Kerkythea is free, but maybe not that user friendly.
If you´re not going to spend too much money, try Twilight render. There is a demo version, although wuith a limited resolution output, but quite enough for a start.
Anyway, check this out: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=3220

Are you going to render it? You can apply such materials inside rendering app.
Like here:
http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=42&func=fileinfo&id=98
http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=42&func=fileinfo&id=20

Looks like cognac consumption is increasing
Always a pleasure to see your work

Aaah, remodeling and fixing things up? Been there
Anyway, what was wrong with the tracks? In case you need it, some guy posted these blueprints here: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=43428

Well, well, look who´s back You´re not intending to show your progress here?

Happy Birthday Pete!

@gaieus said:

We slept in the same room last BaseCamp. He snores badly.

@solo said:

@unknownuser said:

Csaba's snoring however sucked.

Try Fredo´s Curviloft: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=28586&hilit=curviloft
Or TIG´s Extrude Tools: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=25362&hilit=TIG+extrude

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=34868

In SketchUp, you can try this: http://www.sketchupartists.org/tutorials/sketchup-and-photoshop/use-image-editing-software-inside-sketchup/

Thanks for sharing

Once you have pushed/pulled your letter to a 3D shape, you can´t change the segment count. You´ll have to start from scratch.

My motivation just took a nose dive.

A kind of magic I´m willing to learn.
And how did you make your signature dissapear Gaieus?

Thanks for the heads-up, Rich.
And thanks Whaat for this awesome stuff

Maybe with Artisan-made components bent into the shape, and rotated arround in an array

Exactly. Believe me, you tend to get more value out of those things when you spend your best years dodging shells

Hi,

try here: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=28782

Old news unfortunately. This has been repeatedly discussed, like here: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=33788&start=0

@kenanaybati said:

I think those plug-ins are not useful. I am modelling this ship without any plug-in

Whether you choose to use plugins or not is up to you. There are many ways of modeling a ship and neither is correct per se (I´m not talking about general modeling principles).

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=44357