What do the Aera look like?

Active development of content (Art, story, etc.). Content slated for inclusion will be listed in the parent forum.

Moderator: pyramid

Post Reply
Targon
Confed Special Operative
Confed Special Operative
Posts: 265
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:09 pm

What do the Aera look like?

Post by Targon »

Aera: n. 1. A member of an intelligent centauroid species from some misbegotten
hell of a jungle world orbiting SCx62381. The Aera are oxygen-
nitrogen breathers, with a strong internal skeleton, smooth, ashen-gray
leathery skin, a decided lack of psychiatric assistance for their
obviously repressed dissatisfaction with natural ecology, and, at least
according to the Cult of the Devourer on Mishtal Seven, a flavor
remarkably similar to that of a human with a high protein diet, but only
if both have been served with a nice Chianti.
Well, but how does the typical Aera specie look like? Lacking the references I've created some conceptual low-poly model showing the basic layout I imagine. It's of really sickening quality but I don't want to spend some days detailing it and later realize it's lacking some limbs or must has claws instead of tentacles:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/ ... a-m1-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/ ... a-m1-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/ ... a-m1-3.jpg
P.S.
What's the plural "Aera"?
Gorrünwe
Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunter
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2004 11:43 pm
Location: Saint-Etienne, in France
Contact:

Post by Gorrünwe »

Uh... It's so ugly, i think... Maybe you misunderstand the description: how can an aberration like that can drive a ship??? :lol:
Gorrünwe
Targon
Confed Special Operative
Confed Special Operative
Posts: 265
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:09 pm

Post by Targon »

Gorrünwe wrote:Maybe you misunderstand the description
Well, have you mentioned "low-poly"? I can do it a lot more "ugly" and threating.
Speaking the general shape: what do you mean as "centauroid"?
etheral walker
Elite
Elite
Posts: 1516
Joined: Sat May 10, 2003 5:26 pm
Location: into the depths

Post by etheral walker »

remind me some creatures from fallout series ;)
I see dead polygons....
Targon
Confed Special Operative
Confed Special Operative
Posts: 265
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:09 pm

Post by Targon »

etheral walker wrote:remind me some creatures from fallout series ;)
Yes!!! But not that... headed.
pontiac
Elite
Elite
Posts: 1454
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 6:24 pm
Location: Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy
Contact:

Post by pontiac »

Here is a more complete description of the aera, i dunno if you have read this already ;)

http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/phpwi ... peciesAera
Description

A member of an intelligent centauroid species from some misbegotten hell of a jungle world orbiting SCx62381. The Aera are oxygen-nitrogen breathers, with a strong internal skeleton, smooth, ashen-gray leathery skin, a decided lack of psychiatric assistance for their obviously repressed dissatisfaction with natural ecology, and, at least according to the Cult of the Devourer on Mishtal Seven, a flavor remarkably similar to that of a human with a high protein diet, but only if both have been served with a nice Chianti.

Physical-Characteristics

The Aera are a centauroid species measuring 2-3 meters in length from the head to the end of the balancing tail, and 1 - 1.25 meters high at the four leg- shoulders. The four stocky, sturdy running/gripping limbs provide support, and the front two limbs end in three-digit hands, with two fingers and an opposable thumb. When active, the upper body bends up from the rest of the body just past the middle limbs at about a sixty-degree angle, with the forelimbs sprouting from about two thirds of the way up the upper body, and with the head bending back down so as to be parallel with the main trunk and the ground. Aera tend towards slim, muscular builds, and are usually both quick and agile. They have two genders, each of which is similar in appearance. Among the spacefaring races, the Aera have one of the shorter natural lifespans. Prior to the advent of advanced life extension technologies, it was as rare for an Aera to reach 60 years of age as it was for a twentieth century human to reach 100.

