Most conventional framed structures can be referred to as rectilinear - this is what we focused on in the previous lecture. But one of the benefits of modelling in Blender is that we can make use of its sophisticated modelling tools. Remember, Blender was not initially intended to be an engineering tool. Its primary use is as a modelling tool for 3D artists. So, it has excellent tools for generating organic forms. We’ll demonstrate some of these in this lecture and generate the twisting truss below. Blender makes this type of exploratory modelling with unusual shapes extremely easy and certainly much easier than trying to generate this with standard structural analysis software packages.

By the end of this final appendix lecture, you’ll have a good grasp of how to use Blender. You won’t be a Blender expert yet, and doing simple things may still be frustratingly slow. But remember, the earliest part of the learning curve is always the steepest. Persist, and before you know it, you’ll be whizzing around Blender, wondering how you ever managed without it.