Working on a new personal project which I'm calling "Entomology Animated". Since Nature seems to be a few thousand times more interesting than anything I can dream up I am taking a break from fictionalized insects of my own design and instead I am exploring research on real live existing insects and arthropods and focusing my artistic endeavors on that. I give up nature... you win!
Entomology Animated will be a series of animations that explore the weird world of insect physiology and behavior (and I have some spiders, millipedes and other non-insect arthropods I'd like to include as well so I'm using the broad definition of "Entomology" and not the more specific definition which is restricted to insects... kind of like when a "Classical" music station plays Bach which is technically Baroque and not Classical... ok that was a tangent...).
I am striving towards accuracy (but I'm not a trained entomologist, I'm really an entomophile) in all that I present whether its on entomology or evolutionary biology. The videos will be online, free to watch for everyone. Its my hope that this series will help inject accurate science back into the internet and help spread the joy and love of all insects (except roaches, I will never get on board with them...)
But there is much work to be done. The first episode will be on Solenopsis invicta (AKA Red Imported Fire Ant, AKA Solenopsis wagneri for you old school types). I just revised the model that I had started a couple years ago. I improved the geometry, textures, and shaders. I want to think Seth Burgess (https://plus.google.com/+SethBurgess/posts) for his help and advice on improving the anatomy, my post petiole was a mess, its looking better now I think. Seth was even kind enough to take some amazing photos and send them to me which I used extensively for reference. Can't thank you enough Seth!
These are some test renders of the revised model (I apologize if they are grainy, these are not production render settings, just a test setting). Rendered in mental ray for Maya 2015, only photoshop work was a levels adjustment and the addition of the logos. Enjoy!
Now I have to rig this little lady...
Entomology Animated will be a series of animations that explore the weird world of insect physiology and behavior (and I have some spiders, millipedes and other non-insect arthropods I'd like to include as well so I'm using the broad definition of "Entomology" and not the more specific definition which is restricted to insects... kind of like when a "Classical" music station plays Bach which is technically Baroque and not Classical... ok that was a tangent...).
I am striving towards accuracy (but I'm not a trained entomologist, I'm really an entomophile) in all that I present whether its on entomology or evolutionary biology. The videos will be online, free to watch for everyone. Its my hope that this series will help inject accurate science back into the internet and help spread the joy and love of all insects (except roaches, I will never get on board with them...)
But there is much work to be done. The first episode will be on Solenopsis invicta (AKA Red Imported Fire Ant, AKA Solenopsis wagneri for you old school types). I just revised the model that I had started a couple years ago. I improved the geometry, textures, and shaders. I want to think Seth Burgess (https://plus.google.com/+SethBurgess/posts) for his help and advice on improving the anatomy, my post petiole was a mess, its looking better now I think. Seth was even kind enough to take some amazing photos and send them to me which I used extensively for reference. Can't thank you enough Seth!
Now I have to rig this little lady...
No comments:
Post a Comment