Ornithomimids are WEIRD!

So I had my first ever proper teaching job interview yesterday. I am not sure how it went yet, but keep you posted.

For some stress relief, I finally got to some 3D work done.

I can not talk about what this project is for, other than it is aiming to be in a formal publication. All I can say is it involves an Ornithomimid.

This is a Dinosaur I've never built properly before. Despite this is really is just a stretch and distortion of other theropod body types. So I just modified my Deinonychus into this...


Now is this just me, or does this not look right?

Seriously the whole thing just looks out of proportion to me. Yet, apart from the hands, this guy is total to anatomical specs. Seriously.

So am I the only one who thinks this fellow just looks wrong. I'm sure once it is posed he'll look better.

To prove he is correct here is my procedure.

Here is what I manually created initially based on my guts (which if you're wanting to be a serious palaeo-artist... you should never do!!!). It looks more like a Therizinosaur.

Well to get me in line with reality, I throw up a real Ornithomimid skeleton for comparison. Which shows you why I think the real proportions are so weird.

You can see exactly what I think the key features of an ostrich Dino are. What is weirding my out is how the neck really isn't as long or robust as I have pictured in my head. They are actually proportionally very small and skinny compared to especially the legs (which makes sense given they were the fastest of Dinosaurs).

After a few tweaks (and in a couple cases major overhauls) I narrowed in on the proper ratio.

So I just need to fix the fingers, and maybe the tail.

Leaving me again with this fellow. Who just looks weird to me...

Wish my luck on the project, specifically getting the gig.

My Tyrrell Talk

Well my talk at the Tyrrell has come and gone. From all the feedback I've heard thus far, it was well received by scientist and general public member alike. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it (and if you didn't make it, no worries. A mid-Friday time slot on the same day as 10cm of snow. You've got plenty of good excuses :P).

For those who missed it (or want to see it again... minus my laser pointing) here is the talk with my audio and slides.



Sadly it might lose a bit without the laser pointing. Oh how I love my laser pointer :P

I'm giving a talk at the Royal Tyrrell Museum!!!

If you have nothing else to do this Friday the 14th at 11am and find yourself in Drumheller Alberta, why don't you pop by the Royal Tyrrell Museum for my upcoming talk on New Zealand Palaeontology.

As I know for 99% of you this will be impossible, no worries. I just thought I'd put it on the record that I'm going to be an official part of the Tyrrell's speaker series.

My talk is a general overview of New Zealand paleontology, with a particular focus on what kiwi fossils do or do not tell us about the evolutionary influences of island isolation.

For the majority of you who won't be able to make it, I'm in the works of seeing if I can record my talk and post it here. I haven't had official word back yet. So I can't make any promises.

Epic Weekend

I am STILL tired from everything that went down this weekend!

In case I didn't mention it (which I just realized I may not have) this past weekend was the annual Alberta Palaeontological Societies' Symposium. I'd attended a couple of these back in my Tyrrell days, but back then it was more an out of season reunion for all the Tyrrell staffers.

This year I had a totally different agenda. Most of my Tyrrell people have moved on, either to different regions or professions, and as of such there was only a few people I knew to see (which was awesome mind you!).

Due to this though, this year I aimed to get myself out there in the Palaeontologic community, and start networking and replenishing my connections! I was highly successful on this front, but sadly I hit a big stumbling block at the end of the day, but in hindsight it was still a truly epic day!

Bright and Early

Fortunately I woke up a bit early on the morning before my alarm clock, at around 6:30am. After the Olympics (which I still haven't fully recovered from either!) this was really early! This gave me a little bit of extra time to add a couple extra slides I'd forgotten into my powerpoint.

Slides for what you might ask?

My presentation, the first of the day! My lecture "The Fossils of New Zealand: Remnants of a Lost Continent".

In bad news I went about 10 minutes over my time limit (oops! Sorry again to the group right after me!). I was trying to cover a WHOLE countries fossil record in 25 minutes, and to be fair i was just off the cuffing my talk (I didn't have any notes of any kind on me!). In good news my talk went over very well. I had many people compliment me on my talk, and my lecturing style. It also put me on people's radars for the rest of the day.

The only problem with going first was that I started my talk with probably only about 1/3 to 1/2 of the later day's total audience. So I still had to do some leg work getting myself out there.

Among people I most wanted to meet and network with were the Palaeo-artists who were going to be in attendance. Chief among them my long time hero, and favourite artist Marianne Collins. The most influential illustrator of the Burgess Shale ever! Not only did I meet her, but...

The Greatest Lunch Ever!

