This is the first time I have ever attempted an organic object. I’m doing this as part of a much larger project that gets into so much detail about these guys it makes my brain hurt. So a little bit about who they are and what they are.
These are Charians, they come from the moon of the 6th planet in the Chara system. Chara for those that don’t know is in the Canis Venatici constilation, it is approx. 27 ly away from earth and a class G0V star (slightly warmer and larger then our sun but only a small amount). Don’t bother trying to find it unless you live in the middle of nowhere, I believe it has a magnitude of about 4.62 (pretty darn dim as seen from earth). Anyway, Charians are amphibian type race that spends most of its time on land, they do not have lungs but absorb oxygen through membranes in bedded in their skin. They are carnivorous but very peaceful (they delves into their culture as to why they are incredibly peaceful so I wont get into that). They do not have noses or ears, but they “hear” through nerves attached to their jaw bone and smell through nasal passages above their eyes. They are tall and slender and have no hair. So, without further ado, here is the first ever Charian to see the light of day.
Very good imagination; very detailed. The hallmark of good science fiction writing is to ‘cite’ facts and details; makes it somehow believable. But, why is he/she/it/noun blue? You might want to say something about their blood chemistry, because if they absorb oxygen and use iron to lock in the O2 molecule, this one is…dead.
Also, if they evolved from amphibian status, wouldnt the jaw be thrust more forward with the brain further back…because this one could not catch a fish in that mouth. I’m thinking more dolphin/porpoise like.
Thanks for the comments. As for evolution, I use amphibian because of the skin. It has to keep its skin moist for it to be able to absorb oxygen so it needs water but can live on land. It lives on land because it is very dangerous in its native worlds water, with very large deep see predators. They can survive on land for approx 3 days (earth days, there planet rotates a bit faster, at about 16 hrs). They didn’t actually evolve from salamander or frog type creatures, what they evolved from actually looks more like a seal, they have large hands with retractile claws, that is how they catch the fish.
An interesting fun fact about Charian culture: There eyes are very well adapted for low light situations, in fact it can see into the infrared at night, because of this they never invented lights, they had no need. Also, the only reason they can only see infrared at night is because of there “eyelids.” similar to an alligator they have a clear lid that falls over the eye. They don’t have the muscle structure like humans so they cannot squint or anything like that. Because they are so sensitive to light they evolved a tinting function in there eyelid. So instead of squinting their eyes darken, they do have pupils but if you were to see a Charian during the day its eyes would appear to be solid black. The side effect of this is that the eyelids darkened pigment filters out infrared rays, so they cannot see into the infrared during the daytime. Oh and as for color, that is just a temp color I put on it to get rid of the default grey. The actual color variations of Charians range from a dark blue to a light grey, similar colors to earth whales.
I have reworked the mesh a little bit. My goal is to give him a very aggressive almost menacing look. The ironic thing is that they are so peaceful. I am unhappy with the nasal passage area, I am thinking that I might have to rework that whole area. Anyway, here he is:
Charian fun fact: Charians are actually so peaceful that when they discover humans around the year 2001 they are truly terrified. They found peace in their culture long before they developed fire arms. Of course this peace comes at a price, they are a virtually emotionless race of aliens. They have developed into a culture of no love, no art, no opinions at all. The reason being is that they can lead to disagreements, disagreements cause conflict, conflict causes war, war would put them at a primitive level like all the other animals on their planet. So, while their is global peace no human would want to live there.
(if you guys like these Charian fun facts Ill keep posting them, I have most of the culture thought out. If nobody cares Ill stop.)
Well I reworked the nasal passages, I am pretty satisfied with the face now, the body is giving me grief, obviously so far I have just made the neck and beginning of the shoulder. So here he is:
Charian Fun Fact: I always refer to my alien as a he. From outward appearance all Charians look the same, females are slightly smaller. But if you ever were to meet a charian on the street you would meet a male. In Charian society, females are considered reproduction tools and are not aloud to be seen outdoors or have jobs. Charians have a sort of “brothel” for lack of a better word. When a Charian male wants a child he submits his request to his government, if approved he will goto the breeding center and in a private room he will select his mate, they will reproduce and once the child is born (assuming it is a boy) the male Charian will return to the breeding center and take his son to his clan house where he will raise him. I wont go into the reproductive system, but it is rather interesting!
