Every now and then I like to step away from the programming and focus on some other area of game design. Usually it’s 3D modeling that catches my attention. It’s such a fun thing to work on, and it sort of exercises a different part of your brain. Over the years I’ve been slowly trying to teach myself how to use modeling software. I look at things other people have made and am just amazed by how little I know. However I also like to look at some of my original pieces and be amazed by how far I’ve come.

Anyway, back to the point. A long time ago I came across this post in the AC3D forum. I had been following tbd’s work, he’s just amazing. It’s hard to find his web page (I wonder if he wants to keep it hidden) but it’s filled with amazing models that you can download and look at. Anyway, as his post says, he sometimes likes to re-create other people’s work to learn new things. So I figured what the heck, I’ll re-create his turret (which apparently is a re-creation of bojangles’ work). I spent most of yesterday trying to mimic his first photo. I learned a whole slew of tricks. I also learned how to get Blender to spit out a rendered image. So, here’s my start:

I’m very proud of it. I doubt I’ll be able to use it directly in Rift, but the techniques I’ve learned will definitely be used to make up a new class of ship.

Anyway, stay tuned for more renders as I try to follow tbd’s work.