The Greater Rhea Model Doesn't Represent Rhea Anatomy

Mjmannella

Mjmannella
Several forum members (myself included) have made demonstration as to why the greater rhea model in the Americas Animal Pack could use some serious changes to better represented rheas as they appear in real life. I'll mostly be deriving from @Utahraptor Arcanus for this post.

When a rhea's wings are at rest, they're usually folded alongside the body. But because rhea wings are so flat and so big compared to the torso, an illusion is created where the wings appear "merged" with the rest of the torso. Here's what the torso of a rhea looks like when its wings are spread out:
american-rhea-rhea-americana-adult-opening-wings-GDC75T.jpg

As you can see, rhea torsos are actually pale underneath their grey wings! This isn't really the case with PZ's rhea model is a uniform grey, and the illusion isn't present at all. Even though both the wings and torso are grey, they're distinguishable even when the wings are at rest.
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Why is that? Because the rhea model is a minutely modified ostrich model and nothing more. It's most apparent on the head and neck. Here's a clear comparison:
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The PZ head is very boxy and stout, while real rhea heads are longer and gracile. The PZ beak is also a lot more blunt than a real rhea's beak. Even the way the neck connects to the body is off. IRL it's a more gentle curve while in PZ is fairly abrupt. Edit: added a more direct comparison below:
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While I like that it has the right number of toes and even sexual dimorphism with the colouration, this model could use a serious revision. Especially since it's such a long-await addition to the roster.
 
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NachoB

NachoB
Swjosdotschka said:
For me it is neck, leg position and feather coloring. So yeah.... a Malayan Tapir kind of problem and I wish we wouldn't have those.
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I don't think is as serious as just as the malayan tapir that in essence was just the Baird's tapir recoloured. There is some clear work done on this animal... Problem is they just made a fluffy ostrich and not a rhea. Color, proportions and wings / feather arragements are off.

I haven't seen them alongside other animals yet but another issue i fear is that they seem to be way too big and bulky like ostriches. Rheas are slender and are not as tall or big as people might think and deffinetly not as tall as ostriches.
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
Swjosdotschka said:
For me it is neck, leg position and feather coloring. So yeah.... a Malayan Tapir kind of problem and I wish we wouldn't have those.
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See, I don't see any problem with the legs. The neck can be tweaked a bit (still firmly believe that simply adding fluff would help, because the IRL rhea has it a little fluffy and the in-game rhea has almost nothing in comparison)
Feather coloring, well it could be the color variations. I won't judge on it until we see for sure if there are other colors for it.

If they made the feathers flow down instead of with the body, it'd improve it, too
 

SpookDoc

SpookDoc
Adding a comment here in the hopes that Frontier devs might see this thread and consider making some tweaks to the Rhea (before or after the DLC’s release).

As others have pointed out, there are number of anatomical issues with it, but definitely the most jarring is the wings. Unlike ostriches, their wing feather size-to-body ratio is far greater and the Rhea’s wing feathers are what create their long, and downward drooping contour. Underneath these wings, they are almost quite literally naked (as can be seen in the images below):
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Which is a real shame cause it is quite apparent that someone spent a lot of time creating all the feathers of this model, they are far more detailed than what we see in the base game ostrich. It’s just that they don’t “flow” in a way that’s natural for the species. And this has truthfully been a reoccurring issue in all of Frontier’s winged bird models, since base game. There is a lack of anatomically accurate structuring to PZ’s bird wings, and this is true for everything from the Greater Flamingo to the Mute Swan. But it’s more apparent in the Greater Rhea atm because they use the constantly “spread” feather animations and rigging that is found in the base game ostrich. This isn’t how the Rhea irl, nor the Ostrich for that matter, carry their wings majority of the time. Instead the wings should rest/contour against their bodies. It’s like if the male peacock constantly kept its tail feathers raised in PZ. It wouldn’t look natural.

I’m hesitant to provide much of an opinion on the coloring of the Rheas atm, as we’ve only seen a couple glances of them, but I will say the males appear to lack the more intense color contrasting that is typical irl. Their is no true black present in the model’s neck feathers and no white on the body (the lack of white appears to also be an issue on the female).

