Lunar MPV

Reject the first version

Astra’s first attempt was an isometric-looking website that moved on its own. It was unusable for what I wanted. There was a model on screen, but no deliberate choice about what to look at.

I removed the large headings and page navigation, and pushed toward close perspective shots. Scrolling would move the camera through those shots.

Direct the shots with DialKit

I marked the details worth seeing, then used DialKit to refine 12 points along the camera path. I could adjust the camera, lens and focus, or change each light’s position, size and intensity myself. Small corrections no longer needed another prompt to the agent.

Path-traced previews in Blender’s Cycles renderer helped me judge the framing, light and depth of field alongside the live scene. I could compare the result and keep refining each shot.

I cut a repeated lap around the rover. One assembled orbit establishes the whole; the next shots move inside the separated parts to reveal something new.

Keep the parts readable

The dark reveal hid the separated parts, while the final shot washed out the white plastic. More brightness everywhere would not solve both. Broad studio lights made the open assembly readable; lower exposure protected the white surfaces.

A later blur experiment put halos around the model. It looked like bloom, so I rejected it and returned to the earlier lighting with a small brightness lift. Soft focus needed to direct attention without obscuring the object.

Make the movement believable

During separation, the seat passed straight through the explorer. A smooth animation still felt wrong when the parts could not move that way.

I changed the order: lift the explorer clear, release the connected modules, then separate the wheel carriages. Reassembly reverses that path, with the explorer landing last. Clearance checks helped verify the correction. The movement now explains how the rover fits together.