Ontogenic Character Rig

I've been mentioning an ontogenic character rig as one of the main technical modules involved with my project. Here is a diagram that I hope will clarify what I mean. 3D animation software packages (like Maya) use a hierarchal joint system to drive character posture, gesture, and locomotion. It's basically the digital equivalent of a metal armature. 

I am proposing the use of the same joint system to drive developmental changes. Overlapping the conventional animation joint network would be an ontogenic joint network that distorts the proportion of specific features on the character depending upon the desired life stage. The proportions will be based off growth slopes derived from the measurements of many individuals. The growth slopes for each body feature would be tied into the joints that control it. Global 'age' would be determined by a master control slider. Getting the two joint networks to work together will be a challenge, but it seems plausible. I know that in the animated film Tangled, the animators devised an "Age Slider" for the main villain. 

Week 4 - DIGM 680

Readings:

Mass digitization of scientific collections: New opportunities to transform the use of biological specimens and underwrite biodiversity science

Downstream user:

"Digitization, beyond making collections more accessible to researchers, provide access to downstream users such as the general public, government and non-government agencies and private enterprises."

Digital Futures I: Museum Collections, Digital Technologies, and the Cultural Construction of Knowledge

Modernist - "grand narrative"

Postmodernist - network of narratives

First Generation

Second Generation

Next Generation

Voice of authority

Constructivist approach to learning VS threat to curatorial authority

User Cases

-Curator
-Collections Manager
-Educator
-Non-specialist

Bonehead mistakes: The background in scientific literature and illustrations for Edward Drinker Cope's first restoration of Elasmosaurus platyurus

http://www.flickr.com/photos/orebody/4428031625/


Ancient Seas Exhibit @ Manitoba Museum

http://www.manitobamuseum.ca/main/museum/ancient-seas/

DIGM 620 - Week 3 Hours

Painting by Douglas Henderson

Week 3 Hours:

Environmental rendering w/ vray (2 hr)
Storyboards (2 hr)
Concept art (3 hr)
Diagram design (2 hr)
Meeting with Stefan (.5 hr)
Reading (1 hr)

Goals for this week:

Photoshoot @ Academy 10/17/2013
Environmental concept art
Continue with storyboards

Vray

Over summer break I started watching a few digital tutors videos regarding Vray. It seemed like a very versatile rendering engine. Here are some quick renders of an underwater scene. I still haven't quite nailed the look I want, but getting the environmental fog effect to work is a good first step.

Visual Reference of Fish

Since my candidate species Bothriolepis is long extinct I've been seeking out video references of how modern day fish behave and move. Here are few videos of fish I had videotaped at the New England Aquarium in Boston in 2010. They've been hogging up disk space all this time, but now I've finally found a use for them:

Proposed Timeline

Google Doc Link

Week 3 Readings

Valdecasas, Antonio G., and Ana M. Correas. "Science literacy and natural history museums." Journal of biosciences 35.4 (2010): 507-514.



Milner, Richard. "Charles R. Knight: The Artist Who Saw Through Time" Harry N. Abrams, 2012





Sigwart, Julia D. "Crystal creatures: context for the Dublin Blaschka Congress." Historical Biology 20.1 (2008): 1-10.







Moltenbrey, Karen "Dino Might", Computer Graphics World, 32.7 (2009)