Modeling a Porsche 911 GT3 RS – Part 01

by Jonathan Williamson

In this multi-part tutorial we are going to be taking a close look at how to model a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Due to the nature of the car the tutorial encompasses a lot of techniques from both organic modeling and hard-body modeling styles. A particular emphasis is placed on creating good topology that will enable you to easily modify the shape but also to accurately create the details.

Part 01 of the this blender 2.5 video tutorial details how to create the base of the front end.

Due to some changes in the original author’s Flickr album, we are now linking you directly to references. These links are available for everyone, regardless of Citizenship and are subject to the Flickr License linked on the authors photo page. Source files do not contain reference images.

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Discussion

76 Responses to “Modeling a Porsche 911 GT3 RS – Part 01”
  1. potadotomado
    Posts: 65

    Yessssssssss!!!!!!!! Thank you guys so much!

    #
    1
     Dec 5, 2009 at 12:03 pm
    Reply
  2. kamrisajelico
    Posts: 19

    I have been wanting to see you guys to a car tutorial. Have you thought about doing an aircraft? Thanks again, keep up the good work.

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    2
     Dec 5, 2009 at 12:08 pm
    Reply
  3. verb
    Posts: 6

    Wow, Finally Car Modeling in BlenderCookie!
    Thank you very much Jonathan!
    Waiting for the other parts

    #
    3
     Dec 5, 2009 at 12:14 pm
    Reply
  4. Tobey
    Posts: 98

    Wow, it’s great to see you finally gave the car tutorial a whirl, Jonathan. Can’t wait to hit the play button.. already knowing it’s gonna be a very enjoyable and educational experience. Here we go… :-)

    #
    4
     Dec 5, 2009 at 1:03 pm
    Reply
  5. deBreyne
    Posts: 9

    Awesome, definitily Top tutorials, can wait to see the rest of the series, thanks Wes and Jonathan!

    #
    5
     Dec 5, 2009 at 1:32 pm
    Reply
  6. megisus
    Posts: 19

    Fantastic! You guys seem to produce the right tutorials for the skills I need for my next project.

    Many thanks!!!

    #
    6
     Dec 5, 2009 at 3:44 pm
    Reply
  7. ampace80
    Posts: 55

    Seriously? Awesome. You guys are awesome.

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    7
     Dec 5, 2009 at 7:34 pm
    Reply
  8. Yegor
    Posts: 3

    Hey, this is very interesting, but what do you say about advantages/disadvantages of using NURBS- instead of poly- car modeling?
    Thanks for great tutors, i’d buy something to support this resource, but my e-card is expired at the moment:(

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    8
     Dec 6, 2009 at 1:04 am
    Reply
  9. Yegor
    Posts: 3

    I mean, wouldn’t it be much smoother to use NURBS and have more control over the surface without loosing the smoothness?

    #
    9
     Dec 6, 2009 at 1:07 am
    Reply
    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1394

      NURBs in Blender really are not up to par currently. This may change if the NURBs project for 2.5 sees it through to completion. It is also due to personal preference. For me, the unparalleled control you get of your mesh with a poly mesh just cannot be beat.

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      9.1
       Dec 7, 2009 at 5:06 pm
      Reply
  10. adin davis
    Posts: 50

    Excellent tutorial. Good enough to be a citizen exclusive as well, I’d say. I loved the topology tips and tricks of this tut and the shear effect on the headlight was a nice surprise, didn’t know that was possible.

    Makes me want to model a 71′ Chevy Nova. :)

    #
    10
     Dec 6, 2009 at 4:49 am
    Reply
  11. Cris Polecat
    Posts: 4

    Awesome! Really awesome! Congrats Jonathan, I could stay our to watch you modeling :D Keep rockin’ dude!

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    11
     Dec 6, 2009 at 8:18 am
    Reply
  12. machcrit
    Posts: 14

    Outstanding job, thus far. It’s very nice to see a tutorial of this detail and scope for Blender. Extremely helpful on hard surface and smooth shapes.

    I especially liked the time you took lining everything up in the references as well as pointing out the differences and issues dealing with camera angles and whatnot in real life reference images.

    Great job, even though you aren’t a car-person!