Marianne was nice enough to let me tag along with her for lunch! Which just got better and better. So in addition to getting to talk to her about such things as artist's rights and illustrating mediums, we suddenly found ourselves sitting with many of the other big names of the conference!

This was my meal company! In the foreground is Marianne Collins and beside her is author Judy Horan (I may have gotten her last name wrong, sorry if this is the case). Across from the ladies was Dr. Scott Sampson (who I hope needs no introduction!), and Michael Skrepnick another super heavy weight Palaeo-artist!

This singular event of the day stands as a competitor for my best moment of 2010. Pushing Speed Skating to a close, but separate second.

Among the highlights were getting to hear two professional palaeo-artists talk shop! Dr. Sampson also praised me on my talk, and asked me a couple questions... He was very intrigued by the prospect of post KT Dinosaurs I mentioned from the Chatham Islands north of New Zealand. Something we should all pay attention for coming from either New Zealand or Australian researchers!

I Learned a Few Things!

The rest of the talks all day were very informative and interesting. Some of the ones that particularly took my fancy included:

A new photography technique that guarantees perfect fossil shots NO matter the lighting in the museum or collections you are shooting in! I'll be giving this a try soon...

What Palaeo-artists have been doing wrong in their reconstructing of Ankylosaurs and Theropod Tails. These were both very relevant to all accuracy seeking Palaeo-artists, and I have made arrangements with the presenters of these talks to perhaps grace ART Evolved with a guest article or two on their subjects!

Dr. Phil Currie gave us a run through of the significant Palaeo-art throughout his life. Starting as a young boy right up into the present. It was a very interesting talk, and among other things I learned that both Dr. Currie and myself were HUGE fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellicular as children.

The Lost Boys

For the last talk of the day the event's organizers had either a sense of humour or drama. We started the day with my talk about the lost continent of Zealandia, and we ended with Dr. Sampson's lecture on the lost continent of Laramidia. Framing the day with lost continents.

Laramidia if you were wondering (as I was too), is the name of western North America during the Cretaceous, as during this time NA was split into 2 or 3 separated land masses by the Western Interior Seaway.

It was a fantastic talk. Which got better when my talk, due to those aforementioned post KT Dinos, was directly referenced in Dr. Sampson's lecture!

A Piece of Unfinished Business!

The other singular thing I was after (and got anyways) was a long overdue photograph. Through all of my years working at the Tyrrell, I have never successful managed to get a photo of me with Dr. Currie. This could not stand, as Dr. Currie has been my longest running hero since childhood. There were several failed attempts at these throughout the years (but I either never got a copy, or they turned out extremely blurry!).

Sadly this latest attempt was a bit on the blurry side, but it works I guess (till next time :P). Besides the Traumador photos with Dr. Currie turned out brilliantly. So I'm not complaining.

The Less Than Ideal Ending

The conference itself was everything I wanted and then some. I had an absolute blast while it lasted. Much in the traditions of most symposiums I've been too, the plan was to move interested people to another venue and carry the discussion on afterwards.

There was just one problem. The pre-"planned" restaurant was shut down due to renovations when we got there. Now as I'd stuck around the lecture hall for 20ish minutes catching up with a couple people not coming out afterwards, my idea had been to show up fashionable late. Only to discover, that everyone was long gone from the shut down location.

To say I was bummed out is an understatement, at the time I was truly shattered. I'd left many things undone (including Traum pics with various palaeo celebs!!!), and more to the point I wasn't able wrap up with many people I'd wanted to. In particular Marianne Collins who'd been nice enough to let me tag along with her all day, and snap all the Traumador photos from this day (talk about a special guest photographer!).

I have managed to contact everyone via email (except Dr. Sampson, but his excuse is good. He is on his way to the White House this week!). So that is something. Not the way I'd hoped to end the day at all, but still a not too bad outcome.

Now I just need to think of something for next years talk :P

(Also a quick note. I'll be away for the next few days on a romantic retreat with Lady R. So please don't take my lack of responses in the comment section personally)

A Rough Idea

Sadly things aren't slowing down on my end. At least it is mostly good stuff coming down the pipes, but it is all timing sensitive. So I have to get it all done.

In the midst of the half a dozen things I'm currently juggling, is of course my ART Evolved piece. I have not been overly inspired by the Sauropod them I have to admit, much like Pterosaurs. That's not to say I haven't gotten anything out of this one (unlike Pterosaurs... which resembled a chore at times). Texturing this guy taught me tons, and will have a long term impact on how I do shading maps!

Putting an actual composition together with my completed model has not be easy. Which is where my lack of motivation hasn't helped...

