Donkin's duo of Dinosaur animations

Ah, Computer graphic imagery. Before you became so commonplace and went too far in development so fast, you were a fascinating, bergeoning little world living on college campuses and inside basic computers, one of an optimistic future of 1980's Reaganite and Clinton's 90's America. Really, I have a nostalgia for early CG, as there is a genuine, endearing sense of care put into it and a fuzzy dreamlike feel to many of them, as well as growing up with many of these early CG projects. 

Today we will be looking at two courtesy of one John C. Donkin, ananimator who worked at Ohio State University's Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design . I know nothing about him at the moment, but I do know he went on to work at Blue Sky Animation and worked on Ice Age. he created two works in a two-part project about the prehistoric creatures we know and love. Keep in mind, this was at the peak of the Dinosaur Renaissance when the image of dinosaurs as succesful and fast creatures was gaining steam, especially among late Boomers and Gen X'rs who were questioning the images early generations created (although replacing them with others, in the proccess, admittedly), such as slow and unsucessful dinosaurs.

While not the first CG demo to use dinosaurs (that honour goes to the pure 80's that is 1985's Chromosaurus by Pacific Data Images), both were the first to use realistic non-cartoony styles, years before a certain Universal film would be produced and transform visual effects forever.

First, in 1988 came Dinosaur Stuff. It's a work in progress tech demo. Nothing more, nothing less. it depicts walk cycles and animation tests of a Stegosaurus, albiet one without the thagomizers (perhaps to save on rendering time), and in one shot a whole stampeding herd is without plates.

It is here we see two models used: both a spikeless CG model that is more like those of Burian's time, and a more detailed one, only seen at the end (0:41), which seems to be the of the strong kind oft-depicting rearing up to browse on trees as popularised by Robert Bakker.

Neither are particularly detailed, but when you consider this was the early age of computer animation, it's as good a start. The movements and lighting are admittedly pretty good for their time.

Two years later it was followed up with Stegosaurus: The Roof Lizard, a short from 1990 that offers a more complete model and work, discussing theories regarding restorations of it and its plates and its anatomy in general, seeming to use the second model. It culminates in it driving off an attacking duo of Allosaurus. There seens to be two models with different colour schemes used, one more monochromatic green, the other striped

Both the stego in Dinosaur Stuff and the one The Roof Lizard come from the Paulian school of palaeoart, with both being active creatures. Also, both seen moving at pretty high speeds, particularly with the former, notable since even at the time many thought it was a slow and sluggish beast.

Accuracy-wise, both stegos are fine, at least for their time, though the second model that primarily features in The Roof Lizard has a more up to date and better aged design, like the upright tail. These were both before the discovery of Sophie, who would change the view of the genus from short-necked and armed, to well, not ot.

Compare...

...and Contrast at will

Anyways, most of what's innacurate is to do with science marching on, such as the plate arrangement and function. However, at the end of The Roof Lizard, the narrator says it lived 136 million years ago. Uh, no? Even laypeople would know it lived in the Jurassic around 150 mya.

Meanwhile, head seen in Dinosaur Stuff also has in particular an inaccurate head, with too many teeth going way back into the mouth and past the eyes. That's something I can't stand in theropods, and am surprised to see in a herbivore. It also lacks a beak on the lower jaw, which replaced teeth on the lower jaw.

The music for each short is pretty good. Dinosaur Stuff uses smooth jazz popular in corporate America at the time, while The Roof Lizard uses synth music, and set the mood of each well, even if neither are all that remarkable.

A few misc. criticisms I have of the works, particularly of The Roof Lizard:

• The Allosaurus at the end of The Roof Lizard are stick-legged and way too upright, and all around look way worse then either Stegosaurus.

Fiberglass model-looking asses

• The end credits for The Roof Lizard are so dark and shadowed I can barely read the bottom text, and I assume its even worse if you have vision difficulties.

But otherwise, there's not much else to say about either Stegosaurus: The Roof Lizard or Dinosaur Stuff outside of it's history. You can't fault the short runtimes at all because even a few seconds of rendering took a whole lot of time in the 80's and early 90's, and your phone is probably even more powerful then the computers used to make them.

• Accuracy - 6/10 (DS); 7/10 (STRL)
• Aging - 5/10 (DS); 6/10 (STRL)
• Visuals - 6/10 (DS); 7/10 (STRL)
• Narration - 7/10 (STRL)
• Music - 7/10 (both)
• Behaviour - 8/10 (STRL)

Both of Donkin's animations are interesting bits of the history of both CG animation and dinosaur documentaries, that make up for their basal CG nature. If it weren't for these two, the palaeosphere may well have not have had the classics, from Jurassic Park to the Trilogy of Life, to Prehistoric Planet, or more broadly creature design may well be very different, if not unrecognisable. Both Dinosaur Stuff and Stegosaurus: The Roof Lizard are worth watching. Major props to John Donkin.

Hope you like this. Please share this to spread thw word of Donkin's dinosaur works.

See Also/Sources

• Czerkas, S (1999). "The beaked jaws of stegosaurs and their implications for other ornithischians". Miscellaneous Publication of the Utah Geological Survey. 99–1: 143–150.
• https://history.siggraph.org/animation-video-pod/dinosaur-stuff-by-horikoshi-and-ota/
• Stegosaurus: a History of reconstructions, for further information at Manospondylus