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    12
     Dec 6, 2009 at 9:45 am
    Reply
  13. Markus S.
    Posts: 40

    Hooray!!!! Finally… :) hopefully those naps at the bank will have done their job and put my citizen-cash on Paypal :@
    I must agree though, NURBS would be cool, though Blender allegedly sucks at them. But for now I don’t care, this is gonna be fun :) I already spent not so little on a Bugatti Veyron tutorial somewhere else and found it totally useless as Blender can’t do curve snapping (but good I spent half a day asking around which non-Blender version would translate best :-P )

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    13
     Dec 6, 2009 at 10:38 am
    Reply
  14. ginoskotheon
    Posts: 135

    So, is the next series going to be a transformer? That would be coolness.

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    14
     Dec 6, 2009 at 4:19 pm
    Reply
  15. Tahseen
    Posts: 2

    When will the part2 come?

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    15
     Dec 7, 2009 at 2:59 am
    Reply
  16. woodge
    Posts: 3

    Can I ask why this is done in 2.49? It wouldn’t make the process much different would it?

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    16
     Dec 7, 2009 at 3:46 pm
    Reply
    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1394

      Although 2.5 Alpha 0 is mostly usable there are a few things here and there that tend to slow things done. But yes, the process would be much the same. We are still testing the waters with 2.5 and so for the next few months you will be seeing a combination of 2.5 and 2.49 tutorials. We are trying to avoid doing anything in 2.5 that may potentially change in the near future (such as modeling with BMesh coming).

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      16.1
       Dec 7, 2009 at 5:10 pm
      Reply
  17. Tio Ilmo
    Posts: 22

    Hi Jonathan,

    Your tutorials are very, very, very (no words). They are the best!

    You spend enough time to clearly pass the technics without being boring and you give precious tips during the process. Congratulations.

    I’d like to give some suggestions for you and your friends which publish tutorials here in Blender Cookie.

    1 – Create different areas for separate the free tutorials from the paid tutorials. It will avoid bad comments like I heard in Citizen Exclusive: Mechanic Part 1 by Wes Burke. People will never recognize your efforts with this kind of “contamination”. The free place should only have free stuff. It is just a tip!
    2 – All parts of multi-part tutorials should be published in a short time sequence. People can´t wait a lot for the next steps. By the way, where is the second part of Creating an Urban Stairway Scene – part 1 by Kernon Dillon? The second part of car modeling will be available only two weeks after the part 1. It would be better only publish the first part when you have all of them ready to publish in sequence.
    3 – Categorize the tutorials by level of difficulty. Newbies need soft food but experts want more advanced information.

    Again, you guys are giving all of us the opportunity of easily enter in the fantastic world of CG and we only have to say always thanks.

    Best regards,

    Tio Ilmo

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    17
     Dec 8, 2009 at 10:35 am
    Reply
  18. mordiaky
    Posts: 7

    Hello Jonathan,

    I have messed around with blender for about 3 years now, and never realy got much done. I just discovered cgcookie and all of these wonderfull tutorials about a week ago and now I feel like I am modling much faster, and cleaner then ever before just from watching your videos and learning the tips you Proudly Provide.

    You have gave me some thing this year that I wish I could return, and that is the ability to model. Like I said I have always played around with blender, but now its more then play. Its your imagination comeing to life. Thank you!

    #
    18
     Dec 10, 2009 at 12:42 am
    Reply
  19. joejoe
    Posts: 3

    Jonathan,

    Thanks for the excellent tutorial. You have the heart of a teacher. Please don’t apologize for going slowly. That’s what a newb like me needs! Those fine details and the logic behind them are what most “here’s the way I do it” type high-speed tut’s lack. I don’t know how many times I’ve attempted to glean info from a high-speed montage of some pro clicking here and there while I haven’t learned a thing. Explaining what you are doing and taking your time really make your tut’s stand out.

    Can’t wait for part 2!!

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    19
     Dec 10, 2009 at 6:20 pm
    Reply
    • smallblocktech
      Posts: 8

      I couldn’t have said it better myself.

      #
      19.1
       Jan 30, 2010 at 7:25 am
      Reply
  20. joejoe
    Posts: 3

    PS. I just bought the source files. Well worth the $4 for such high-quality tut’s.

