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Nature's Wonders Sneak Peek Thread
- Thread starter Ken Gilliland
- Start date
Ummm, hanging from the rafters.
I have taken a look at bats and have now ideas how the model could be done. Maybe I'll play with Modo later this week and see what develops. I doubt I could get a bat set out in time for Halloween renders (especially considering the scale of my projects), but who knows? When the muse hits me just right, I work pretty much non-stop-- sometimes at the expense of my well-being (no breaks, no food, no sleep)-- hence the muse's name, the "Demon". Hey, that's kind of Halloweenish
My wife is never happy to see me in 'that' muse-trance, and does her best to keep me balanced... so odds are against getting a new bat by Halloween.
I have been working over the weekend on another project, the dragon/damselfly I've promised. Here's the Dragonfly base model I'm working on. The rectangle planes on the legs will be trans-mapped hairs.
My wife is never happy to see me in 'that' muse-trance, and does her best to keep me balanced... so odds are against getting a new bat by Halloween.
I have been working over the weekend on another project, the dragon/damselfly I've promised. Here's the Dragonfly base model I'm working on. The rectangle planes on the legs will be trans-mapped hairs.
Thanks... I have some fine tuning on the geometry still, then finishing up the UVs and cutting it up into joints. I'm anxious to get some rigging on it and see what I have. Then, I'll shape the model to see if I can get the damselfly morph that I think I can get out of it.
Dreamer
Dream Weaver Designs
@Ken Gilliland Can I please just ask for one thing with the bats, please please give them you flock formations treatment Work on an image just now with the old RDNA Scatters bats ans swearing lots lol
Work on an image just now with the old RDNA Scatters bats ans swearing lots lol
@Ken Gilliland Can I please just ask for one thing with the bats, please please give them you flock formations treatment
If (and when) I get to the bats, I'll consider doing that.
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On my Dragonfly/Damselfly project I made good progress this week, completing the UVs and rigging the dragonfly. Today I started the damselfly morph but quickly found out that it's going to have to be a separate model since damselfly wing attach to different body parts than do dragonfly wings. I took the Dragonfly model and hybridized into a damselfly. It's probably better on the rigging end anyways since damselflies position their wings quite differently when not in flight. The other key differences, apart from the thinner body and longer tail, are that damselfly eyes do not touch each other on the forehead and bulge more to the sides and their fore and hind wings are the same size
Damselfly model
the rigged dragonfly in Poser
Dreamer
Dream Weaver Designs
This morning, I adjusted the dragonfly rig to match the damselfly and added in controls for their stationary (at rest) wings. I guess this weekend, I'm move ahead to creating a texture map and deciding what species of each I want to include (that will also clue me in on what morphs I needed for each). One of the first poses I'll create will be the heart-shaped mating pose to make sure I've set the joint limits correctly.
There are 11 families of dragonflies (3,012 known species) and 34 families of damselflies (2,942 species), so there's a large variety to choose from. They are both found everywhere except Antarctica, so expect my usual global approach. Some species selected will be givens, because they are my local ones. It's hard to believe there's 77 different dragonfly/damselfly species just in Southern California. Neon Skimmers and Northern Bluets are regulars at our garden ponds so expect those on the list. If you have a favorite, now's the time to chime in
There are 11 families of dragonflies (3,012 known species) and 34 families of damselflies (2,942 species), so there's a large variety to choose from. They are both found everywhere except Antarctica, so expect my usual global approach. Some species selected will be givens, because they are my local ones. It's hard to believe there's 77 different dragonfly/damselfly species just in Southern California. Neon Skimmers and Northern Bluets are regulars at our garden ponds so expect those on the list. If you have a favorite, now's the time to chime in
I think it was this one: Ordonates Frame And it was a damselfly!
Or this one: Ordonates Frame I was told it was a dragonfly and it did bite! Apparently damselflies don't bite.
Here's a wip render of my Scarlet Meadowhawk (dragonfly)...
The wip render helps me see what's working well and not working. I'm very happy with the wings... One thing that definitely wasn't was the Spiked Rush (plant) texture (from Big Cypress) for close-up detail camera shots so I redid it. I'll post the improved texture maps for that later this week. The Dragonfly is "obelisking" which is a behavior to prevent overheating on sunny days. The abdomen is raised until its tip points at the sun, minimizing the surface area exposed to solar radiation. When the sun is close to directly overhead, the vertical alignment of the insect's body suggests an obelisk.
The wip render helps me see what's working well and not working. I'm very happy with the wings... One thing that definitely wasn't was the Spiked Rush (plant) texture (from Big Cypress) for close-up detail camera shots so I redid it. I'll post the improved texture maps for that later this week. The Dragonfly is "obelisking" which is a behavior to prevent overheating on sunny days. The abdomen is raised until its tip points at the sun, minimizing the surface area exposed to solar radiation. When the sun is close to directly overhead, the vertical alignment of the insect's body suggests an obelisk.