Trilobites!

Hello. This is a project that I started on about two years ago, but I just recently cleaned it up into a presentable demo. I'm posting this work-in-progress to get some feedback.

Basically, I had the idea to create an aquarium of sea life that is completely extinct. That is: sea life from before the dinosaurs or any land-roaming animals. I've started with Olenoides Serratus, a trilobite from the Cambrian period. My goal is to model highlights from the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian periods.

Here are some screen shots from the project so far:


I've made the models for Olenoides in Blender and created some simple AI scripts. I'm relatively a beginner to 3D modelling so there is still much to improve upon.

Here is an early version of the aquarium. Use the standard WASD to move and Q and E to zoom in and out. (I added the zoom feature because animals from the Cambrian period are mostly very small)

Click here!

You can also see an early, unfinished version of opabinia regalis that I'm working on too.

Let me know what you think and thanks for your time!

 

Hey kdgalla this looks pretty interesting.
I think the Olenoides look very stiff compared to how they moved in real life. Of course I'm guessing because none of us really know how they moved exactly, it's all theoretical but I would think there segmented bodies moved with there legs in some way. Maybe not 100% gestation with the legs, but something like a centipede's body parts moves slightly with it's legs.
I like the costic fx you have in the tanks. That effect reads well. And the semi-transparent material/shader you have on the Opabinia Regalis is an interesting look.

One other thing to note the titles of all the signs including the title on the main Cambrian period sign are blurry. The smaller text is very crisp but the larger letters are blurry.

Cool concept though. I could see you adding some fun game play and instructional elements and this being used for little ones to learn about those time periods.

 

Well, this definitely has my support. I'm gonna take it that we might see fellas like Anomalocaris, Eurypterids and ammonites as well?


Also, I'm not sure if this is a bug, but I've noticed one of the trilobites floating round like a shopping bag in the wind. Felt like that was worth pointing out.

 

This is definitely true. I'm planning to refactor these once I get better with Blender. I don't about Olenoides, specifically, but I've seen lots of fossils of trilobites climbing over rocks and bending to meet the shape of the rock. Some species could even curl up into a ball.

 

Interesting. When I commented about centipedes I was also thinking about pill bugs, or as they're more commonly known as - rollie pollies.

 

Very interesting project! Would be very good for educational purposes too.

 

Nice project. There is just something that always bug me with this kind of project, why do you need to have the same constraint as a real museum ?
What I mean is , why do we need a First person controller and some information stick to a panel near the aquarium? is it possible to add some "fun" ?We are in a virtual world and a museum is for some people the definition of boring ^^.
It's just some ideas ^^

Nice works !

 

These are all on my list. I've already started working a hi-res version of Eurypterus Remipes.

I wanted the trilobites to be able to swim a little bit for short amounts of time, sort-of like a horseshoe crab. I'm trying to make the movement physics based, but sometimes they do go little haywire.

MY first idea was to recreate a complete environment with a big collection of plants and animals, with the player as a free-roaming, disembodied camera. It would be like a patch of virtual Ocean floor.

This was a little overwhelming, so I thought the aquarium building was a way to reduce the scope of the project and actually divide it up so that it was more like a series of smaller projects. Also I have a little bit of nostalgia for aquarium buildings and I thought the mundane setting might make the experience more realistic.

This is a good notion. The amount of user interaction could potentially be far deeper than just the aquarium simulation. I'm going to focus on creating the animals first, but eventually I will probably try to rethink what can be done to make better use of the interactive medium. At the very least, a more-stylish building would be nice.