Isometric Alien Invasion
Latest isometric project, created for a Blender challenge based on the theme Alien Visitation.
Originally, the scene featured a farmer standing in the middle of his field beside a freshly cut crop circle, with the shadow of an alien ship looming above as he prepared to be abducted. But the idea evolved, the farmer’s cow ended up stealing the spotlight.
Since I’m not a character or creature modeller, the cow and skeleton models came from CGTrader. I added a simple rig and animation setup to give the cow some life, with subtle head and tail movement. The plan was to have it abducted, but after a bit of brainstorming with a friend, I took it in a darker (and more comical) direction.
Once the crop circle is fully carved and the drones have flown off, one returns, hovers over the field, and scans the cow before vaporizing it, leaving behind only a pile of bones that drop to the ground. The farmer still made it in, now hiding behind his tractor as the chaos unfolds.
This one was a blast to work on, easily the most fun I’ve had in a while. Everything was built and animated in Blender, including the animated image sequence that drives the hair particle density for the crop field.
Original concept with the farmer in the center, later revised to focus on the cow for narrative impact.
Final Animation
Clay Render
Viewport Image
Image sequence that drives the density of the hair particle system for the field and the crop circle being carved out.
Crop circle carving synced up to the drones lasers. This was done manually matching the start frames of the lasers with the start and end of the crop circle sections being carved out.
Simple rig setup to give the cow model some idle movement.
Quick physics simulation test for the cows bones dropping onto the ground.
Proof of concept for the cow being vaporized. The effect was achieved using Blender's node tree for the material.
The node setup that controls the vaporization of the cow model.