The physical appearance of the Aera reflects upon their origins. The Aera have a smooth, leathery skin not dissimilar in appearance to the bark of a birch tree, with occasional yellowish patches reminiscent of lichens. The hinged portion of the mouth is, in contrast to that of terran species, the upper portion. The mobile portion of the mouth is also notable in that it does not consist of a bony arch, and is actually a solid bony plate. Inside this mouth are two rows of teeth, the second moving forward to replace the first as they naturally fall out, and a new second row is grown. The front teeth are razor sharp and are obviously for tearing flesh, and the next sets of teeth are likewise designed for the chewing of meat, but the rearmost few teeth have grinding surfaces, allowing the consumption of nuts, seeds, and other such vegetable matter. The corners of the mouth are usually open, and provide the normal breathing route. When exerting itself, an Aera will pull back its lips, increasing the size of the airway. The wide, narrow eyes are almost universally a milky green, with wide, narrow pupils, and are largish in size relative to the head. The eyes are above the terminating point of the downward slant of the lipline, but below the bony jaw plate. Just below the mouth, on each side of the head, is a row of small pits that are used for chemoreception. Beneath each eye is a kidney-shaped patch of lighter skin that marks the location of a tympanum. On the underside of the Aera head is a pair of organs, each capable of producing variable amplitude, low frequency vibrations, which the Aera use to communicate.
Pontiac
Gorrünwe
Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunter
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2004 11:43 pm
Location: Saint-Etienne, in France
Contact:

Post by Gorrünwe »

Targon wrote:Speaking the general shape: what do you mean as "centauroid"?
Centauroïd? First representations were a human head and a horse body.
Nowadays, there stills a horse body but there is a human head & trunk
Gorrünwe
theguyfromsaturn
Trader
Trader
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:40 pm
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Contact:

Post by theguyfromsaturn »

I like the overall look, but the hands seem to be lacking the oposable thumb which should be one of the 3 fingers.

also, the mobile part of the jaw being the upper part, is described as a "plate". Similarly the eyes and ears should be below the level of that plate. At least, that is my understanding of the description.

I must add that you are very brave to attack the creation of these critters. Modelling a spaceship or a base has GOT to be 100 times easier than tackling the creation of an living organism. Although at the end, it is probably even more satisfying.
I don't have a cool signature yet, so this lame stuff will have to do.
pontiac
Elite
Elite
Posts: 1454
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 6:24 pm
Location: Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy
Contact:

Post by pontiac »

Just the points that attracted my eye :)

*) "...measuring 2-3 meters in length from the head to the end of the balancing tail..."
*) "... the front two limbs end in three-digit hands, with two fingers and an opposable thumb..."
*) "...the upper body bends up from the rest of the body just past the middle limbs at about a sixty-degree..."


Pontiac
pontiac
Elite
Elite
Posts: 1454
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 6:24 pm
Location: Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy
Contact:

Re: How does Aera look like?

Post by pontiac »

Targon wrote: P.S.
What's the plural "Aera"?
I think it is still "Aera", but the only way to get sure is an answer by JackS ;)

Pontiac
jackS
Minister of Information
Minister of Information
Posts: 1895
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2003 9:40 pm
Location: The land of tenure (and diaper changes)

Re: How does Aera look like?

Post by jackS »

Pontiac being lazy wrote:
Targon wrote: P.S.
What's the plural "Aera"?
I think it is still "Aera", but the only way to get sure is an answer by JackS ;)

Pontiac
yes, the plural of Aera is Aera.

oy... looks like I need to write a bit here ...

so, firstly, you quoted the _really_ ancient and terse description of the Aera, so I'm assuming you hadn't read the newer one at the time you made your model.

I used the word centauroid primarily to indicate that it had four "feet" and two "hands" - not that they were particularly horse-like in configuration.
I had imagined the 2 front limbs to not be walking capable in much the same way that our front-limbs are not walking capable - dedicated manipulators. The four propulsory limbs I therefore imagined as much thicker and more robust than the manipulator limbs.

