Project
