This was a quick project to fine tune my skills using HDRi global illumination and depth of field directly in the 3D software for an animation. The end result you can see below:
I used a previously created model of a "armored sphere" that I made from some tutorial a while back ago. I modified the sphere a little bit to fit the idea I had for the animation:
I then proceeded to create the main scene for the animation. I've always had a weak spot for "sky themed" structures so I went with the design you see below:
Once all the pieces were in place I started to experiment with the animation. The animation of the camera and sphere part were simple enough. I animated the assembly backwards starting with the final frame of the animation. Because of the techniques I used I needed to confirm how the depth of field the speed of the camera and how the water animation would look before I decided to commit to rendering out the animation in full quality. I made this test animation below:
After reviewing the test animation I made some changes to the camera and the adjusted the final parts of the assembly a little bit. I then optimized the render settings and went about rendering out the final product.
The final animation can viewed on the top of this page or at my Youtube channel.