This is the 3d model I made to figure out the anatomy and posing of andalite hands for my piece in chapter 2 of Poetry's Daemorphing epilogue, the Museum of Stolen Moments.
I 3d-modelled the tip of one finger, hoof and all, in Sculpt3D, ported it to blender, found that it was absolutely unusably full of holes and inner meshes for some reason, re-modelled it in blender (I miss the Milkshape3d interface but they never fixed the occasional "growth on rotation" issue and that was well over a decade ago), and then slightly modified it for the other digits. Those fingertips are the only bits that are the final, "skinned" version of the hands, though of course my autistic butt also sculpted several finger bones for joint rotation limit purposes. The rest is simplistic 3d armature since the exact appearance of each knuckle and the lines of the palm were not what I was caring about.
Andalite hands are an interesting design problem since in theory they may have evolved form the same structures as the feet, which as we all know are somehow also the mouth and therefore ??? how does that even work mechanically. I figure the center of the palm is where the mouth tubing would go, but that on the arms had long ago sealed up to function as primary manipulators instead. The toes are likely originally split between balance, sensory, and mastication functions; cutting the grass or pulling or digging it out or something.
Luckily, the focus is on the hands so I don't have to finalize those ideas, but the fingers themselves are definitely comparitively elongated and dextrous where the toes would be shorter and more stronger, but I'mma let the hands keep a sense of taste. Weak, otherwise andalites would not go bonkers for cinnabon, but enough to distinguish at least a couple chemical characteristics of what they're standing on I figure. Maybe related to grass health or maybe a warning that they stepped in something they should NOT swallow.
We know that they have 7 digits on each hand, and I decided to lean on the "deer" look. They have enough of a fleshy bit at the end to get a grip on flat surfaces, and plenty of hoof to pinch and grip edges. The last joint of each digit can hyperextend somewhat into a more horse-hoof-like posture. I went with a symmetrical fan shape reminiscent of the thematically important flower theme, with two opposed (not opposable) digits. The hooves are rounded on the outer edges and flatter where they would be pressed against the neighbouring finger, with only the middle finger being symmetrical. The differing shapes and angles are likely to lend themselves to different uses, potentially even filing or shaping the nail to have ridges or a comb.
This was vital information for me to figure out, as the final piece I was working on was intended to be diagetically fingerpainted by an actual andalite. As such, I had originally intended to recreate that last digit of each finger to use in my painting. Ideally I would have 3D printed the model, done final surface texture work with sanding and clay, then make molds and cast them such that the nail and bone was hard and the flesh was squishy. Either set onto the end of dowels or as fingerpuppets or a glove to put over my own hands. I had even looked into prosthetic finger projects such as 6th finger and the third thumb project.
Unfortunately, that would have taken much longer than I had. And I do not have any robotic experience, either. -_-
While did not end up doing so and instead used things like palette knives, spoons, and my own fingers to imitate the effect instead, I still think it would be a fantastic project to attempt in earnest (if I had more time and fewer other projects on my hands) if anyone else is interested. Probably of best effect on a large and strong canvas with paints that had more dimension and layering than mine did, not actual fingerpaints for children like I ended up using.