As for the (when active) upwardly slanting section, it's to be rather short in proportion to length of the rest of the body. I had envisioned a (visually) all-but-absent neck (obviously, there's a neck, but of very limited length and understated differentiation of thickness from the two pieces it joins), with the head achieving good vertical flexibility, but somewhat limited side-side flexibility without some twisting of the erectable portion. The limited size of the erectable section I had envisioned reflected its limited role - it gives a greater range of motion for the manipulators, and augments the limitations of the thick, stout head-torso connection.

The Aera evolved in a nearly continent-wide dense rainforest/jungle. There's nowhere to run as such, merely everywhere to sprint in a much more scrambling fashion through dense undergrowth and around and over thickets of low-lying branches and such. The ability to grip the uneven surfaces of living plant masses that were as common as patches of ground, and likewise the ability to amble up into the lower portions of a tree-analog would not be something given up lightly - with limited ground as such, even a reasonably larger animal like an Aera would have to be comfortable being off the ground - the south-american panther comes to mind. However, the highly in-lined leg joints of a feline would insufficiently flexible for the more 3-dimensional environment described, and an Aera likely has a more complicated hip structure (something perhaps borrowing as much from our own hip+buttock structure as from that of felines or salamanders? Definitely something much more at home with more splay to the legs than a feline build - but not as side oriented as a lizard/salamander leg structure. It's probably going to have big glut-equivalents for each of the two sets of propulsory limbs...) for each of its four propulsory/gripping legs. Noting the gripping issue, these four supporting limbs would also terminate in 3 toed feet, which, while the digits are less dextrous due to size, skin thickness, and the corresponding limitations in flexibility, follow the same 2 finger, one opposable thumb blueprint.

The original descriptions have the shoulder height to length ratio (where length includes the tail) to be somewhere between 2:1 and 3:1, and I continue to see the form of the Aera as that of sleek skinniness interrupted by developed musculature. In that sense, they would not be as disturbingly toned in flatter portions as a flexing weightlifter, but their limbs and the supporting mechanism for said limbs would likely be almost abberant in their torque necessitated deviation from the sleeker portions.
Targon
Confed Special Operative
Confed Special Operative
Posts: 265
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:09 pm

Post by Targon »

Silverain
Expert Mercenary
Expert Mercenary
Posts: 984
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Land of Oz
Contact:

Post by Silverain »

I like the pics, but I think it might be worthwhile to lose the back (pipes? hoses?). Why? Since Aera evolved in jungle setting, the open area between both bits of flesh would easily catch on protruding branches etc causing pain or even physical damage from tearing. Would be a bad idea if falling and caught on a branch - ouch!
THOUGHT CRIME! [points finger] THOUGHT CRIME!
pincushionman
ISO Party Member
ISO Party Member
Posts: 467
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 9:55 pm
Location: Big, flat Kansas
Contact:

Post by pincushionman »

The toes need to be longer. Evolved in dense jungle, so the feet need to be able to grip branches. Short, stubby toes would not be good for that.

That said, that guy looks pretty intimidating. I sure wouldn't want to meet one in a dark alley.
Conquer space!
-pincushionman

---------------------------------------

Kansas really is flatter than a pancake!
http://www.improbable.com/airchives/pap ... ansas.html
hurleybird
Elite
Elite
Posts: 1671
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 12:46 am
Location: Earth, Sol system.
Contact:

Post by hurleybird »

looks nice!
wewewewewe
Hunter
Hunter
Posts: 70
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2004 8:33 pm

Post by wewewewewe »

I was expecting the aera to look more like a dragon like creature than that you described in the 3d model.

just hate to say.

