Traumador Limbo

I have become quite pleased with my Maori Mosasaur pattern. So much so I thought I'd play with it for a few minutes.

The result you get some Traumador photos that have been in limbo for almost 2 years. Not that I'm planning on really getting back to Traum (sorry to the Traum fans out there, and my tiny now neglected saurian friend). The time and commit just aren't there (especially with the new teaching job).

I might give you a shortened version of his last year in New Zealand I have 3/4 of the photos for (and it was this missing quarter that killed the blog... I had too many holes in the photos).

In any case here is one of the most exciting sets of photos from the "Hunt for the Taniwha"

New Year... New Traumador

Man I can't believe what a bust 2010 ended up being for me artistically and creatively. I not only was not able to really push the boundaries of my current skill set, but I was unable to keep up with my ongoing projects.

My attempt at doing Dinosaur Olympics has almost all but killed my interest in the Traumador saga... Though to be fair a combination of failed photo shots here in Canada, a collapse in my envisioned future of Traum's storyline, and most critical of all no free time (on account of the most temporally demanding job I've ever had!) were more at fault than the Olympics themselves...

Point is I'm taking a break for the next couple of months from Traum's storyline. My apologizes to those out there who really enjoy this part of his blog. However I have neither the drive, energy, and most important interest at this stage. Honestly to do it right I need these things. I'm not saying I'm throwing in the towel on it altogether. I am just taking a break until I can sort out my issues (that being mainly my current job, which will end as of June this year one way or another!!!).

Not to despair though. I'm far from abandoning Traum. If anything I'm putting more energy into him compared to at least 2010 (and 2007). Though I like how the character has grown on the web, I do miss a key part of his roots. That being him in lots of silly videoes.

As there is no way I can see me combining Traum's storylines with video (just making some of the still images for posts was killing me), I'm falling back to when he was doing palaeo science stuff. I have some real treats and surprises for you guys already filmed, and a bunch more coming up for filming in 2 weeks. So stay tuned.

My hope is that I can finally create a real following for Traum. He currently only really has a couple dozen (at most) loyal readers. I'm hoping to up his exposure, and try to establish Traum a legit place in the palaeo-blogging sphere. While I'm a medium level blog out there, this is more just due to Traum's running time. The longer a blog is maintained (Traum's going on the 5th year here!) the more prominent you become. While this has helped, I've hit a wall in the last 1.5 years growing him. So I feel a new direction is needed to try and get some new people reading/watching him (plus than they'll hopefully go through all the old content and ask for more...).

The other reason I'm stepping back from Traum's story is that it eats up about 75% of my creative time and energy. Up till now that was fine. It had plenty of skills sets embedded in the art that were forcing me to grow and learn new things. However at moment I feel very comfortable with everything and anything I've needed to do for Traum's story pictures. Now I'm craving leaving my comfort zone. Especially as I have new "toys" as of X-Mas to play with.

The first of these is Adobe Flash! I have quietly been wanting to learn Flash forever, but never gotten serious about it mostly due to not owning the software itself. Now that is no longer an excuse due to the generous gift from my parents.

So I've purchased a teach yourself the program book, and so far I'm ahead of the game! This Ceratopsian (bonus points if you can ID it in the comment section) is my product from a lesson supposed to teach me how to build a simple tea cup. So I'm optimistic I will pick all up fairly quickly.

It helps that Flash's hardest functions and tools are from both photoshoping and 3D animation. So I'm already pretty competent in both... Keep you posted.

My direct Traumador project is trying to take this play logo from Dec, and turn into into something more cute and funny.

This is where it currently stands as it were.

I've put a LOT of work into this T-Rex skeleton... So much so I can and have...


Animated it. This will all be directly tied to the big new ongoing monthly Traumador feature... However you'll have to guess what for now.

Anyways back to tinkering.

Leader of the Pack

Moving right along on the my revamp efforts...

This lovely lady got her Mark 5 upgrade, and some new feathers (there is a HUGE Traum event coming right after the Dinosaur Olympics... where those with feathers will be calling the shots)

As for the Dinosaur Olympics I promise to get cranking on those this week. Blame the terrible job economy for the delays though. Reworking textures is lovely brainless work after a day banging my head on the table. Writing fun and happy Traum posts is not really on the menu when I'm in a half dazed semi-depressed state all the time.

Reworking all over the place...

One person was wondering why I was suddenly reworking all my old models.

Well there is one main reason. All my old models are now rubbish!

However as a secondary motivation I'm getting ready to push Traumador again (like he was in the old days!)... I pseudo neglected him last year due to ART Evolved, and this year I want to reverse the priority scheme on the two.

