deer anatomy

[rasmusW]

hey guys!!

i've been working on this study for some time, and now decided that it was good enough to show here for crits before i hit the "final render" button...
i did the base in zbrush and then re-topologized it in silo. rendered in maya.



and here is the wire and flat shaded model.


looking forward to hear what you think.

-r

[dandan]

excellent work! i like animal ecorche's a lot, and yours turned out great . two small suggestions maybe for the render - it looks very nice, i like the plasticity, but a depth of field calculator can help for more accurate results, that way the model wont look so small. also, i personally would change that wooden block for a nicer base, the sculpture deserves it . keep up the good work!

[Captain Cartesian]

I am so impressed with this. You have captured this subject so elegantly. Thanks for posting. Did you work from any particular reference?

[Francis Bezooyen]

You've definitely done some nice work here. Without scrutinizing it in detail, one crit does pop out at me - I happen to be studying deer myself right now, and I know from this and also my study of animals generally that the pose of your deer's legs needs some work.

First - the overall pose is, in broad terms, fine. But, while plausible, it is not the most likely pose to find a deer in, even when keeping it all in symmetry. The primary problem is that you've positioned the front hooves further forward than normal, and the back hooves further back than normal for a relaxed stance, or any other common pose for a deer (that I've seen anyway). It makes it look like the deer is trying to straddle something.

Second - the angles of the bones of the legs are generally too straight. A Deer's front legs tend to have a bit of a knock-knee look to them, meaning that the "knee" (actually the wrist) is closer to the center of the body than the hooves. The same can be said of their back legs, though the term "knock-knee" doesn't come to mind as readily since they look so different. Basically the hooves of the back leg tend to point slightly out from the body rather than straight ahead (same with the front hooves), and the "knees" (actually the heel) tend to be located more toward the center of the animal than the hooves, sometimes the knees/heels of the back legs seem like they might almost touch each other.

A diagram would be helpful, but I don't have time for that so I'll direct you to a few images on the web instead. Hopefully these help to illustrate my points.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JjI2u235h9...255B1%255D.jpg
http://www.deer-whitetail.com/Pictures/deer/deer-11.jpg
http://www.kootenaynaturephotos.com/...rs_3292_lr.jpg
http://stevetabone.files.wordpress.c...-her-fawns.jpg
http://khongthe.com/wallpapers/natur...rest-50220.jpg
http://www.stat.ucla.edu/~ywu/AB/dee...riginal133.png


One last thing - I'd give the lower portion of the front leg another look (knee/wrist and down), for proportions of features, general sweeps and angles etc.

[Philuxius]

Excellent work, i like!

[rasmusW]

thanks for all the kind words and crits..

dandan: ye! the dof will be much less if not completely removed for the final renders. i did think of another base, a more sculpted one, but i actually kind like the contrast that the base gives. i might tone the colors down a bit, though.

Captain Cartesian: i got a anatomy book with some pics of a deer and then just what i could find on the web.

Francis Bezooyen: thank you very much for the great crit. i completely forgot to mention in my initial post, that i still needed to do the pose. i'm sure all your suggestions and pics will come in handy for that part.
the pose it has now is for pure modeling purpose. i was easier to get the loops around the forelegs and such if it stood like this.
i'll take one more look at the frontlegs.

-r

[Santis]

I really dig it! There is something about the class eye and it's contrast to the bodies material that gives me good vibes, gives it an old school reference feel

[jimmyLev]

Wow, looks really good Rasmus. Great work! Seems like you went all the way on this study, thumbs up

[rasmusW]

thanks a lot you two. glad you like it.
here is my latest go.. i'll hit the render button in a sec. and (hopefully) call it done.


Santis: i hope i didn't loose that old school reference feel, with this new render.. heheh

jimmy: i'll hopefully be back working at "d" very soon. maybe already next week, so please drop by

-r

[Philuxius]

Great sculpts. i like!

[mogglin]

Great sculpt and really lovely posing. Really makes them look 'alive'.

[Heat3D]

Good job! Great anatomy work. I really like last render.

[mutte696]

Great study, I like it! cheers buddy!

[A.Ceylan]

Looking really good.
Keep it up!

[slord]

nice