Model Citizen

Well, it's been a long time coming, but I finally have my new PC.
I took a long time speccing it out, with so many questions asked at http://www.renderosity.com/index.php over the last months from Graphics Cards, Operating System, Monitor Size, Poser Utilities, Runtime Organisation to just about every item that goes in a PC. (I make my living on Macs, so PC's are pretty unknown to me).

Also, a big thankyou to The Fixer, my fellow Welshy there, who gave my spec a good going over offering advice and giving me plenty of ammunition for my visit to the shop (I spoke the words he gave me and they understood!).

So, the plan I had was to use the online shop: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php who seemed to be offering a very good service at a good price. I changed this plan after a while and decided to give my local PC shop www.kscomputerstore.co.uk/ a crack at matching the spec I'd printed off. They not only matched it but bettered it. I also felt a lot better about having someone nearby responsible, which was a good move in the end as one of the technicians came round and helped install it for me!

So, what did I get:

Monitor: Acer 24" Widescreen                      £346.57
Case: Alpine Silver                                   £53.65
Power Supply: Tagan 800w                         £140.00
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R         £99.00
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3Ghz         £173.00
Memory: Corsair 6400 4 x 1GB                    £158.00
Disk Drives: Liteon DVD-RW x 2                 £54.00
Hard Drives: 500GB Seagate x 2                 £160.00
Graphics Card: 8800GTS Nvidia                   £184.00
USB Adaptor: PCi 5 Port                            £9.31
Network: ASUS Wireless Adaptor                 £23.20
Software: Windows XP Pro 64                    £89.00
Software: Nero 7                                     £Free
Labour:                                                £Free
Keyboard: Logitech                                 £6.84
Mouse: USB Optical                                 £Free
Speakers: 2.1 Ozaki                                £Free

Total:                                                 £1496.57


As said before, I'm pretty new to PC's so I'm still setting things up. I have Poser installed and had a quick play last night. I quickly added 4 figures, moved them around very quickly and rendered. Took about 30secs for a 1020x768 Firefly render. I wont be using Poser for rendering though, so it was just a play.
I've just downloaded SP2 and NetFX to get Groboto to work on the system.
Other than that, I have plans to get the Adobe CS suite and also Cinema 4D and use the plug in to work Poser files there and render them....but that's all a couple of pay packets away.

Just a quick note.

I visit and post on Scale Model World's website every now and then, they have a very diverse range of interests there, from female figures to scratchbuilt tanks, something for everyone.

It's still pretty new, in fact, it's 1 year old!

I've started a sketchbook to jot down ideas for my 3D work. This was a based on a small sketch I made of a Mushroom House. It's pretty close to the drawing except that also had a telescope room in the roof. Instead of doing it on computer though I got the Sculpey out.
I was surprised how well this came along. I completed the whole thing in a few hours. Even the painting went well. I undercoated it black, then sprayed a bit of white on it. i liked the look so much I did'nt finish painting it to the original idea but just added some muted ink washes.

Just back from the latest Summer Memrobilia Show at the NEC. Always good fun and a chance to meet some of the stars. Here is me with Mira Furlan, who plays Danielle Rousseau, the slightly crazy French lady in Lost. Oh, the little fellow behind is her son.

Also met Billy Boyd (Pippin from LOTR), my boy Nathan was almost responsible for crippling him as he tried to lift him onto a desk.

The show is really a celebration of anything sci-fi or fantasy related as well as cult TV. There is tonnes to see and buy. You usually bump into the odd Stormtrooper or Dalek or Jedi as well while your there who are more than happy to muck around with you and pose for photos.

Not sure if I'll go next year, I might try the Bristol Comic Expo, apparently the largest comic convention in the UK.

We've just bought a new car (well, second hand, but you know what I mean), it's a Citroen Picasso. Cost us a lot of dosh, and needed some work done too. Anyway, still paying it off, but wanted to get a CD player or MP3 player for the car, it currently only has a radio.

Anyway, I just dont have the hundred or so quid it would cost to have one put in that matches up to the steering controls. So decided upon a completely different route.


These devices plug directly into your cigar lighter, there are a few types, but the best transmit signals from an MP3 player to a station you select on your radio. The other type have a tape plug in device which is inferior quality. The best let you choose any frequency, which is the one I bought. Also, a decent device will have a USB attachment to also keep your player charged whilst docked, again, like the one pictured that I bought.


It also has cushion fittings, extendable arms, so even my Rio Karma will fit it, and a selection of connection devices to your player.
I tried it out on the weekend, it works like a dream, quality is superb.

And all for.......£10 delivered on Amazon!