Fortunately a bit of accidental tinkering yesterday resulted these rough poses here, and a concept created itself. Won't say much more on it now, as I'm hoping it tells a story on its own, and frankly I can't be bothered to type it up at moment (as I still have to pose 1.5 Brachis and replant the forest!).

Let me know if I shouldn't proceed on this current tangent...

Assessment Rain Check

Sadly my meeting today with Dr. Fordyce did not happen. It turns out we're both extremely busy people. Being the head of the Otago University's Geology department means Dr. Fordyce carries an awful lot of responsibilities and commitments, and myself being a teacher work the same hours as his. So when I got an offer for a morning of work, I couldn't turn it down, but sadly Dr. Fordyce was occupied all afternoon when I could pop into see him.

This has me bummed out, as I was really jazzed about getting the whale into its final production stage (I need a lot more technical input on whales, as they are pretty new to me reconstruction wise). Oh well, I have this demo of my whale, with all the necessary angles for Dr. Fordyce to tear apart (I'm anticipating a need to shrink all the teeth based on my research of Dolphins this morning, and there is bound to be more mistakes in the skull...).

Oh well. I am hoping to regroup and catch him after work tomorrow or Friday, and that failing I have no scheduled work next week (on account of it being the last week of skool this term).

I am also very saddened that no one has taken (even a half) guess at what type of whale this is :(

Your next hint, to help promote some participation, it is found in New Zealand (and thus has appeared on Traumador at least once ;p ). Good luck...

Art Assessment, and a Palaeo-Know-How Challenge!

Tomorrow is a potential exciting day, dependent on whether I have work or not. I'm meeting up with Dr. Fordyce to have him critique the whale.

Rather than just show Dr. Fordyce the boring "flat" version of the model (flat being the rigid unposed version of a creature, making it often look like its been road killed or turned to stone... the 3D version of Glendon's "ugly phase") I decided to create some prototype poses and scenes for him to look at.
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This being a general idea for a piece I have, complete with two brand new primitive penguins. The penguins were today's modelling project, and though not my best effort (up close) are functional in this long shot. I plan on building better versions if Dr. Fordyce likes this direction for the project.

What are your thoughts on it? It is not a final by any stretch just the general idea.

Finally just for my own amusement, and to test my audiences palaeo-knowledge, let's play a quick palaeo-game.

Who can guess what type of whale (or Dolphin) I have recreated here? Super bonus if you can guess one of the possible genus of Penguin he is trying to snack on? The only hint I will give you, is for a sense of scale the Penguins are about a meter in length (in other words about the same length as my whale's head). Good luck!

Busy Day Indeed

Not to be out done by my cohort and partner in crime Peter Bond, I have thrown this post together to "counter" (really to promote I swear) his most recent post. Why am I feeling insecure? Peter managed to churn out an incredible palaeo-art storm, by painting 5 really cool pieces today.

I can't claim this much productivity. Sadly I'm in the midst of the busiest time of the skool year here in New Zealand (whose skool year is Feb-Dec), and am working next to none stop...

However I was able to catch Peter at the tail end of his epic effort on the phone, and so I feel I'm somehow a part of it (lame rationalization on my part :P). More to the point while talking to him, I engaged in the one form of multi-tasking I can pull off. Talking and 3D modelling. So despite not pulling off 5 awesome pieces, I did make some key progress on a long term project I've had this year.

Though I've hinted at this in a few places, I've decided to make a formal announcment tonight. All this year I've been volunteering off and on at the University of Otago's Geology lab (the only public fossil preparation lab in the whole country!) and with Dr. Ewan Fordyce, New Zealand's "only" vertebrate palaeontologist.

In addition to some field work and fossil preperation he has been kind enough to let me help out with (which I have talked about here before), I've also been working in coordination with him on my biggest Palaeo-Art project to date...

Though it still has a little ways to go, I've been recreating a "shark toothed" dolphin for use by Dr. Fordyce. Tonight while talking to Peter I made two huge break-throughs on the project!

Applying some of the hard earned lessons from rigging my Pterosaur I can now not only pose the animal, but animate it too!!!

I'm not going to elaborate anymore details about the project at moment, as I'm planning a series of posts chronicling this collaboration on ART Evolved soonish. So stay tuned over there.

As you can also see Traumador has got a (few) adventure(s) upcoming with the good doctor, so keep an eye on his site too (when I finally bloody get him out of Canada and back to NZ! Man I'd seriously kill for more time!!!)

I'm in a Magazine!

It has ended up being a huge week for ART Evolved. Not only did we just launch the new Anomalocaridid gallery, but we just got our first big bit of publicity!

