On Dinocon yesterday (a paleo-art convention in the UK), in a room full of committed paleo-artists and dinosaur fans, Tim Haines (creator of the original Walking With Dinosaurs) held a talk on Surviving Earth and on using generative AI for future productions (of which he has shown interest in using during prior interviews on youtube); while showing the audience AI-generated clips, or in my opinion: slop. Haines was appropriately boo'd, did not take any questions as planned and immediately rushed out to do a meet.
Note that I was not there. Just hearing different takes from people who were.
It's also important to note that Surviving Earth, which finished production in 2024, did not use any generative AI in the production. It features 3D animations from several different VFX studios, photographic matte painting compositions and some practical effects - but no gen-AI as far as has been confirmed. Having said that, I hope Tim Haines does not do another paleo show (or any kind of show for that matter) so long as he is planning to use gen-AI. According to some, he is a tech-bro first, a dinosaur/art fan second. And now, he appears to have washed out.
As with all of my planets and paleo maps, the textures were painted in Photoshop and rendered with Blender. This particular planet (late Permian) I made two years ago, with the intention of making a Permian video of my own. Perhaps some of you recall that whole thing. Well, I never got around to finishing it, but luckily PBS Eons found use for the reconstruction!
There will also be a Carboniferous planet in the series, as well as a devastated version of the Permian in the image below.
I have now seen all 5 episodes of the BBC Science Unit series 'Evolution', and I can safely say it retains the same high quality as the masterful predecessor series 'Earth' from 2023, if not even a nudge better. Like 'Earth', it's presented by the charismatic Chris Packham, an engaging (and sometimes quite funny) science communicator with a real love of words and of the subject matter - that is animals and science.
Sprinkled throughout the series are some very tasteful and pretty CG reconstructions of paleo critters and environments. I won't spoil too much of these just yet, as I think they would be more fun to discover on your own, but here's as an image of the Ediacaran garden as an example (all of you who've been wanting to see more Ediacaran and Cambrian reconstructions on TV really ought to watch this).
However, in case you haven't seen 'Earth' or similar BBC science series like 'Solar System' with Brian Cox or 'First Life' with David Attenborough, let me make it very clear that these CGI scenes are short vignettes, the purpose of which is to illustrate the ancestral origin of certain anatomical features and so on. This is NOT a natural history series like Walking With Dinosaurs or whatever, it is a science series. So in case you only want to watch fictional stories about dinosaurs with speculative behaviors then this is not for you.
Each episode is about its own deep evolutionary theme, the origin of complexity (ep1), reproduction (ep2), feeding (ep3), intelligence (ep4) and movement (ep5). These themes are then anchored with their own modern species as a the frame in which the origin and evolution of these traits are told, beginning way back into the precambrian and ending in present. The Elephant, for example, serves as the anchor for the evolution of complexity in episode 1, while the horse serves as an extreme example of how the evolution of movement can shape an animal in curious ways.
Unlike other paleo related shows of this year, like 'Surviving Earth' or 'The Dinosaurs' (fun as they can be at times), 'Evolution' treats its audience with a lot more respect and intelligence, and I couldn't recommend it more. I can almost guarantee that it will increase your curiosity of the natural world and the mysterious of deep time, A+
The entire series can be streamed on BBC iplayer right now. If you're outside the UK, like me, it's VPN time. Like 'Earth', a different version of the series (unfortunately without Chris, the presenter) will be released on international channels sometime later, e.g. PBS in the US. There will also be a blu-ray/DVD in little over a month.
Some stills from the upcoming BBC documentary "Evolution", sequel to the masterful "Earth" series presented by Chris Packham (which some of you will know has been one of my favorite paleo/earth history documentaries of the 2020's).
This time though, it's less about the Earth system and more about the evolution of certain species, hence the title. Still, it is has the same style of graphics; and presumably presentation style (it's a talking head docu interspersed with paleo vignettes - do NOT expect some full-on WWD style immersive whatever, lol).
Drops already on July 13th on in UK (BBC Two). The American release on PBS (don't know when) will probably have a different version without the presenter; which was the case for "Earth", there re-titled as "Ancient Earth".
Paleo Edits
First episode of Eons: 'Life and Death on Pangea' premieres today! Be there, link below : )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY8mi...
1 week ago | [YT] | 330
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Paleo Edits
[Post has been edited for better wording]
On Dinocon yesterday (a paleo-art convention in the UK), in a room full of committed paleo-artists and dinosaur fans, Tim Haines (creator of the original Walking With Dinosaurs) held a talk on Surviving Earth and on using generative AI for future productions (of which he has shown interest in using during prior interviews on youtube); while showing the audience AI-generated clips, or in my opinion: slop. Haines was appropriately boo'd, did not take any questions as planned and immediately rushed out to do a meet.
Note that I was not there. Just hearing different takes from people who were.
