Autodesk engineer and designer Evan Atherton creates ‘Star Wars’-inspired short using RED Epic and Scarlet cameras, as well as a DGI drone and Movi free fly gimbal for aerial shots.
What happens when Star Wars' intrepid R2-D2 attempts to find love in San Francisco? Find out in Artoo in Love, an adorable new short film from Autodesk engineer and designer Evan Atherton.
Artoo in Love is a short film that follows intrepid droid R2-D2 as he tries to find love in San Francisco. After courting a female mailbox and defending her against intruders, Artoo discovers that she is betrothed to his arch-nemesis, a dark droid. Crushed, Artoo treks across San Francisco in the name of love. The film debuted on March 28 at the Sonoma Film Festival ahead of a screening of DreamWorks Animation’s new CG-animated feature, Home.
Atherton shot a portion of the film at UC Berkeley using RED Epic and Scarlet cameras, as well as a DGI drone and Movi free fly gimbal for aerial shots. He used several Autodesk tools to create and control CG assets in the film, including Maya for 3D camera tracking and shadow replacements; Fusion 360 to model parts the pink droid; Inventor to design and 3D print props like the umbrella holder or to drive the Haas milling mating to build custom rails for a servo motor as part of the internal structure of the droid; and Delcam software to control the droids. Atherton also enlisted help from two professional VFX artists to bring the taser and rain scenes to life.
Watch the video, and check out some of the VFX breakdown shots, below:
Atherton is a mechanical engineer and designer in Autodesk's Office of the CTO and a mega Star Wars fan. In his free time, he can be found in Autodesk's Pier 9 Workshop making movies or playing with his dogs.
Source: Autodesk
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
