tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post5733926004769897036..comments2024-03-25T09:31:36.926+01:00Comments on Furahan Biology and Allied Matters: Léo's worlds: Aldebaran, Betelgeuse and AntaresSigmund Nastrazzurrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16449461215427527447noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post-54066886079074970792010-02-25T16:18:20.316+01:002010-02-25T16:18:20.316+01:00"I was wondering how they are attached: if at..."I was wondering how they are attached: if attached to the back of a long skull they might be easier to manage than if they have their own shoulder girdle and attachment to the vertebral column (or what goes for a vertebral column). "<br /><br />Yeah, if you wanted the full range of motion our shoulders have, the scapula-type-bone could slide around over the back of the skull like our scapulas slide over the back of the ribcage. (The method i've chosen) If the arm's aren't going to be attached to the skull, i'd imagine one of the vertebrae gets expanded to a pelvis-like chunk of bone with ball-and-socket attachments for the arms (like our legs). A shoulder-like attachment to the neck seems problematic unless the whole skeletal structure works in some other way.j. w. bjerkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06800512284198234202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post-80110468571153062252010-02-25T12:22:53.873+01:002010-02-25T12:22:53.873+01:00J.W.
About the arms: indeed. If you see the arms ...J.W.<br /><br />About the arms: indeed. If you see the arms as appendages to deal with food they can be most helpful. I was wondering how they are attached: if attached to the back of a long skull they might be easier to manage than if they have their own shoulder girdle and attachment to the vertebral column (or what goes for a vertebral column). <br /><br />As how you call animals with limbs that are not locomotor in nature, I am not certain. It depends on the context: in an anatomical and evolutionary context my predators are hexapods, but in a locomotor context they are tetrapods...<br /><br />About Avatar: I don't think that's it. Léo is telling a story on his own without a biological background and he does not claim that his creatures make biological sense. In the interviews he states that he just takes bits and pieces of existing animals and combines them. <br /> In the case of Avatar, there were such claims, so you expect more. <br /><br />Chicago Master: clicking on your name led me to an interesting course including cinema, 3D and animation. By 'they', did you mean Léo as well as the people working on Avatar?Sigmund Nastrazzurrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16449461215427527447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post-46326049245722640982010-02-25T10:39:15.093+01:002010-02-25T10:39:15.093+01:00They should be there primarily as examples of what...They should be there primarily as examples of what it is to be a working artist in the field of animation. In a medium like animation, which is so dependent on technology, the best possible equipment and facilities are, of course extremely helpful. As far as I can see it is a matter of the most extraordinary circumstances and luck, when an individual manages to emerge from the educational system with the autonomy of spirit and knowledge needed for him to be an artist. Too much direction is probably more harmful than too little.chicago master of marketing managementhttp://www.cdm.depaul.edu/academics/Pages/BSinDigitalCinema.aspxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post-25406137922251686572010-02-24T23:15:40.019+01:002010-02-24T23:15:40.019+01:00"Finally, the cover of the newest album. Thes..."Finally, the cover of the newest album. These animals too look odd, but alien animals should look odd, I guess. Whether their arms work well, placed where they are, is anyone's guess."<br /><br />Well, it depends what the arms are for. If grabbing food and shoveling it into the mouth, then they are admirably placed to take advantage of the reach the neck provides-- though they probably would work better if anchored closer to the front. Note the arthropods which have a whole range of appendages by their head that run the full spectrum from "mouthpart" to "arm".<br /><br />Those arms wouldn't be as generally useful as our human arms are for a variety of tasks, heavy lifting for instance, but food-snatching is probably what it needs.<br /><br /><br />In fact, i think it's so plausible, that my Taxonomy has a group of vertebrates that all have a pair of limbs (usually arms) attached to the back of the skull, which seems convenient for a wide variety of uses. They have generally 4 other conventionally-attached limbs, so i'm not sure if i should consider them hexapods or not.<br /><br /><br /><br />"But I still like them and wonder what part they play in the story. I find myself much more forgiving of a lack of plausibility than with Avatar, and do not really know why;"<br /><br />I'd guess because you've seen them flying, breathing, running in top-notch 3D. Viscerally it's hard not to accept their existence on some level. No disrespect to Leo, but Avatar's creatures probably have at least 100 times more effort put into them to make them seem real-- even if there wasn't as much effort in some areas as us spec-bio geeks would have wanted.j. w. bjerkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06800512284198234202noreply@blogger.com