ULA - Vulcan Cert-1 Mission Profile

United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket debuted on January 8, 2024, with a maiden launch that carried a payload destined for the moon. It also marked the first mission of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload System, a series of launches leading up to the Artemis mission, on which NASA astronauts will return to the moon. We were tasked with creating an animated video to explain the mission of the launch. The problem? The rocket had already been booked for roughly 70 upcoming launches, with variations including 0, 2, 4, or 6 solid rocket boosters, and ULA needed videos to explain the profile of each and every mission. Our solution was to create a suite of animated video assets that could be configured to the needs of conveying the mission profile of not only the debut mission, but for each of the upcoming 70 missions. We worked closely with ULA’s in-house multimedia team to design the look of the animation, and to plan a shot list that would provide the flexibility needed to accurately convey multiple different missions. Included tasks were 3D modeling, lighting, look development, storyboarding, smoke and fire simulations, compositing, color corrections, animation, and last but not least, rendering. Tools used: Cinema4D, Adobe After Effects, Substance Painter, Redshift.