Model Citizen

 

 

I've been playing with Blurb to have my latest 3D images put into book form and it allows other people to purchase too.

So if you want to take a look through the book and maybe get a copy yourself click the link (image) at the top of this post.

LEOCAD Is a FREE! 3D programme that lets you make Lego models on the computer in 3D. I downloaded it last year but just could'nt get on with it. Anyway, I  gave it another go this last week and found it a lot easier. It has a huge parts library with it though finding the part you want can be a bit tricky. What is good is that the parts will snap together and if they facing the wrong way you just rotate the piece again to a constrained angle. It has options for various viewports too. You can change the colour of the pieces before dragging them into the window and all in all it's a programme worth spending a bit of time on.

 

This is a view of the programme. I have a 24" monitor so it's a lot more spacey than this view.

I currently have only finished one test piece which I exported from LeoCad as a Wavefront object. This is great as I can then import it into whatever 3D programme I want. i chose Cinema 4D using the plug-in Riptide that also imports the materials too. I gave it a tweak here and there setting the Phong value to 60 and adding a few custom colours and here's the result:

 

  I want to try something more adventurous nex. i'm still learning but here's what I found so far:

Brickfactory  This site has hundreds of scanned Lego instruction manuals to help build your model.

MLCAD  This is also a Cad package for designing Lego plans. Not quite figured out how it can be used with LeoCad but I've seen some stuff on Deviant Art that is a 3D model from MlCad, soit must be possible.

 

 

  I've posted the info before, but with a new image just hot off the PC, I thought I'd bring it to life again:

Long story this.
Back in the 70's, when Doctor Who was the biggest thing ever on TV, but no toys were to be had anywhere, Weetabix, the cereal, came up with the idea of a 4 part board game. Collect the 4 boards and also 6 packs of cards (much rifling through packs at supermarkets by small boys trying to get the full set!). The cards would then slot into the board offering a variety of game each time it was played.
Last year I magaed to get hold of scans of the origonal boards. Very hard work! I then reworked the artwork, polished it up and added some new faces to the cards bringing it into the 21st century for the New Who fans.
The PDF's of all this work are available as a free download from a few sites arond but if you want them I'd go here:

7 Wonders

Dean at 7 Wonders was a great help to me and I would love you to visit his excellent site. A real nostalgia trip for those who remeber action transfers and cardboard cut out figures with fondness.
Anyway, the image is a very polished version of the game in play. Hope you like it, but also, hope that if your a fan of Who you take a look at this piece of history.

Copyright wise, I contacted Weetabix very early on for help who were very helpful and had no issues with what I was doing.  

DAZ3D

 

 

Everyone knows DAZ, but it's free and I've added a link for those that may need it.

DAZ Studio does it again with version 2.2! Our developers and product managers have been working around the clock to bring you this latest update, filled with impressive new features - many of which you've requested. It's also filled with great new fixes, creating a more stable DAZ Studio environment. But really the thing we think you'll be most excited about is that DAZ Studio now features Lip-Sync! You can start with some of the sound files included in this release or load files from Mimic directly into DAZ Studio. Another fantastic new feature is Smoothing Angle. It offers you the choice of which surfaces you would like smoothed, and at what angle. Learn more about it in our "What's New" section.

So go ahead, take the leap to DAZ Studio 2.2!

I've put this in the 3D section mainly because that's what I used it for.

 

Anyway, BOB Books: BOB Books

A superb site. What they do is make one off books. What's great about that? Well, take a look at their site and see what you can do. Want to have a glossy hardback book of your years best photo's? What about a custom wedding album?

What I did was have my CGI work compiled into a coffee table size book. It's superb!

What you do is download a free bit of software from the site, and choose your layout and get going. Just add pictures and text where you want it and hey presto order the book.

Mine cost about £50 delivered, and it's worth every penny.

 

Here's a terrible shot I took but hopefully you'll get an idea of the quality.

 

 Original:

 

You dont have to worry about converting images to CMYK or anything other than Jpegs. The software will tell you if it's not good enough size wise. It takes 2 weeks to print and arrive, but it's very, very impressive.