Updated T. rex skull - W.I.P.

[Halichoeres]

Presumably all the connecting structures would have to be printed in the same color as the skeletal elements themselves?

[Dinoreplicas]

Presumably all the connecting structures would have to be printed in the same color as the skeletal elements themselves?

Yes the colours are essential for me to see how the parts intersect while I'm modelling but don't apply to the 3D print.

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Head/neck version - 3D print ready.



Connectors for the foot - bit easier job than the neck.



I'll finish this now and order some 3D prints in 1:20 scale.

[Minmiminime]

That is stunning 😻 I greatly look forward to seeing how the prints turn out. Bravo!

[Lone Trike]

Awesome work! I can´t wait to see the first prints! And you found a pretty smart solution for the movable jaw.

[Dinoreplicas]

That is stunning 😻 I greatly look forward to seeing how the prints turn out. Bravo!

Awesome work! I can´t wait to see the first prints! And you found a pretty smart solution for the movable jaw.

Thanks guys, got some prints of my rex bone models ordered, should be arriving in a few days.

Had a few days off this, been a bit distracted by an event hosted by my hometown over the past week. Finally persuaded myself to make a start on the lipped rex.





Got the details to a mid-level I think, I'll review in the morning and then add some smaller scale texture.





I want to keep this version fairly conventional (to my taste anyway), kind of a classic looking rex. I definitely want to make a 'no lips' version too, just want to get this one past the post first.

[Dinoreplicas]

Think I'm just about finished with this one now. Surface texture may appear a little heavy but that's deliberate. Experience with SLS prints has taught me it helps to punch up smaller details so they register through the grain.





Having the bones inside the life bust has proved to be a useful constraint that helps to prevent errors in form.





Fairly conservative ornamentation for the snout ridge. A low central row of rectangular scales surrounded by more pebbly ones.



A kind of devil horn on the postorbital with more of those chunky pebble scales on the upper rear of the head.



Think I'll add some scars on the face and a few toothy indentations here and there and call it done.

[Lone Trike]

Very cool, dude! Though I always wonder, how lips on a beast with teeth this long would work. Either a significant length of the teeth would be covered in gum tissue, like for example in extant monitor lizards. Or there must have been a pretty deep groove between the teeth and lip on the lower jaw to accommodate the teeth of the upper jaw. Otherwise the lips wouldn´t make any sense, since the teeth would still be uncovered.
Also wouldn´t SLA or DLP printing be more suitable for this project than SLS. I don´t know if shapeways offers this printing technology, but I think resin printing would retain more detail even at smaller scales and you wouldn´t have the grain-effect you get with SLS.

[Dinoreplicas]

Though I always wonder, how lips on a beast with teeth this long would work. Either a significant length of the teeth would be covered in gum tissue, like for example in extant monitor lizards. Or there must have been a pretty deep groove between the teeth and lip on the lower jaw to accommodate the teeth of the upper jaw. Otherwise the lips wouldn´t make any sense, since the teeth would still be uncovered.

Yeah, I find theropod mouths to be pretty weird and I'm not aware of any exact modern equivalents. I'm sure most here know that with the mouth closed, the lower jaw fits inside the upper giving an all-surrounding overbite. For the researchers trying to figure out what the soft tissues are doing, ideas involving both lips and non-lips have been problematic.

For the lipped version I've kind of gone with the deep groove idea which is probably clearest in the first animated image in my previous post. I've had to make the lower jaw fleshy parts pretty wide for this to work (probably could've gone further but it'll do). One feature that may support the lip groove theory is the long distance from the foramina line to the tooth edge of the lower jaw though there's nothing conclusive in this.



Once the lipped rex is done I'm going to go straight into a non-lipped version similar to the Carr et al. 2017 hypothesis.
As it is I'm on the fence for now, I take the view - hey, I'm an artist, let the experts sort it out. The best I can do at the moment is illustrate the two competing views.

Also wouldn´t SLA or DLP printing be more suitable for this project than SLS. I don´t know if shapeways offers this printing technology, but I think resin printing would retain more detail even at smaller scales and you wouldn´t have the grain-effect you get with SLS.

At the moment I don't have access to alternative manufacturing methods so I want to make the models work in Shapeways' cheapest materials and keep them as affordable as I can. Also I find the SLS is pretty good and the grain provides some free high-frequency texture (it's not ideal for teeth though) so I try to work with the material to the best advantage.

Poor old rexy has taken some battle damage, it's a hard life . I'll try to get a 3D print ready version done by the weekend.

[Minmiminime]

It's so beautiful 😻 I love the scarring details!

[Lone Trike]

As far as I know, the only argument for lips is that the tooth enamel would dry out, if the weren´t covered by saliva, thus lips the whole time. Are there any more pro lip arguments you know of? I´m personally inclined a little bit more towards non lipped theropods, since the ancestors of dinosaurs probably didn´t have any lips either (most archosaurs including crocodiles for sure). But in the end it´s just wild guessing until prove has been found. Maybe scientists will find some evidence within the genetic code of birds. I read some article recently about the attempt to reverse engineer a dinosaur from a chicken by activating or disabling certain genes during ontogenesis. 