As of such I'm putting some major revamp into his site. Many have noticed the new (and improved I hope) sidebar layout... I need to finish this. However Blogger's newly introduced Pages give me and excellent location for some new features I was going to do anyway. Many of the reworked models are for use here (keep in mind this is a special sneak preview I'm giving you, and this area of Traum is still heavily under construction!). If you keep your eyes open there is a few bits of new Traumador content!

Now any of the Dinosaurs I've been putting revamp work into will be making more appearances in Traum (most of them right after I wrap up the Olympics... okay start the damn things! I'd planned on doing them by now... stupid job hunting!).

So today we see an upgrade for...


Dip the Serendipiceratops. This is what her old Mark 2 model looked like.

Say hello to the Mark 5!

As Serendipiceratops is known from only a single Leptoceratops like femur, I modelled her around this with a pinch of Protoceratops to spice things up. The reason for the mix is simply because I like Protos more.

I appear to have misloaded this pic. I assure you, apart from the tail, the model matches the skeleton pretty good.

The lower jaw needed some major work (forgot to upload the pre picture... anyone really fused let me know in the comments, and I'll add it).

Despite Lady R not liking the change (she is rather fond of Dip), I think it brings this model up to among my best (accuracy wise anyways).

So with Dip newly upgraded onto the next in the near future.

The Downside of Improvement!

So having pretty much mastered my technique for colouring models as Mark 5s, there is just one problem. If I put any of my older Mark 2 style models with a new Mark 5 they look ridiculously cartoonish.

Having mastered and streamlined how I create Mark 5 shaders, it has not been too big a problem to revamp these old shaders. It just takes time!

Of all my old Mark 2 models, I haven't been prouder of any of them than Lillian. She is also one of my oldest models! I built here wayyyyyyy back in early 2008, which is like a whole different epoch in my 3Ding techniques!

Up until recently she has stood up incredibly well. However with the addition of the Mark 5 shaders her whole look changed, and not for the best! Despite not changing the baseline model, Lillian's head went from one of my most impressive to nearly farcical!

It appears that the black outlines of the Mark 2 shaders were drawing emphasis to the parts of her head I sculpted well. While in the Mark 5 doesn't emphasis anywhere. Leaving the many inaccuracies of my old model (from way before I started to really use references!) plain for all to see...

Now that I have entered the era of references it was time to get comparing. In this case to my childhood favourite picture of Albertosaurus by Gregory Paul (its depressing to think this "cutting edge" picture by Mr. Paul is over 20 years old!).

Superficially my old Lillian's skull matches, but if you pay attention to the details they are quite off.

Meaning it was time to finally retool Lillian... Which I suspect will be an ongoing trend this year!

So considering I reworked her skull with just eyeball referencing of this Paul drawing and some skeletal pictures I have from the Tyrrell, she has turned out incredibly well.

Though Lillian is not an exact match for the Paul drawing on all fronts, she is pretty close. I'm going to have to figure out how to get that slender snout look in 3D.

Though to be honest I want to know exactly which skull Paul was referencing for this drawing? All my photos of Albertosaur skulls (5 of them in total) show them to have have taller snouts than this one here. Don't get me wrong I like the slender look, but I'm not sure it is accurate...

Dino Winter Games Preview

I know we haven't used it in a little while, but Peter and I are trying to get back to posting over on the main Prehistoric Insanity blog.

As part of this effort, we offer a special sneak peek of one of the Dinosaur teams about to participate in Traumador's big Olympic event!

So be sure to pop over there and check it out, and watch for our renewed effort to bring back the Prehistoric Insanity updates!

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!!!)

Increase of a "Mark"

Today turned out to be an unexpected (but most welcome) day off. No skools needed me, and it couldn't have been better timed. Having been paid yesterday, and with many things breaking on me all at once this week like my headphones, waterbottle, and shoes (plus my already discussed camera) I used the day to remedy these problems.
`
I then had time for other things. Top on the list was getting Traumador's Canada adventure closer to being finished! We're at hopefully 5 more Drumheller posts, and then what I'm hoping to be under 10 in Calgary for a return to NZ in mid-late October... which is not following my goals, but I think everyone is enjoying this end of the Canada adventure. Let me and PIP know in the comments what you're thinking of the whole homecoming arc if your a Tyrannosaur Chronicles reader...




During my weekly phone call with Peter, I tinkered on Zendin the Troodon again.



To give you an idea of how far the model has come, here is a test render of the "Mark 2" era model I did in mid 2008. As of this afternoon the model graduated to the top of the line "Mark 4".




First on the chopping block today was Zendin's old shading scheme. It was cool in comparison to Mark 1 Larry, but doesn't hold up in my modern era stuff.