To me, I have to say is, the ugliest creatures in the game had the most finest looking ships in the game.
Targon
Confed Special Operative
Confed Special Operative
Posts: 265
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:09 pm

Post by Targon »

I still have some issues regarding the general Aera appearance:
Skin. "The Aera have a smooth, leathery skin not dissimilar in appearance to the bark of a birch tree". Nothing wrong here, but there're a lot of birch kinds. I've seen 3 or 4, for example. Next, is the "ashen-gray leathery skin" "with occasional yellowish patches " a good color scheme for the jungle dwellers? Their skin absolutely has to blur with environment.
Eyes. "The wide, narrow eyes are almost universally a milky green, with wide, narrow pupils, and are largish in size relative to the head. ". Wide, narrow pupuls are not characteristic for creatures living in comprehansive 3D environments.
Mouth. "The hinged portion of the mouth is, in contrast to that of terran species, the upper portion". How does the creature with stocky legs and almost absent neck drink? Turning to the back? And, regarding "The corners of the mouth are usually open, and provide the normal breathing route": poor creature will choke trying to eat something.
Forebody. "upper body bends up from the rest of the body just past the middle limbs at about a sixty-degree angle". Sadly, this kind of spine build means no Aera can be a powerlifter. LOL. The spine is bent too much to safely support the weight. It's almost like a mad bodybuilder doing a deadlift with barbell far from the legs.
Next, Aera has "forelimbs sprouting from about two thirds of the way up the upper body" but jackS "envisioned a (visually) all-but-absent neck (obviously, there's a neck, but of very limited length and understated differentiation of thickness from the two pieces it joins)". What's in between the shoulders and the head? There's a 1/3 of the upper body left.
Ecology. "The Aera evolved in a nearly continent-wide dense rainforest/jungle." All right, but this kind of animal isn't very well fit for the jungle. I may be wrong of course. But the kind of living described by jackS requires really good gripping capabilities so claws seems to be must. BTW, there's the opposite finger comes handy (like the birds claw).
jackS
Minister of Information
Minister of Information
Posts: 1895
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2003 9:40 pm
Location: The land of tenure (and diaper changes)

Post by jackS »

Targon wrote:I still have some issues regarding the general Aera appearance:
Skin. "The Aera have a smooth, leathery skin not dissimilar in appearance to the bark of a birch tree". Nothing wrong here, but there're a lot of birch kinds. I've seen 3 or 4, for example. Next, is the "ashen-gray leathery skin" "with occasional yellowish patches " a good color scheme for the jungle dwellers? Their skin absolutely has to blur with environment.
I was envisioning a photosynthesis agent which (being something other than chlorophyll) caused vegetation to be predominantly yellow rather than green - hence yellowish patches. Likewise, I saw the bark of tree analogs, the stalks of vines, and other equivalent plants being predominantly in the grey-white range rather than often tending towards shades of brown. I was imagining, that, beneath the canopy, there would be a markedly higher ratio of "wood" tones to "leaf" tones, and colors in general would be muted by shadow - and the leaf tones somewhat lessened by the degree to which sunlight has been choked off by the tree-analogs above. Feel free to shift the description more towards any particular aspect of the interplay between vegetation, stalks, trunks, and light.

as for which birch, I was referring to both the gray and white birches, maybe the silvers too, but not to the yellow birches, which are more bronze-brown colored than anything else. When I think of birches, I tend to think of the gray and white underfoliated plants that were what passed for "greenery" in the courtyard of the apartment complex where I spent the first several years of my life. My apologies for not being then, and really still now, very specific. The key features in my mind were the patchiness of shades between ash-whites and charcoal grays, the smoothness of the bark, and the obvious lenticels - that aside, it doesn't have to be birch. So, a somewhat different looking skin for a very different looking jungle - use your best judgment when it comes to how it would all work out - I'm sure we can reach some sort of reasonable conclusion :)
Eyes. "The wide, narrow eyes are almost universally a milky green, with wide, narrow pupils, and are largish in size relative to the head. ". Wide, narrow pupuls are not characteristic for creatures living in comprehansive 3D environments.
I'll trust your knowledge of optics far better than mine. Ditch the pupil description.
Mouth. "The hinged portion of the mouth is, in contrast to that of terran species, the upper portion". How does the creature with stocky legs and almost absent neck drink? Turning to the back? And, regarding "The corners of the mouth are usually open, and provide the normal breathing route": poor creature will choke trying to eat something.
Apologies, apologies - I seem to have really missed what I was aiming for with my "almost absent neck" remark. It was intended to be primarily visual, in the same way that it is sometimes joked that Rugby & American Football players and weightlifters "have no necks". Likewise it was to denote that, due to similar girth of both body, head and neck, when not bending, the neck is a rather subdued entity visually.

