FXWARS! THE RACE: Matt Clinch

#1

Firstly, hello all. Lets get to it.

[b]TITLE:[/b] 'Formula FreeFall'

[b]CATEGORY:[/b] Fantasy

[b]SCIENCE LESSON:[/b] The [b]terminal velocity[/b] of an object falling towards the ground, in non-[vacuum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum), is the [speed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed) at which the [gravitational](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity) force pulling it downwards is equal and opposite to the [atmospheric drag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_drag) (also called air resistance) pushing it upwards. At this speed, the object ceases to [accelerate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration) downwards and falls at constant speed. An object moving downwards without power at greater than the terminal velocity (for example because it previously used power to descend, it fell from a thinner part of the atmosphere or it changed shape) will slow down until it reaches terminal velocity.For example, the terminal velocity of a [skydiver](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skydiving) in a normal [free-fall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-fall) position with a closed [parachute](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute) is about 195 [km/h](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Km/h) (120 [Mph](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_per_hour)). This speed increases to about 320 km/h (200 Mph) if the skydiver pulls in his limbs—see also [freeflying.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeflying)

[b]CONCEPT:[/b] 4 daredevils take part in the ultimate sport. Leaping out of a plane at 70000 feet (21km, or 13 miles) above the earths surface they must race back toward earth as fast as possible. The men are kitted out in 'G-Suits' - specially designed woven kevlar suits able to withstand the extreme low temperatures in the upper thermosphere (-55 degrees celcius) , to the burning temperature of re-entry and friction of air-resistance.

Their only means of transport - a delta-wing glider. Travelling head first, the ‘flyers’ have their arms extended towards the earth (over their heads) inside a 4-5 foot wide, unpowered, ‘flying wing’. With space only for their heads, arms, shoulders and ledge to rest the chest, the flyers entire lower body must streamline behind the glider to allow for minimum air resistance. The glider is used for direction and steering. Readouts behind the small console infront of the flyers helmet provide GPS location, altitude, airspeed, and a pulse radar readout of the 360 degrees around the pilot.
Falling at a speed of around 200-240 mph (320-380 kph) depending on air resistance the pilots must navigate their way through a series of offset, floating, gas-filed doughnuts, only 40 metres in diameter, which act as ‘gates’. Kept in place with electromagnetic positioning devices, the rings are kept at a precise GPS location and height - never closer than 300 metres from each other. Failure to successfully navigate ALL gates in the race results in immediate disqualification. However, with 3-4 pilots all jostling at 200+ mph for a series of rings only 40 metres wide, accidents are a regular occurance - made even more dangerous by the fact that the gas inside the doughnut balloons is highly volitile and explosive.
The trick? Minimise air-resistance, slipstream, outmanuevre your opponents, oh, and dont blink :wink:

Welcome to 'Formula FreeFall'
#2

Sky diving is really hard to do, because of the complex backgrounds. Clouds, mountains, sky, and constantly changing scale. What’s your approach for this? :slight_smile:

#3

I dont ever intend on shooting anything of the pilots under 3 to 4 thousand feet, so im not particularly worried about mountains. I have more than adequate earth maps, with bump, spec, and diff maps. The sky will be a subtly changing colour dome (the upper atmosphere will be darker as there is less Ozone to refract the sunlight), so nice and simple. Clouds are the best bit. I tested a technique where i use concentric spheres, with a dappled white and greydiffuse map, each with a unique opacity map to give the impression of varied height cloud cover, then for close-up or passing-through cloud i will either use afterburn, or more likely post it in combustion, as i will with the explosions, con-trails, sparks and debris.
Going to keep the models nice a simple - probably low-poly game FMV-type characters, and do as much work as i can with texture maps.

Am currently debating whether i can achieve this entire project modelled to the correct scale, to give the right look and feel, or whether i’ll have to fake it.

I’m pretty sure i know how im going about the entire thing given the timescale, but if anyone wants to throw in advice i’d be stupid not to listen!

#4

Well, I’d have to see it to understand what your approach is but good luck! I’ve always avoid sky shots because clouds and ground are soo hard to pull off.

Just keep your camera shots tight on the characters, and give them interest animations to keep the viewers eye on them.

Best of luck!

#5

Just a reminder:

One Month To Go (MAY 22th): FXWARS THE RACE!

-R

#6

FYI:

TWO WEEKS To Go (MAY 22th): FXWARS THE RACE!

-R

#7

Great concept, Im eager to see an update for this.

#8

[b]FXWARS: OK people talk to me, One more week?

-R
[/b]

#9

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