When Peter and I began our efforts to launch ART Evolved we joked about how cool it would be if it was noticed early on, as it can often take awhile for palaeo themed sites to take off. For the first time ever a Prehistoric Insanity project has taken off as hoped for (and to be honest our stuff normally doesn't warrant attention :P)

Myself and Peter were interviewed by EARTH magazine a while back about why we gathered an online community of palaeo-artists, and the article has just come out in this month's issue. It also features artwork of our fellow ART Evolved member's Glendon and Zach (sadly they didn't approach all our members, but we did suggest it), and Traumador gets plug through the picture of Lillian that they used.

Check it out if you can. Not that it is the easiest publication to track down. My mother in Calgary couldn't find it sold anywhere in town, and retailers here in NZ looked at me like I was making up the mag. However if you happen across a copy I'm in there :P

Here is my piece The First Great Predator from this month's ART Evolved. This has become my next vechile from which I hope to get published in print soon. Prehistoric Times will be featuring Anomalocaridids in an upcoming issue, and I plan to have at least one of my 4 pieces included!

The EARTH magazine article has me really fired up artistically, and I'm starting to feel like I might have some talent. I'm quite proud of my final products for the Anomalocarid gallery (especially The First Great Predator and Once Upon a Claw), and hope to continue this upswing in my overall abilities 2009 has heralded. Now with this achieved and potential publication I'm thinking I may yet to break out as a semi-professional Palaeo-Artist in the foreseeable future...

Restless Down Under

End of another full on week. I ended up at the Kindergarten for 2 days, which though fun and brainless, drains me of a lot of my energy reserves (little kids need constant attention unlike older ones...). Adding to this sense of blah, I've been suffering insomnia this week (a very rare thing, normal I sleep like the dead) and have been a wreck waking up at 3-5am everyday unable to proper get back to sleep.


Yet despite it all I've made some huge headway on my Claw Reef piece. I'm getting quite happy with it, and should have it done after a few more hours. As it stands I could probably put it in the gallery, but in my estimation it is only 75% complete. So let me know what you think, and any additions or subtractions that are needed.

Not Quite Pixar, but...

Work is picking up this week. So things are good overall.


As I just worked an 8 hour day haven't had much time to do any 3D work.

However as my computer was sitting idle otherwise, I put it work while I was at work (I thought it was only fair ;p). I set up my new and improved Burgess Reef for an animation test.

The bad news about this test is it confirmed my worst fears. Animating this version of the reef takes FOREVER! While I was away at work for nearly 9 hours my computer only managed to render 5 seconds! That is insanely slow...

Some of my recent Delta Patrols for a similar length clip only take 1-2 hours!

So I'm going to have to plan my shots really well. Otherwise I could waste tons of time on faulty renders!

However this is showing me the planning and difficulties are worth it! I can't believe I made this clip...

Work in Progress

During the month of April I took an unplanned and unannounced break from working on Traumador. I'm not sure if anyone noticed. The traffic of last month seems to indicate the greater web did (yet 80% of his visitors are looking for pictures, rather then his lovable hijinks).

Instead I spent that time working on my Gorgonopsid for ART Evolved. The results were spectacular(ly fluky... all things considered).

So despite the fact I've gotten myself out of my Traumador related rut, somehow today I spent my whole day off (no skool's wanted me today) starting on my next ART Evolved entry.


Here is where i leave it after a good afternoon of work on it. I'm aiming for a early Jurassic Pterosaur, but haven't really figured out which one yet. I've been using the primitive Triassic Eudimorphodon as my reference, since as far as I can tell most early Pterosaurs looked roughly the same, and it was the only one of these that I could find an okay set of referrals for.

Obviously I'm far from finished.

So why did I spend my day on this rather then more pertinent Traum work (he has a BIG string of CG Dinosaur intensive posts on the horizon). Well I got an email that offers the promise of big exposure for ART Evolved, and as of such I was on the "phone" with Peter for a while discussing this.

Well I can't really concentrate on much while I'm talking on the phone, but casual 3Ding is one of the very few forms of multi tasking I can do. As I don't need to focus on a new modelling job as much in the early stages, this guy was the first that popped into my head (though come to think of it there are some I'll need for Traum soon too...).

Anyway Pterosaur experts may begin letting me know things that need fixing. It's easier to fix them now before I start on texturing and furring... Oh my good old friend fur again... "Yippee"

Synapsid Palaeo-Art

The second ART Evolved gallery just went up. This one is about the mammal like reptiles the Synpasids. You can check it out here.

