Free Underwater Animation Tutorial

In this super simple tutorial we show how to animate a submarine traveling underwater.  This is a very basic tutorial aimed at beginners in Maya. 

The idea is to do some simple animation of an underwater scene, then add a caustic effect to reproduce the effect of light penetrating water. 

The lighting effect can be achieved with just a few clicks.

Animate a Submarine Underwater Using Caustics in Maya

This tutorial can be adapted to animating fish - or any underwater scene.  To see how to recreate this underwater effect, follow the simple tutorial below:

Work Method

To re-create the tutorial, follow the steps below:

1. Start in the Modeling menu in Maya (top left)
2. Windows/Content Browser - Open the Content Browser
3. FX/Fluids/Ocean Examples/UnderwaterCaustics.ma (NB: Must have NURBS Surfaces turned on in Viewport to see the result)
4. We get: A Nurbs plane, an Underwater Camera, a directional light, an ambient light and some fog.
5. Select the underwater Camera. Panels/Look Through Selected. You are now looking through the camera
6. Download a free submarine from Turbosquid, import it into your scene, and position it beneath the camera. Adjust the scale of the submarine so it fits the camera view. 
7. Keyframe the submarine so it moves through the shot.
8. Render the scene in Maya Software.

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