[Dinoreplicas]

It's so beautiful 😻 I love the scarring details!

Glad you like it though after checking back today it's looking really painful!

Are there any more pro lip arguments you know of?

I catch up with the debate fairly often but most of the arguments on either side are still very interpretive. That's fine of course, speculation is essential in science but I still think better evidence is required to really advance this. Palaeontologists are clearly taking more interest in dinosaur soft-tissue appearance and that's a good start.

Been making some bits n' pieces for the life/bone version. If it isn't clear the parts are as follows -the magenta block bisects the head, the green is an inner sleeve to hollow out the model with small peg holes to attach the skeleton half and the small blue parts are to cut a mounting hole.



It'll take some boolean operation clean-up to get this working properly and hopefully I'll be able to post a visual update soon.

[Patrx]

Oh, good, you are doing a version with lips! Nice

Are there any more pro lip arguments you know of?

To my knowledge, the most recent and comprehensive discussion of the soft-tissue of Tyrannosaurus' face can be found here on Mark Witton's blog.

[Dinoreplicas]

Well it went together fairly OK, a couple of tricky bits to get past but this should work.



Normally I would add sprues to join the 2 parts but I'm not this time 'cause I want to keep the surfaces clean. Just got to get it through Shapeways mesh checks then I'll get a 1:20 scale ordered.

[Lone Trike]

To my knowledge, the most recent and comprehensive discussion of the soft-tissue of Tyrannosaurus' face can be found here on Mark Witton's blog.

Thanks for sharing! There are some arguments I wasn´t aware of! Especially the part about the EPB and bone structures correlating with overlying dermal tissue was interesting.

@Strick67  looking really good! I hope it works out well! From my printing experience, I can tell how difficult it sometimes is to find the sweet spot for joining parts to fit perfectly together.

[Patrx]

To my knowledge, the most recent and comprehensive discussion of the soft-tissue of Tyrannosaurus' face can be found here on Mark Witton's blog.

Thanks for sharing! There are some arguments I wasn´t aware of! Especially the part about the EPB and bone structures correlating with overlying dermal tissue was interesting.

Sure thing, really interesting stuff in there - I hadn't known that crocodylian facial integument was so weird 

[Dinoreplicas]

There are some arguments I wasn´t aware of! Especially the part about the EPB and bone structures correlating with overlying dermal tissue was interesting.

I'm sticking to two variants for now but I'm not ruling out a Mark Witton inspired version in the future, especially if his view gains academic traction.
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Made a start on the non-lipped version today. Taking inspiration from T. Carr's paper I'm going to have a go at croc-style cracked facial skin.

Just a couple of modifications to the lipped rex low-res cage to make a sculpting base. The poly loop I'd added around the mouth for lip definition gets removed here, I've had to move the UV seam (red line) inward and a little UV clean-up was needed. Some final adjusts to the mouth and it's good to go.



That little ngon I used above the previous version eye to add definition turned out to be overkill so for this one I'm updating to simpler topology.

[Dinoreplicas]

Grabbed some time with this today, making a half-hearted effort to keep things similar to the lipped version.



A few differences though, just for contrast. Eye horns slightly different and a more prominent nose ridge. Of course it should really become distinct from the lipped rex when I texture the face.



Tooth line is a bit simpler to shape on this version. Trying to wrap the oral tissues around the teeth in a croc-like fashion.

[Dinoreplicas]

Full size range planned for bone models (not life bust versions).

• Skull
• Skull and neck
• Foot

[Dinoreplicas]

Been neglecting the 3D modelling this week 'cause I've been painting 3D prints. Got back to the non-lipped version this afternoon and I've got the detail to a point I'm OK with.



I've given this version crocodylian style cracked facial skin. Not explicitly stated in the Carr et. al. paper but kind of implied as suggested by Mark Witton in his discussion. Anyway this is my take on the 'croc-rex' idea.





The green prongs sticking out of the back of the neck are the cervical ribs from c9.





Just got some battle damage to add which I'll probably do tomorrow.

[Dinoreplicas]

Some scarring added to the non-lipped rex. A little lighter and more scratchy than the lipped version, thought I'd try a slightly different look for the damage.







Guess that wraps up the project for the time being. I think I've achieved basically what I set out to do in post #1 back in the mists of time somewhere. I doubt I'll be doing any more WIPs, at least ones this detailed. I've enjoyed doing it but as a rough estimate it's tripled my project time. The feedback and discussion has been great though.

Anyway I really want to move on and get my head into something else. I'm tempted to do more life restorations after all the time I've spent messing about with skulls and bones. This thread will go a bit quieter until I can get some photography done. In the meantime I'll get the 3D prints made for all sizes and at some point make them available on Shapeways.