My new free 3D graphics suite, Blender (it’s free), seems to have an even steeper learning curve than trueSpace, and the interface looks much more sparse and austere, professional I guess. But these 3D content creation packages are perfect for producing illustrations for science fiction role-playing games, and so it’s worth the effort.
I mentioned in my previous post how I didn’t think Blender would work on my computer, and then I had second thoughts. I was partly motivated by what seems to me to be Blender’s greater popularity on Turbosquid the 3D mesh, model and graphics marketplace.
So I did some more Googling to see if I could solve my Blender crashing on startup problem. Google is always my first port of call when it comes to technical support; it was Google that diagnosed that my HP laptop was suffering from a dodgy mobo (mother board) when an expensive IT consultant wrongly diagnosed hard disk problems. Google even found the solution, if a somewhat low tech one. If your HP laptop is refusing to switch on and the old trick with whipping out the battery doesn’t work, then simply hold the power cable connector at the back of the computer hard up. Other users find that pressing on the case above the keyboard works for them.
Anyway the Blender problem had a simple solution as well. Update QuickTime if it is installed and turn hardware acceleration (it’s one of the sliders in the display options in the start menu). Pow, Blender popped open in just a couple of seconds and has been very well behaved ever since.
I’m so happy, I’ve been playing with it for a couple of hours now and I managed to create an abstract dart type thing, see above, that looks a bit like a spaceship if you squint at it for a while. I’m going to be creating illustrations for role-playing games, including my own sci-fi role playing setting Tarazet, in no time and I’ll be sharing the meshes and models on Turbosquid. As soon as I have any worth sharing.
» Tutorial for painting a gimp gallery spaceship.
» Pioneer Spaceship for Illustration Friday