    #
    20
     Dec 10, 2009 at 6:21 pm
    Reply
  21. annoyer707
    Posts: 1

    Can you please tell me the exact website for the blueprints? I cant seem to find it.

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    21
     Dec 10, 2009 at 9:14 pm
    Reply
  22. Darrell
    Posts: 20

    The reference images of the car can be found here:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/diecastcarsgroup/sets/72157619451759524/

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    22
     Dec 11, 2009 at 2:21 am
    Reply
    • annoyer707
      Posts: 1

      Thank you very much!

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      22.1
       Dec 20, 2009 at 4:04 am
      Reply
  23. degentd
    Posts: 1

    Thanx for sharing this awesome resource with us. Enough complex and detailed.

    Regards, zoli

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    23
     Dec 12, 2009 at 1:20 pm
    Reply
  24. john caldwell
    Posts: 5

    Hi,
    I appreciate your site greatly. You have a great business plan. I have always thought that simply giving tutorials away for free provides no incentive for teachers to continue for long. Making money provides that incentive and gives you reason to strive for more and better tutorials. Keeping it cheap is great because you open it up to everyone, not just the well off, -which by the way is the reason people use Blender. My request is that you would take the car to the actual finished point. I would like to see you make headlights and show how to light them. If this is outside your expertise, perhaps you could collaborate with Kernon and bring him in at the end. There are in fact tutorials on youtube on making cars in Blender, but boring doesn’t even begin to describe them and they dont cover how to make head and tail lights. i would also like to see you venture into gamemaking tutorials both with Blender and Unity. Thanks for your attention, and keep up the good work.

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    24
     Dec 12, 2009 at 1:37 pm
    Reply
  25. sendercorp
    Posts: 208

    This is my favorite car , simple nine eleven would have been nice also . well thank you .

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    25
     Dec 15, 2009 at 5:21 pm
    Reply
  26. Naief Dashti
    Posts: 1

    Thank you very much waiting for part 2

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    26
     Dec 18, 2009 at 2:03 am
    Reply
  27. Nixon
    Posts: 61

    hehe great that u are so honest to say your not much of a car buff at all…
    I’m not so much into cars either but however I stumbled upon that subject modelling those very often and its very interesting to finally learn about it for me:)

    #
    27
     Dec 27, 2009 at 7:28 pm
    Reply
  28. Borko
    Posts: 1

    Thanks for the great tutorial!
    Just what I was looking for long time.

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    28
     Jan 13, 2010 at 3:30 pm
    Reply
  29. Blenderguy
    Posts: 1

    PLZ i cant find the pictures on flickr – little help?

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    29
     Jan 19, 2010 at 1:11 pm
    Reply
  30. smallblocktech
    Posts: 8

    The best one I have seen so far. I’m a car nut and your tutorial is what I’ve been searching for for the last two months. I can’t wait to put the knowledge to use.

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    30
     Jan 30, 2010 at 6:16 am
    Reply
  31. smallblocktech
    Posts: 8

    How many parts are there to the Porsche tutorial?

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    31
     Jan 30, 2010 at 7:45 am
    Reply
    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1394

      There are several more parts lined up. The next one will be online quite soon!

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      31.1
       Jan 30, 2010 at 11:19 am
      Reply
  32. kikko
    Posts: 1

    Jonathan, thank you for this very nice tutorial!! Perfect rythm!

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    32
     Jan 31, 2010 at 6:50 am
    Reply
  33. MeshWeaver
    Posts: 37

    another awesome tutorial, Jonathan :D (i’m about to start Part 3)

    i also figured out why your tutorials are so great: you explain WHY (sorry, no Italic) you do something, like add a loop here or there, instead of just saying “do this and that, then this other thing”, like the Noob-to-Pro wikibook tutorials…it stays in my, and probably other blender users, heads, and we know more about good topology now

    anyway, thanks for these awesome tutorials :)

    #
    33
     Feb 5, 2010 at 11:09 am
    Reply
  34. sendercorp
    Posts: 208

    “i also figured out why your tutorials are so great: you explain WHY (sorry, no Italic) you do something, like add a loop here or there, instead of just saying “do this and that, then this other thing”, like the Noob-to-Pro wikibook tutorials…it stays in my, and probably other blender users, heads, and we know more about good topology now ”

    I totally do agree , He also speaks clean Midwest American English which is a plus .

