Chess set

Artwork Works in Progress
#1

Well, I’ve been working on a chess set for about a week or so now. After almost three years of messing with Blender, this is the first serious project I’ve started. My modeling experience before starting this was negligible. Anyways, this is what I’ve got so far:
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/8208/grouppicture3rscj5.png

The models are all based off of reference pictures, so please refrain from praising my artistic ability. :wink:
The king was the most difficult so far, as I had trouble figuring out how to model the cross/crown thingy after creating the base of the piece with the spin tool. There is one geometrical oddity in the model that subsurf doesn’t like, but fortunately it’s too small to be very noticeable.

I’ve spent a total of at least several hours so far attempting to model the bishop, but everything I’ve tried has resulted in failure. Modeling with the spin tool, then using booleans on it and a wedge mesh seemed promising, but the geometry was way too messy for subsurfacing, so that didn’t fly. If anyone has any suggestions regarding this, I would appreciate it.

I also expect the knight to be difficult, but I know I’ll definitely have to use a different technique. Probably have to go with the sculpt tool. I expect it to actually be somewhat fun, as opposed to the pure aggravation I’ve experienced with some of the other pieces.
Also, I really, really, need more reference images for the knight. Preferably, a side, top, and front view. If anyone has any, could find any, or would be willing to make any, I would also greatly appreciate that. I myself do not have a chess set, so it’s somewhat difficult for me to take a picture of one. Perhaps I could go to the park and kidnap a knight from some of the old men playing chess. Dunno, maybe they wouldn’t notice.

Oh, and of course I’d appreciate any comments/criticism/profanity-laced insults. :slight_smile:

#2

Nice, I have no criticism so far. The model is very clean and professional. Have fun modeling the knight, however, I think sub-surface modeling might be a better alternative to sculpt?

#3

Thanks.
Uh, maybe. What’s sub-surface modeling?:o
Do you mean just to model some basic detail and then essentially just let subsurf take over from there? Or something else?

#4

Yes, what i meant by sub-surf modeling is: start with a cube, sub-div once or twice, model the general shape, sub-div again, add detail, sub-div again, add more detail… This method worked for me :smiley:

#5

Oh, okay. I might give that a shot. Depends on the complexity of the knight reference picture I go with. For example, a picture on Wikipedia, which I’ve used for all the previous models, has a level of detail that I’m not sure I’d be comfortable doing with the subdivision stuff. However, there’s no top or front view to go with said image, so I don’t think I’ll use it.
Someone from another forum I visit was able to give me this (the knight on the right is what I’m interested in):
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5702/knightsmg5.jpg
However, the style of the base is different from what I’ve been using, though I suppose I could just use or modify a base from one of the other pieces I’ve already modeled. Much, much less detail, though. So it would probably be easier to do the subdivision stuff with this one.
Still looking for more images, though, just to keep my options open.

#6

You might want to get reference fotos of your knight from front, side and if possible top. Then go and model the piece according to these references by extruding vertices and edges to match the shape. Turn on subsurf and you should be all set.

#7

I took some reference pictures of a knight for you.

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#8

Thanks, but I already knew all of that, and that’s what I was looking to do.

Thank you very much! :smiley:

Oh, and here’s another render:
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/916/groupyafraycurvesfixkj8.png
Done with yafray. I’m more pleased with this one.

#9

post a blend possibly?
oh I think for the knigh model a base then model the horse head…a combination of subsurf modelling and the sculp tool might be the best for the head

#10

The material reminds me of white chocolate. Mmmmm…

#11

Here you go.

Maybe. Still not entirely sure, as I’ve yet to attempt either the knight or the bishop yet. Mostly just been messing around with yafray and DOF stuff. Speaking of which, anyone have any idea why yafray works fine with multiple threads normally, but hangs when doing the same with DOF? :confused:

#12

Eh, still been working on this, but haven’t made much progress.
Someone suggested that I use a knife cut to make the groove in the bishop, which yielded this:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/835/yarrgeometrysucksto3.png
Not too bad, but using subsurf yields this:
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7659/yarrgeometrysuckssubsurkt9.png
Another view, with a higher level of subsurf, I think:
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2526/yarrgeometrysucksblah2qr8.png
Not so good.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

#13

Doc, can’t you use shift-e to tighten up those edges to keep the cut clean? Sorry, I don’t know the “real” name for the tool, I just remember it from a noobie tutorial I did.

#14

Yes, that is possible. And it does work. Mostly.
But I do want the edges of the groove to be somewhat rounded, and the subsurf oddities are only eliminated by setting the crease to 1 (which makes the edges, so that’s somewhat of a problem.
I might just go with this if I can’t find anything else, though. Thanks.

#15

I <3 Chess and I think your current art is very awesome. Are you planning to have a set up Chess table, half-finished game, or just a bunch of pieces scattered around the scene?

#16

The second part of this video tutorial might be just the thing to help with “how tooing” the Bishop.

http://www.ibiblio.org/bvidtute/mytut/ssdemo.avi

An oldie but goodie from GrayBeard.

Pappy

#17

Well, the same person who suggested the knife cut suggested that I extrude the knifed edges inwards, then make the faces for the groove. That yielded this:
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/3307/bishopfixmc6.png
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6028/bishopfixsidevn9.png

Much, much better. Still not completely satisfied, but it’s good enough for now.

Thanks.

Eh, I’ll at least set up the board. Back when I only had the pawn completed, I made a mock-up of one, but I’m definitely going to do that over. Wasn’t very satisfied with it.

Ah, yes. I came across that before, but never watched the whole thing. Not a big fan of the design of his bishop, but upon watching it again, I saw a technique he used for making some of the triangles quads, which I hadn’t thought of before. That might help should I re-do this.

#18

New render, with bishop added:
http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/1151/groupwithbishopetc3aa16pg0.png
Done in yafray. Render time of 33 minutes and 31 seconds. I think I’m happy with everything so far.

Now, on to the knight. :smiley:

#19

x_X 33 minutes? o.0

#20

I’m guessing that’s bad. Right?