I’m a Sheffield-born creative professional with twenty years of technical writing experience. However, this portfolio showcases my other passions: design and 3D modelling work.

I graduated in 1993 with a 2:1 in 3D Design, although nearly all of my 3D design efforts since then have been as a hobbyist. During my undergraduate studies, I used CGAL, a Stone Age 3D package which started as a command-line-driven tool. The design department upgraded to Microstation, a swish and powerful engineering-centric application. I was briefly exposed to 3D Studio, but it didn't draw my attention at the time - it wasn't yet running under Windows...

Years later, I installed a trial version of Caligari trueSpace and was won over by its intuitive and direct approach to modelling. It had an almost 'tactile' quality, making 3D modelling more like playing and less like entering a series of obscure keyboard inputs. I used a windfall cheque from the inland revenue to fund the purchase of the full version of trueSpace2. I was invited to the external user beta testing program, which allowed me to work directly with the development team through trueSpace3 and trueSpace4 development.

In 1998, I was contacted by a fellow trueSpace enthusiast who had ambitions of creating an animated science fiction movie - a wild and unrealistic ambition for a fellow enthusiast. Still, Krys dedicated himself to the challenges and eventually, backed by some venture capital, was in the pre-production/ 'selling to a studio' phase of his Master Squadron project. I was invited along for the ride, contributing 3D models and ideas in return for a 3DS Max 4 seat. So I learned the basics of 3DS Max - although only the parts I needed for concept development. Krys did all the heavy lifting and developed character modelling skills that were much better than the industry standard at the time.

Alas, the process of getting a movie made is often endless - they say that the average film takes 7 years from the original intent to its first screening - I had less time to contribute as my career developed in a different direction.

The world turned. I lost touch with Krys, and my 3D output dried up for a while. Caligari closed its doors - very sad because I still think that trueSpace was the most intuitive and fun way to start learning 3D. At the time of Caligari's closing (2009), Blender was already established as a competing fully featured 3D tool - although in a far less refined form than you'll find today.

I switched from 3ds Max to Blender about a decade ago.