INTRODUCTION

In this project, I was tasked with animating an astronaut floating weightlessly through an asteroid field. She wears a futuristic suit, including hard-surface extras like bunny ears, a backpack, and a mini-jetpack, as well as a display on her left arm serving as a control interface. She is accompanied by a small drone. The scene was intended to convey weightlessness in the asteroid field while also emphasizing the character and her interaction with the drone.
Originally, this was meant to be an extensive group project, but due to time constraints, the environment, lighting, and compositing could not be executed as planned. Ultimately, we improvised a quick scene in which the astronaut sits on an asteroid, observes her surroundings, and then elegantly pushes off into the asteroid field while the drone playfully flies around her. My main responsibility was entirely the animation. The biggest challenge was convincingly
portraying weightlessness, creating overlaps, and at the same time optimizing the character’s pose and silhouette within the limited timeframe.


ORGANIZATION & PLANNING

The project was heavily influenced by external factors. The rig was only completed shortly before the end, as the asset artists required more time for their work, and the environment/ lighting/ compositing artist was unable to deliver due to their schedule.
I had only one week for the animation, which I partially used for troubleshooting other projects, necessitating a quick, improvised setup. In close coordination with the rigger and asset artists, we created a functional asteroid field on which the animation could be realized. The concept and execution of the animation were entirely entrusted to me. The focus was on conveying weightlessness, creating dynamic poses, and staging the interaction between the
astronaut and the drone.


REFERENCES

For the weightlessness, I used various references from footage of astronauts on space stations. To make the elegant floating and movements in space believable, I drew inspiration from videos of movements in water and zero-gravity training. For the drone and its interaction with the character, I relied on classic animation principles, paying particular attention to timing and arcs specifically adapted for weightlessness.


WORKFLOW ANIMATION

The animation began with rough blocking in stepped mode. I first defined the key scenes: the astronaut sits on the asteroid, observing her surroundings. The drone flies past her, she slips
slightly off the asteroid, pushes off, and floats gracefully into the scene. The drone playfully circles around her while the character shows subtle reactions. As an intro, we created an establishing shot of the drone flying through the asteroid field, revealing the astronaut behind the rocks. This structure allowed me to focus on timing, poses, and silhouettes. Weightlessness required particular attention: getting up, body weight, and overlaps of clothing and hard-surface elements all had to appear realistic. Due to an incorrect alignment of the hand controllers, the push-off was a greater challenge, and the hands had to be readjusted. Small rig tweaks were implemented in parallel to make the animation smoother.


GROUPWORK & FEEDBACK

Communication within the team was very active, as everyone made an effort to achieve a final project. Since no environment artist was available, we created a simple asteroid field, which was sufficient for the animation. Due to time constraints, no further feedback was provided, except from my colleagues. I was able to quickly engage a talented lighting and compositing artist for our project, which was an enormous help in realizing the final result.


CHALLENGES, SOLUTIONS & LEARNINGS

The main challenges in this project were initially the extreme time pressure: I had only three days for the animation. This required especially efficient blocking and pragmatic decisions about which details should actually be included in the final scene. Another central challenge was weightlessness: getting up, floating, and interacting with the drone without gravity were new for me. References, targeted retiming, subtle secondary motion, and delicate movements helped make the animation believable.
Due to the time constraints, the rig was also not final, which caused small issues. However, starting the blocking with the unfinished rig was helpful. Lastly, the environment and rendering were limited resources: the asteroid field had to be quickly set up, and the lighting implemented efficiently to render the scene on time.
From these challenges, I learned a lot: quick, pragmatic decisions with incomplete assets can not only save an animation but often improve it. Close collaboration with riggers and asset artists is crucial for overcoming technical limitations. Finally, the project showed me that even under extreme time pressure, believable and dynamic animation is possible as long as the focus remains on poses and timing.


CONCLUSION

“Interstellar Echo” was one of my passion projects. Although the available time was extremely limited, I am all the prouder of the final result and the collaboration with my colleagues. I gained valuable experience in convincingly portraying weightlessness and achieving the best possible results under extreme time pressure. I am especially grateful for the last-minute support from our new compositor. After graduation, the team will definitely revisit the project, as it holds special significance for all of us. The final animation conveys an elegant, playful sense of weightlessness and clearly showcases the personalities of both the astronaut and her sidekick, despite the improvised circumstances.