Toodle pip,

MadProf

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7 days without prayer makes one weak.

It's been pretty quiet around here as of late. Good to see you back. Last time I heard "Toodle Pip" was in the game Slipstream 5000

Nice looking graphics you're putting together with Blender, too. I've recently gotten into using MilkShape3D for some stuff I'm working on. It's not as in-depth as Blender, but it's super easy to use for basic modelling. ( http://www.milkshape3d.com ).

-Krylar

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thanks! I'm looking at MS3D now.

Tally ho,

MadProf

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7 days without prayer makes one weak.

I took a look at milkshape3D too, but it seems that it's only used for creating 3D stuff for games, which I don't play.

†Caleb†

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"True friendship is not characterized by the absence of conflict, but by the ability to resolve conflict."

Actually I use MilkShape3D for 2D graphics. I model it in 3D, then scale to a decent size, at the right angle, with textures and lighting. Then do a screen capture and move into a paint program. Since drawing something pixel-by-pixel isn't my bag, it's easier to make my 2D graphics using 3D modelling and then just convert.

-Krylar

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†Caleb†

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"True friendship is not characterized by the absence of conflict, but by the ability to resolve conflict."

Anyway... Blender.

I wrote a nice long message last time, explaining lots of stuff in simple steps, and it looked cool, but I'm too tired to type it all in again, instead i'll make a neater and easier set of things, and spend twice as long on this silly explanation paragraph... oh well

one thing before i start. if i say akey, or bkey, its a standard blender community term meaning "the keyboard key 'A'".

tips:

1) Keep one hand on the keyboard, and one on the mouse. This is the "golden rule of blender" (you'll see it about the place a lot), and is useful. Blender has a lot of hotkeys, and they make blender *VERY* fast to work with, as with a few clicks, and a few keypresses, you can create practically anything.
2) Blender has two major "modes", Edit mode, and Normal mode. In Normal mode (where you start), you can select objects, and create them/move them about the scene. in Edit mode, you edit each object (like a mesh you edit verts, nurbs points, Text letters, etc. To switch modes, press "Tab". There is a button, but tab is so much easier and quicker than using the mouse.
3) You can bring up a "toolbox" which contains all the stuff from the menus by pressing "spacebar". This is often easier and quicker than using the menus. well, IMHO, but i've been using blender since before the "Real" standard type menus were there anyway, the menus will not let you insert things like lamps while you are in edit mode. something to remember that. it got me very annoyed at first.
4) Blender does have a non-normal interface. theres no denying that. however, it is logical, and if you just play about with it for a while (a few weeks got me doing well), and just play with it, you're likely to learn the most. there are a lot of tutorials online, like at www.blendermania.com, www.blender.nl, etc, but just simply messing about and quitting if it apears to get insane, or puzzling it back to where you understand, is one of the best ways to learn.
5) You need to have a light before you can render, otherwise it all renders black (logically).
6) dont panic! you can always close blender and open it again if it really seems totally inexplicable.

a few hotkeys and such

You select with right-click, or with bkey, and then dragging a box over all you want to select.

You normally move objects by selecting them (as above), and then pressing gkey. They then will move about with the mouse, and you click to "drop" them.

You can do a "select all"/"select none" by pressing akey. This is useful for decelecting anything you have selected. Press it again to do the oposite of what it did before (select all/select none).

Blender is fun. Different, but very powerful, fun, and free.
Even if you never use it to do anything "useful", its fun to just mess about.
MadProf

PS Please ask more i likes helping if i can

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7 days without prayer makes one weak.