Case Studies
Creation Museum – Microraptor Animation
Year – 2024
Role – 3D Animation, Visual Development, VFX
Client – Creation Museum
Category – Video
Credits – Anthony Collins, Joel Leineweber
Project Summary
Developed for a Beyond Bones keynote presentation, this cinematic animation brings a Microraptor reconstruction to life through creature animation, atmospheric environment design, and virtual cinematography.
Joel Leineweber approached me to animate a Microraptor using a model and Blender rig supplied by another artist. My work expanded from studying and animating the creature to building its surrounding environment, staging the camera movement, and completing the sequence with sound design and editing.
The concept centered on a transformation: a close-up of a fossil slowly reveals an illuminated outline before the living creature emerges from the stone and takes flight.
Process
I began by studying bird flight and learning the supplied rig in Blender. Over the following weeks, I explored how to translate those movements into an animated performance that felt believable within the team’s intended reconstruction.
Thumbnail sketches helped me plan the sequence, establish the reveal, and consider how the creature’s movement would interact with the camera. Throughout development, I incorporated continual team feedback to keep the animation aligned with their anatomical interpretation and Answers in Genesis’ biblical worldview.
This process connected movement research, shot planning, and iterative animation, giving the sequence a clear progression from stillness to flight.
Environment & Cinematography
With the creature animation established and the UVs and textures reworked by Anthony Collins, I imported the animation into Unreal Engine and built a desert environment around the shot.
I developed the setting with sculpted dunes, sand textures, cacti, scattered animal bones, drifting ground dust, and airborne particles. Weather, clouds, and wind added movement throughout the scene.
The camera begins close to the fossil, allowing its shape and surface to establish the subject. As it slowly pulls back, an emissive outline introduces the transformation. After a brief pause, the Microraptor emerges and flies away.
The timing of the camera, illumination, and creature animation shaped the reveal, while the surrounding atmosphere gave the sequence depth and a sense of place.
I added sound design to deepen the scene’s immersion and completed the final edit in Premiere Pro, bringing the animation, environmental motion, and camera work together into a cohesive cinematic sequence.