Trilobite Aquarium

[Ammonites]

Well, in all aspects, this Freshwater version was something I came up with to promote a storyline I made about a fictional world where Dinosaurs and trilobites still exist so I'm taking some liberties. 

That aside, my next aquarium will be marine and I'll try getting that one to be accurate as far as the life and timeframe is concerned (hoping to get one of the ROM sets and put them in it).

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Ermm unsure where that came from but yes, some things do look wet when they are wet. If you watch the shore of a pond or creek, you can see the difference in a partially submerged rock or branch of wood. The portions exposed to water will be darker and also tend to glisten more in sunlight.  Aside from that it is common knowledge in dinosaur modeling to treat mouth cavities, eyes, and other areas that would be moist with a clear gloss sealer to offer that illusion.
  If you are underwater swimming the difference is there is no dry area to compare the wet portion to in contrast. It ALL looks wet underwater, in other words.  You dont see standing beads or droplets of water, but the objects do tend to reflect more and also to be darker in color due to saturation by water, rather than appearing dry. They have more of a natural wet look than dry at least. 

[SBell]

Ermm unsure where that came from but yes, some things do look wet when they are wet. If you watch the shore of a pond or creek, you can see the difference in a partially submerged rock or branch of wood. The portions exposed to water will be darker and also tend to glisten more in sunlight.  Aside from that it is common knowledge in dinosaur modeling to treat mouth cavities, eyes, and other areas that would be moist with a clear gloss sealer to offer that illusion.
  If you are underwater swimming the difference is there is no dry area to compare the wet portion to in contrast. It ALL looks wet underwater, in other words.  You dont see standing beads or droplets of water, but the objects do tend to reflect more and also to be darker in color due to saturation by water, rather than appearing dry. They have more of a natural wet look than dry at least. 

Precisely--so if an aquarium has no water in it, everything should have the same reflection to it. When they are underwater. Sorry you didn't read that part. The appearance of 'wet' is due to varying reflection and refractive indices between the surface of the object (water) and the medium through which the light travels (air). If the wet object is underwater, there is no difference (or only extremely subtle differences) since the medium that the light travels through does not change. Hence, adding glosses or other finishes will cause an underwater model in a dry display to look odd.

You wouldn't use glass eyes on an underwater model because they would appear wet (unless you plan on filling the tank, which is generally not advised due to the increased effort involved in preventing damage to the models (paint or structural).

That's also why the MOIST parts of a model (mouth, eyes, nostrils, etc) can be given a gloss finish. They are the only parts of a body that have a distinctively different surface moisture.

I have actually dealt with this before. Professionally. For public display. I am sure there are differing opinions, but this seems to be fairly  common knowledge from the research I had to do.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

uh right so now go back and read the question he actually asked, so you can understand it as well. He stated.....


"Any suggestions for darkening the driftwood?  I know it goes darker in color when its wet.  Might just add that little extra bit of realism.  The tall plant in the back was a bit heavy so I glued a couple of the branches to the back wall so it'll stay up."

errm so yes, it WOULD be darker underwater than normally and would require something to achieve that effect correct?  All the rest about refractive indices has nothing to do with it. Wood is darker wet, and lighter dry yes?

[SBell]

uh right so now go back and read the question he actually asked, so you can understand it as well. He stated.....


"Any suggestions for darkening the driftwood?  I know it goes darker in color when its wet.  Might just add that little extra bit of realism.  The tall plant in the back was a bit heavy so I glued a couple of the branches to the back wall so it'll stay up."

errm so yes, it WOULD be darker underwater than normally and would require something to achieve that effect correct?  All the rest about refractive indices has nothing to do with it. Wood is darker wet, and lighter dry yes?

I just read the original question.  It asked about making wood look darker in the water.

Any suggestions for darkening the driftwood?  I know it goes darker in color when its wet.

And yet darker, but not shiny. Your specific response was to make them look wet/glossy:

Spray the things you want to look wet, with clear coat gloss. It dries looking wet , and is often used on dinosaur models, around and inside the mouth, and eyes for instance to achieve a more natural look

If something needs to look darker, paint it darker. Or give it a texture (very wet wood can be slimy or algae covered, so there is that).  So to answer your clever rebuttal--you gave suggestions to make something look wet, when he asked about making something look darker.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

uh precisely, because thats what Klearkoat does, it darkens as it coats.......when applied to a medium like dry wood that does absorb it. ....right. So apparently your options are do nothing cause it  "looks the same wet as dry, or paint it a darker color" . I think personaly the gloss coating on dried wood , would have achieved the desired effect, and looked quite nice.
   I guess in the end the point becomes moot anyways, cause the wood doesnt really belong given the time period which I do see as a valid issue. I do know you can view quite a few professional model displays right here in the forum that use resin and gloss varnish to make things appear either moist, wet or indicate the presence of water.

[Ammonites]

Well, with that in-depth bit about the wood out of the way, I just got a new Devonian Trilobite to add in.  I'll be taking the other things out and just sticking with Trilobites for this one.  As stated before, I'll be remaining with the Freshwater look for this particular aquarium simply for promotion of my Dinoworld project I'm working on.  Certain liberties are being taken, I know, but as long as I'm not trying to portray this particular aquarium as being scientifically accurate and keep it in my own little universe I'm thinking it should be okay.

http://www.facebook.com/keitholsendinoworld

[stemturtle]

I like your trilobite aquarium, Ammonites.  You are lucky to get hold of a Kettneraspis.  If you ever find the COG / Prehistoric Panorama figure, the genus is not identified.  Olenoides has been suggested, which is Cambrian, same genus as the Royal Ontario Museum trilobite:
http://dinotoyforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=toys&action=display&thread=1013

[SBell]

I like your trilobite aquarium, Ammonites.  You are lucky to get hold of a Kettneraspis.  If you ever find the COG / Prehistoric Panorama figure, the genus is not identified.  Olenoides has been suggested, which is Cambrian, same genus as the Royal Ontario Museum trilobite:
http://dinotoyforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=toys&action=display&thread=1013

I still think it is more likely Ollenellus (which is of course related anyway).

[Libraraptor]

That aquarium is a great idea!

[Paleo & Fish Collector]

Nice!Safari releases a new toob next year with 2 trilobites.Hope that helps.They might be fairly small though I warn.Fisher Price released a Styracosaurus that quite strangely accessorized a trilobite lol.

[Paleo & Fish Collector]

I,sadly,cannot seem to geta my hands on Yowie.But I'm not the biggest fan of Yowie anyways because they are so cartoony.Im gonna get my hands on Bullyland's trilobite and get Kaiyodo.I really like the paranorma series but I already have a few and Safari is coming out with a toob so I'm covered.

[IHogaRok]

very cool