This is my final piece. Sunset on the Karoo. I'm extremely proud of it, which is odd. I normal loath my work on a number of levels. This one I have hardly any complaints or regrets with...

If I'm pleased with a piece, normally it is due to a technical aspect of my work. I either accomplished something I never have before or improved on an old technique (which ties into my art philosophy) in those projects. With this piece I'm pleased with the actual aesthetic of it. The piece actually seems like a piece of art to an extent.

One of my heroes, and my favourite palaeo-artist, is Charles Knight. Though I'd never claim this picture was anywhere near his quality, in an odd way the lighting gives mine a Knight like feel. Which is ALL I will claim. A Knight like atmosphere. To really see what I mean check out the larger version of the Karoo here and look at how my 3D rendering looks like it was painted?!?

Not that I aimed for or knew this was going to happen.

Still, even if it was by mistake. I'm very pleased with my accidental Knight!

Bad Hair Day!!!

I predicted slight set backs earlier this morning. Which is all I wish I got, BUT no I of course have to get some HUGE ones instead!

So it turns out importing my haired Gorgon into my Permian Karoo rescales the fur. Resulting in, well this. Funny enough in a way this emulates my favourite Gorgon restoration from the old choose your own adventure Time Machine books (sadly my copy is back in Canada... so can't show your or look at it myself).

At the same time it looks ridiculous!

Going to have take a break and think about this.

Why couldn't things just going according to the goram plan!!!

The Gallery Looms

Well time is running out before the Synapsid gallery goes up on ART Evolved!

I don't think it matters when I try to schedule things, life has a tendency to get crazy around crunch time (in addition to the normal pressure of the crunch). My side job here NZ had a particularly stressful episode this week that nearly saw me quit it. Instead though I got promoted to supervisor out of the (nearly heated) debrief on said incident. Which is good news for me, all except for my creativity.

Meaning getting my Gorgonopsid ready for May. 1st has been like ACTUAL work!

This is the final version. I'm not totally pleased with him (but what's new). The combo of the Gorgon's natural face structure (I've found the ppl at Impossible Pictures made some creative tweaks to their CG models skulls for Walking with Monsters and Primeval to overcome Gorgon's built in adorablity) and my muppet like fuzz has made this guy more cute than apex predator.

The one silver lining of the fuzz is that if I ever have to make a "woolly" anything I know how to do it!

I don't have the time or inclination to rework him anymore (again I have no other application for this model afterwards), but I need to cover up his cute factor somehow.

My solution is atmosphere and setting. By obscuring everything in moody sunset lighting, the Gorgon should hopefully lose some of his cute.

For the moment behold the bedrock of Permian Karoo. This is just that though the baseline for the scene. I spent a good solid 5 hours fixing and making this landscape. At first a small lake in an otherwise desert like world seemed easy enough. Of course the road to hard work is paved with under-estimations.

I have added other details to this scene, but have purposely been hidden (more like a romulan cloaking device built into my 3D program) for this preview image.

The final piece should hopefully invoke the feeling of a shot from a nature documentary. It should be chalk full of nightfall behaviours of the Gorgons. Mind you, I did note the hope I'm pinning this on.

The set and the un-posed Gorgon are finished. Now I need to merge the two. Which might prove tricky... If past lessons are of any value!

Hairy Annoyance

My latest adventure in 3D isn't as new and exciting as it might sound... Hair the furry frontier...

Fur is simply a slight modification on feathers, and we all remember how much I "loved" those... but yet I can now do them for the most part (just with headaches everytime... which as luck would have it carries over to fur!)

So this is approaching the final version of my Gorgonopsid (he's getting a little more fur on the chin, and the back legs).

Anyone who knows a thing or two about them, could you let me know what you think? Is this passable or just an insult to our very fore forefathers?

I'm not totally happy with it. Which is tearing at me (fun fact about Craig, though he is in 90% of his life totally flexible and easy going, when it comes to his creative endeavours is a perfectionist and is NEVER happy with anything he does!). I don't want to present work of mine if its not up to the level as it were. Especially in my current effort to get some of my work published legitimately.

However as this is "just" for ART Evolved, and not a model I have a use for beyond that, I can't see a reason to pour hours and hours into pushing it beyond this point (especially since I'm also in the middle of trying to get the BIGGEST event in Traumador's history together right now... one that features my BEST work yet! Including a bleeding wounded Dinosaur!).


So any of the artists out there, what is your take on my current situation? Let this thing loose (of course posed and in an environment in a proper scene) or do I throw myself off my more legit artistic efforts to make sure this one is also a top notch product?