So I whipped up a simple gradient of a range of brown's I wanted to try. This simple shader looked so good I stuck with it (especially since most of it will be covered with feathers... why waste time on something that won't be overly visible?).



However for the head, which will be exposed, I tried a few extravagant schemes. This first one sadly made him look like he had black eyes.


These understated but bold brown lines were just what the doctor ordered (or at least looked good after 20 minutes of failures) so stuck.

Next I moved on to rigging him. I only had time to do the "body" which extends from the tip of the tail right up to the end of the neck (I haven't ventured into the chaotic and complex world of rigging heads... yet!).

This however gave the model a whole new dimension of life and awesome. The arms and legs should only take me another 20min (I had to go help with dinner after the next render).

With feathers put back I'm getting happy with the new Zendin... though I fear with mouth closed he has lost a lot of his "cute" factor. With it open he is still has that cute factor.

Anyways what do people out there think?

Next I really really need to get back to my ART Evolved Anomalocarid entries. Plus I have a few new Coelurosaurs to get ready for the big Pack/Canada finale for Traum in Sept...

Using my head

If last term was quiet (which sadly it was) then this term has been stupid busy! I'm so high in demand that I had a skool phone me in the middle of the day whilst teaching at another. Something that never happens down here (skools are independent pseudo competitive entities).

While this is good for my wallet, it sucks for my projects! I have no time or energy anymore...

Still I get in a stab here and there where I can...

One of the big ones as of late has been the upgrade to the Troodon model. The weekend (which was eaten up with some long, but fun photo taking field trips) saw one major improvement that I'm finally happy with. Zendin's head.

This was where the model started, with the head I built back in early 2008. It is not very good by my modern standards, but for back then this was cutting edge.

Since I have sadly come up with some really nice Theropod skulls I'm proud of. This Velociraptor being one of the most (only Lillian's out does this for my top picks of my 3D dinos). Furthermore despite them being distant cousins, Velociraptor and Troodon had similarly shaped skulls.

I thought some strategic tweaks to this model with a new shader, and I could solve my Troodon skull problems in no time... Why do I always think these stupid things?

This is where I got it as of my last post. As you may recall I was not overly pleased. This failed effort was NOT easy or quick as I'd hoped, and the next stab wasn't any more of these two it turns out :(

So I dug up some references.

One of which I accidentally discovered on a 3D forum I keep up with. A nice 3D model by ExprssnImg (you can check out the model for sale here).

Now I'm not the sort who buys his models (it is shocking how many 3D "artists" out there seem to enjoy 3Ding using other peoples models... for me 75% of the fun is in the building) but this was constructive, as the angles shown on this thing's advert gave me an idea how they'd built it.

The other Troodon I liked was this rather stunning reconstruction by Frank DeNota. Also a 3D creation, though sadly only the one angle.

Between the two of them were elements I loved. The snout shape of the first (as DeNota's to me is too much like my Velociraptor...) but the cute innocent eyes and demeanor of the second.

Though not a perfect blend, I'm much happier with this. However being the perfectionist I am I still don't love this...

I'm hoping after the major retexturing and shading job I'm going to be doing the model it'll look better. The methods and manners I create my Dinosaurs colour schemes with have changed a lot since 2008, so I'm hoping this rebuild will look much better with a new colour scheme.

So here is where Zendin is sitting at right now.

Is he lovable and cute? That's what I'm aiming for. Lady R just doesn't think a Dinosaur can be made to match these descriptors... I'm hoping she is wrong!

Feathers, sorted, but I STILL hate them!

Well after yet another evening (3 in a row now) of fighting with these stupid 3D feathers, I have finally emerged on top. At least more so then when I started. This is yet more proof against the short victorious war model in any case.

Not that I didn't have some major malfunctions along the way!!!

The price of increased model quality and accuracy is the loss of 3Ding simplicity. This what I look at when dealing with the Oviraptor model in my program. I'm hoping you catch the unwieldiness of the thing.

In addition to the (spline form) model parts that make up the Dinosaur there are now skeletal rig "bones" (in blue) and surface replicated feathers (in white) jamming up the works. Probably not obvious to a none Carrara user is the multitude of aspects of these (the replicator in particular) not plainly visible here, but that I still have to keep track of while using the model.

Oh well, after some reverse engineering of my highly successful Dromaeosaurid feather setup (that I somehow fluky stumbled upon without meaning to), I was able to get this guy to finally feather agreeably.

One down (pun intended!) and many more to go... Hopefully transplanting my Velociraptor's feathers will work as well for all upcoming feather recipients as this guy!

I HATE Feathers!!!

Well the 3D Dinosaur revolution goes on...

