Skip to main content

If you want to create your own 3D SciFi images and animations, you will need software suitable for the job, and there are some free resources to help you. DAZ Studio is one of the best, although I recommend scrolling down the page to the stable version rather than grabbing the Beta. If you are really adventurous, DAZ 3D 3.0 Beta version is now available. There are tons of free 3D models to use within that enviro online as well. Another world-class software package is Blender, which just released its new stable version yesterday; and again, lots of free models are available. Then there is POV Raytracer, like Blender a Linux freeware program that has now made its port into the Windoze and MAC environments. There are a lot of online tutorials for Point Of View you might want to check out. For building 3D landscapes to allow your animations to have a place to happen, they have released Bryce 5.5 as freeware, as well as programs like Anim8or and Dogwaffle to create animations from your source files with.

If you like working with 3D animation or scenes, you should stop by the NASA 3D Resources site. They have a number of 3D models there free for public downloading and use, including the Shuttle, the ISS, and the Hubble Space Telescope. Another good resource is SciFi Meshes, where a community of model builders upload and share their work. 3D Total has a number of free models and textures, as well as a series of tutorials for creating your own.

I mentioned yesterday that David Tennant will be appearing in several Sarah Jane Chronicles episodes in season 3. What I forgot to mention was they will be airing on BBC America, and that besides the Torchwood episodes coming in July they are bringing the Doctor in-house as well, and will start running the 2009 Who Specials in July according to SF Universe. You can also watch the new Torchwood trailer on BBC America. SFX has posted their new list of Fifty of our favourite SF t-shirts including such gems as Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! (with rubber dinosaurs), Upgrade or be Deleted (with soviet-era Cybermen), and It came out of nowhere (with a time-traveling DeLorian crumpled up against the Tardis). The dangerous part is all 50 shirts have links to the sites where you can buy them. The fun part is this is a listing of the second 50; the top 50 were published in the magazine this month.

According to this BBC announcement, there is more in store for David Tennant’s run as the Doctor. Besides the remaining specials we already knew about, he is signed up for a major part in two episodes of season three of the Sarah Jane Adventures. The new season of SJA starts in September in the UK and will run for 12 episodes. I addition, David has signed on for a series of short animated Who episodes which will also feature the voices of Georgia Moffett, David Warner and Lisa Bowerman. And while he was not directly mentioned, the BBC has confirmed that a movie script is in development for a theatrical Doctor Who treatment. I can’t wait to see it on the big screen! On the small screen, new this week is Mamoru Oshii’s The Sky Crawlers, based on the book series by Mori Hiroshi. Oshii used the same 3D CG animation team involved with his Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence production. Besides the Ghost in the Shell series of movies and TV shows, previous creations of Mamoru Oshii include Urusei Yatsura, Blood: The Last Vampire, Patlabor, and a whole lot more.

The opening version of Wolfram/Alpha is now online and ready for testing. As I mentioned back in March, while the name sounds like the IT department of the evil Lawyers company in Angel, Wolfram Alpha is a computer program that actually answers the question you ask. Or at least that is the goal, and they are off to a good start. For those who think this sounds like Deep Thought from Hitchhikers, my favorite answer so far: if you ask it what is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything it gives the correct answer. Thanks to Sci Fi Scanner for thinking to ask it that question.

The Asimov story I linked to yesterday is actually one in a series of Killer Robot postings from a combined Gizmodo/io9 sequence. Airlock Alpha (the former Syfy, before a certain channel bought the name) has quite an insightful article about how not to do Cons I can recommend. And Libravox has unleashed the 12th Short Science Fiction Collection of stories, including tales by George O. Smith, Jack London, and Edmond Hamilton.