ALLOSAURUS study

[Arran J Lewis]

After watching a quite a few turorials and spending ages with learning Z again, I am finally onto a proper model. As part of my studies I have to illustrate some dino's with the first one being the Allosaurus, and so after loads and loads of sketches and working with bone structure, poses, and proportions I was glad to get stuck into actually making the model. This is about two thirds of the way through and then just rendered to see how its doing, and so now off to sleep.

dinotest.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('12545','dinotest.jpg',1,0))

[wenna]

really nice! Good modeling and texture.. a little to shiny for me tho.. It could be me tho.. LOL

[Mytholon]

Good! I agree with wenna about it being shiny though. The colors and style remind me of the illustrated dinos of William Stout (which is a very good thing). I guess that you will have a different material for the dinos underside?

[ilusiondigital]

Totally cool, very good proportions, i will put an eye in your post to see your progress :tu:

[Arran J Lewis]

hello , the material is just a play thing and not intended for the final model, as yep its way to shiny, and even metalic looking, but I was so sleeeeeepy that I just picked one from the bunch and applied it to get some shadows and a some cavity shading onto it. Thanks for your comment on the modeling, I really have had so much fun doing this and well all the inspiration comes from seeing all the posts that people share on here,..aahhhhh the sharing of inspiration.

[Arran J Lewis]

I have just made the Adaptive skin, and its just at 85540 polys, and so plenty of room for wrinkles and scales ets. I have saved the Zsphere version with this same model being a preview stage, originally with the intention of posing it by moving the Zspheres but the preview goes all messy or back to a balloon style dino, if anyone knows how I can pose this now I would appreciate the advice. For now I am goinf to work detail into the static model, but Ihope to work out a way to make a version that is more dynamic in its pose.

85000.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('12593','85000.jpg',1,0))

[marcus_civis]

Great dinosaurs! :tu: You can pose a zsphere model by storing a morph target while the zspheres are visible. Basically you build your zspheres in a default pose, set the density slider so the mesh can take the detail you want, add the detail in preview mode, when you've done flip back to zsphere mode and store a morph target. This tells ZB not to update the mesh if you move the zspheres. You mustn't add or delete zspheres after this, only move/rotate them.

[Arran J Lewis]

Thanks marcus, I am trying that but I am havings ome problems with the polys going crazy, and it has been suggested to me that maybe some of the Zspheres are twisted, so I am going to spend some time playing around to get it right. Thanks for the instructions about the Morph target.

This is at preview density 6, and so I am going to keep pushing it with the smaller details, especially on the head, hands and feet. Then hopefully i will sort out being able to pose it. In between adding wrinkles I could not fight the temptation to play around with more material and lighting, and also the option of perspective is on max within the draw pallette to attempt to make this creature look big.

dinotest.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('12600','dinotest.jpg',1,0))

[wenna]

wow, that is simply awesome! I didn't know you could do all that before you made an adaptive skin.. hmmm, back to the tuts.. LOL


Anyway, am looking forward to the updates! Keep us informed!

[metamesh]

hi!
nice model there but maybe it´s too much wrinkels? or too exagerated...right now it looks like he has been under the water for hours and his skin is all...dunno the word in english :)

[marcus_civis]

Looks great to me. Could do with an iron, perhaps. ;-)

On posing zspheres I find that moving/rotating the connector rings rather than the zspheres themselves is often the best way.

[Arran J Lewis]

I think I have finished with the modeling part at least and now I am working on the texture. I have tried to do as much modeling as possible, including some scales and wrinkles, and have got information from various places on how it might have looked, in reference to the type of scales and the skin etc. I made this specificaly wrinkley based on what i know of reptiles and the climate of the creature and the water content stored under the skin would vary depending on the weather/seasons etc. There is no specific evidence of colours, or scales, and so there is a bit of freedom at least, but Iam going to try and make it believable I hope. :)

finalrenderwhite.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('12783','finalrenderwhite.jp g',1,0))

[Frenchy Pilou]

...seems living! :tu:
Pilou

[ilusiondigital]

This last one is my favorite, a good work indeed :tu:

[Arran J Lewis]

adding texture :)
bla.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('12832','bla.jpg',1,0))

[Mr micro26]

Excellent detailing:tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

The dino's coming more and more alive everytime you post :)


Yong

[Arran J Lewis]

silly me lost what i did with the texture because of a crash on Z (pressed escape to many times when canceling a render, ooops) and so started again and also then changed the approach, which now I prefere as it was going to graphic looking. I might change this some more, well definately in fact, but this is where i am to now.

blabla.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('12872','blabla.jpg',1,0))

[PHatalitY]

Thats coming along really great man, it looks nice with the texture, keep it up!

