Pips Pet Post #4 - LittleFoot the Gargoyle Gecko

Today is someone not featuring in my animation, LittleFoot my gargoyle gecko. I currently own 4 gargoyle geckos, at one point had 5 but lost Chomper back in July 2018 due to suspected MBD related issues (next post). For now, enjoy the stunning colours of LittleFoot, who when fired down is a strong monochrome and when fired up a muddy tan/brown. Another thing I love about gargoyles - their colour range and how one gecko can look like a completely different animal depending on their mood. LittleFoot is part of the trio of hatchling geckos I took on in March 2018 from a closing down reptile store, when I got him he weighed in at 7 grams.

   

This is LittleFoot today, now a confirmed male and weighing a healthy chunky 28g, who is less good at sitting still for photos now. 

Minor Project: Stevie Leopard Gecko - Modelling #1

Minor Project: Character Orthographs - Georgie Tokay Gecko

Pips Pet Post #3 - Georgie the Rescue Tokay Gecko

Today is about Georgie (George Tokay) my first Tokay Gecko. I picked him up for free from Gumtree from previous owners who said he "wasn't friendly", not surprising as Tokays are known for their feisty temperament. He was barely recognisable as a Tokay, tiny and always dark (fired down) with MBD (metabolic bone disease) which is caused from improper housing conditions and not providing the correct food/vitamins/supplements. I was actually worried he wouldn't make it for a while, but through intensive care and hand (tong) feeding him as much as he would take every day, he eventually gained weight, and got strong enough to properly climb and even eventually hunt on his own. He is now in a large 90cm high vivarium with 2 female companions I got for him about 2 months ago now, as Tokays are a rarity for geckos in that they do well in captivity small social groups, of course providing there is plenty of space for the animals and correct husbandry.

I adore Tokay gecko colouring, when fired up they are a bright mint with orange or red spots. Or at least a wildtype is, but I wont go into morphs right now. My 2 females are more grey/green and burgundy than Georgie however who really is a stunner. I also love their eyes, their pupils are a really interesting shape and its fun to watch them change size depending on the light level, and they also work independently of each other, so the left can have a light shining on it and be closed, while the right is more open on the darker side. 

Minor Project - Character Orthographs - Stevie Leopard Gecko

I wanted to start off with Stevie the Leopard gecko and Georgie the Tokay gecko as they both have similar body and head shapes, as well as Stevie being arguably the most complicated animal model, so wanted to get these guys sorted first. 

I had some issues trying to line up the tail ridges exactly but I'll base them off o 1 view mostly when modeling. 

Pips Pet Post #2 - Sunny the Ball/Royal Python

Today is dedicated to Sunny, my largest/heaviest snake, although not longest. She's a 6 year old albino enchi ball python, and a total sweetheart. 

Albino enchi is her morph, and snake morphs depend on the genes the snake has, which determine colour and patterning in each individual. Certain genes cannot mix and can create animals with birth defects, or are "lethal combos" and the babies will never hatch/survive, others produce odd male/female ratios in the offspring. Ball pythons have arguably some of the most interesting and varied morph selections, with thousands of different morphs available through combinations of the base morphs, and breeders working on different projects are still now producing "worlds firsts" of different morphs. In general the more morphs a snake has (more genes) the higher the value, but some are undesirable because of some issues, commonly the spider gene. 

Sunny is an albino enchi, meaning her main morph is albino, but she also has enchi, which is what gives her her second shade of yellow in her patterning. An albino can only be produced by pairing 2 snakes that carry the albino gene, as it is a recessive gene. Meaning, sunny who is full albino could be paired with another full albino to produce definite albino morph hatchlings, or with a male that is het albino, with a chance of some of the eggs being albino hatchlings. That's the simplest terms, morphs can seem confusing at first but are extremely interesting to look into and see what great combination morphs can be produced, the chance and ratios of certain animals being produced by combining different morphs, etc. 

Minor Project: Storyboard

2019: Pips Pets Post #1- New Year & New Friends

2018 was a big year for me, a lot happened and I feel I grew a lot as a person.

I want to become much more active and consistent on blogger, I know taking time away gets me out of the rhythm so to challenge myself I want to post every other day showcasing a different animal and a little about them, this will bring me back to blogger consistently, as well as highlighting my passion, plus I feel help keep me consistent in blogging my work process too. 

To start the year off, I have two new animals! In December a friend from school reached out to me, her brother needed to re-home 2 reptiles as he will shortly be moving to Norway, and long story short, new years day I drove over and picked up a high red amelanistic corn snake, keeping the name of Ragnar, and a hypo leopard gecko, renamed to Bobby. Welcome to the zoo crew friends! 

Ragnar is 9 and a little overweight, so will be getting plenty of exercise once hes had his settling in period, as well as having his feeds spaced out. 

 

 Bobby is 7 and has had a tough life, shes very small and has a stunted tail, either a birth/growth  defect or she has dropped her tail at some point in the past and it never properly regrew. She also has lost portions of a lot of her toes, this happens when husbandry isnt correct and the gecko is unable to shed properly, leading to a build up of skin around certain areas, most commonly eyecaps, tail and toe tips, which in time if left untreated will lead to cutting off of blood supply and eventually losing toes etc. She only has one claw left in total, and as such has difficulty gripping and climbing. 

Minor Project: Environment Modelling #2

I'm getting back into the swing of things now, recovering from being away sick and back to working on my scene between story-boarding etc.

I realised I had overlooked a few things with modelling quite a few elements initially, I had used a single component for certain items that when textured just wouldn't work, eg the wardrobes, so had to go back over and remodel in separate sections. I also hadn't taken into account smoothing on a lot of items, so had to go back in and add edge loops and extra geometry to ensure my objects held their shape correctly. 

