ZAX Design

I first became interested in 3D art my freshman year while casually tinkering around with the 3D modeling program Rhinoceros used by the Visual Studio

class here at Sitka High. Soon afterwards, I began researching the subject

online, and discovered a free program called Blender. Blender is an

open-source 3D content creation suite capable of a wide variety of 3D

applications including modeling, animation, simulation, compositing, and

rendering. Immediately, I began spending a lot of my free time learning the

program as best I could. My sophomore year I began work on an animated

short film named “Zax” using Blender. Since I was still a beginner, I was

essentially learning the program as I was using it to create my film. It proved

to be much harder than I had anticipated, taking hundreds of hours over the

course of about four and a half months to achieve the final result.

About five minutes long, the short focuses on a small alien named Zax and his job as a parcel

delivery ship pilot. Zax’s commitment to his responsibility as a delivery pilot is put to the test

after a series of unlikely events lands him in a life-threatening situation.

Since finishing Zax I have continued increasing my knowledge and experience in Blender through

various smaller projects. Being a free-program which anyone can use, there is a wealth of

resources and tutorials for Blender available online which I utilize almost daily. I would highly

recommend Blender to anyone who is interested in 3D art, whether it be as a hobby, or as a

starting point for a future career.