3d simulation of extinct biomes

[Tales From the Shale]

Incredible work! Love to see fossils restored back to a more lifelike appearance

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

The Holoptychius looks great! As an actual collector of this fish, however, I can say that the biggest defining feature that I know of for Holoptychius is the uniquely textured scales, shown in the picture below. The other side of the rock is littered with plant material, maybe Archaeopteris, another good thing to keep in mind about behavioral preferences

[ftlcgi]

the pattern looks very well preserved nice fossils, yours look more like bumpy patterns like in bothriolepis

I saw this pattern on Holoptychius but i thought it may only be visible on the fossil

Edited February 10, 2023 by ftlcgi

[ftlcgi]

now that you mentiond scales,

i'm kind of a biginner am making scales and repetitive patterns and i want to improve my texturing by learning Substance designer, with this tool i should be able to make every pattern i want like this scaly pattern found on the bark of lycopsid trees

 

I tried to make more materials by watching tutorials like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpX624ngT0U)

And as practice i used this tool to make the bumpy pattern on my bothriolepis texture but i would like to improve more and try to make more complex patterns like that lycopsid bark.

For the moment i'm using the same scale pattern on all fish textures

 

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

You were actually correct, that was Bothriolepis; I misidentified it.

[ftlcgi]

3 hours ago, Bringing Fossils to Life said:

You were actually correct, that was Bothriolepis; I misidentified it.

I'm going to stop making new models for a while becouse i want to finish the ones that i have started and i wanted to ask for your help with some of the ammonite features.

I would like to animate them and i need to make sure they are correct

 

1. Should i use this orthocerid as template for the ammonites.

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/orthocerid-updated-model-0163d3766bc24537896810b3f00948b2

With the large Aptychopsis and small arms and just ad the tentacles

 

Or keep the last ammonite model with the beak and long arms

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/ammonite-3acb50b40a7c4eaaad11aa45511c1cdc

 

2. Is the webbing betwin the arms a random feature that some might have?

Or should i make it for most ammonites

 

3. Should i use this "phylogenetic distribution of eye types in the Cephalopoda" as a guide when making the eyes?

they had the aptychopsis wrong and now i'm not so sure about the eyes

 

 

imade downloaded from here

https://incertaesedisblog.wordpress.com/2020/02/16/reconstructing-fossil-cephalopods-endoceras/

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

I've seen this post, and though it is great in the way the author did so much research, the reconstructions are based on outdated phylogenetic analysis, which the author mentions at the bottom. This eye guide is included. I usually give the multiceratoids and endoceratoids pin-hole eye types, and the orthoceratoids  and other neocephalopods camera eyes,

 

I will send both an illustration of cephalopod phylogeny and eye types and an ammonoid reconstruction via PM; I want to protect my more recent work . We have no evidence of webbing in ammonoids that I know of, but it is likely that some, especially filter feeders, had it. Ammonoids had complex jaws instead of an Aptychopsis, so it really depends on which one you're modeling. For Devonian ammonoids we have several examples, some under the name of Aptychopsis or some kind of aptychus, the ammonite lower jaw. For the Metabactrites you pictured and other ammonoids in the Middle Paleozoic the aptychi were not as beak-like as later ammonites, maybe more like in the bactrites below (this is an outdated reconstruction because it uses a color pattern that is based on the misinterpretation of fossils). Using mouth parts similar to the drawing of bactritid jaws earlier on this thread is a good idea. Below I will post a nice illustration I have sometimes used, good for later ammonoids.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Reconstruction-of-jaws-and-the-living-animal-in-three-different-ammonoid-groups_fig24_324389512

 

[Niranjan]

Wow, your works are really awe inspiring. Can't wait to see the Silurian and Devonian world in y own eyes as if I have time travelled.

[DUNK08]

On 8/17/2021 at 6:07 AM, ftlcgi said:

Dunkleosteus, the model is based on the skull fossil and other recreations, it still needs some improvements to get a realistic look

 

 

It is now being concluded that Dunkleosteus was probably more stoutly built based on new calculated measurements on different parts of the skull using Arthrodira proportions.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/04/science/chunky-dunk-fossil.html

 

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Descriptive-diagrams-showing-A-B-the-landmark-and-wireframe-configurations-used-in-the_fig1_321632579

 

So some what like your older version.

 

 

This part is just my opinion, I personally believe that Duckleosteus had thin like skin over its armored head but you can visually still see most of the big bony plates. something like this PNSO model of Duckleosteus. i am not an expert on this just giving my opinion.

[ftlcgi]

12 hours ago, DUNK08 said:

It is now being concluded that Dunkleosteus was probably more stoutly built based on new calculated measurements on different parts of the skull using Arthrodira proportions.

Hi, i saw the article recently, an thought about reshaping it

When i see big changes to a popular reconstruction it feels unrealistic at first but it has a good point

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by ftlcgi

[ftlcgi]

I reshaped the old, eal like version of Dunkleosteus into a Coccosteus

Edited March 14, 2023 by ftlcgi

[DUNK08]

9 hours ago, ftlcgi said:

I reshaped the old, eal like version of Dunkleosteus into a Coccosteus

no problem, just letting you know if you haven't heard the news that Dunkleosteus was recently resized. Really like the project, your models are very detailed and realistic. Dunkleosteus and Coccosteus is looking really good. cant wait to see the simulator when it is complete.

