> I've never really understood this. I mean, yes, theoretically by moving 
> individual polygons one at a time you can construct any possible shape. 
> And, theoretically, by drawing individual pixels one at a time you can 
> construct any possible image, so what do you need a 3D package for? :-P
>
> Seriously, to build anything of any complexity using just polygons, you 
> would need hundreds of billions of them, and there's no way you can 
> manually place that many polygons within a single human lifetime. There 
> has to be a better way...

Yeh, like using all the mesh operators in 3D packages!  Like I said, build a 
rough mesh by hand with maybe 100 or so polygons, then use the 3D package's 
smoothing tools to semi-automatically add more polygons to make the mesh 
smoother.  Most 3D packages will do this interactively, so you can wiggle 
about the vertices of the original low-resolution mesh and see instantly how 
the final smoothed mesh changes.

> This sounds infinitely more plausible. (Although I can't actually make 
> much sense out of the tutorial... I guess I'd need to actually install and 
> run Blender.)

It's the same as 2D bezier curves but in 3D, ie you just wiggle about the 
control points until it looks right :-)

> Presumably you also have to be a member first.

Yes, and you'll need to get there first, and have enough courage to speak to 
someone there, and know how to use their search system, and blah blah blah - 
yeh you may as well just stay at home.  BTW most libraries will try to order 
a book from another library if they don't have it, or have they stopped 
doing that recently?

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