I hit my first big brickwall of the skeletal era. "Feather"ing a fully rigged model.

The technique I am using to "Feather" my Dinos is not called feathering. It is a process in Carrara called surface replication. What I am doing is taking one or more object (in this case feathers) and telling the computer to make up to 10 000 copies along the surface of another object (the body in the Dinosaur's case).

In theory it sounds great, and should make feathering doable (as opposed to manually placing all those feathers by myself). However it doesn't behave the way one would logically expect. For some reason the math or programming at its heart causes replicated object's pitch, yaw, and roll (known in 3Ding as X,Y, and Z) to all swap with each other, and in none intuitive manners. Coupled with a none existent means of manipulating replicators makes for a lot of hit and miss adjustments by me.

Putting feathers on my old style manual adjustment models was F@#&ing hard before going rig-atomic. The 3D skeletal rigs have simply amplified the problem!

This sample of my current efforts to feather my Oviraptor give you an idea of the problems I face. Apart from the legs (which are doing exactly what I want) this guy looks like he's stuck a claw in the toaster.

Leading to a new catch phrase for my creative anger. It may not be very imaginative nor difficult to figure out, but it applies none the same. "I HATE feathers!!!"

One Tough Dino

This post's title is a deliberate pun. Not only were the Ankylosaurs tough due to their armoured hides, but that also makes them tough as to make in 3D!!!

After 5 times the effort of a regular Dinosaur I present the complete Euoplocephalus...


Man I'm not looking forward to posing anything to do with the neck or tail! So it probably won't make too many appearances on Traumador.

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!)

Preview of Drum to Come

So been on a vacation in Drumheller for a week now. Sadly my trip ends in less than 36 hours. In fact functionally I've got just over 24 hours to go.

Due to a number of factors I'm only giving you a taste of whats gone on up here. I will be posting a lot more soon. PROMISE!

Among the most key is catching up with the peoples that made my life here in Drumheller so memorable. As of today I've managed some quality time with everyone I sought out (though maybe not the amount of time I'd have liked)

Discoveries everywhere. Though to be honest the best weren't mine, but I was along for the ride at least.

Some very unexpected adventures. This photo was taken from one. Bet you can't guess where it was taken from ;p

And of course Traumador had a TON of adventures up here. Of which this picture doesn't even come close to conveying. Seriously some of the best Traum photos and adventures ever will be coming from this Drum expedition.

Plus find out my current obsession. All coming soon once I return home, and nothing more adventure wise is occurring.

Projects A Plenty!

Oops. With life being as crazy as it tends to be it's not like I don't have enough trouble posting stuff on this blog as is.

Add into that normal mix something a tad drastic like flying halfway across the world, and well I just haven't had time to do it!

I do have lots of "real" life to report, but its just not as fun to write about frankly. So you'll have to wait for all that stuff later.

I will however note that though this blog has been silent for a bit, my other two (yeah I'm a bit of a blog junkie...) have been bustling with activity.


For good reason too! With the trip to Canada I've been able to retrieve a number of key computer files that I'd been separated from for over a year. Meaning that the last remnants of the Drum years are ready to finally be put together and shown the light of day...


Though this movie was shot in 2004, and finally completed in early 2006, Hardcore Apocalypse After Next Tuesday has long been overdue for an Internet debut... Why I'm punishing the world with it I'm not sure, but it will clearly demonstrate how the Prehistoric Insanity crew improved heaps over its 4 summer existence.

Check out the teaser at Prehistoric Insanity. Also keep checking in there as the movie should be up by mid September!

That project being of course our Sci-Fi (I've always wanted to make a space movie, and now I finally will!) movie Delta Patrol. It is looking very promising folks!

Granted the break of nearly 2 years on filming it means that its been a bit of work to get back into the editing process. I'm aiming to work on it for at least an hour each week. With the promise of a blooper every Sunday night.

Check out the progress by checking, once again, Prehistoric Insanity.

Of course as the sole member of PI Digital I'm ever busy. Not only with all the models from Delta Patrol but also my other on going project Traumador.
If you've lost base with what's going on with Traumador nows a great time to get back up to speed. Not only is the fact he is in Australia exciting enough, but he's just re met Lillian the girl of his dreams! Will Traumador finally find love and happiness? Find out as this is my attempt at making a friendly entry point into Traumador's life.

Of course there's lots of CG to do for these posts. Especially with my current goal of getting a CG Dino or other critter into ever 5th post at most. I'm also hoping to get some more Vlogs going again too.

The point being I like a full plate! So this blog may get ignored from time to time, but I promise I'm back onto my goal of at least one post a week... after August. Sorry just being home is very hectic at moment, but I'll try my best!