Eclipse Studios Contests and Challenges Page

Early Human Challenge and Project

Contests and Challenges

Some images of Homo Erectus.The key characteristics are
the massiveness of the face, lack of a chin and the low
skull housing a considerably smaller brain than modern
humans.

Neanderthal images. Just a sampling. There are a lot more
on the Internet. These weren't primitive humans, but a
concurrent species heavily adapted to the Ice Age
Environment.

This is about as interesting and challenging as it gets.

We have been contracted by a Museum in Europe to produce artwork and graphics for
a new early human exhibition scheduled for opening in the Spring of 2012. It will be showcasing replicas of some
important recent discoveries, and new lifelike sculpted reconstructions of early human
ancestors. Besides the 2D work we are doing, they have asked us to look into the possibility of producing an
animation that will be used to promote the exhibition and inform the public of its opening, and will be shown on
European media outlets including television, movie theaters and the Internet. They had originally intended to go
with a 2D animation solution with an animator they have worked with in the past, but we have convinced them that
we can produce a better, more realistic solution with 3D animation using Poser for the character animation and 3D
Max for the other elements such as the environment. Our rough outline for the project has it running about 8
minutes, and its major elements are 3 sequences each featuring a primitive human species, namely Homo Habilis,
Homo Erectus and Neanderthal. The rub is that we don't have any early human Poser characters and there isn't
anything commercially available that fits the bill. We have Homo Habilis covered with a 3D Max rig, but we needed
the Homo Erectus and particularly the Neanderthal character to have facial expressions and be able to hopefully talk.

Theres the problem and the challenge in a nutshell. We are looking for someone to create realistic
Homo erectus and Neanderthal characters based on either the M4, V4 or M3 or V3 figures.
They want to see something tangible by Mid November in order to give us the go ahead. The key here will
be the realism and capability of the Erectus and Neanderthal character. We are hoping somone can step up to and
meet the challenge. The financial compensation would be substantial and that person would be not only on the
animation team, and given full credit, but given the high profile nature of the project, would get a pretty significant
feather in their animators cap. I'm also fairly certain the museum will pay the travel expenses for anyone involved to
attend the exhibition.

For further information or to submit work, contact Mai at techservices@es3d.com