Songbird Remix's Product Preview Thread

[Ken Gilliland]

This is a interesting spider-- its an orb weaver, meaning it missing the iconic concentric circle spider web-- but it's missing a slice of the pizza. It purposely doesn't complete the web hence its name... the Missing Sector Orb Weaver. I've seen a few discussions on why it doesn't finish the web and the consensus is that it provides a fast escape route/entry point for the spider. The Missing Sector Orb Weaver is most commonly found throughout the United Kingdom and Western Europe. However, over the last decades, the population has spread throughout the world including Japan, the Korean Peninsula, China, Indonesia, Northern India, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and the west and east coasts of the United States.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I'll have a few items on sale at Renderosity starting Tuesday to Friday... 50% off, 60% off for Prime members.

I selected 9 items that pretty much got ignored during my last Audubon sale that I think deserve a second look... Nature's Wonders Lizards of the World Vol. 3, Nature's Wonders Lizards of the World Vol. 4, Songbird ReMix Threatened, Endangered, Extinct, Songbird ReMix Hawaii, Songbird ReMix Kiwis, Songbird Remix Potoos, Songbird ReMix Second Edition, Songbird ReMix Threatened, Endangered, Extinct 2 and Songbird ReMix Waterfowl Vol 2 - Sea & Diving Ducks.

Here's the Green Lynx Spider along with some Putnam's cicada in my Sagebrush habitat. This is a hunter spider, meaning it doesn't spin a web-- it goes out on the prowl for its meals.

 

[Stezza]

We had a Saint Andrews Cross spider make it's home on our back decking for a while... they have a cross built into their web..

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Interesting spider and web

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Here's my WIP on the Wolf spider (with Dynamic Hair)... still have lots of clean on the leg textures, plus adding on hair on them... but I'm pleased with the progress.

 

[Sunfire]

Creepy looking. I'd say that his or her mother probably loves him, but from all I know spiders lack any maternal instincts. Lay the eggs and off you go, either to die or to find another mate.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Creepy looking. I'd say that his or her mother probably loves him, but from all I know spiders lack any maternal instincts. Lay the eggs and off you go, either to die or to find another mate.

...pretty much my wife's words... "you're creeping me out with your spiders"... I guess that means I'm doing a decent job at recreating them in 3D

 

[eclark1894]

Actually, kind of reminds me of an Alaskan King crab.

 

[eclark1894]

Creepy looking. I'd say that his or her mother probably loves him, but from all I know spiders lack any maternal instincts. Lay the eggs and off you go, either to die or to find another mate.

Well, that's not all spiders. If I recall correctly, some spiders lay eggs, and then protect them. and I THINK, the Black Widow will lay her eggs, protect them until they hatch and then, let the young consume her body.

Which reminds me Ken, are you going to have spider webs and egg sacks or cocoons???

 

[eclark1894]

Yay, spiders! I have one living in my bathroom right above the sink right now. Contemplating gently moving it as the recent fruit fly crop we had swarming for some reason in the bathroom departed and I don't want it to starve.

What? I like spiders, they're wonderful and useful houseguests. Now, brown recluses I kill without remorse, those are awful. But the rest...okay, maybe I'd to the same to black widows too, luckily I've never met one.

MOST spiders I grew up around are harmless house spiders. Still not a big fan of spiders though. I tend to leave Daddy Longlegs alone, But when I was little and growing up, I went out of my way to avoid Black widow spiders. We knew they were poisonous, but that isn't what scared us, it was the web. The myth was that you couldn't call out anyone's name around the web, or the spider would hear it and write the name in it's web and the person would die.

 

[Sunfire]

I didn't really have any problems with spiders, until I was a kid playing in my grandfather's yard, was heading for the house after being called to go inside, happened to look over on my left shoulder and was looking at a daddy longlegs that was on my shoulder. Startled and scared the living daylights out of me. Ever since then. Welp...

 

[Ken Gilliland]

...Which reminds me Ken, are you going to have spider webs and egg sacks or cocoons???

Yes, initially I'm planning three sets;

• Spiders (Base Set)- the spider base model along with 6 m/f black widows from around the world. 6 poses and a widow web will also be included.
• Spiders of the World v1- Six additional spider species for the base set. Species will include: Brown Recluse (w/dynamic hair), Cellar Spider (Daddy Longlegs), Missing Sector Orb Weaver (m/f), European Garden Spider (m/f), Green Lynx Spider (w/dynamic hair), and Carolina Wolf Spider (m/f w/dynamic hair).
• Spider Webs- A collection of 4 specific web types, including ones for Orb weavers, Missing Sector Orb Weavers, Cellar Spiders and Asymmetrical Types (for brown recluse, widows). I won't have specific webs for the Lynx or Wolf spiders because they don't spin them-- they're "hunter" spiders. There will be additional props like caught insects, web silk wrapped captures and a generic egg sack. This set is still in the works so it may change in content.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

The Carolina Wolf Spider on the prowl as it often does in our house....

Plus a close-up...

 

[Sunfire]

creepy.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Inspired by the Australian classic song, "Redback on the Toilet Seat". Give it a listen, the lyrics are hilarious.

The "redback" is the Australian Black Widow. For the render, I used my "Vintage Furnishings" along with the spider.

 

[Harimau]

Creepy looking. I'd say that his or her mother probably loves him, but from all I know spiders lack any maternal instincts. Lay the eggs and off you go, either to die or to find another mate.

Some spiders and insects go the other extreme. They let their offspring eat them (matriphagy). This process is best described in the Desert spider, Stegodyphus lineatus, here the mother harbors nutritional resources for her young through food consumption. The mother is able to regurgitate small portions of food for her growing offspring but between 1–2 weeks after hatching the progeny capitalize on this food source by eating her alive. Typically, offspring only feed on their biological mother as opposed to other females in the population. (See Wikipedia).

 

[Sunfire]

Some spiders and insects go the other extreme. They let their offspring eat them (matriphagy). This process is best described in the Desert spider, Stegodyphus lineatus, here the mother harbors nutritional resources for her young through food consumption. The mother is able to regurgitate small portions of food for her growing offspring but between 1–2 weeks after hatching the progeny capitalize on this food source by eating her alive. Typically, offspring only feed on their biological mother as opposed to other females in the population. (See Wikipedia).

Well that gives a whole new spin to being willing to die for your kids.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

In creating my morphs for the cellar spider (aka Daddy Longlegs) I found that the extra long leg morphs were just playing havoc with my generic spider model so I create a hybrid version of the model with much longer legs. The other tricky issue has been the web. With other spiders I've been using hexagon tubes for each web strand, but for the cobwebby cellar spiders web that wasn't going to work. I instead created a series of transparency planes, creating the cobweb look in textures and added in a tiny bit of displacement/bump to give them a more 3D look. All my webs will have numerous morphs to make them billow slightly and allow customizable attachment points.

 

[Sunfire]

That web looks like something I might have once decorated my Christmas tree with.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Just finished the Strand-based hair on the DS spiders-- Iray is definitely a wow