I was assigned to create the muscle and fold maps for the T-rex and the Hydrosaurus dinosaurs on this 3-D Imax project. I did this using a combination of Maya, StudioPaint and Photoshop.

To create the skin folds, I had to imagine the areas in which skin would fold, and how those folds would appear. Unable to observe any real dinosaurs, I had to draw my reference from related subjects around me -- the skin on my hands, dogs walking on Venice Beach. From that, I realized that the folds would look like multiple crescents radiating out from a joint. To create the muscle fold maps, I looked to dogs walking on Venice Beach again for reference. I needed to see how a walk cycle would deform muscle groups. Both the fold and muscle maps ended up being written expressions based on joint angle to amplify the amount of displacement.

Quite a number of talented artists contributed to this project. I can imagine that they were as pleased as I was with the newspaper reviews.