What do the Aera look like?

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Targon
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Post by Targon »

jackS wrote: [...]Also, on a purely subjective note, the head seems... too familiar. It abides too well with the human brain's standard face-recognition pattern-matching features, where instead I'd hoped to cause sufficient jarring dissonance to lead towards a brief unease of uncertain origin arising upon viewing it.
Right, and here's the problem: how to imagine something completely different from anything one have seen before? (Ironicaly enough, this "patter matching" is loose enough to see the "face" on car bonnet). I was always amused by so-colled UFO eye-witnesses who depict completely anthropomorphous aliens :lol: :?
jackS wrote: But... that's really hard to quantify. Suffice it to say, my hope was to get something that was unsettling, not because it evoked some sort of trigger like a snake/spider/creepy-crawly appearance seems to evoke on some low level, but to play off of the failure to evoke proper pattern matching to generate some fragment of the sense of "wrongness" that can be evoked by looking at something like http://www.youramazingbrain.org/superse ... dedown.htm and http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/mona/mona.html or the sense of the bizzare that arises from unexpected or uncommon proportions in relation to similar structures (perhaps thinking along the lines of how we get spooked by shadows patterns and staring at random patterns in dark stucco ceilings) - thereby making it, if not truly alien, then a more alien sensory experience.
Maybe. But the "upsidedown" look of the faces you've mentioned have a few in common with their proportions. Human pattern recognitons copes well with rotated patterns. The main source of confusion here is lighting. You see, human brain always think the light is above. It's hard-coded. Quite good assumption in any natural environment. Use a mirror and flashlight to see how :wink:
jackS wrote: Perhaps a resizing of the jaw and hinge to be somewhat more narrow, allowing the pivot point to be moved down and forward relative to the eyes, which could themselves be moved somewhat pushed slightly up, out, and forwards could make for an interesting "facial reconstruction surgery" - I think this might move it somewhat more along the lines of what I was looking for, or it might prove to not work out - but if you could, I'd like you to take a stab at some experiments with alterations along those lines, or any ideas of your own with respect to the head.

Just a few random ideas (completely ortogonal to the Aera desc:) What's about vertical mouth? 3 or more parts jaws? More than 2 eyes? Eyes on tentacles? Mouth w/ jaws at the lower portion of the body (closer to the digestal system) and breathing/speaking nostrils at forebody? Inside out? Eyes at front, below the jaws?
jackS wrote: How far you want to go with exploration of the design space for the head is up to you - while the aesthetics are important to me, if it doesn't seem that there's going to be a novel form that also has reasonable function, go with a head that can feed the body over one that would only make sense when mounted on a wall.
Yes, really. Partialy I did is such "familiar" because it "just work".
jackS wrote: Any way one looks at it though, we're getting so close to you having created a truly wonderful finished product that, if I didn't have a conference submission deadline in just over a week, I'd run around smiling with joy (instead I'm going to pass out so I can get back to work at a reasonable hour - but at least I'll be going to sleep happy.)

Well-acquainted situation.
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Post by MasterDirk »

For what it's worth, this is a sketch I made inspired by the old description.

Image

Dunno what he's holding, I was just dodling...

Edit: I should perhaps mention that this was done before this thread was started. I've been away... It was done the day I joined this forum (or the day after, I misremeber...), but it was my impression.
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Post by wewewewewe »

Targon:

I have some small suggestings...

Make the legs a little longer..

And the back set of the legs should be a foward bending joint legs.

And if possible, make the legs and paws on the bottom look like a dragon.
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Post by jackS »

MasterDirk wrote:For what it's worth, this is a sketch I made inspired by the old description.
Very nice sketch - and it does bring out a few things I didn't mention last night, namely the "lenticel-esque" skin patterns, the tympanum, the chemo-receptors, and the heavily flared lip-line.

I'm also somewhat more keen on this head. So, @Targon - something more along these lines, perhaps? Not verbatim, but perhaps in this direction?
Targon wrote:Just a few random ideas (completely ortogonal to the Aera desc:) What's about vertical mouth? 3 or more parts jaws? More than 2 eyes? Eyes on tentacles? Mouth w/ jaws at the lower portion of the body (closer to the digestal system) and breathing/speaking nostrils at forebody? Inside out? Eyes at front, below the jaws?
Well, gotta save _something_ for the other aliens ;-)
wewewewewe wrote: And if possible, make the legs and paws on the bottom look like a dragon.
I don't think so. Also, dragon is a rather loose term and varies in description a great deal if one wanders around the globe.
If it is not too offensive to ask, may I inquire as to the origins of your interest, expressed in pieces on multiple occasions, in turning the Aera into dragons?
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Post by wewewewewe »

my bad I was wondering if making the set of very back legs(next to the tail) have a foward leg bending joint would be possible.
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Post by Targon »