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    34
     Feb 5, 2010 at 12:34 pm
    Reply
  35. bboybram
    Posts: 3

    2.5 search engine rocks. I searched shear and it gave me the hot key for 2.5

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    35
     Mar 16, 2010 at 2:49 pm
    Reply
  36. Traa1703
    Posts: 4

    “Now i do want to apologise if I make any drastic or BLASPHEMOUS mistakes,” funny how cars are almost its own religion.

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    36
     Mar 29, 2010 at 1:30 pm
    Reply
  37. holly
    Posts: 12

    thank you guys so much.

    I was in classes for 3d modeling with 3ds max at my community college but couldn’t afford it at home. (at least legally) so decided to try out blender. blender cookie has really made the transition a smooth one and in a week I can model almost as well as in blender as in 3ds max… and animated MUCH better. When I move on to Maya at my local college next fall I should have an even smoother transition due to all my practice. And a very round portfolio with 3 softwares I’m capable of instead of 2.

    Thank you.

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    37
     Apr 5, 2010 at 9:22 am
    Reply
    • jeremiah r
      Posts: 265

      Make sure to tell your teachers the power of a free tool as blender compared to money dumps like maya or max

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      37.1
       Dec 25, 2011 at 4:07 pm
      Reply
  38. BlendKraze
    Posts: 1

    Thank you so much Jon. These tutorials are excellent.

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    38
     Jun 24, 2010 at 10:01 pm
    Reply
  39. Paul
    Posts: 5

    hi i was just wonder why i carnt get the picture for the car it not letting me on the page ?

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    39
     Jun 25, 2010 at 1:43 pm
    Reply
    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1394

      Is it not letting you access the Citizen download page? Are you a Citizen member?

      -Jonathan

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      39.1
       Jun 25, 2010 at 3:17 pm
      Reply
      • Paul
        Posts: 5

        what do you mean by Citizen member

        #
        39.1.1
         Jun 26, 2010 at 4:37 am
      • Paul
        Posts: 5

        it ses This page is private

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        39.1.2
         Jun 26, 2010 at 4:43 am
      • Davis
        Posts: 5

        The flickr page has been made private, so nobody has access to the reference images anymore unless they buy the cgcookie thing.

        #
        39.1.3
         Aug 10, 2010 at 11:47 am
  40. blenderman911
    Posts: 2

    Thanks so much for this tutorial. i’ve always wanted to model a car but didn’t know where to start so thanks again.

    #
    40
     Jun 25, 2010 at 5:28 pm
    Reply
  41. paul
    Posts: 5

    so any help plz cuz i relly want to have a go at this tut

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    41
     Jun 26, 2010 at 4:28 pm
    Reply
    • wesburke
      Posts: 298

      Hi Paul – I happened to see this while I was working on a post. Please if you guys need official support please click the support button above or send an e-mail to support@cgcookie.zendesk.com. Jonathan and I both get notification on this and reminders if we don’t respond. We don’t catch every comment that comes in and want to make sure you are replied to as best we can.

      Could you please send me a screen shot on what you are seeing? You should be able to view the embedded video on this page. If for some reason you cannot then you should be able to click it and view on vimeo.com (some geo-locations happen to prompt this). Or if you are a Citizen Member then you may login an download the HD video version and .blend files. Though you should be able to view for free here.

      Please send me an e-mail if this helps and will work to help you.

      Cheers,

      W

      #
      41.1
       Jun 26, 2010 at 11:01 pm
      Reply
  42. paul
    Posts: 5

    well its not he video it is the image that is used in the video from
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/diecastcarsgroup/sets/72157619451759524/

    every time i go on it i get
    ”
    This page is private.
    Oops! You don’t have permission to view this page.
    Here’s a link back to your home page.
    “

    #
    42
     Jun 27, 2010 at 5:40 am
    Reply
  43. Connor
    Posts: 13

    Wes just told me that Jonathan said that they have several other photos like them http://www.flickr.com/photos/diecastcarsgroup

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    43
     Jul 17, 2010 at 8:31 am
    Reply
  44. Benjam56
    Posts: 1