[wicked_n_raw]

The texure is great keep up the good work!

[Arran J Lewis]

I have finished the head illustration at least, and now i just need to finish what i am on with the body. Originally i was going to do three different dinos, each being not so high rez and not so much detail, but now I am focusing on the one, and will do others at a later date. Thanks for your comments and putting up with my WIP.

justhed.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('12915','justhed.jpg',1,0))

[ReplicA]

Nice work. Does it get a little confusing when you have so much detail going on?

Nice modeling, and textures. More updates!

[lemonnado]

Really nice!!! I love the fact that texture and detail get along just fine. The teeth are marvelous! MORE!

:tu::tu::tu:
LemonNado

[tdrs]

good!!! very good!, Nice model and textures. More updates!:tu: :tu: :tu:

you paint textures very quickly~:D do you show how to do with it?:o

[mustan9]

Wow!

I don't understand how you did the scales.

I feel so lost in ZBrush. Can't figure out how you guys are getting such amazing detail.

Can you explain how many sub-d levels you have? How much memory this model takes up? What kind of computer are you running? Do you need a power house of a computer to do these kinds of details?

Thanks.

[neuroticgothguy]

nice work, on the details and what not, though your reference is very very old, like 1800's old.

http://critters.pixel-shack.com/WebImages/crittersgallery/Allosaurus_Stegosaurus.jpg

sure theres artist interpretation and then theres fossiil records and scientific and anatomical accuracy.

but good job anyway.

[Frenchy Pilou]

...incredible gallery of the illustrator Burian (http://petr-hejna.cz/burian1.htm) :cool:
Pilou

[neuroticgothguy]

indeed

[aminuts]

well since no one was around back then anatomy beyond the fossils is subjective anyway. Man has been fooled by fossils before .....well man has been fooled by man made fossils before so I am willing to give mr lewis a break here, since I wasn't around when they were I can't say his interpretation is wrong.

I can say I think he did a fine job on it and I am sure it suits the purpose for which he intends it and I hope he is happy with his results when he is done because ultimately that is the only one he has to satisfy.

[neuroticgothguy]

well, as it turns out he had it all wrong cause the way he had the allosaurus positioned his back would be broken, plus most of what we now know about the dinosaurs is from the fossil records and the study of modern day animals and how they adapt to their environment and in thinking that way we can pretty much discern what they could've been like.

i could go into more detail on that but i figured i wouldn't want to bore anyone and i just don't feel like typing all that much.

[MattHHH]

Amazing pics A.J.L.!!!!

5 stars.

MattHHH:cool:

WHY DON'T YOU TAKE A LOOK DOWN HERE:

ALIEN FACE HUGGER (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=25941&page=1&pp=15)

[70780533]

very good!

[slashpot]

Hey this is great modelling, and your texturing is particularly pleasing.

But I hafta agree with Neuro, a lot of recent research has changed the way we think about dino appearance, especially the Theropods (bipedal carnivores). They were a lot less upright than originally thought and would have had to have been a lot more straight-legged. The weight of these guys - around 2-3 tons for an Allosaur - just couldnt be held in the typical 'crouching' position for great lengths of time, and the purpose of the long tail had to be to cantilever the huge head with it's massive jaw muscles. This becomes more evident as the animal gets larger, to the point where the 5 ton T-Rex is basically a set of legs and a head with a tail for balance. This is possibly why the arms got so ridiculously small, suggesting that given another 50 million or so years they might have disappeared altogether.

This stuff is just physics and has required new discoveries and new technologies that just weren't available a century ago, there is still an awful lot we're just guessing at. They may have had feathers, (actually they definitely did have - new finds from China have proven that an ancestor of T-Rex had simple feathers, but they may have only been present in juveniles), they may have had all sorts of colours and adornments like a chickens comb, or a turkey's neck, but we can only guess at this as soft tissue isn't preserved in fossils, although another recent find from China has the imprints of scaly skin.

That's why Paleontology is so interesting (to dweebs like me), because new things are being unearthed every day, and new scientific advances never stop.

Sorry to take the focus off your excellent sculpt Lewis, I'm looking forward to seeing the final result.
:tu: :tu: :tu: