Hi guys, here’s my sandworm (or Shai-Hulud) of the game Frank Herberts Dune. Still in the early modeling phase. C&C more than welcome! 
I’ve made a second row of teeth and a tongue. What to you think?
Looking great so far, I don’t think it could actually have a tongue like that though. It seems like it would be bitten off. And I havn’t played or heard of the game so I can’t really compare you work.
Looks good 
ataryu: Don’t you see that it’s sticking it’s tongue out at you… ??? 
md01
Thanks Ataryu, I’ll reshape the tongue.
dag nabbit, i thought you were gunna model the band, shai hulud. way to get my hopes up.
still, nice worm
I have always pictured the sandworms as being radially symetrical. So I think a tongue is out of place for this kind of animal. Are you going for a David Lynch style, Sci-fi Channel style, or a brand new style worm?
there was a Weekend challange not too long ago for Dune. quite a few people made Worms. Might help you to go look at there work for ideas…
I read this, and something sparked saying from what little I know of the book (I have never read it, only listened to others’ reviews), the worms had 4 tongues as though one had been split along two lines, but they were around the outside of the throat.
Also, needs many many more teeth. Every looked at a slug’s mouth?
Maybe I’ll split the tongue and let him eat though there! 8)
I don’t recall that Herbert went into much detail about the anatomy of the worms. But they certainly had some powerful muscles for moving sand through their bodies. And these four tongues would be just that. They could move quite fast both above and below ground. (I don’t remember a specific speed.) So while their locomotion above ground was mainly from shifting their rings, below ground, their digestion must have pulled them. And their constant digestion was also how they made the spice.
Have you seen the Sci Fi channel productions “Frank Herbert’s Dune” and “Children of Dune”? The worms had an inner mouth like you describe, and I think that design is excellent. Setting aside obvious differences in special effects technology between the new movies and David Lynch’s Dune, the new ones have more believable worms. But Lynch’s worms still have a menacing mystery and hugeness to them.
No, I didn’t see them, but I’d like to. I’ve read most of the books of Dune, and have Dune, Dune 2, Dune 2000 and Frank Herbert’s Dune as games. I’d really like to see a movie also. And I’ll make that split tongue.
Oh man, I don’t know how I’m gonna uvmap that thing! 
PS: Thanks for the replies! 
What I was saying about sand digestion got me thinking. This would be a departure from worms of the movies, and maybe even the books, but an intriguing interpretation of the worm movement would be that they have to be mostly submerged in order to move — digestion would be their primary locomotion. That would mean that the worm riders would only be a very few meters above the ground. (with sand spraying up around them.) And the worms would still be producing spice when they were being ridden.
Thanks for the topic. Dune is such an interesting story to think about in all its many facets.
I can remember from the books that the sandworm indeed has the urge to submerge, but to prevent this the Fremen put the hooks low on the rings, so that their inner flesh would be damaged by the sand if the worms submerge.
Made the split tongue. Oops, now I have to move the teeth to the inside of the tongue. Well, I’ll do that tomorrow. First I’ll get some sleep.
Yeah, maybe Herbert never said exactly how the worms moved above and below sand. He only talked about how they kept their wounds away from the sand. In the movies, they use only their rings to move when above ground, and I think that’s unrealistic for the kind of speed they attain. How do they move in the games?
If you’re planning to do any animation with this project, I would love to see a take on “digestive locomotion” above ground.
Ok went hunting for some references for you.
I read the books so i want you to do what it looks like from Frank herberts mind.
Just like finding reference pics so here you go.
In the games, they duck under the sand and then suddenly raise up and come down. So they mainly move under the sand. I only could experience it from the first level; there you had to flee from the Sandworm over the desert to the safe Fremen sietch. If you were too slow, the Sandworm would rise and smash you. But I only encountered the Sandworm in level 1 (I’m now in level 5).
I’d really like to make an animation, but it will be very difficult.
Thanks [og]GrYpHoN for the refs. I now see that most of the worms have three “lips”, but I’ll go with four, for the sake of not having to do that all over again