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Me: Eric Keller

Hi and welcome to my Blog. This is a hastily compiled record of my digital art and computer graphics experiments. I am a freelance CG artist living and working in Hollywood CA. I have written several books on Maya and ZBrush. Below my blog you'll find links to the books and tutorials I have authored and co-authored. I also occasionally teach at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood.I named my blog "Bloopatone" in honor of my first dog "Blue". She passed away a few years ago and I still miss her even though she was very grouchy and liked to bite me!

I'm proud to be an instructor at The Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood. Take a look at the work of our students and instructors on the Gnomon School Blog and the Gnomon Workshop Blog

Here is a link to my Artstation Page

Here is a link to my Demo Reel:

Eric Keller's 2016 CG Demo Reel from Eric Keller on Vimeo.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Solenopsis Invicta

Here's my ZBrush model of Solenopsis Invicta. I love to say "Solenopsis Invicta" and try to work it into every conversation. You know her as the feisty fire ant worker. She still need hair and you can see her legs don't quite join up with her body.  Also I'm working on her stinger. I made this a while back but thought it was time for an update. Rendered in mental ray for Maya 2014.

Invicta = invincible!




6 comments:

  1. Nice! Just as an FYI, S. invicta has a post-petiole (a second "hump" between the abdomen and thorax). It also has a very characteristic and indented clypeus (the place where the antennae meet the head). Both are important for identifying the species, so I thought you might like to know. :-)

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  2. I think the post-petiole is hidden from view at this angle because of the way I positioned the rear leg. Also I made the abdomen and the post petiole one mesh which is certainly a mistake on my part that I need to fix if I later decide to animate the abdomen and have it deform correctly. Also I'll post a render of the face from the front so you can see the detail. I do strive for accuracy so I use ant web as well as books by Wilson/Holldobler, Mark Moffet and the photography of Alexander Wild. Being human though (and a novice myrmecologist) Im prone to mistakes, Thanks so much for the critique!

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  3. some day I hope to get a microscope and some better specimens! the internet can only take you so far!

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  4. Eric I am a freelancer as well, working on a solenopsis invicta anatomically correct to 2 microns. you can find good references at: http://projects.biodiversity.be/ants/species/queryAjax

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  5. That's cool Jose! What is your modeling method and how do you achieve such accurate models?

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  6. Amazing work, is there any tutorial for this?

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