co-op no. 1 · spring 2024
SUSAN Model Update and Animation
SUSAN (SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine) is a concept aircraft being developed at NASA Glenn Research Center. I was tasked with updating the SUSAN model, optimizing it for VR applications, and creating an animation to showcase the technology of SUSAN and promote sustainable aviation to the public.
Outdated versions of the model were provided, to which changes were made to reflect the current design.
Changes to the cockpit and fuselage include quad retopology, removing duplicate geometry, and fixing normals.
The arrangement of the distributed engines was changed, and the model was updated to match.
The design of the turbofan engine was changed slightly, reintroducing the taper and reducing the outward protrusion.
I had the opportunity to visit NASA Glenn's hangar, where I took reference photos and consulted subject matter experts including aerospace engineers and Air Force veterans.
Reference material gathered in the hangar enabled accurate detail textures, such as paneling and riveting patterns.
The plane was UV unwrapped at this stage. Square UVs helped to prevent logo and decal deformation.
The model was textured using Adobe Substance 3D Painter according to provided livery concepts.
Decals were created in Adobe Illustrator and projected onto the mesh where possible.
Panels and rivets were added using an original procedural system. This system distributes the details along a path as alphas, influencing the Height and Normal maps. The size, shape, and depth of these details can be parametrically changed at any time.
The project was keyframe animated in Blender. Interpolation was manually adjusted using curves.
For a more accurate stereoscopic video, titles, logos, and motion graphics were created in the 3D scene.
The most challenging aspect of animating was creating clouds.
Originally, clouds were simulated using volumes in Blender. However, this idea was scrapped due to hardware limitations.
Clouds were added in post production using Premiere Pro, but this caused issues with occlusion and stereoscopy.
The final solution distributes PNGs of clouds throughout the scene. The PNGs are subdivided and distorted to give the illusion of volume.
In addition to the monoscopic and stereoscopic animations, in-context, transparent, and orthographic stills were rendered.
An early version of SUSAN used in a visualization on the Hololens 2.
.jpg)
The SUSAN animation is showcased to visitors in the GRUVE lab.
.png)
SUSAN in the Unity viewport, viewable in VR on Meta Quest 3.
