The "Repo Men - Design an Artiforg" Contest

Every now and then, a contest comes along that looks really exciting and interesting to enter into.  One of those contests was hosted by DeviantArt.com (www.deviantart.com). The contest was held at the time that the movie “Repo Men” was due out in theaters.  The parameter of the contest to design an artificial organ for the movie called an “Artiforg”.

After thinking it over for a while, and looking at some of the entrants that had been posted on the site, I decided that I would tackle the human spine.  Most people had posted smaller, less complex organs, like kidneys, livers, or eyes (lots of eyes).  I figured I would try to create something larger, more complex and original.  So, off I went to work on the spine.
It was quite a complex project, beginning with researching the actual layout and physiology of the human spine.  I had to research tons of medical drawings just to find enough usable images to begin modeling my spine in my modeling software.  

After researching spinal images, I had to come up with a way to convert the human, biological form into a mechanical, fluid form that would look like a biomechanical version of a spine.  Not an easy task.  It took several days to model each piece of the human vertebrae.  After that, I had to model wiring, hydraulics, tensions springs and other details to make this model look realistic. 

 Finally, it came time to render this thing.  After another 2 days of coloring, texturing and creating a custom lighting design, it was done.  After much tweaking and trepidation, I final posted my design on the DeviantArt.com site.

 Sadly, it did not win.  However, working on this project taught me more about how to better use my modeling and rendering software and expanded my knowledge on texture and lighting design, so it was definitely worth the time and effort.  I also walked away with a better working knowledge of the human spine.

If Lone Wolf Drafting and Design goes under, maybe I will try my hand at spinal surgery.

Thanks for reading!