It's also important to note that Surviving Earth, which finished production in 2024, did not use any generative AI in the production. It features 3D animations from several different VFX studios, photographic matte painting compositions and some practical effects - but no gen-AI as far as has been confirmed. Having said that, I hope Tim Haines does not do another paleo show (or any kind of show for that matter) so long as he is planning to use gen-AI. According to some, he is a tech-bro first, a dinosaur/art fan second. And now, he appears to have washed out.
Dinocon's respone:
x.com/DinoConUK/status/2081447513064685822
Rallying call against gen-AI in art:
bsky.app/profile/raftingzalmoxes.bsky.social/post/…
x.com/raftingzalmoxes/status/2081797122215772390
Generative AI has no place in art whatsoever.
1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 389
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Paleo Edits
Made a video with @billnguyen4148 , check it out below!^^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeOdW...
1 week ago | [YT] | 307
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Paleo Edits
A peak at the planetary shots I made for Eons new series :3
Eons uploaded a little summary of what to expect from the series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWriR...
As with all of my planets and paleo maps, the textures were painted in Photoshop and rendered with Blender. This particular planet (late Permian) I made two years ago, with the intention of making a Permian video of my own. Perhaps some of you recall that whole thing. Well, I never got around to finishing it, but luckily PBS Eons found use for the reconstruction!
There will also be a Carboniferous planet in the series, as well as a devastated version of the Permian in the image below.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 297
View 10 replies
Paleo Edits
'Evolution' review
I have now seen all 5 episodes of the BBC Science Unit series 'Evolution', and I can safely say it retains the same high quality as the masterful predecessor series 'Earth' from 2023, if not even a nudge better. Like 'Earth', it's presented by the charismatic Chris Packham, an engaging (and sometimes quite funny) science communicator with a real love of words and of the subject matter - that is animals and science.
Sprinkled throughout the series are some very tasteful and pretty CG reconstructions of paleo critters and environments. I won't spoil too much of these just yet, as I think they would be more fun to discover on your own, but here's as an image of the Ediacaran garden as an example (all of you who've been wanting to see more Ediacaran and Cambrian reconstructions on TV really ought to watch this).
However, in case you haven't seen 'Earth' or similar BBC science series like 'Solar System' with Brian Cox or 'First Life' with David Attenborough, let me make it very clear that these CGI scenes are short vignettes, the purpose of which is to illustrate the ancestral origin of certain anatomical features and so on. This is NOT a natural history series like Walking With Dinosaurs or whatever, it is a science series. So in case you only want to watch fictional stories about dinosaurs with speculative behaviors then this is not for you.
Each episode is about its own deep evolutionary theme, the origin of complexity (ep1), reproduction (ep2), feeding (ep3), intelligence (ep4) and movement (ep5). These themes are then anchored with their own modern species as a the frame in which the origin and evolution of these traits are told, beginning way back into the precambrian and ending in present. The Elephant, for example, serves as the anchor for the evolution of complexity in episode 1, while the horse serves as an extreme example of how the evolution of movement can shape an animal in curious ways.
Unlike other paleo related shows of this year, like 'Surviving Earth' or 'The Dinosaurs' (fun as they can be at times), 'Evolution' treats its audience with a lot more respect and intelligence, and I couldn't recommend it more. I can almost guarantee that it will increase your curiosity of the natural world and the mysterious of deep time, A+
The entire series can be streamed on BBC iplayer right now. If you're outside the UK, like me, it's VPN time. Like 'Earth', a different version of the series (unfortunately without Chris, the presenter) will be released on international channels sometime later, e.g. PBS in the US. There will also be a blu-ray/DVD in little over a month.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 413
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Paleo Edits
Here's another paleo miniseries to keep an eye our for, the first longform story by PBS Eons, set to air on PBS channels (but also on YT as usual)
"Life and Death on Pangea"
I had the pleasure to collaborate on this, creating planetary shots of the Carboniferous and Permian period :)
Read all about it below, and watch a brief trailer:
www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/eons-life-a…
Premieres on July 29
1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 476
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Paleo Edits
Trailer for 'Evolution' is now live on YT. Check it out yo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG8sy...
1 month ago | [YT] | 311
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Paleo Edits
Some stills from the upcoming BBC documentary "Evolution", sequel to the masterful "Earth" series presented by Chris Packham (which some of you will know has been one of my favorite paleo/earth history documentaries of the 2020's).
This time though, it's less about the Earth system and more about the evolution of certain species, hence the title. Still, it is has the same style of graphics; and presumably presentation style (it's a talking head docu interspersed with paleo vignettes - do NOT expect some full-on WWD style immersive whatever, lol).
Drops already on July 13th on in UK (BBC Two). The American release on PBS (don't know when) will probably have a different version without the presenter; which was the case for "Earth", there re-titled as "Ancient Earth".
Trailer will probably drop on YT soon :)
1 month ago | [YT] | 578
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Paleo Edits
More peak from the peakest channel
2 months ago | [YT] | 109
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