Gorgons

The thing I love about being done university (finally!) is I can enjoy reading again. Being a teacher has added an extra push to get me turning those pages once more. Afterall if I don't role model enjoying books to future readers, who will?


It's not like I wasn't reading before, mind you. I regularly read posts and articles off 40+ websites and blogs (making for at least 10 a day). At the same time they are very different mediums, books and the net, and it is nice to shake it up between the two.


However fiction just hasn't held much appeal for me lately. I think this has to do with the sting I suffered with Harry Potter (I liked the first 3 Potter books, but the 4th was utter rubbish and turned me right off the series, and it seems fiction books as a whole) and the constant jumping of the shark or cancellations of my favourite fictional TV shows, and now if I watch TV (not very often these days) it is mostly comedy or documentaries. So I've been reading nothing but non-fiction. Which has the bonus of me learning quite a bit.

This week's book was rather compelling, so I thought I'd plug it... as though it was non fiction mimiced the goodness of a fictional book:


That would be Peter Ward's Gorgon. I bought this book back when it first came out in 2004, but as it was in the middle of my uni days I put off reading it. In my recent book blitz I unburied it on my bookshelf and dug right in.

Man I was depriving myself, it was outstanding, and I could hardly put it down throughout the week! It was not what I expected at all!

I'd picked up Gorgon thinking it would discuss the Permian period and the Proto-mammal Synapsids that ruled that world. This is one of the areas my palaeo know-how that is not quite as strong, and I'd thought this book might help fix that. Sadly the book doesn't really get into the technical side of the topics Dr. Ward looks into.


Instead the book presents a personal narrative of his delving into the mystery of the Permian extinction not so much as a scientist but as a person (though these is still plenty of science along the way!). Which is what was so compelling, the story behind the science.

In this book you get the first hand account of what it is like doing field work, research in the lab, the squabbles and obstacles of the internal politics of museums and universities, and the challenges scientists contend with when dealing with the "real" world, all the stuff that doesn't make the newspapers or TV documentaries!
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I loved the way Dr. Ward never presents himself as the hero, but simply a player in the story. He gives due credit to others, and often humbly downplays his own involvement (which towards the end of the book pays off in an exciting moment when he 'finally' has his 'moment').

The book is also as much about South Africa's transformation throughout the 1990's as it is about the fossils buried in its soil. Which having studied this eras politics and history in uni, was interesting to see how the massive social changes in the country had effects on its the museums and scientists.

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Though the book was based on a true story, it still followed the structure of a first person narrative, and has given me cause to think about some fiction titles in my reading pile. We follow Dr. Ward and the South African Museum's field team on a journey to track down the elusive killer of 95% of all life 250 million years ago. The best part is they (along with dozens of researchers elsewhere in the world, which Dr. Ward gives the proper head nod to when it comes up in the book) in a classic mystery novel are able to track down through the clues it left behind, the most likely cause of the extinction. Giving the book a very satisfying conclusion.

Finishing off the book in the morning on my last day off during "Autumn" break (remember our seasons are opposite down here) I had inspiration and an afternoon off to build this. The start of my ART Evolved piece for May's upcoming Synapsid gallery.

It is not finished of course, but considering my the lack of good references and lack of experience making these sorts of animals, I feel it is a promising start.

My only problem with finishing it is what texture would a Proto-mammal reptile have? Scales, skin, fur, or something else entirely?

Oops, Fossils Aren't Real

I had a very miserable day at work today. The major incident of the day I won't be talking about in detail here, but I had my first ever disagreeable interaction with a skool.


The second incident as though adding insult to injury was my having to deal with a big C creationist staff member during lunch time.

The encounter was triggered by my use of Traumador in my classroom, and Ms. C (not their name at all, but rather denoting their BS Creationist beliefs) taking exception to that. She was borderline harassing me about my endorsing such "controversial" material as Dinosaurs to children... funny enough afterwards I found 4 skool owned books on the subject in my classroom alone!...

Due to the fact I'm a substitute teacher I play nice no matter where I go and what happens to me. My employment depends on not rocking the boat at all. So I somehow (and could probably claim admirably) kept my mouth shut, and yet pretended I gave a rats @$$ about what she told me. The whole tell the Penguins from Madagascar's quote "Smile and [nod], boys, smile and [nod]" ran through my head.


The reason for the post though, was her statement that "They [Dinosaurs] weren't even real you know."


That has to be my favourite creationist 'fact'. Though I didn't delve into it today with her, for a number of reasons, it dredged up many memories of my past encounters with Big C's at the museum.

There are 2 variants of the creationist denial of fossils. Which in itself I think speaks to the stupidity I've dealt with.