As to the stockiness of the legs, I was using the "Solidly built; sturdy." meaning of stocky to denote thickness and substance to the legs, which was perhaps not the best diction, as the other meanings inferred from "stocky" cloud the picture and make one think of crocodile legs when instead I was thinking more along the lines of "imposingly sturdy, large and solid" legs which are actually of quite reasonable length, given a shoulder height of 1 to 1.25 meters.

That the jaw is at the top shouldn't affect drinking much - but no one other than I could know that, because I didn't describe the head well enough... The head tapers in thickness more rapidly in the vertical than the horizontal as it goes forward, and a good portion of the mouth is forward of the rest of the head, and while the top of the head at that point, is assuredly not the highpoint of the head, and the frontmost teeth should be near to the vertical halfway point of the head.

As for mouthbreathing and choking - note that this gives "the corners of the mouth" a rather different meaning than I take you to have envisioned. Also, drawing from a lifetime of chronic nasal congestion due to alergies and such - breathing through one's mouth (as I normally do) doesn't interfere with eating as much as one would think - mostly just with the good manners of keeping one's mouth shut while doing so. Likewise, as the corners of the mouth are all the way towards the side of the head, one could imagine that the air passage forks to draw somewhat more directly from these regions and out of the way of the bulk of foodstuffs, the lips (and airways) only actually sealing for drinking liquids.

But this relies on a head entirely unlike the one you previously created, and quite unlike any remotely anthropoid head.
Forebody. "upper body bends up from the rest of the body just past the middle limbs at about a sixty-degree angle". Sadly, this kind of spine build means no Aera can be a powerlifter. LOL. The spine is bent too much to safely support the weight. It's almost like a mad bodybuilder doing a deadlift with barbell far from the legs.
Next, Aera has "forelimbs sprouting from about two thirds of the way up the upper body" but jackS "envisioned a (visually) all-but-absent neck (obviously, there's a neck, but of very limited length and understated differentiation of thickness from the two pieces it joins)". What's in between the shoulders and the head? There's a 1/3 of the upper body left.
In no particular order - there isn't 1/3 of the upper body left - the upper body is quite short, probably on the order of ~36 or so centimeters, and with the arms beginning 2/3 of the way up, the only thing between the shoulders and the head is the neck. The shoulders are in part responsible for the side-side limitations of movement of the head on the neck, but up-down should still be fine.

Yes. The Aera aren't likely to ever win in any sports reliant on upper body strength. That said, the shortness of the upper body segment probably does allow for some interesting stress shifting to skeletal structures immediately preceding the upper body section. There's also no need to assume that they have to follow the same single-vertebrae column design that we do. Feel free to toy with novel designs for skeleton structure and arrangements of tendons & ligaments. Long and short of the situation as I see it - quite weak upper body relative to size of animal and strength of other limbs, but neither would it be so frail as to not be able to pick up and manipulate common objects, as would be necessary for gathering and preparing food and general tool use. So, no caber tossing (well, no Aera in kilts either ;-) ) but no cane issued at birth - besides, the Aera bodies don't need to have a design that favors decades of long term durability - prior to advances in medical technology, the Aera would start dying off in droves past the 25-30 year old range, so anything that, even prone to causing wear&tear, might last (even if it has started to degrade) until 25-30 years of age wouldn't have been species detrimental.
Ecology. "The Aera evolved in a nearly continent-wide dense rainforest/jungle." All right, but this kind of animal isn't very well fit for the jungle. I may be wrong of course. But the kind of living described by jackS requires really good gripping capabilities so claws seems to be must. BTW, there's the opposite finger comes handy (like the birds claw).
Indeed, having 6 opposable thumbs (even if two are weaker, and on weaker limbs) should be quite nice for finding purchase. Claws seem not unreasonable, but one imagines them to have become rather vestigial on the fingers+thumbs of the manipulator limbs in comparison to those on the toes and toe-thumbs - claws make it difficult to have good manual dexterity.