    Wow ! Awesome !
    I will see the other videos tomorrow …
    I think that is the only tutorial on the web, who is like that !
    (Sorry, my english is quiet bad)

    #
    44
     Jul 18, 2010 at 7:18 pm
    Reply
  45. Mitchel
    Posts: 16

    Jonathin could you or someone that has the pictures provide a link to them , becuase i cannot locate them maybe a download link ( for just the pictures) if you have them would be verymuch appreciated

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    45
     Aug 12, 2010 at 2:31 pm
    Reply
  46. Daniel
    Posts: 1

    Hello,
    The tutorial is really great! but the links don’t work anymore :(
    So i can’t find the reference picture.
    Would you possibly be so kind to upload the reference pictures again and post the download link?

    #
    46
     Aug 18, 2010 at 8:15 am
    Reply
    • wesburke
      Posts: 298

      Just update the post above with the download links. It seems the author has changed their flickr album around and has conflicting licensing shown. So to be safe we just wanted to reference to them above. Hope this helps!

      W

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      46.1
       Aug 18, 2010 at 2:38 pm
      Reply
  47. Stephen Johnson
    Posts: 7

    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Porsche_911_GT3_RS_front_20090521.jpg this is the link for the Porsche referenced image!

    #
    47
     Sep 1, 2010 at 4:13 pm
    Reply
  48. Chris
    Posts: 2

    Anyone know if this can be done in Blender 2.49b??? Am I going to run into problems with it?

    #
    48
     Dec 20, 2010 at 1:14 pm
    Reply
    • jonathanwilliamson
      Posts: 1394

      The first parts of this tutorial are actually done in 2.49b. The later parts are done in 2.5+ though. You should not run into any problems other than the occasional tool location difference.

      -Jonathan

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      48.1
       Dec 20, 2010 at 2:40 pm
      Reply
  49. Dozer
    Posts: 1

    I’d just like to go ahead and say that I’m going to go ahead and go ahead and say that this is an awesome video, I’m glad that you decided you would go ahead and make the video!

    I’m going to go ahead and watch the rest of them as I go ahead.

    #
    49
     Feb 11, 2011 at 5:02 am
    Reply
  50. bishop knight
    Posts: 29

    I just found this after Blender Artist went down. I was starting the Camaro tutorial. Lined up all my views and then some virus takes down the site. The images used in this tutorial seem low-res, so I hunted for some others and found these -

    http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=60680.

    I did a search for Porsche 911 gt3 rs and found a lot of high res images. Also, the Porsche 911 gt3 Cup is very simular. The blueprint views can be found here -

    http://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/cars/porsche/40869/view/porsche_911_gt3_cup__2006_/

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    50
     Feb 12, 2011 at 7:45 am
    Reply
  51. bishop knight
    Posts: 29

    Well, this is what I’ve got so far.
    http://enterthemindzi.tripod.com/art/

    I’m really enjoying this. Hopefully, I’ll get a Citizen membership with in a couple of months and do some of the exclusive tutorials. I never considered Blender over 3ds Max until this site and Blender Artist made me realize how robust Blender is. Thanks for all the hard work!

    #
    51
     Feb 17, 2011 at 1:29 pm
    Reply
  52. hetors
    Posts: 29

    Very, very interesting Jonathan. After a year and a couple of month I’ve started watching this cool modeling series.
    Thanks!!

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    52
     Feb 27, 2011 at 8:17 am
    Reply
  53. Kape
    Posts: 1

    Thank you SO much for this video tutorial, my modeling technique was improved a lot! I could model the front of a rx8 very realisticly with only this video tutorial. Thanks again, you’re the man!

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    53
     Feb 28, 2011 at 9:16 pm
    Reply
  54. rino
    Posts: 1

    Please… i cant find the car picture in the original author’s Flickr album.. please jonathan or everyone send directly to my email : rinofery@yahoo.co.id

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    54
     Sep 16, 2011 at 9:43 pm
    Reply
  55. Damax
    Posts: 1

    I can not find these photos, please send them to me at maxtim@ukr.net, please

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    55
     Sep 30, 2011 at 2:56 am
    Reply
  56. green katana
    Posts: 12

    because of this tutorial i just might get the job i allways whanted *.*

    #
    56
     Nov 9, 2011 at 4:38 pm
    Reply

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