IMG_5958.jpeg

The way the Rhea carries itself should be closer to what we see in PZ’s Emu rig, and I think this is truthfully because the Emu model doesn’t have any wings. Meaning that Frontier didn’t have to deal with/understand how wings should “fold into” the body on the Emu model. I also think the way the PZ Emu carries its neck and head might be closer to what we see irl Rheas than the PZ ostrich (which is clearly the base for the PZ Rhea). But this neck issue might be solved by adding more gradual feathering to the Rhea model’s neck.

And I think it’s a shame the issues that have occurred with winged birds in PZ has been largely unnoticed or overlooked by the PZ community. Again, I realize that most people might not understand what exactly is “off” about the models, but the lack of care/recognition is unfortunate as it means that Frontier isn’t likely to make any design-process adjustments to their current or future bird models. Yet most were quick to notice and raise concern when the Dhole or Striped Hyena’s facial anatomy felt kinda off.

The following is a slight tangent, but when I hear talk about flying birds in a potential PZ2, I increasingly become more skeptical with time on if any of them would even look natural. It’s clear that there has been no desire to show accurate wing anatomy and movement in this game, even going just off the few birds we have received. And I can’t entirely blame Frontier for this, as it is something that can take research to understand and could be tedious to implement in their models. But it’d definitely be necessary if they ever wanted to add in anything like a parrot or bird of prey. Their wings make up most of their visual contour, and if not designed accurately, would likely lead to the models feeling far more jarring than what we see with most of PZ1’s mammals and reptiles.

I’ll gladly eat my words if PZ2 is a thing and Frontier decides to invest in a more specialized form of modeling and revamping for all of PZ1’s winged species (not to mention all the new birds that could potentially come with a PZ2). But I just don’t see it as likely going off their recent staff cuts and management issues with more recently developed games.
 
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Hugo98

H
Thank you for this post.
I have to agree with the problems you mention with the model of the rhea. I love that we are finally getting a rhea and at first I also liked the look of it in the pictures, plus the feather work is fantastic. But the more I look at it and compare it to real rheas I can't unsee a slightly changed ostrich. What a pity.
In the past Frontier changed animals when the forum criticised animal models, so let's hope they can do it this time as well. Not sure if they will though considering their situation but I hope they will at least discuss this issue.
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
NachoB said:
I don't think is as serious as just as the malayan tapir that in essence was just the Baird's tapir recoloured.
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We need to stop perpetuating this myth - it wasn't a recolour in essence; it was literally just a recolour. Top to bottom, side to side. The model wasn't adjusted at all. It even still had the same Baird's tapir mole on the side of the face.

To me the rhea is slightly better than that. They've clearly done some modelling on the head and added the third toe back in (I think) but the body seems like they've tried to get away with a 1:1 ostrich recolour.
 

BiologicalHorror

BiologicalHorror
Full Support! While I love the amazing details in the feathers I didn't even realize it was the Rhea at first. It just looked like a weird Ostrich. Even the key art had me worried since the head shape is all wrong. I hate to be so picky but this isn't a Rhea....it's more like a Ostrich with dwarfism. I'd rather they remaster the Ostrich with this feathering style and completely rework the "Rhea" model.
 

Birb（｡･ө･｡）

Birb（｡･ө･｡）
I'm glad this is getting the attention it deserves. I was a little worried seeing the teaser trailer, and I thought it was just their super uniform coloration messing me up, but it's definitely not just that. At least with the striped hyena it still looked like the animal it was, but (idk maybe I'm being harsh) this just straight up looks like an ostrich to me, and an ostrich is gonna look hella weird strutting around my South American savannas alongside capybaras and anteaters. The featherwork is gorgeous, but the proportions just aren't it. No cute droopy feathers smh 😔

I'm not holding my breath that this gets fixed with the current state of Frontier, but I'd really love to see it. If not, then I'm very excited for the inevitable remaster mod lol.
 
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