I’d like to share with you a piece I did ~ 6 months back and that is related to my work as a biologist.
In our lab, we are studying all kinds of beetles that live in symbiosis with bacteria. Such bacteria, called endosymbionts if they reside within their host’s cells or sometimes even in specialized organs, aid their beetle hosts in in the production of nutrients, most notably essential amino acids. This is highly beneficial, as beetles, like all animals, cannot produce these amino acids themselves (thus “essential”). Therefore such symbioses are especially useful for plant-eating animals (such as these beetles), as plant material in general is less rich in amino acids. And for the sawtoothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis) its symbionts are of particular importance, as it is a grain pest living often in quite dry environments, and it uses its thick cuticle as a barrier to prevent dehydration. And the cuticle is made out of - essential amino acids. So ultimately, these symbionts are at fault that our grain storage facilities might be beetle infested - bastards!
But in essence, I just needed a nice picture for a talk, and as a blender hobbyist, I thought I’d give it a try. My colleagues liked it, so it’s probably not too bad a representation of our ~3 mm model animals. The beetle itself is sculpted using top-down and side references, the antennae are modeled. I actually like how the oat came out, though its just a simple texture, also used for displacement.
Also - hello! I used to be an entomologist (well, more accutely an arachnologist, but I worked on beetles as well). I imagine the venn diagram of “blender enthusiast” and “entomologist” doesn’t overlap very often.
As a coincidence, I was boiling some rice just now and the elytra of one of these floated to the top. It’s probably payback - I used to grow Oryzaephilus as food for my smaller spiders.
I’d be interested in how you tackled the shader set up for the cuticle - I tried modelling insects/spiders when I first used blender, but I found it very hard to get a good look. Particularly when they have that weird tranparency that many have in the leg joints etc.
Hehe, I might have had some flour beetles in, well, a pack of flour before, but never in rice. Well, adds protein.
The cuticle material took me some time to figure out, and if I were to continue working on that scene the first thing I’d tackle anew. It looks decent from that angle, but if viewed from above, it is too dark. but then again, when viewing the beetles through binoculars, it’s hard to judge their proper albedo with all the strong directional light. And, as you said, the transparency is really hard to get. I have some subsurface on, but the antennae are too shine-through, wile the body is not enough. Within the beetle model there are also few black simple meshes to hint at the organs within. But it is not particular visible from this angle.
Here is a screenshot from the setup, but as it evolved over time, I can’t present you with a clear reasoning behind it:
