ZBrushCentral

Populate the planet Somnus

If anyone is interested in unleashing their imagination, this challenge is to populate a fictional planet by creating animals, planets, insects etc based on the following information.

The planet is called Somnus which is Greek for “The god of Sleep” which relates to the planet’s slow day cycle.

The planet is roughly the same mass and Radius of the Earth.

The year length is 100 (Earth) days and the planet rotates once in that time. This means one half is dark and one half light for roughly the 100 day period and vice versa.

The atmospheric makeup is similar to Earth and Somnus contains mountains, oceans and unpredictable weather.

Things to consider?

This is your chance to use your imagination and to come up with your own creations, i.e a spider with wings anyone?

The intelligence level of lifeforms doesn’t exceed that of Apes, so no lifeforms driving about in cars etc please.

It is likely that nocturnal (nightime) animals and diurnal /i animals will both flourish on Somnus giving an ideal environment for predators taking advantage of their weakness.

Will plant life die out on the dark side? or will it be able to produce energy in ways other than photosynthesis, i.e eating insects etc?

Well that’s about all, if anyone spots any mistakes, please let me know.

Have fun.

Greetings,
I found this challenge and chose to try my best on creating something for this planet. I decided to make one of the highest species on it and I call it Phascolarctus erectus. This creature is used on eating much as it must survive in harsh conditions when there is no sun and maybe even no plants. Its native habitat are treetops and that`s why it needs long, flexible bones and muscles. Fingers are strong and tough as they are used every single moment to grab something. They can see in dark very well because half of the year is pitch black.

Hope you like it:

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Excellent and exactly what I was thinking about when I made up the challenge.

I love the way you’ve thought about the environment and the evolution of a species to fit in with it.

Great work, and keep at it!

Very fun idea and very good idea for a Contest…

:wink:

Nice idea! I’ll work on something to contribute. This should be fun.

I’ve been meaning to add something myself but haven’t had the time. I too will post something soon.

I know what you mean, asaxon. Finally had time myself and here’s mine. I actually have two species for you.

The first one is …well… not sure what to call it… I guess: Nostrilus Herbivorus. A vegetarian. Millions of years of adaptation allowed this creature to get rid of it’s eyeballs and turned them into an extra pair of specialized nostrils. The creature can see what it smells and smell what it sees. It hides in the thick brush (where there is any) and is much like a chameleon, constantly changing it’s colour(s).

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Great stuff mate, I love the imagination behind these, especially the eyes to nostrils, a bit like a blind man with his enhanced hearing. Original idea with the Cephalopod too, is that it’s eye at the front?

haha… This sounds like a good way to learn ZBrush. I’ll give it a try over the weekend and see what creatures I come up with.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been more activity on this thread in the last month?

Asaxon-Glad you liked it!! And yes, that’s the eye.

Mustan9-Exactly! Wonderful thing about zbrush… your imagination is your best toolset.

Heres my creature which i made when i was bored i think it would be very well suited for your planet. Haven’t really thought of a name or colour.
[ZBrush Document.jpg](javascript:zb_insimg(‘73051’,‘ZBrush Document.jpg’,1,0))

I like the idea, Nicholas. It not only looks like he can get around quickly, he can also defend himself… And from the backside too! :smiley: Kinda like a scorpion, I guess.

This can be a fun nice idea but I was wondering… Why dont we start somethingmore general?..a thread of Ztl sharing.
People could upload their ztool and other users would modify them and improve them and post them back here… We all could share some others works…

I know it’s a bit OT but, There IS a thread(or two) like that here, dargelos. Although, I don’t know how active it is. It was sort of like a relay type thing where someone started a sculpt and others took turns morphing it into something else. Looked really fun.