Aside from the previous discussion of camoflauge and the eyes, is there anything else that is very anti-jungle in your eyes?

...

With any luck, that answered some of your questions, and raised some new ones. Let me know what your next set of worries and suggestions are, and if this was more helpful or more confusing. As I first said.. I'm thinking I'm going to have to do a lot of writing to describe my mental pictures - and probably make lots of changes - I'm not a xeno-biologist :-(
energyman76b
ISO Party Member
ISO Party Member
Posts: 445
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2003 8:04 am

Post by energyman76b »

hi,

ash gray is not so bad as a colour in the jungle, because it is dark at the ground.
And don't forget the sloth with its grey and algae populated fur, making it very hard to see, if you do not know, where it is. A lot of creatures in jungles are more or less 'grey'. Brown&white&grey, black&grey, some colour&grey.
It is not a bad colour in an environment that is filled up with huge plants and rotting biological material.
pincushionman
ISO Party Member
ISO Party Member
Posts: 467
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 9:55 pm
Location: Big, flat Kansas
Contact:

Post by pincushionman »

Targon wrote:...with wide, narrow pupils, and are largish in size relative to the head. ". Wide, narrow pupuls are not characteristic for creatures living in comprehansive 3D environments...
"Wide, narrow..." is not a good description. At all. Since "wide" == "not narrow" and vice versa. Perhaps "slit-like" would be a more appropriate description. If slit-like is indeed the proper description, it is an entirely plausible configuration -- everyone knows that felines (cats) have slit-like pupils, and they can see *very* well.
Conquer space!
-pincushionman

---------------------------------------

Kansas really is flatter than a pancake!
http://www.improbable.com/airchives/pap ... ansas.html
Targon
Confed Special Operative
Confed Special Operative
Posts: 265
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:09 pm

Post by Targon »

Thx.
I'll try to sketch it out.
Coming soon.
jackS
Minister of Information
Minister of Information
Posts: 1895
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2003 9:40 pm
Location: The land of tenure (and diaper changes)

Post by jackS »

Targon wrote:Thx.
I'll try to sketch it out.
Coming soon.
Thank you as well :) (Not just for the art, but for putting up with the revisions to the vagueries of my visions)
Silverain
Expert Mercenary
Expert Mercenary
Posts: 984
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Land of Oz
Contact:

Post by Silverain »

Aaaah...... Who's a pretty boy den?


AAAAARRRGGHH! MY LEG! ITS GOT MY LEG!!

Much like I was imagining them! :lol:
THOUGHT CRIME! [points finger] THOUGHT CRIME!
jackS
Minister of Information
Minister of Information
Posts: 1895
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2003 9:40 pm
Location: The land of tenure (and diaper changes)

Post by jackS »

Looking good!

Some requests/comments both major and minor:

First, some minor things -

For the eyes (and here we will ignore the pupils which I am assuming have just not been drawn yet) a more mottled/marbled shift and mix between slightly creamier and slightly darker green tones.

The "fingers" on the "hands" seem a bit short/stubby. The "toes" look great :)

Is it just me, or are the arms not only notably smaller than the legs (as expected) but also exhibiting somewhat less well defined muscles (or, at least, moreso than expected) ?

I also find myself wondering if perhaps the tail might benefit from a little smoother appearance, but I'm not certain about that.

All that said, you've certainly done a wonderful job with this.

However, one somewhat major quibble -

I'm really not sold on the head yet. I'm assuming the bony protusion on the back is an anchor for muscles exerting leverage for the jaw, but it extends so far down that it would seem difficult for the Aera to tilt the head backwards, which would make looking forwards at less than "erect" posture more difficult than seems warranted.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.)
Post Reply