Yes, it's a penguin! In fact it's actually a 3D model of a penguin and I made it all myself - with only a vast amount of help from one of the free software world's best-kept secrets.

Blender is... look, I don't have the words to describe it. Seriously. I only strayed into the world of 3D modeling a few days ago and it's like lifting the lid on a hidden universe. I've played with plenty of 3D models in games and simulations but I've never actually done any myself - until now - and it's utterly absorbing.

I'm told you can do 3D animations, complete games and even full video editing in Blender. I haven't got that far yet. In fact I'm still coming to terms with the terminology; vertices, edges, faces, meshes and NURBS to name but a few. (The latter, I can confidently relate, stands for Non-Uniform Rotational B-Splines. So there.)

Helping me along the path to enlightenment are a vast series of Blender Tutorials. I'm currently working through Blender 3D: Noob to Pro - which is where the penguin came from. Some of the tutorials aren't for the faint-hearted and I've got lost more than once. The best advice I can offer is if you get stuck, go on to the next one and come back later.

The best way to get your head around Blender's possibilities is to take a look at what it can do. Click on this fellow's friendly features or visit Blender's Features Gallery for an overview.

And Blender's not just for penguin lovers. In addition to Linux you'll find downloads for Windows, Mac OS X, PPC, Solaris, FreeBSD and Irix too - all at that delightful free software price.









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