A few weeks ago, I decided to experiment with the Paint 3D app on my computer, which is like a feeble version of the Blender program that Asteroid Lil makes excellent use of.

My first attempt at creating a 3D picture was highly surreal and somewhat unsatisfying as I couldn't do what I had in mind. Thus I felt the need to have another go to see if I could do better when starting from a blank canvas rather than a preconfigured model.

First I picked a sphere, because I like a nice smooth geometric shape. Fascinatingly, it appeared like a glass marble with swirls inside so I was pleased with that as a starting point.

Next I added a basic cat. Yet again, it appeared hovering randomly next to the sphere, but somehow I managed to find a way to wrestle it into position so it could stand on top of (and not inside) its little world.

Finally I found the paintbox so I could turn the basic cat into something less basic. Another quirk of the program appeared when I was able to paint one side of the cat's leg but when I turned it round to paint the other side, the paint turned into a blob that hovered in front of the cat. Thankfully for my purposes I only needed to pick one camera angle to create a picture for h2g2, so it doesn't matter that the cat is only half-realised!

Another challenge arose when I tried to add eyes to my cat. I drew an ellipse, but the ellipse decided to go inside the cat instead of on the face. Luckily, resizing the ellipse enabled enough paint to show through to the front, so I was able to complete the cat's features successfully.

So, the result of my second experiment is again highly surreal, but overall much more satisfying!

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SashaQ

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