The mouth might look weird because he doesnt have lips, of course Charians dont have lips so its all good they arent supposed to, Im going to start working on the gums/teeth so that might help the mouth. As for the texture, its still not the final texture, if I could figure out how the UV unwrap feature works I would make the UV texture, anyone know?.
The head looks pretty well done, my critique would be that the eye sockets looks it sticks out a bit too much, like it isn’t part of the skull, but implanted there (either that or I don’t watch enough science fiction :o). The edges of the mouth looks slightly pinched too.
It has taken me a long time to update this because I have been having a lot of issues with trying to make the body of my creation. This is all I have so far.
Thanks for the comments, bump map is just for fun right now, the final skin will be more like a dolphin/killer whale type look/feel. I’m more worried about the mesh before I worry about textures. As far as iron based, I havent worked out there exact chemistry but here are my thoughts on the breathing skin deal.
They actually have two separate layers of skin, they have a rather thin pigment layer that gives them their color and protects them from UV rays, etc. Then beneath that they have a membrane layer that separates oxygen molecules from liquids or gases that touch the skin. So, if a human wished to kill a Charian by suffocation then good luck, you would have to cover a large majority of there skin with like, plastic wrap. Mind you they are not really much stronger then humans, they live on a planet with a little less gravity then earth, but they are 8ft tall with 3, 2 inch retractable claws…I personally would not want to mess with that.
Oh, they are not supposed to be 100% scientifically possible. I want it to be believable but they have some fantasy in their technology as well as anatomy.
I actually thought up a nifty idea for faster then light travel.
They have a combination of theoretical possibilities. First off they have a collection of negative energy emitters these form a “null space bubble” around the ship. In this bubble relativity doesn’t exist, the ship is kinda placed in a flux mode where its not really physically there but yet it is (ok I haven’t fleshed out ALL the details of this technology). Anyway the ship then deploys a sail, this sail is at the edge (but still inside) of the null space bubble. The sail is then bombarded by tachyon particles (for those that dont know tachyons are a theoretical particle capable of faster then light speeds) until the desired speed is reached at which time the beam is shut off and the sail is retracted and the ship “coasts” to its destination. Time dilation doesn’t effect the ship because the bubble travels through space in real time so if it travels at 1 LS(light speed) for 1 year it will be 1 light year away 1 year later on the planet.
Anyway long long post…sorry, I love these creatures, the more I think about them the more I “discover” of their culture.
Dude, you’re very well documented. And as for the chemistry, I’m just 14 . Question : do you think you can put a portion with a bit of mirror effect? Like a sign or anything. You know their “species” so I think you can find a place. Be hearing from you, ok?
You mean like some place you can see yourself in their skin? No, they do not have anything like that. The only reason their skin is shiney is because it must stay moist to breath.
Actually I have a very interesting plan for all this. originally it would be a website with info on the Charians and all there history, other cultures they have encountered their tech etc. I figured I would probably have a book or two off of this, then a brilliant idea hit me. With the popularity of blogs these days Im going to start a fictional blog. Without revealing TOO many details it takes place in 2015, Im in a space station orbiting earth when the charians attempt to contact me. The rest is, of course, secret. But I will have pictures of me with the charians, aboard their ship/ships on their planet, all that good stuff. I’m thinking about going even further and publish a Vlog on youtube with the me interacting with the Charians and such. It shouldn’t be too hard, I have adobe premier pro so I can use a green screen, I figure I will make a green outfit for my fiance and have her play the alien and then just remove her and place the alien over her. That way I will have weight on beds and such.
. Question : do you think you can put a portion with a bit of mirror effect? Like a sign or anything. You know their “species” so I think you can find a place. Be hearing from you, ok?