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That is a dead butterfly [0] being reanimated, not a live butterfly flying [0]: https://www.emilydamstra.com/please-enough-dead-butterflies/ https://www.emilyd

That is a dead butterfly [0] being reanimated, not a live butterfly flying [0]: https://www.emilydamstra.com/please-enough-dead-butterflies/ https://www.emilydamstra.com/please-enough-dead-butterflies/

herodotus 2y ago
Thanks for providing that link. What an amazing artist!
MoroL 2y ago
Agree 100%. Needs iteration. Thanks for the link.
flopsamjetsam 2y ago
Until I clicked on the link, I thought you were just using a metaphor :)
beepbooptheory 2y ago
Ugh one of those things I kinda hate to know now.
- tail_exchange 2y ago
  It ruined pretty much all butterfly drawings for me. It's the kind of thing that is better not knowing lol
  - stevage 2y ago
    I think it's overblown. It made me pay more attention to butterflies in the real world and what I see is when landed they often flap their wings intermittently. So I just think of the drawings with wings open as catching one of those moments.
    - jerkstate 2y ago
      I agree with your sentiment, the human body is sometimes considered most beautiful with the limbs extended in dance, that does not mean it is always posed that way. I lay in the "corpse pose" every day, it does not mean I am dead.
teach 2y ago
Ce n'est pas un papillon.
pertique 2y ago
I'd also link to a recent HN post [0] exploring butterfly flight. The top comment shows the actual flight pattern of a butterfly. Perhaps zombie butterfly fly differently, but otherwise it's doubly dead. This isn't a real nit, but I figured I throw it out there anyway. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183079 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183079
mewpmewp2 2y ago
I understand when butterflies are standing by their wings wouldn't be that far ahead, but is it the case also when they are flying? That is not so clear to me. When flying it seems there can be a lot of variance where their wings can be.
- gcanyon 2y ago
  The moment I saw the live vs. dead comparison it hit me: center of lift vs. center of mass. Why would the butterfly's wings ever project that far forward when there is zero mass out there to lift? I suppose it's not impossible -- maybe the butterfly is hard-braking? But in normal flight that just wouldn't work. I never thought about it like that before, but now I can't unsee it.
  - mewpmewp2 2y ago
    Out of curiousity I took a look at some midflight photos as well as slow mo videos. It could also vary by butterfly type, but there were definitely midflight photos were I saw wings quite extended front. Also in slow mo it almost looks as if they are swimming through air where they extend wings front to grab air and bring them back down. I suggest taking a look at some slow mo videos. It now occurs to me why there's a swimming technique called butterfly. The animation in the web app doesn't do the swimming technique justice, it's rather static, but at least I do think at certain point they have their wings quite extended, so unless you animate this whole thing, I don't think it's as fair to call it dead compared to if it's standing by with wings extended.
    - gcanyon 2y ago
      That's fair -- to something as small as a butterfly the air is much more soup-y, so swimming is maybe a better description than flying. That would imply they do need to extend forward beyond their head to pull forward through the air.
- Ratelman 2y ago
  There is quite a variation in its wing position while flying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odvYot6Rldw&ab_channel=EarthRangers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odvYot6Rldw&ab_channel=Earth... So at least some butterflies do actually move their forewings significantly forward of their head while in flight (as stated by edamstra on June 2nd, 2017 - comment on the OP link)
deleted 2y ago
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herodotus 2y ago

Thanks for providing that link. What an amazing artist!

MoroL 2y ago

Agree 100%. Needs iteration. Thanks for the link.

flopsamjetsam 2y ago

Until I clicked on the link, I thought you were just using a metaphor :)

beepbooptheory 2y ago

Ugh one of those things I kinda hate to know now.

tail_exchange 2y ago
It ruined pretty much all butterfly drawings for me. It's the kind of thing that is better not knowing lol
- stevage 2y ago
  I think it's overblown. It made me pay more attention to butterflies in the real world and what I see is when landed they often flap their wings intermittently. So I just think of the drawings with wings open as catching one of those moments.
  - jerkstate 2y ago
    I agree with your sentiment, the human body is sometimes considered most beautiful with the limbs extended in dance, that does not mean it is always posed that way. I lay in the "corpse pose" every day, it does not mean I am dead.

teach 2y ago

Ce n'est pas un papillon.

pertique 2y ago

I'd also link to a recent HN post [0] exploring butterfly flight. The top comment shows the actual flight pattern of a butterfly. Perhaps zombie butterfly fly differently, but otherwise it's doubly dead. This isn't a real nit, but I figured I throw it out there anyway. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183079 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42183079

mewpmewp2 2y ago

I understand when butterflies are standing by their wings wouldn't be that far ahead, but is it the case also when they are flying? That is not so clear to me. When flying it seems there can be a lot of variance where their wings can be.

gcanyon 2y ago
The moment I saw the live vs. dead comparison it hit me: center of lift vs. center of mass. Why would the butterfly's wings ever project that far forward when there is zero mass out there to lift? I suppose it's not impossible -- maybe the butterfly is hard-braking? But in normal flight that just wouldn't work. I never thought about it like that before, but now I can't unsee it.
- mewpmewp2 2y ago
  Out of curiousity I took a look at some midflight photos as well as slow mo videos. It could also vary by butterfly type, but there were definitely midflight photos were I saw wings quite extended front. Also in slow mo it almost looks as if they are swimming through air where they extend wings front to grab air and bring them back down. I suggest taking a look at some slow mo videos. It now occurs to me why there's a swimming technique called butterfly. The animation in the web app doesn't do the swimming technique justice, it's rather static, but at least I do think at certain point they have their wings quite extended, so unless you animate this whole thing, I don't think it's as fair to call it dead compared to if it's standing by with wings extended.
  - gcanyon 2y ago
    That's fair -- to something as small as a butterfly the air is much more soup-y, so swimming is maybe a better description than flying. That would imply they do need to extend forward beyond their head to pull forward through the air.
Ratelman 2y ago
There is quite a variation in its wing position while flying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odvYot6Rldw&ab_channel=EarthRangers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odvYot6Rldw&ab_channel=Earth... So at least some butterflies do actually move their forewings significantly forward of their head while in flight (as stated by edamstra on June 2nd, 2017 - comment on the OP link)

deleted 2y ago

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