For this mod's first official update I present to you a size chart of the animals from Jurassic Park! Hopefully this will give you a clearer picture of the more accurate sizes for the dinosaurs:
Each square in Blender is about 1 meter (3 feet) when using the human models in the game as a scale. All of the models in that picture are completed (modeled, and animations tweaked) with the exception of the raptor and gallimimus. I have to gloss over the galli more to see if I missed anything glaring and the raptor model needs to be tweaked a bit (like having a longer neck for example).
Here's a closer look at both the triceratops and the para:
These two models in particular didn't need too much work, nor did their animations. The trike's tail is slightly lower now (to reflect both the concept art, animatronic, and multiple models based off said animatronic) and the animal itself is slightly larger and fuller. The Para simply had its horn edited and the notched in its back taken out (I have no idea why the JPOG devs put it there).
I would also like the show you guys the dilophosaurus since the walk cycle gif I posted doesn't give you a good up close look:
Something I tried desperately to do is to completely hide the frill when it is down since in Jurassic Park you cannot even make out the pattern of the frill on the neck. This is due to the movies using two separate animatronics for the dilopho (one with the frill, the other without). Try as I may to mimic this I couldn't seem to get anything to take, so unfortunately the frill will still be visible even when it's down. Something else I should mention is that due to the trailer screen in The Lost World, we know the dilopho in JP was a juvenile and for this mod I will also make an adult sized variant.
Work Flow
To ensure everything goes smoothly I will be making sure the dinosaur models are complete and watertight before moving on to skinning. Once skinning is done I will integrate the dinosaurs into the game and will shoot for a beta or alpha release; this will not only allow everyone to get the dinosaurs in their game more quickly, but it will also serve to expose any bugs or anomalies that might present themselves so that I can patch them with a future build.
Once this is done I plan to work on the environment; the terrain will be changed and trees will get a total revamp (with actual models instead of the semi 2D ones in the base game). The tree designs will be based on the ones found in original trilogy; however, how they will be implemented has not been decided yet. One possibility is to have modern and paleo represent Nublar's trees and Sorna's trees while another is to have two sets that the user will have to switch from before booting up the game. I'm very much open to suggestions though so let me know your thoughts in the comments. While we're on the topic of feedback I'd very much appreciate any that you may be able to give.
After the trees I plan to revamp the sky boxes and then we'll be ready for another beta build. Again, this will serve to work out any further kinks or bugs. The last update will be the shader/bloom settings (they'll require you to have reshade on your game) and 1.0 will be completed. Beyond this, I do plan on editing things like buildings and vehicles to more closely resemble Jurassic Park; this would be more of a 2.0 build than a DLC. Of course, I do have some DLC in mind, but it's much too earlier to start planning that.
I hope everyone is as excited for this mod as I am! I'm very interested and invested in seeing a high quality Jurassic Park mod make it to JPOG (especially with the glut of JW stuff out there right now). I will keep you posted on future updates as I complete them.
Nice article, good luck with your plans and work!