It has been a while since I posted anything here on Renderosity. I have spent much of the past six months trying out OpenSource graphics programs such as Blender, Gimp, Inkscape, and KompoZer. I have rebuilt my hobby website from the ground up using KompoZer and have made regular use of Gimp. For now, I am sticking with Rhino for my 3D software and Corel Draw for my 2D vector illustration software. My latest project is called "Star Vessels" and it uses designs I last worked on right before beginning my transition to 3D CGI. The "Star Vessels" designs are inspired by the ships of the 1970's-1980's Role Playing Game "Traveller" and the "Terran Trade Authority" books. I am trying to create images that hearken back to the vivid color illustrations of that era of science fiction art. I plan to place my "Star Vessels" ships onto almost garish space backgrounds to highlight their comic-book like quality. The "Star Vessels" designs are meant to be more playful than much of my other work. They are also smaller in size with the largest vessel in the series under 300 meters in length. The level of star-faring technology for "Star Vessels" is similar to that portrayed in James White's "Sector General" series of science fiction novels of the 1960's-1990's. Since the "Star Vessels" series is dedicated to James White, I though it appropriate that the first ship in the series should be a hospital ship. The 14 other designs in the works including 3 exploration vessels, 5 warships, 2 freighters, a tug, a star liner, a space processor, and a space station. You can see concept sketches and statistics for all the "Star Vessels" on my website, www.dcmstarships.com.