OK another still form Niche. background will be rendered separately. I think I've gotten the noise down to an acceptable level, I'm happy with the animation. As soon as my other machine gets back from the shop (having some kernel panics at the moment, hopefully easy to fix) I can start rendering this shot and a second close up. Very excited, i think it will be cool.
This sequence will be rendered in Maya +VRay and eventually comped in Nuke. I have a second sequence in mind that I may try in Modo v06 just to compare animation and rendering. In the past I've had an easier time creating the look that I want in Modo. At the same time there are some subtle translucent parts on this render that I am digging (around the edges of the mouth parts). This shot focuses on the bug's head, the body is out of frame. This guy pierces the vines of a particular plant with a proboscis (not shown) and sucks up the sap. The spongy mouth parts soak up the excess and are use to clean the proboscis. At the moment the animation is all set to show him extending the proboscis, piercing the vine and sucking up the sap. I'm looking forward to figuring out how he's going to use the mouth parts.
I posted the full bug design last year rendered in Modo but as you can see I decided to change the head and the color scheme. above is the original rendered in Modo. Below is the newer version with re-done head and thorax. I have yet to paint the tail.
The new color scheme I lifted from a locust image I saw on line (
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/032/2/7/locust_subadult_by_macrojunkie.jpg)
