Jurassic Fight Club Full Episodes

I briefly laboured under the charitable delusion that the Deinonychus featured had downy feathers on their bodies, but then we got a close-up that clearly revealed scales. Sigh.

It took me a while to get used to the idea of feathered raptors, I admit, but part of that is the fact that nobody's really gone all out and shown a really cool-looking full-feathered raptor. I guess they're afraid of the "six-foot turkey" stigma. But it's entirely possible for a predator with feathers to look appropriately badass. I mean, hello, secretary birds? I think these guys could make it work, but they're not even trying. =(

But on the bright side, "Naked Dromaeosaurs" would be a great band name.

Joshua; I hear you. For a long time the illustrations and toys of feathered dromeosaurs I saw just looked goofy. I have to admit that my aesthetic sense somewhat impeded my understanding, as well as the fact that no one had really explained to me why these dinosaurs should have feathers (just that they did because they did so there).

I've had an image in mind for a long time that I may have to commission someone for one of these days. I'm thinking of a Deinonychus, covering in Tenontosaurus blood, preening its feathers after consuming part of the kill. We probably won't see that sort of thing on television anytime soon, but I would at least like to see it in pen and ink one day (even if I have to do it myself).

That kind of image could work very well. If only I could draw more than an xkcd spoof. . . .

Ugh. The first minutes remind me why I don't like American documentaries. Why does everything have to be narrated by Voice-Over Man?

I think the primary reason that "scaly raptors" remain in vogue in all CGI specials doesn't come down to expectations or laziness, but money.

Fur is harder to animate than scales, and feathers harder to animate than fur. It requires more time to render the shots, costs more money in terms of production, and still won't come out looking all that good.

For that reason, until animation gets better and cheaper, or someone goes wild and does a model-based show, I don't think we'll see feathers on coelurosaurs.

For that reason, until animation gets better and cheaper, or someone goes wild and does a model-based show, I don't think we'll see feathers on coelurosaurs.

Well, Dinosaur Planet and When Dinosaurs Roamed America (both Discovery Channel programmes, I believe) had a go at presenting feathered dromaeosaurs a few years back.

There was also a BBC programme The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs (which seems to be the template on which Jurassic Fight Club was based), which showed feathered Velociraptors running about the sand dunes of Mongolia.

So it has been done, and cheaply enough for television.

Mind you, the best CGI dromaeosaurs are probably the Utahraptors in the original Walking with Dinosaurs. They're scaly and featherless, but they look and (in particular) move like real animals.

As someone who dabbles in making CG Dinosaurs I totally agree with what Karl is saying. I only make still Dinosaurs at moment, due to time constraints, and they can take for ever!

Adding extra elements to the surface is very complicated for both the creator and the computer.

For feathers you're telling the computer to replicate a couple key objects over the surface, in this case feathers. The problem is in the computer none of the surfaces or objects are properly solid (in a real world sense). So 98% of the time noticable clumps of these replicated feathers orient themselves so that their projecting into your Dinosaur's skin. You have to manually tweak the geometry settings to reorient them so that most (never all) of your feathers are sticking up the right way.

If you add animation into the mix, something I haven't been brave enough to do, it is even harder because again in the computer your Dinosaur's skin is NOT a fixed surface rather their a fluid medium. As you move the various parts of the Dinosaur the skin can stretch, bend, and/or compress meaning your feathers act like a boat on water, and can move along the skin in bizarre ways! Also because they've moved suddenly the feathers orientation can change, and their once again extending INTO the Dinosaur!

So you can have to go through almost EVERY frame and manually fix these problems.

On the computers end it has to now draw an additional 5-10 thousand objects. This slows it down considerably (as it would you having to draw them all... though with scaley skin CG typically cheats and doesn't have to make each scale an object like a feather you simply paint scales on the skin surface).

I did a recent post http://traumador.blogspot.com/2008/07/secret-meeting-pack-part-7.html where I had a feathered Oviraptor and a "naked" raptor (though its naked on purpose so it can get jobs in human movies ;p). The test renders I did with a naked oviraptor took 2-3 minutes for the computer to draw. Putting the feathers back on it took 25 minutes.