I plan to post now on each object I model, especially the vivariums, but as of now Ill just do a complete update on my scene so far, plus I do have some process shots of the wardrobe door and my window frame modelling, both of which were quite geometry-heavy items and a little tricky to get right. 

Window Frame Process - I made sure to keep smoothing my model as I went to avoid any hiccups later on, scaling and ensuring everything was spaced evenly was a large part of this element. 

A lot of my previously modelled items were like this as I hadn't thought about geometry, so here's my process of going back over this particular element to ensure it holds properly once smoothed. 

 As this object was so geometry heavy, and not too dissimilar to my door, instead of modelling a whole new object for the door I simply duplicated a wardrobe door, then first got rid of the bottom half, filled the hole and reattached vertexes, then deleted the back, mirrored and combined edges, ensuing geometry was correct to create the indentation on both sides for the room door. 

Components so far, all with correct geometry.

Minor Project: Basic Storyflow

I need to find the balance in my animation, between the "point and click" game element, and how this also drives the story and presents the idea as a whole.
The premise is that Twink the corn snake has got out, and the player needs to find her, by exploring the room and finding where she could be.
End result animation will be presented as if a cut together of different stages of the game - present it as an advert for the game, with demo animations of play.

Have a voiceover (me) on the between scenes. Provide a bridge between them as if explaining the game as it goes. The factfile is a key asset, I keep a factfile myself in real life with handy go-to information about the care for my animals, ecerything from optimal heat settings to safe and unsafe food lists, as well as feeding and shedding records, its all in there. I believe something like this is vital for anyone in the hobby and feel it would also be a great way to bring the education element to the game, as well as a "collection" system, as a lot of games are driven by having collection elements, especially iOS/android "relaxation" games which is what this is marketed similarly to. 

bold - voiceover
italics - fact file entry/achievement popup (on screen text) 
underlined - camera/shot direction
"quotation" - character line
>something - scene action/setting


Story flow:

>Open to shot of the room from the doorway Title scene, Find TwinkleToes header appears over the scene. begin button below. 
Find Twinkletoes, the new point and click adventure game! Click begin

Welcome to the reptile room, Twink the corn snake has escaped, Camera pans to Twinks empty viv, and its your job to help find her, she could be anywhere! 
>Presented with fact file, middle screen item, on item base background This is your reptile fact file, explore the room to discover facts about each animal and their care. Completing fact collections will help you to understand the animals, unlock clues from them, and find Twink. 
>fact file goes and sits in top right corner. 

Pans back to room view, voice over at the same time
You should explore and ask around the rest of the animals - lets find that snake!”

>Day, base room set. 

Zoom to Boots the hognose."Explore to find out facts and clues" 
>She is moving towards the burrow hole. "go away, I dont know you!"
>Click on the substrate, opens journal fact popup 
Western hognoses come from North America and are burrowing snakes. Their especially developed upturned nose scale is where they get their name and their burrowing skills. 
>Popup appears, Success! You've found a creature care fact! Keep exploring to find out everything you can and be the best reptile wrangler around! 
>popup closes, back to Boots viv view. 
Careful though, you cant just dive straight in, >click "ask about Twink" Boots flips and plays dead. ...like with any animal, you need to understand it first! 
>journal popup - Hognose snakes are generally docile and rarely attack, they are however drama queens and prefer to play dead if they feel threatened. 

Click different areas to explore around the room, and investigate to find hidden items and secrets that can help you later on- 
click bug box, morio worm (zoomed) appears on base background,  congrats, youve found a morio worm! Worm entered to fact file. worm image goes to top right file. 

Zoom to
"Some animals you'll have to tempt out first using items you collect around the room" 
Basil: "I am fire, I am death, I am..." >Click give worm "ooh is that a worm?" >Shoots out his cave and snaps worm from tongs. >Popup - Skinks LOVE food, especially juicy bugs.

The more you explore and learn, the more you'll unlock to explore later
Wardrobe, first stage >Open wardrobe doors, pull out drawer and see shirts, >transition, open wardrobe doors and see racks.

Learn about different ways of keeping different animals, and how to meet their needs.
Ball python rack >popup "ball pythons are burrowing animals and live in termite mounds, they like dark small spaces 
Transition to gecko viv, >popup gargoyle geckos come from the great forests of New Caledonia, provide them a tall vivarium with plenty of foliage and light! 
>click a branch, >popup "make sure you have plenty of vertical climbing branches!"

Some animals are masters of disguise and dont like to be found, or are simply unsocial outside of their species. 
pan through leaves at Georgie 
>click eye "go away, I'll bite you!" just treat all animals with respect and listen to what they tell you Georgie "barks"

Find out about special animals, why not everyone is quite the same...
cut to Spyro, >click head,  journal popup, "this bearded dragon is deformed due to inbreeding, always check your reptiles are from a reputable and trusted breeder, don't support bad breeders!

And how different genes can effect more than just patterns
ball python rack >Lunar spiralling , journal popup, certain genetics can cause neurological problems in ball pythons. Click here to find out all about Lunar's genetics

Other animals you'll need to visit at different times, 
zoom to Stevie the leopard gecko 
>bright, zoom to Stevie sleeping in cave, >just smiley head.
>Popup Tip: come back later when its darker, maybe Stevie will talk then.
-flash transition-
>Time change, afternoon, Stevie is out and by food bowl
Help out the creatures and they'll return the favour!
>fill bowl "Thanks man! I saw Twink digging in the terrarium earlier!"

Explore the world around you, and watch it change and evolve as your knowledge grows.
Pan around room >changes from first to last stage in centre split.