One thing you can always count on seeing in a Sci-Fi action show is flying objects. Architecture is no exception, and why would it be? The day after anti-gravity is developed, somebody will start building a flying house.
I built my first one in The Illusion of Gravity. According to the story’s hero Rivan Saraf, “The only large shapes Iron Arrow could form in those days were cylinders and spheres. So that’s what you got when you ordered a flying house — a flattened tube fused to a flattened sphere.”
I never drew a picture, except in words; I didn’t have to. However, when I started working on the cover for Ghosts of Ancient Vidura, I wanted to do something with a space opera vibe, and I had a couple more flying houses in inventory.
One of them was do-able as a 3D model in Blender and, following a buttload of tedious labor, we have …
Ta da!
Fascinating, right? That’s process for you. It never fails to dazzle.
CGI artist Mohamed Kassab and I are now developing the interior of the model for use as an animation soundstage within the Unreal Engine production environment.
Yeah. If the expression ‘Biting off more than one can chew’ comes to mind, you’re not wrong. After two years fooling around with Blender, I’m still a complete novice. There is no way I’m going to sculpt, rig and mo-cap an ensemble of virtual primates, much less perform any of the other gyrations required in order to produce a feature presentation.
But I might be able to pull off a three-minute skit, using this guy.
Chester is a maroli, currently under development in Blender. See maroli in action, here. I’m already stewing about the script. Comments invited.
This is an activity, not an occupation. That does not mean I won’t be able to do something cool. Watch this space.
John Dyer Writes 
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