It's HERE, whatever it is!  (HERE, in this case, being the **Digital Bestiary** at the **Rawart3D** store!)

Neither fish nor fowl, this is the first truly alien creature in the Digital Bestiary!  Originally discovered soaring through the atmosphere of Jupiter-class gas giant planets, it appears equally at home in a variety of SF-type settings!

The 'Sky-Manta' in its native habitat is a large filter-feeder, with large pods (flocks? herds?) winging their way through the endless sky, feasting on floating clouds of aero-plankton and other tiny organic molecules, just as the largest creatures in Earth's watery oceans do...

Its flexible wings and tail bend and curve smoothly to aid its never-ending flight...  With its four tiny compound eyes, gaping mouth, and rows of yellowish sonar-sensors down its body and tail, the creature looks completely alien - but to see it soaring through the sky is to appreciate its grace and beauty!

This creature was the first large animal discovered and described as we made our first tentative descents into the vastness of gas-giant atmospheres...  as we explored further, we found other creatures living in this amazing eco-system!  Over the next few months, some of these other creatures will be revealed to you!

Meanwhile, here is the first image of these fabulous beasts in their natural habitat!

 

..and another...

The discovery of these beasts in their native gas-giant homes explained how they had evolved, although not how they had somehow spread to other, more 'human-normal' Earth-like worlds in their star-systems.  On some of these worlds, the sky-mantas are a common, but nonetheless awe-inspiring, sight as they wing their way through the air...

(Nothing says 'Alien Planet' like the sight of a wing of sky-mantas swooping through the sky...  )

Here are a couple of more detailed close-ups of the beasts, rendered in Poser 5.  The wings pose through an innovative dial system that allows you to set both wings with the turn of a single dial; or you can adjust individual parameters in each wing part.  Either way, the wings pose in a remarkably smooth fashion!  Similarly, the tail has a large number of individual parts for smooth curves using Easy-Pose dials!

 

...and the 2nd...

 

*Once we realized there were life-forms worth studying down in the depths of the gas-giant atmosphere, we requisitioned some atmosphere-capable craft to investigate them more closely.  First to arrive were some scout-class ships en route to one of the colony moons.  We dispatched some science teams down into the atmosphere to observe the creatures, thinking these small sturdy ships were more than capable of keeping the crews safe...*

It was only the third such expedition that revealed how much we had underestimated conditions down there, and how little we really knew!  The team was following a small pod of sky-mantas, observing their habits, when a strange radar echo appeared on the 'scopes to stern.  The science team believed it to be a technical anomaly, as the creatures' own echolocation frequency had interfered with the ship's sensors on both previous excursions.  The team was shocked when an absolutely huge sky-manta sailed by overhead, dwarfing the scout vessel and the mantas from the accompanying pod; it was larger than the largest commercial air-liners used back on Earth and the colony worlds...

Fortunately, like its smaller brethren, the huge beast showed no interest in the science team, focussing all its attention on harvesting the clouds of nutrient organic compounds and aero-plankton.  Computer simulations run later confirmed that sufficient nutrients existed in the clouds to support such large animals!

Also fortunately, later behavioural experiments conducted on the larger mantas confirmed their gentle nature - like whales on Earth, they were extremely aware of their spatial surroundings, and took great care not to contact any of our vessels or equipment.

*But, the experience served to show us all that there were many mysteries still to be uncovered in the unimaginably vast atmospheric expanses of these gas-giants.  To this day, we still have no idea of the maximum size attained by these sky-mantas and their relatives...

It works in fantasy settings as well...

"Mikah had been on the late watch while his family slept belowdecks. He liked this time of day, as he watched the sun creep over the horizon and bathe the world in a clean new light...

As the sun illuminated the world around him this morning, he was thrilled to see he was in the midst of a pod of sky-mantas, winging their way through the cool fresh atmosphere. He wondered if they would still be here if he went belowdecks to rouse the children - they would be delighted to see these wonderful creatures!"

One more SF-ish render...

Attached Link: Sky-Manta Page in the Digital Bestiary at Rawart3D

From a Poser perspective, this figure will instantly give the feel of an alien planet, whether a huge gas-giant without a solid surface, or an alien moon inhabited by scantily-clad space-babes! Try it in Poser or DAZ|Studio, import it into Bryce, Vue, Carrara, Mojoworld - the possibilities are endless! And the great thing is, its simple mesh and small default textures make it VERY resource-friendly, so you can easily set up scenes with large flocks/pods without bringing your computer to its knees! But don't worry, there are also higher-resolution texture maps provided, for close-up views!

**Sale Price until Aug 13, 2006** - a very reasonable **$6.95Cdn** (Roughly $6.05 by current conversions)

Your most exciting yet, Masssster!!

Hey Heike!  Great to hear from you! I've been thinking about writing, but right now(this very minute, in fact), I'm in the final throes of packing for SIGGRAPH, I'll be on the road in an hour or so...

So, to those who have already purchased (and there are a satsifying number already!) - THANK YOU - and to any who might have questions, I'll be back online next Saturday.  In the meantime, my fellow artists at RawArt will 'pinch-hit' for me in the Support Forum at Rawart3D.com!

 

Cheers!