Blender is an open source 3D modeling ans animation tool. Iv had about four years experience working with blender but have nevr had the chance to use it as the primary tool, maya being the uni's preferd option (i dont know why, their cheap bastards)
I hope to use Blender as not only the modeler and animator but also as a whole world editing package. Space in blender directly relats to OGRE space.
Blender ME -> Mesh model, relative space to origin
Blender OB -> Object node, equal to OGRE Scene Node
Creating a skybox:
This uses a cube placed in the middle to render out a hi-res environment map
Shadow baking has become an important technique in minimising the frame rendering time and adding that bit more realism
These are the logic blocks that allow for fast prototyping in blenders game engine.
This is a 'flight simulator' i made in my initial test phase.
While the engine lacks the features of its bigger counterparts, like any real time shadowing, the joy of creating and playing to my own rules was definatly a big sell. As blender improves, so to, i hope, will the engine. This is further fueled by the upcoming release of APRICOT, blenders first free game initative.