Vernimb reveals bum Shocker!

There I was doodling away recently on the back projection of a Vernimb when it dawned on me that I in order to preserve the correct detail I would have to draw a Vernimb bum! Bit saggy but it's not real so none of that cosmetic meddling required here thank you..

That's all for now, you can go...

Cannon Fodder disk box...

During a recent clear out and tidy up..hang about that reminds me does anyone remember that show that used to be on in the UK many moons ago called Stoppit & Tidy Up?? Narrated by Terry, oops Sir Terry Wogan? No?... oh OK...as I was saying I was in my garage doing some "conversion" work... Conversion being the conversion of old stuff from shabby cardboard box to clean solid weatherproof plastic cube thing (with lid!!) when I found a box of 3.5" discs.(remember those?)

Wearing my techie geek hat as I often do when I find myself rummaging about in old boxes of tech, I often snap a pic or two of any notable finds along the way. I was happily snapping away (resisting at this point in the blog entry to type 'as you do') at lost treasures I'd forgotten I'd owned and came across this....

This is the very box I used to store all me Cannon Fodder art disks, demo disks and beta tests of the game. As you can see I never did get around to buying a proper box and used this bulk unbranded x50 disc cardboard box as storage complete with masking tape repairs to hide the mistreatment the poor thing endured over the years.
Now the question remains do any of these discs actually work since being exiled to planet forgotten about since 1993. Hmmmm I might have to set up an Amiga next weekend and find out... On further thought will any of my Amigas work long enough to test them out and/or(nerd mode) will the disks be damaged? Perhaps I'll leave it "as is" for now... 
Note: Will climatise them to the house temperature well in advance to avoid any of that funny electronics failure malarkey if I feel lucky as punks do...

Oh and I should also mention that the Podcast from my appearance on the most excellent Cafe Calcio radio show is still up if you haven't had a listen yet..It's 1hr long and yes the music at the start is part of the show.. (Yes Mum...)

I was on the radio I was.. last Friday to be precise @ 9pm..

So there I was last Friday having a cuppa tea when out of the blue at zero hour I read an email asking if I would like to be a guest on a football themed radio show called "Cafe Calcio" on London based Resonance 104.4 FM. The subject of discussion was 'Games' which for me meant only one thing,  Sensible Soccer!!!
What could I say?? 

I had a great time meeting the gang (in the pub) Chris Dixon, Chris Roberts and David Stubbs and fellow guest Daniel Tatarsky who's knowledge of Subbuteo was mind blowing to say the least which is probably why he wrote a book about it. (Amazon linky here)

The podcast is now up and you can click here to listen (there's a download link on there too)

The music at the start doesn't last too long so don't do what my mum did and think you're listening to the wrong podcast! ahh bless...
http://cafecalcio.posterous.com/cafe-calcio-ii-the-sixth-podcast-are-there-an

Not one to alarm but...

I've been wrestling with Blender in an attempt to make a 3D version of a Vernimb Sentry this week. So far it is starting to look less like a deformed plum and more like a video game character.

Once he is done I can then proceed with the exciting bit , the animation!! Oh and of course creating a bona fide 3D Blobbit too.

The sketch to the right is the literal version I did for the book I'm writing. They're a tad more serious than those seen in the game version that's for sure. It's exciting indeed!!

Original Vernimb
Sentry Sprite

Texturing phase 1 - 90% complete

Still a bit too clean to be accepted into the blobberhood but a few bits of dirt and grime should sort that out.. :)

Did I say that I really really like using Blender?

Elenin = Nibiru

Sketches of the teleport door and pad

Here we have two sketches... But not just any old sketches oh no oh no oh no... These are sketches of something that is in my book (yes that book!). These are sketches of a Blobbit repaired 'Matter No Splatter' transportation device. Usually these devices appear unbroken but sadly this one wasn't so lucky. But all is not lost as our hero Blarold Blobbit has made good using some wood, a couple of metal shoes and a rivet gun.Wowsers!  Will it work? Hmmm that's a good question... Only one way to find out and that's to see it in action in Blobbit iDash. Yay!!
(Now I must go and finish texturing it in Blender, chie de chie my luvvies!!)
Elenin = Nibiru

Oh joy of Joy Division...Texture Paint is jolly good.

I have discovered that the 'Texture Paint' mode of Blender 2.5 is indeed rather awesome!! I've been playing with seams and one of the most frustrating things I've experienced is shading up a nice texture only to find that one of the seams doesn't quite look right. But all is not lost, oh no!!  You see there's this rather nifty (not heard that word for a whole,'nifty' not 'rather') that lets lazy oiks like me paint directly onto the the model! Now it's no Photoshop or Gimp but it does have a smooth and smear mode which is fine and dandy for smudging out those bleedin' angular 'stand out like a sore thumb' joins!! YAY but no hay!!
Look no wires I'm flying!!

Cuppa tea now to celebrate my new best buddie in Blender 2.5..