Blender

Ok, its been 2 years since my last post. I've been busy. Sue me. I promise the next post won't take so long.

Have discovered 3D modeling. In a program called Blender. It is an awful lot of fun, creating objects from scratch, spinning them around in full 3D, then "rendering' them (creating an image from a specific camera position and angle, at any size you like).

The program has extensive tutorials, which anyone can follow. The interface seems somewhat overwhelming at first - its designed for power users not novices, so you just have to take your time and go through the tutorials and become a power user. Very powerful, has a ton of options, and lots of functionality, up to and including procedural textures, animation, and particle effects. But I am a long way from learning any of that yet, for now am just doing basic modeling.

Here is (nearly) my first model, that started as a sphere, and was pushed and pulled into something vaguely resembling a penguin. Not that he would fool any real aquatic flightless bird for a second.