Winter 2014 - Week 1 - Review

This week I returned to work on my thesis project. There are several administrative-type things going on behind the scenes (drafting requests for my expert panel, formatting my manuscript (thank you stefan), searching through spreadsheets of measurements, brushing up on allometric formulas, etc.).

I have been brushing up on how scientists study and quantify morphological change with the help of the book On Size and Life (1983). The most useful technique for assessing change is with an allometric formula. One chooses two measurable parts of an organism (x, y). These two measurements are then plots against one another. The following formula is used:

 y = bx^a

The exponent a reveals the type of growth occurring. If a=1, then one is observing isometric growth, two measurements changing at the same rate. If a < 1, then one is observing negative allometric growth (slower growth) and a > 1 is positive allometric growth (faster growth). 

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Related but unrelated to the thesis project, I have put together an animation demo reel. It highlights some of the characters I have animated over the last few years. 

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I have spent sometime working in Maya and Vray to simulate an underwater environment. Adding an environmental fog helps a great deal. Getting the surface to look convincingly reflective is still a struggle.

I've begun to model my character. Bothriolepis is encased in series of armor plates. Here I've been trying to add enough topology to allow these normally immobile plates to deform during 'development'. 

Source:

MacMahon, Thomas A., and John Tyler Bonner. On size and life. Scientific American Books, 1983.