Well, not much progress here by now. Organics modeling takes a LOT of time . So. What if I
a) divide the model into two separate parts: body+head, and
b) Use some kind of "generative" of "genetics" art and evolve the model to something settling VS staff? Without trashing fully detailed models?
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Post by Targon »

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Post by Targon »

Well, the file was downloaded 4 times (according to the transfer meter) and still no feedback...
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Post by Lord Q'Daan »

Well, as for myself, I have no easy way of viewing .obj files at the moment.
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Post by jackS »

Targon wrote:Well, the file was downloaded 4 times (according to the transfer meter) and still no feedback...
I'll get back to you - sorry about the delays ... bit busy at the moment. Got drafted to help out on someone else's paper.
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Post by dandandaman »

Wow...great work :-)

The only thing is that it looks like maybe the jaw hinge is going to be positioned way back in the head .... Did you imagine it like an upside down human jaw or something different?

I really like the positioning of the eyes ... it seems so wierd :-)
(although from a biogical point of view the placement is a bit odd .... on earth at least, a herbivore would have eyes positioned closer to the top of the head .... and a carnivore would have them closer together, perhaps under the lower jaw)
I'd be interested to know why you thought they would go like that :-)

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Post by Targon »

dandandaman wrote:Wow...great work :-)

The only thing is that it looks like maybe the jaw hinge is going to be positioned way back in the head .... Did you imagine it like an upside down human jaw or something different?

I really like the positioning of the eyes ... it seems so wierd :-)
(although from a biogical point of view the placement is a bit odd .... on earth at least, a herbivore would have eyes positioned closer to the top of the head .... and a carnivore would have them closer together, perhaps under the lower jaw)
I'd be interested to know why you thought they would go like that :-)

Dan.a
The original idea was to give a) something resembling binocular vision b) fair all-around vision (aera evolved in hostile environment) despite the short neck e.g. something like chameleon eyes and c) everything despite the upper jaw blocking vision in critical moments like biting (aera has relatively weak forelimbs and no horns or claws at all so jaws must be the weapon).
Of course if eyes are horrible wrong I'll redo it. This head is just v.1 anyway.
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Post by dandandaman »

no, they look good :-) (with eyeballs of course ;-) ) ...... just wanted to know why they were where they are :-)

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Post by MasterDirk »

I like the model. Only thought I had was that the jaw was somehow a bit wrong. Can't help but feel that it's a bit clumsy. I feel the Aera would perhaps have a slightly finer bone-structure, with possibly some prehensile lip-thingy going. Really love the ridges on the forehead, though. And, can you make the entire thing a bit more elongated?

All in all, great stuff :)
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Post by jackS »

the only real question I have about the current model (assuming details like teeth and higher defininition on the lips has been justifiably saved for later revisions) is whether the jaw is long enough to actually meet well with the skull when it closes. It probably is, but it's non-trivial to convince myself of this from looking at the model. Good work, as always :)
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Post by Targon »

Changing the overall size and proportions of the model (or its parts) is relatively easy. So if nobody really complains I'll move on.
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Post by Targon »

http://allfiles.ru/storage/22d6ee884304 ... ead-v2.zip
(~3 Mb, ~190000 polygons IIRC).
P.S. I haven't used this hosting before so if you experience any problems with downloads please contact me ASAP.
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Post by Lord Q'Daan »

I forget, have we had a thread like this on the Rlaan? I have some sketches I could scan...
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Post by jackS »

Lord Q'Daan wrote:I forget, have we had a thread like this on the Rlaan? I have some sketches I could scan...
No, there is not a current thread on modelling the Rlaan.


@Targon - I'm having some problems DLing the most recent file from your new host.
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Post by Targon »

jackS wrote: @Targon - I'm having some problems DLing the most recent file from your new host.
:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: !!!!!!
Check your mail...
Targon
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Post by Targon »

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Post by Targon »

No feedback? Everything's all right?
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Post by Space Pirate »

Targon wrote:No feedback? Everything's all right?
Yup, it works! :lol:

Off topic: Has anyone noticed that I love using this emoticon: :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Rlaan art

Post by Oblivion »

How about this? I know this threads soooo aged but I didn't like the sketch, and I can't follow the links.

If anyone can give me tasks, tell me!!! I want to contribute and help make the bars a better place to visit
Last edited by Oblivion on Wed May 03, 2006 7:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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