Visualizing Space Discoveries

SA: What information is better told by animation than text?

WF: Text is a great way to communicate the result of something, such as the discovery of water vapor on Jupiter’s moon Europa. But animation can often communicate the “how” of something—or a process—more clearly and quickly. For example, in just a few seconds, one of our animations shows how the water vapor on Europa interacts with radiation from the sun to create infrared light—which was then detected by a huge telescope in Hawaii, allowing scientists to confirm the presence of water on that moon.

SA: How do you make an animation?

WF: After discussing the animation and source material with the communications producer and the scientist who have requested the animation, we create storyboards. We spend a lot of time in the storyboard phase because it’s easier to make corrections on paper than on the computer. Once the storyboards are approved, we’ll start building digital models of the objects that will appear in the animation, such as a spacecraft or a planet. We add texture, color, and lighting to the objects. Then we render—or create—the individual frames. Finally, we composite the frames to create the animation.

SA: What serves as source material for an animation?

WF: We work with the scientists to keep it factually correct to what you would see if you were actually where the animation takes place, such as on an asteroid. Sometimes images captured by powerful telescopes on Earth or on satellites in space serve as the source material. Other times, we create our animations based on data collected by the scientists, such as a graph or number plot.

SA: What are the most important skills for a science animator to have?

WF: Artistic skills are the most important—particularly a sense of composition and storytelling. The software changes all the time, and you can learn it easily. But you really need a strong foundation in the arts.

SA: What do you love about your job?

WF: Having a scientist come in and say, “Hey! We just found a new exoplanet!” Getting to animate that is very cool. Also, everything we do is in the public domain. So our work often ends up in documentaries, the news, and on social media. And that’s fun to see!