Cellular sequence for "Signs of Life" Planetarium Show

These are some still frames from a sequence I worked on for the planetarium show "Signs of Life" at the Samuel Oschin Planetarium at Griffith Observatory. I created the 3D models, textures, shaders, lighting, rigging, and animation for this sequence. The audience dives into a single cell of a Tardigrade (Water bear) and we travel through the membrane and then into the cytoplasm. I created a network of cytoskeletal fibers, mitochondria, ribosomes, lysosomes, smooth and rough ER, strands of RNA and then the nuclear membrane, plus lots of other cellular structures. We go through a nuclear pore and into the nucleus where the audience is surrounded by wriggling strands of DNA complete with nucleosomes, enzymes, and water molecules. The DNA model is actually a bit more accurate than is typically seen in these types of animations (although still a little fantastic in terms of the shading and animation). It was an extremely difficult sequence but made much easier thanks to the mMaya plug in by my friends at Digizyme (https://clarafi.com/tools/mmaya/). If you are in Los Angeles make sure you go see the show, the images are not the same as seeing it projected onto the dome. I'm really proud of how the final sequence came out.