Maya Particle Effects: Aurora Borealis - Oct '04

A tribute to our annual fishing trip to Canada. I played around with Maya particle effects to create this animation. It was my first try with the Maya particle simulator, so I didn't achieve exactly what I was hoping for but I'm still satisfied with the way it turned out. The animation was done by creating a curve and placing particle emitters along it. I apply an upward force and some turbulence, and color the particles based on their age. The starfield behind is also created using particles, and I wrote a small MEL script to make them twinkle. If you've ever witnessed the aurora, you may notice that this is a little inaccurate, but the results are still pretty cool. And if you haven't, you really should, they are awesome.

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