[ftlcgi]

I need to make two Pterygotus species P. anglicus and P. minor for the Lochkovian biome. I used my older Jaekelopterus model as a base model,  i'm using details from different species so i'm not sure about the accuracy of the end result

The telson is shaped from this source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterygotus#/media/File:A_monograph_of_the_British_fossil_Crustacea_(Pl._VI)_(7394011872).jpg

And the chelicerae are thinner and shaped from this image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20201224_Pterygotidae_cheliceral_rami.png

I added a scally pattern on it's back from this P. carmani source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterygotus#/media/File:Eurypterids_of_the_Devonian_Holland_Quarry_Shale_of_Ohio_figure_42.jpg

The appendage should be different but i left it the same untill i find more info on it.

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by ftlcgi

[ftlcgi]

It's been a while since i uploaded a video, i'l try to post more

The background scene was made with this package

https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/ocean-floor-environment

Edited March 18, 2023 by ftlcgi

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

The animations are beautiful! It all looked so real!

[ftlcgi]

9 hours ago, Bringing Fossils to Life said:

The animations are beautiful! It all looked so real!

Thank you! I'm going to try to make every scene i have into a video,

This scene and the one i posted few days ago show animals and plants found in UK near Birmingham in the Lochkovian (first Devonian stage)
Some scorpiones like Praearcturus gigas and Brontoscorpio anglicus were found here, i don't have them made yet but i added a purchased scorpion model
A trigonotarbid arachnid called Arianrhoda bennetti were found here, i used my Palaeocharinus which is also a trigonotarbid.

 

 

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

What scorpion is that? It doesn't look like other scorpions from that time.

[ftlcgi]

4 minutes ago, Bringing Fossils to Life said:

What scorpion is that? It doesn't look like other scorpions from that time.

it's not a recreated model, i used a generic model of a scorpion from an asset pack, i'm going to make some eventualy

[DUNK08]

Beautiful work of art. Don’t know why the Paleozoic time periods don’t get quite as much attention in terms of making simulation reconstructions.

Edited March 21, 2023 by DUNK08

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

It's a lot to dig through, but this paper has pictures of lots of Paleozoic scorpions and I used it for the research paper I wrote on my website concerning Praearcturus gigas, which lived in the same time frame as the ecosystems you're reconstructing.

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/10119

[ftlcgi]

4 hours ago, Bringing Fossils to Life said:

It's a lot to dig through, but this paper has pictures of lots of Paleozoic scorpions and I used it for the research paper I wrote on my website concerning Praearcturus gigas, which lived in the same time frame as the ecosystems you're reconstructing.

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/10119

 

I started reading through it last night, i rememberd that you linked it here some time ago

https://ia600502.us.archive.org/1/items/mobot31753003645626/mobot31753003645626.pdf

The features are described very nice in this book i should be able to get enough details to make few scorpionids

 

This paper has a general sketch of Palaeoscorpius devonicus, i started working on this one and later use it as a template to make the rest

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263461824_Redescription_and_palaeobiology_of_Palaeoscorpius_devonicus_Lehmann_1944_from_the_Lower_Devonian_Hunsruck_Slate_of_Germany

 

This is a general shape, no specific features and no details yet

 

 

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

When you get to the details, remember that in scorpions the chelicerae are more robust than in the Eurypterids you reconstructed and that they point forwards, like in my reconstruction of Praearcturus below. Chelicerae highlighted in red. Note that this was an aquatic or mostely aquatic scorpion, terrestrial ones would have had differently shaped coxae (leg bases, darker gray).

[ftlcgi]

17 hours ago, Bringing Fossils to Life said:

like in my reconstruction of Praearcturus below

If i knew you had such detailed reconstruction on your website i would have started working on that one first

 

I got the whole body reconstruction from your paper and i'l start working mainly on Praearcturus. I'l try to update the first one while i get more details

http://bringingfossilstolife.infinityfreeapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/A-Summary-of-the-Giant-Scorpion-Praearcturus-its-ecology^J-fossils^J-and-size.pdf

Edited March 22, 2023 by ftlcgi

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

If you want a high resolution version of the entire thing I can PM. The one on the PDF automatically brought the resolution down considerably. When the fossils from the paper fell short I filled in a bit with the Eramoscorpius reconstruction in this paper:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0815

Edited March 23, 2023 by Bringing Fossils to Life

[ftlcgi]

3 hours ago, Bringing Fossils to Life said:

If you want a high resolution version of the entire thing I can PM. The one on the PDF automatically brought the resolution down considerably. When the fossils from the paper fell short I filled in a bit with the Eramoscorpius reconstruction in this paper:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0815

the resolution is fine, it was hard for me to make scorpions because i couldn't find any complete reconstructions like yours, we will see what needs to be changed after it's completed as a base model

Edited March 23, 2023 by ftlcgi