There comes a time in every game-lover''s life when he wonders if he should quite simply join in and create his own--he could certainly do better, right? Anyway, that time has come for me. Granted, I''m still in high school, sixteen, and maintain only the most minor knowledge of C++ programming; I don''t have a "team"--just a friend (who knows nothing about programming, graphics, or anything for that matter I have yet to read the most popular books about Windows game programming; I have no knowledge of one-eigth of the topics discussed on this site; I do not take art class or music but fully intend to somehow put graphics and sound into my games by myself if need be. AND despite all this, I will succeed! Now, admire my determination and grant me mercy. I come to you today with 3-D modelers in mind. I have had some ... erm ... very limited exposure to 3ds max 4 (I don''t anymore), but I am forced to find more--ah--affordable tools. That''s where you can help me. After I create my inital "Tetris" clone and whatnot, I''d like to make a 2-D overhead type game along the lines of (my personal favorite) Zelda. The project is an ambitious one, and I will more than likely fail, but that time is far off, and so I continue: I don''t want to have to draw every single thing in Paint Shop Pro, which I own--just in case you were getting the impression I am a pirate of some kind--and am interested in modeling characters or buildings in a 3-D application and then somehow (I''m not at that point of wisdom yet) putting them in my game as 2-D images. I have heard good things about this "Milkshape"-thing and that kitchen appliance you all refer to as "Blender." I downloaded the dairy and found myself on somewhat familiar ground, but I didn''t feel like experimenting too much because I''m a lazy guy at times (not good, note). Now, Blender I am trying to find at the official site, but it would appear as though I cannot download it because of the reorganization of the company or something. Finally, my question is this--has (and will) the site been down long, and should I just not worry about it for now, or is there some other source from which I can receive my just reward? If you haven''t noticed, this paragraph is the only necessary one, but how polite would I be if I didn''t introduce myself (which, come to think of it, I did not) and give some background information? Please respond if you have an answer and have stayed awake long enough to read the conclusion to this post, which is this--thanks for your time and nice meeting you all. I''ll think of a signature later...

Yes, the site is down.
Yes, it will probly be down for quite a while.
Yes, you should be able to find Blender on a mirror site somewhere, because the licence agreement allows redistribution.

Actually, I just found a site with a version for DL.
Version 2.23

There ya go,
Landsknecht

Hey--thanks alot. I appreciate the link. Now my experimentations can begin!!! Mwahaha!

I''ll think of a signature later...

A good user community for Blender can be found at www.elysiun.com.

[edited by - yspotua on April 2, 2002 2:37:44 AM]

Blender doesn''t really have what you could call a "friendly" user interface. I would recommend a book I found at my library, The Blender Book, it was extremely helpful.

Thanks for the link to the Blender community and the info about the book. You guys are very helpful.

I''ll think of a signature later...

ooo The Blender Book. I have a copy of that on my desk right now. Also from the library. Very useful book, but it was written for a slightly older version. So you need to search a bit sometimes for the button that gets mentioned.

Overall a very useful reference for the Blender noob though.

Landsknecht