Chatzilla extension for Firefox seems to be pretty good as an IRC client if you don't need anything flashy and use that particular browser anyways. :)  I'm not sure if has that backdoor issue like mirc though.

I'm also a regular at Rendergods, but my hours have been odd working the evening shift and getting off work at 11PM and staying up through the wee hours of the morning... Usually this is when everyone else is sleeping/working (depending on what side of the dirt & water ball they live on). So even if you drop by when it appears quiet, feel free to say hello.

Sometimes you might not get a quick response, it's not that anyone intends to be rude, it's just that we're usually multi-tasking. Just give it a few minutes. (Although some of us might have the chat set to blink when specifying their name, so you could do that if something's urgent.)

And nobody's a cry-baby or nanny at our chat. (At least that I'm aware of.) So we have some degree of freedom in what we say or can be said. We even debates and arguments sometimes. To get kicked you really have to go out of your way to harass or offend someone.

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Barbequed Pixels?

Your friendly neighborhood Wings3D nut.
Also feel free to browse my freebies at ShareCG.
There might be something worth downloading.