1) Right click (Command-Click on the Mac) on the Materials folder and select New Material. Highlight the new material in the Project Workspace and title it "hyperspaceROTJ." Expand the material and the right click (Command-Click on the Mac) on the Attribute and go to Change Type To>Combiner>Turbulence>Perlin. Go to the Properties Panel for Perlin. On the General tab, enter 1000 into all three of the Scale fields and 200 into the Amplitude field. On the Perlin tab, change the number of octaves to 4.

2) Expand the Perlin attribute node and you should see two Attributes. Set the first attribute's color to Blue and it's ambiance to 50. Set the specularity Size and Intensity to 0 and leave all other fields blank. Change the second attribute to a Sine turbulence combiner. Go to the General tab of the Properties Panel for "Sine" and set the X Translate (top left field) to 20cm, then set all 3 scale fields to 500 and the Amplitude to 200. On the Sine tab, change the number of octaves to 3.

3) Expand the Perlin attribute node and you should see two Attributes. Set the first attribute's color to Red: 85, Green: 85, Blue: 255 and it's ambiance to 100. Set the specularity Size and Intensity to 0 and leave all other fields blank. Set the second attribute's color to Red: 65, Green: 65, Blue: 255 and it's ambiance to 75. Set the specularity Size and Intensity to 0 and leave all other fields blank.

4) Close the "hyperspaceROTJ" material and right click (Command-Click on the Mac) on the "hyperspaceANH" model from the previous lesson and select Save As... and type "hyperspaceROTJ." Select the "hyperspaceROTJ" model in the Project Workspace, then go to the File tab on the Properties Panel and select "Embed in Project File" and rename it back to "hyperspaceANH."

5) Right click (Command-Click on the Mac) on the Objects folder and select Import>Model and import the "hyperspaceROTJ" model. Set it to "Embed in Project File." Expand the model and delete the "Shortcut to hyperspaceANH" material shortcut and then drag and drop the "hyperspaceROTJ" material onto the "hyperspaceROTJ" model. Open up the "hyperspaceROTJ" model and go into Bones mode (F6) and switch to the top view (5 on the keypad). Add a new bone (A) that looks like Figure 4-2-1. The start position for the bone should be -100cm on the Z-axis and 0 along all other axis's. The end position should be all zeros. Assign all CP's in the "hyperspaceROTJ" model to "Bone1."

Figure 4-2-1

6) In the Project Workspace, right click (Command-Click on the Mac) on the "hyperspaceANH" choreography and select Save As... and save it as "hyperspaceROTJ." Set "hyperspaceROTJ" to "Embed in Project File" and rename it back to "hyperspaceANH." Right click (Command-Click on the Mac) on the Choreographies folder and select Import Choreography and select "hyperspaceROTJ" and embed it in the project file. Expand the "hyperspaceROTJ" choreography and select "Shortcut to hyperspaceANH" and on the General tab of the Properties Panel, use the "Shortcut To:" drop-down menu to select the "hyperspaceROTJ" model. Delete all lights in the "hyperspaceROTJ" choreography.

Figure 4-2-2

7) Right click (Command-Click on the Mac) on the Actions folder in the Project Workspace and select New Action. Select "hyperspaceROTJ" as the model. Rename the action "hyperspaceROTJ." Scroll up to the "hyperspaceROTJ" model in the Objects folder and drag and drop the "Shortcut to hyperspaceROTJ" material shortcut onto the action. On the Channels folder of the Properties Panel, check "Z-Translate" on. Expand the "hyperspaceROTJ" action and open the "Z-Translate" channel. Create a keyframe at frame 0 with a value of 0 and another keyframe at frame 90 (3:00) with a value of 400.

Figure 4-2-3

8) Now select "Bone1" select and hit enter in the Roll field on the Rotate tab of the Properties Panel. Now advance to frame 22 and Roll the "Bone1" -90 degrees as depicted in Figure 4-2-4.

Figure 4-2-3

Figure 4-2-4

 

9) Advance to frame 45 (1:15) and roll it another -90 degrees, bringing it to 180 degrees. Advance to frame 67 (2:07) and roll it again. The roll value should be 90 degrees. Enter 0 as the roll value on frame 90 (3:00). Your channels should look like Figure 4-2-5.

Figure 4-2-5

10) Delete the "Shortcut to hyperspaceANH" action from the "Shortcut to hyperspaceROTJ" model in the "hyperspaceROTJ" choreography. Drag and drop the "hyperspaceROTJ" action onto the "Shortcut to hyperspaceROTJ" model in the "hyperspaceROTJ" choreography. Switch to the camera view (1 on the keypad) and Render to file. NOTE: If you wanted a longer animation you would have made the action longer. The texture needs to translate along the Z-axis at 400cm per every 3 seconds and the hyperspace tunnel needs to make one full rotation every 3 seconds.

Example:

hyperROJ.mov 465 KB
 

Hyperspace Tunnel #1: Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope
    Creating the hyperspace tunnel effect as seen just prior to the Millennium Falcon dropping out of Hyperspace in the Alderaan system in ANH.
Hyperspace Tunnel #3: Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
    Creating the hyperspace tunnel effect as seen in Select #20.

 
Part 1: Observations and References of Lightspeed/Hyperspace Phenomenon
    An analysis of the different effects associated with hyperspace, and the difference in their appearance throughout the films.
Part 2: Exterior Hyperspace Animations
    How to properly animate a spaceship as it jumps into and drops out of hyperspace from an external viewpoint.
DOWNLOADS
Completed Project File .99MB
    Contains all of the materials, models, actions, and choreographies used in this tutorial in a ZIP Archive.
Completed Project File .99MB
    Contains all of the materials, models, actions, and choreographies used in this tutorial in a SIT Archive.
Tutorial: Off-Line Version 6.76MB
    All of these tutorials downloadable as a ZIP Archive.
Tutorial: Off-Line Version 6.81MB
    All of these tutorials downloadable as a SIT Archive.
 

CREDITS:
Tutorial by Jedi Knight Toren Depor(a.k.a. Filmmaker Matt Pfingsten)
 
Special Thanks to
Zoo of Sci-Fi3D for donating the Corellian Corvette 3DS model
The Animaster Mailing List for providing such great feedback and support on all of my tutorials.
TheForce.Net for hosting this tutorial
Hash Inc. for making such powerful 3D software
George Lucas for creating Star Wars