Dimorphodon 3D model

[Dinoreplicas]

Thanks for the information and good luck!

Cheers.

I've always thought it must be really hard to sculpt a folded wing membrane, either in clay or digitally. How have you found that process?

Apart from indicating the aktinofibrils and a few wrinkles I'm hoping to let the underlying polygon structure provide most of the shape. We'll see how the process unfolds (pun probably intended ).

[Dinoreplicas]

Hmmm, well here's a unexpected development. Some just published research shows that the more primitive long-tailed pterosaurs had hands which pointed forward and also the 5th hindlimb toe was in contact with the ground. This contradicts the (until now) current view of these animals and means my Dimorphodon model is now erroneous and out of date. Grrrr!

I haven't read the paper as it's not open access but Mark Witton discusses the main points on Twitter.

In theory I could change the underlying polygon model to match the new data but I'd still have to lose a load of sculpting work. It's annoying but on the other hand, the paleo-nerd part of me is facinated by these new insights.

So taking all this into account I'm going to back out of doing the the walking or standing pose, apologies to anyone who wanted to see this version. Not all is completely lost, I think a flying version of the model is still generally OK so I'll finish detailing and produce this pose only. I'm determined not to entirely scrap the project.

[Dinoreplicas]

Going to produce a 3D print of the Dimorphodon in this flying pose. As I mentioned in the previous post (#21) I'm no longer doing a walking version now that science has overtaken the model as I made it. Should get the sculpting done this weekend. Saturday afternoon is quiet time. No idea yet how well this is going to work as a 3D print or what it will cost to order from Shapeways. Just going to go ahead with it and see what happens.

[Dinoreplicas]

Added some details last couple of evenings. Going to leave it at this and fix up a 3d print version.



Under & upper side views. Lightly indicated actinofibrils on outer wing and pycnofibers on arms, torso & legs.

[Patrx]

I'm impressed with that Dimorphodon! It looks pretty accurate and I like the pycnofibres.

[Shonisaurus]

That finished dimorphodon can be a great figure better than many resin figures and superior to Collecta dimorphodon. 3D printers work wonders that sincerely will do much competition to professional sculptors of toy dinosaur figures and resin.

I congratulate you on your work is amazing.

[Killekor]

I really like how your Dimorphodon turned out! Congratulations, Dinoreplicas!

Killekor

[Halichoeres]

That turned out really great!

[Dinoreplicas]

Thanks guys and glad you like it. I'm never more than 50% content with my work so your warm words are very encouraging.

I've applied the slightly curving flying pose to the sculpted model and I'm well into the process of converting for 3D print. Having a few issues getting the 3D mesh compliant but I'll overcome them. Some finer details get lost in the transition but it's a fair trade-off for small scale models.

Hopefully I'll get a print ordered this week, currently I'm thinking 1/4th, 1/6th and 1/10th scale. I might prepare a graphic to show the sizes.

[Dinoreplicas]

The Dimorphodon project has been on hold a while (house decorating) so I'm probably not going to have a painted model for a while. In the meantime I've been thinking about what kind of paint scheme I could give it so I started messing about with these colour and pattern concepts. I'm thinking wing bars with an anti-glare area around the eye like you see in falcons.



This is the first colour idea, it's quite hawk/kite influenced.



This is just a first pass but I think it's OK, I might even go with it. Could be worth trying something with green or grey as a base. I've been looking at photos of flying lizards and they're quite mottled, don't know if I want to get too complex with the detail.

[Killekor]

I really like this hawk color scheme, @Dinoreplicas ! I think that it suits incredibly well on your model's concept art! And it's also an original idea!

Killekor

[Dinoreplicas]

I really like this hawk color scheme, @Dinoreplicas ! I think that it suits incredibly well on your model's concept art! And it's also an original idea!

Killekor

Thanks @Killekor, I've had a heavy cold for the past 1.5 weeks so I've not made any progress recently. Want to try out more colour/style ideas before I commit to painting so I might post more 'looks' later in the week.

[Killekor]

I really like this hawk color scheme, @Dinoreplicas ! I think that it suits incredibly well on your model's concept art! And it's also an original idea!

Killekor

Thanks @Killekor, I've had a heavy cold for the past 1.5 weeks so I've not made any progress recently. Want to try out more colour/style ideas before I commit to painting so I might post more 'looks' later in the week.

I'm really curious to see them!

Killekor

[Dinoreplicas]

Skytiger!

Hopefully a touch more developed than the last colour study I posted. I've gone with slate blue marbling over tan & beige but I'd also be tempted to try this is dark red over olive green.

Want to try a few different styles, this one has texture/colour spreading from the front of wing wing but I want to try a couple of styles that reverse this, maybe with spots or blotches on the trailing edge. Might try this out tomorrow night.

Now that I've named this colour variant I'll probably struggle to think up similar for the others

[Dinoreplicas]

A few more styles, mostly to try trailing edge dominant patterns but also a green riff on Skytiger with fighter-plane wing camouflage





Not particularly content with any of this new batch, not yet feeling 100% so maybe that's why they're a bit lacklustre. Still prefer the first Skytiger with grey over tan so that's probably what I'll go with, overshot the limit of my attention span with this.

[Killekor]

@Dinoreplicas I actually really like the blue color scheme, but also the others are nice.
In any case I'm sure that your Dimorphodon will turn out great any color scheme you'll choose for it!

Killekor

[Dinoreplicas]

@Dinoreplicas I actually really like the blue color scheme, but also the others are nice.
In any case I'm sure that your Dimorphodon will turn out great any color scheme you'll choose for it!

Killekor

Thanks @Killekor, I'm thinking of trying the one I posted in reply #33, though if I get time I might try to refine my original 'kestrel-esque' concept from reply #29.

I'm not much of a painter myself, I'm really interested in how others would tackle the 'blank canvas' of the bare 3D print. If anyone buys the model I'm hoping they'll post me a few photos and show me their creativity.

[Dinoreplicas]

Couldn't resist one last go at this. I figured at some point I'm going to have to paint this thing and my previous colour concepts were a bit on the intricate side. So, taking up the noble cause of making life easier for myself I've come up with this simpler design



Got some cash coming in this week so I'm ordering a print (probably 1/4th scale), time to put this out there and move on.

Want to get some better paints too, for the bone effect paint-ups I've got by with cheap artists' acrylic but in this case I think I need something with better opacity, the Vallejo Model Color and Game Color paints look interesting.

Colour concept painted with Krita 4.2.8.

[stegosauria]

If it means anything I like ALL the colourschemes you created. I can't even choose one as a favorite.

[Killekor]

@Dinoreplicas I like too all the color schemes you've created, but honestly I think that the latest one is the best of all of them!
It is pleasing and natural, and those blue eyes give to the figure a lively look which I like a lot.
Congrats! I'm looking forward to see the painted figure!

Killekor