The majority of creationists have had to concede that fossils are real, and incidentally present a big "problem" to their beliefs (in that they are totally WRONG!). Yet emphasising how not connected into reality creationism really is, some in the creationist movement have decided, rather than try to sidestep and blur the issue of fossils, they're just going to deny they exist. Which indicates how "real" their view point on the origin of things really is. When they have to pretend whole aspects of the world around them don't exist simply so that they can keep pretending their ancient fiction is real...

Anyways 2 variant versions of why fossils aren't real...

1. Evil Scientists and the Evolutionary Conspiracy...

This is my favourite of the two, and it is the easiest to show the stupidity behind it.

It goes like this, apparently "scientists" starting with Darwin (even though fossils have been recorded from as far back as the Greeks! but that is besides the point... for some reason) decided to start a clandestine conspiracy and "create" evidence for his new super villianistic scheme called "evolution"... for some reason... Meaning all the fossil evidence from around the world was in fact created by this cabal of evil academics to support the nefarious plot of "evolution"... for some reason... and yet no not single member of this secret society has ever broken ranks to warn the witless public at large of this diabolical ruse... again for some reason.

In other words palaeontologists and geologists make fossils, hide them, and than pretend to find them...

Like I said, this is a terrifically hilarious idea, and worthy of a whole TV franchise. It is also very complementary at the same time, and gives earth science people a LOT of credit.

Afterall we scientists (I'm lumping myself in here as I've worked behind the scenes in one of the fortresses of evil... errr Palaeontology) are able to produce STUPID amounts of fossils every year. Not only that but we do them all custom with an incredibly diverse variety, composition, and geographic distribution. At the same time no one notices or works at our mass production facilities... MAAAAAHAHAHAH

We therefore must be economic geniuses. As we not only acquire all the materials needed to manufacture the fossils, but we also have an incredible logistics system to distribute the fossils to the remote locations we want them to be, and place them through totally undetectable means (the fact fossils are often found far from "witnesses" is proof of this conspiracy you see according to Big C's).

Not only that but we are incredibly good actors, able to legitimately pass off our own creations as things we happened to find!

We are the most united organization in the history of the world, making the conspiracies of the X-Files look like mere childs play. In the one and half centuries of the plot, not one member of our circle has defected and told the world of our mass deception. We also have been able to plant our creations around the world unnoticed, not only to be found by ourselves but naive citizens.

Best of all we do it for no reason other than it is something to do... I have yet to see world domination in the grasp of Palaeontology... or have I said to much...

I'm not kidding sadly. I've personally had a young teenage evangelical try to persuade me of this "truth"... mental note to self, she still knows too much...

It came up enough at the museum that the staff rewrote the song Three Blind Mice to go

Make, Hide, Find

Make, Hide, Find

We make the fossils,

We hide the fossils,

We find the fossils

Make, Hide, Find
Make, Hide, Find

So as proof that this isn't true, I'll tell you theory number 2. The proof being if this conspiracy was as capable as the story goes they'd have killed me by now for saying this much!

2. The Devil's Creations

This story goes in an effort to trick us humans off the true path of gOD that sneaky Satan went and planted fossils all around creation.

Now this is about as easy to discuss or debate as the existence of gOD. Is your imaginary friend real or not? Only in this case is your imaginary enemy real or not...

Well here is the reasons I think creationists should avoid this one.

First of all its not in your great touted "one true book". No where in the bible is there mention of Satan making fossils (or mention of fossils at all funny enough...). So immediately your claim that the bible is THE literal truth is looking kinda in trouble, as a very KEY event is missing. What else is maybe missing from the book?

The chapters about evolution before Genesis? That disclaimer at the front warning this book is fictional and resemblances between real people and events inside a merely coincidental?!?

However the kicker of this whole Devil made fossils argument, is it suddenly upgrades Satan from a mere second stringer gOD (oh sorry fallen angel) to a full on powerful gOD like the big G himself. Now Satan has the power to create stuff just like gOD did, a Genesis 2 as it were.

Now correct me if I'm wrong... If Satan can create stuff just like gOD, would that mean there isn't one true god, but in fact 2 of them. Now as Satan's creation of fossils would have to presumably be AFTER gOD created the world, as otherwise Genesis is wrong anyway and Satan is actually the world's creator, would that not make Satan more powerful than gOD? Afterall gOD creating the world is dandy and fine, but kinda easy as there was nothing there. Won't it take the real power in the universe to go and amend that creation after the fact?

So yes Satan would be trying to lead me "astray" from gOD, but isn't he doing me a favour? Afterall gOD only created the world... he has no say on it now (otherwise why not remove the confusing fossils?!?). So Satan is the guy holding all the cosmic cards, and we should really be sucking up to him shouldn't we?

