Nature's Wonders Sneak Peek Thread

[Alisa]

Beautiful, Ken!

 

[Mythocentric]

There's an old saying around here that you can wait for a bus for ages...then ten (insert your own number here!) turn up at once. Same goes for dragonflies/damselflies I guess and boy these have been well worth waiting for!

 

[Miss B]

Well Mytho, that may be an "old saying" around there, but around here, unfortunately, it's a sad fact, especially during the evening rush hour. ~shakes head~

 

[Carey]

While looking cuddly and cute, the Golden Poison Dart Frog is definitely a "do not touch" with enough poison to kill 20 humans on his skin, making him the most deadly of the Poison Dart Frogs. The poison, when applied to poison darts, will keep its effectiveness for up to 2 years.

View attachment 26341

The Dyeing Poison Dart Frog gets it's name not from its terminal effects but from the other form of "dying"...

Local tribes use the poison from this frog for decoration. Feathers are plucked from the back of young parrots and the frogs are rubbed on the parrots' exposed skin. When the feathers regrow, the toxin causes them to appear yellow or red rather than green. These altered feathers are highly prized by the indigenous tribes.

View attachment 26340

...and, yes, these two are Iray renders

Cute and deadly, why do I have visions of a new scifi novel...great stuff

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Finally back to work after a week of cleaning, cooking and recovering

Here's the Australian Tiger (dragonfly)...

 

[Carey]

Finally back to work after a week of cleaning, cooking and recovering

Here's the Australian Tiger (dragonfly)...

View attachment 32756

The land of oz has these really strange creatures and I wonder what is weird about this fella....

 

[Ken Gilliland]

The land of oz has these really strange creatures and I wonder what is weird about this fella....

look at the end of the tail
sort of a club with fins

 

[Stezza]

Be afraid.... be very afraid

The cicadas are singing this time of year and boy it can be loud.... cicada shells are scattered everywhere.. they keep the birds away during this time with their singing and the dragonflies are also scarce... I think the fish ate them!

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Here's the 12-spot Skimmer...

 

[CWRW]

Loving your dragonflies Ken!! Very cool!

 

[Ken Gilliland]

...and from the heart of Africa, here's a first look at the Swordbearer Emperor (dragonfly)...

 

[Miss B]

These are all looking great Ken.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Thanks... I did some fine tuning on all the four dragonfly species for Volume I (before I move to the four damselflies).

You'll notice the new displacement map I've added to the abdomen (tail), I think it really adds to the final renders. Also, for the first time, I've showing the females I'm including. (Note: the reason for no female with the Swordbearer is that it is a newly discovered species and the information even on the male was scant. Scientists really don't know what and if they are any differences yet.... The Australian Tiger females looks the same as the males except there are no "fins" on the tail. The fins were created as part of the "Club Tail" morph. Maybe at some time in the future (if I add more morphs to the main model), I'll recreate that morph minus the fins for the female Tiger).

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Nice!

 

[Miss B]

I'll say. I'm having a problem picking a favorite, as they're all so great looking.

 

[Lyne]

These are so beautiful, Ken!!!!!!!!!!!! I have found if I turn the background to black, in my Poser 2014, render the dragonfly and save as png, there is of course NO background, but the wing "trans" or alpha that poser makes in it's png, makes the wings show up really nice! (I always make myself many png's to use in various art projects)

 

[Ken Gilliland]

yes, I used .png renders for all my advertising such as the image above

 

[Stezza]

same.. I either use png or psd in Carrara

 

[Miss B]

I render to PNG format in Poser as well, though if I'm using Bagginsbill's EnvSphere, or Snarly's EZDome, then those backgrounds don't render transparent. I still prefer PNG, though, as there's no detail loss like there is with JPGs.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

moving on to my Damselflies-- here's my male Banded Demoiselle