It's time to start up the tin owl.

Some problems reading the sketch:
Q: How does the beak move? hinges?
Q2: Is his toes attached to the foot with balljoints?
Q3: Is his hips/waist a balljoint like on the tinwoodman?

upper beak fixed to face (like a nose). Lower jaw articulated, no visible hinge. Ball joint at root of talon

I'm guessing from the look of this his toes are connected by slotted ball joints, and as far as hips/waist, well, birds don't have hips or a waist in general. They typically don't have the ability to bend over like people, but pivot to "bend over" at the top of their thighs. Same goes with twisting to look around. Owls either turn their heads (and in cartoons have been known to turn them almost 180 degrees), and birds in general just turn their bodies around.

As far as the beak, it probably could be hinged on the inside (ever see a toy bird?).

Hope this helps some (but then I didn't design this one so I could be totally wrong as far as what's in mind).

Greg

Ahh! You just beat me..

Well, I was close.

No. just the lower beak moves, not the jaw.
the body between the chestplate and knees is going to emit feathers--so that mesh will deform organically--no need to design any mechanical parts, since there will be tin feathers.

The head in a very early stage

Ha! I love that head so far.

Jim

And here is an attempt at the foot. I'm very unsure about the placement of the "heel toe", and is it on the left or the right side of the foot?

i think the thumb should be behind (?)

why is the patch count on the finger's sperical joints so high compared to the wrist joint?

I think that "thumb" should be in the middle. The foot should enclose the ball a bit, like the knuckles.

I did draw it that way, but I think the thumb should be in the back instead, like a bird (sorry). I guess that joint might not be crucial, I just like how it looks. You can take it out to simplify things.

Impressive.

Frank Silas
http://www.franksilas.com

Latest update:

perspective:

Q: is the tail splines or hair?

Need tail.
Reshape thighs and butt. Looking really good!

Will, can you provide me with a sketch showing the layout of the feathers on the tail? Nothing fancy, just a simple linedrawing?

Latest update. Had to try to make a tail, but it does not look good

[attachmentid=9535][attachmentid=9536][attachmentid=9537]

[attachmentid=9538]
I think a tad shorter on the individual tail feathers. We will have the "hair feathers" on the main part.

Looking at the other view of the wing, I think we also need to pull in those feathers on the back, leaving the 3 long ones as fingers, the rest being emitted hair feathers

New update. 360' render

Looks great as is. But I wonder how far his head will rotate down before hitting his chest.

Thanks Ken:) Regarding the tilt of the head, aren't owls basically only able to rotate their heads sideways?

My reply didn't make it in... The head will only rotate a little up and down--but can spin all the way around.
Stian, can you make the tail 50% smaller? I think it will look better

Have tested the tilt of the head and the beak

Looks good. Are you going to put the eyes in this one? Is Mark rigging this one too--it shoold have the same eyes as Tin Woodsman

I believe Mark have asked to rig the owl, and if he is, I think it would be best if he did the eyes (since he rigged the eyes on tinwoodsman)

*Edit* Update, smaller tail. Is the size better?

Yep! Nice job!!! I guess this bird is ready for the rigger

When I first saw the design for Tin Owl I wasn't too keen but can see great potential in him now.
Great work, Will and Stian!
Can't wait to see some tin feathers on him.

I assume his upper legs are going to be "bendy metal".....I guess they'll be hidden by feathers too.

Send him over Stian.

sent

right. the feathers cover that part (see sketch).

Thanks Stian, I got it.

Very nice! But, where are his eyes?

That's up to me Nick.

Hi all,

Here's a look at the reproportioned Tin Owl, modeled by Stian, reproportioned by Bob and cleaned up by myself.

He's so cute, I want a real one of these!

Jim

Cool! His hips look troublesome for rigging. It might be the angle though. I wonder what he'd be like with the bolts on his jaws. Though his jaws probably don't move.

PS It looks like only his lower beak hinges. Would allowing the top one to hinge too create more extreme facial poses? Animation Directors?

PPS When he's flying will his head face forward and his body be parallel with the ground? Some provision to bend his head back that far might be needed.

Wow! Yeah he is darn cute! Nice reproportioning and cleaning.

Yeah, much better proportions! he also seems to have much more in common with Tinman.

Very nice!

And as was noted previously... he really does look like the tinman!

p.s. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out why a mechanical owl seemed so familiar to me...

... CLASH OF THE TITANS!

Phew... now I can sleep...

Vernon "!" Zehr

looks great Jim !! approved!! needs a rig, them wings are gonna be fun.
BT

Is there a size difference between the tinman and the tin owl? The tin owl is actual owl size, right? So when he transforms, he'll shrink?

Yes.

Ok, cool. Do Woot and Scarecrow stay about the same though?

Hey Jim looks great. If you want me to rig it, send it over. I could attempt the squetch rig and reverse the legs, arms would probably be just shoulder and hands with some add controls. I'll also need another set of hands for the feet. David and I should be able work something out.

yes sir
BT

I think Woot stays close to the same size, since he's pretty small as a boy. Scarecrow gets smller as the bear but not as much as Tinman. Just basing that on Bob's drawing in the animatic.

Jim