I'm only dealing with still shots that are a smaller resolution, professional screenable stuff is rendered HUGE and at about 24-30 frames a SECOND. So with over 20 minutes to render the extra time feathers take adds up quick for a production schedule.

I thought the feathered raptors in Dinosaur Planet were the best thing they did, but I found they'd cut costs elsewhere. If you look at Dino Planet compared to Walking with the British Dinosaurs blend into the live footage a lot better than Planet. I suspect Planet saved money by not having as many lighting or compositing people, and instead focused on the feathers (which I think in a way is commendable. Striving for accuracy... sadly at a cost).

It'd be awesome to turn loose a HUGE CG firm like Pixar or Dreamworks on a Dino doc. They have the tools, infustructure (for rendering), and manpower to pay attention to details listed above.

Traumador, you just explained to me, in a roundabout way, why video-game characters' robes, swords, etc. will often move into other textures, which is annoying. But now I know why!

No worries Zach. Glad it was of use (I was worried I was ranting *blushes*).

Video games hurt my head. Their not only animated, but RENDERED in real time. That is incredible to me. They have all the problems I mention above PLUS the models have all sorts of mathematical constraints being put on them by the physics engine... Granted my stuff has a physics engine, but no where near as insane as a video game one

I've tried my hand at Velociraptor with dinofuzz...

http://seancraven.com/pages/g.oldmongolia.html

... but if I had it to do over again I'd go with a more avian look. I'm finding the argument that they were secondarily flightless quite convincing.

Gonna be taking a class in Digital Drawing this semester and I'm planning on focusing on paleo art. Maybe I'll give it another try. My dad and I have been seeing a lot of wild turkeys on our hikes lately and I'm always struck by the fact that they really really look like small theropods.

And given what the Dinosaur Planet/When Dinosaurs Were Narrated By Fred Flintstone people did with feathered dinosaurs I'm kind of wondering if it's partially an aesthetic choice -- if the Impossible Pictures folks and so on just can't get the feathers to look as good as the rest of the animation. It still gets on my nerves because it's just not right, though.

I guess I should add in light of Sean's talking about Impossible Pictures. In their recent Prehistoric Park they DO feature feathered Microraptors and Incisivosaurus. Sadly in the same episode and a later one they have featherless Troodons. I'm not sure for the reason as Troodontids have been found with feathers...

By the way Sean I like your Vraptor!

Traumador, I've been watching the "Chased by Dinosaurs" DVD's, and they're very impressive--moreso than the "Walking with Dinosaurs" shows. I wish the dinosaurs had a little more coloration, but I was very impressed by the therizinosaurs, mononykines, and orthocone. I didn't really like the dunkleo, though. It looked too much like shark's body.

Zach,

Awesome glad you're liking them!

I figured they'd be more up your alley. I find Nigel takes away their need to over dramatize the animals (in MOST cases) as they have a human emotion element through him.

Funny I had the same grip about the Dunky. Though they did do his head awesome (Dunky skulls have always been an iconic fossil for me).

The best part of the whole thing though is the Mosasaur sequence at the end if you haven't got there. They do a cool trick with the footage resolution that removes the CG's crispness and you really can't tell its an effect (at least in the usually way...).

I'd also say try to get your hands on Prehistoric Park. Its another with Nigel effort (who I personally really like, but I know he bugs some people) with revamped Dinosaurs. Like all CG programs it has problems, but apart from a lot of non feathered theropods their really good like Chased By.

He revisits a few of their classic episodes from the Walking withs (including my fav CG T-Rexs ever, but their not for everyone as their bodies are done skinny like an Albertosaur) and also a few new time periods and locations. The Microraptor episode in China is their best Dinosaur stuff ever. They also have boasting rights of being the first to do a GOOD Triceratops in the modern digital age (I always hated how JP never had a healthy Tri-tops in it for more then 10 seconds!)

Anyways glad to hear you're enjoying Zach. Good luck getting those video games soon!