Kinda makes you think doesn't it.

In either case I like these theories as it means I don't have to even pretend creationists have a point. They're just talking out their @$$es. Which in fairness they're only one stepped removed from when they acknowledge fossils exist.

Busy Week with... Fossils!

Well tons has been happening lately. It really deserves several posts.

The skool year just ended down here, and as a result so has work for a little while. There was a degree of poetic justice to my last teaching gig of the year. It was at the skool I started off in at the beginning of the year. So that was nice seeing all those kids again (and getting paid for it... I had planned to pop in on their last day, but this way I didn't have to). As I wasn't in their room it lead to the funniest skool yard duty I've ever had with that whole room worth of kids following and swarming around me during my rounds.

I'm leaving Salmond after two years. So packing has had to occur in the bits and pieces of time I've had throughout the week. I hate packing, but it'll be nice to be in a real place again. Hopefully I never have to live with any first year uni students again (that alone over a hundred of them).

I write this on the cusp of departing for a big hiking trip that will see me gone until X-Mas eve. Update you on that when I get back.

This week's big news has been what kept me out of the house...
I finally have gotten to head out and do some palaeo field work here in New Zealand! This was a big week for it too.

Last weekend I took one of the vice principals in town and his kids out fossil hunting, and found my first bone in New Zealand. Turns out it was from a Moa, which was cool.

This was quickly followed by correspondence from Dr. Ewan Fordyce of the Otago Museum inviting me to join him on a field excursion. It was really productive, and I learned a brand new excavation technique that I've been told by my Canadian contacts should get written up. So I might look into that, with permission from the inventor of the technique Dr. Fordyce of course.

Anyways Traumador will probably have a TON to say about the outing once we get his Drumheller exploits over and done with (which have barely begun... I need to get the whip cracking over there).

Funny story related to all this, that I have been meaning to post, but haven't managed too till now.

Like my shirt?

Well about a month ago I discovered many other people did. While out shopping for groceries at the local farmers market I was suddenly stopped at one point by a gentleman who spotted my shirt. His immediate question upon stopping me, I assumed I'd dropped something, was to ask if I'd been there in regards to my shirt. Alerting to not only that I had, but that I'd helped in field work up there we had a nice 15 minute chat about all things Burgress Shale and Cambrian.

Than about 5 minutes later I ran in Dr. Fordyce who also noted the shirt, and this conversation (as an extension of an ongoing internet exchange we'd been having for about a week previous) triggered this week's field outing.

So the lesson dress for success, I guess. Geeky success anyways!

Last thing is an update on the Ankylosaur model. Okay, to answer Peter, technically a Euoplocephalus model.

With everything going on this week I only really managed a day after my last post to work on him. This is by FAR the hardest Dinosaur model I've worked on. I've had to rework the body armour 5 times, and I'm not totally happy with this version. It is a compromise that allows me to pose him when I'm finished. I had one variant that probably would have been amazing, but unposable. Thus requiring me to remodel the whole thing if I wanted a different position.

Anyways I'd love to sit here and update you some more, but I just halfway through that last paragraph have been informed we're leaving. So catch on my return, and merry X-Mas!

A New Record

With the winding down of the skool year down here (the last day for primary kids is next Tuesday) I'm finding I have a lot more time. Awesome.

So one of my big projects as of late is building up a much larger army/stockpile of CG Dinosaurs for use in my various projects (mostly Traumador).

One of the problems with Dinosaurs is they take a lot of time to build. Even now with a nice inventory of them to modify into missing type it takes me typically 4-6 hours just to make new textures for them.

Today I pulled off a record though. Not only did I do 2 new textures in a day (I have done this once before), but I remodelled two of my existing Dinos into two totally brand new families!

Would you believe this Ostrich mimic used to be a Velociraptor (whose shader I completed, and than I started tinkering with the model and eventually made this!)? He still needs some work, but considering how MUCH different the two are, I'm claiming a achievement for one day.

This Stegoceras (aka bonehead dino) was a big huge MEGA breakthrough. I'd been thinking how I might tackle the difficult dome on these guys. Due to all my 3Ding as of late this sort of challenge, even though doing my head in for about 30 minutes, are becoming easier and easier to solve. I'm getting intuitive with how my modelling window works, and even though it doesn't respond logically often I'm starting to instinctively know how to coax into doing what I want.

So now the only really big Dino families I'm in need of are the, very frightening, Ankylosaurs and Stegosaurs. Keep you posted (and they are coming!)