I am modelling a chess set in order to start learning 3D modelling in Blender. Here I bring my pawn and would love to hear your critique on it. I am having nightmares thinking of the knight, but I will go step by step.
I started with a 16 segment circle and created the whole pawn using extrusion. Then added a subsurf modifier and some support loops, then closed the holes on the top and bottom using a subdivided quad to avoid poles.
To start with, the quads on the bottom (flat) are looking good. The ones on the top are creating fancy illumination issues. See this detail of the top of the head. I tried to āsolveā it grabbing the center vertex of the quad with proportional editing ON (in circumference mode), but it didnāt work very well.
Any suggestions will be very welcome. I am focused on modelling right now (not materials or illumination) I am open to redo any part of it. Itās an exercise to learn, so Iām happy to work on it! Thanks in advance.
An example would be to delete all the square faces on top (select them and dissolve edges), then grab that 1st edge loop and bevel it, ctrl B. That will give you a rounded top. Not perfect but try experiment with that as 1 option.
Take a look at blenderās UV Sphere. Start with a new file, delete the cube, and add in a UV Sphere set to - 16 segments & 8 rings. Add subsurf modifier to it. What does that look like? See any deformations like your first example? I donāt, and the top is all tris, not quads, but it works.
My favorite way to do this is to delete that center section you have, giving you this:
Select 2 opposing verts from the top loop, F-key to make a new face - it will only create an edge, since there are only 2 verts selected. Then W-key ā Subdivide, giving you this:
Rinse and repeat until the top is closed. Then, since to top center vert was created at the z-loc of the top ring, it needs to be pulled up a bit on the z-axis.
Learn the mirror modifier. On symmetric objects it can cut the work of closing the top in half. Always enable clipping on it, donāt know why thatās not default.
Good luck on the knight! I once modeled a chess set for a Weekend Challenge here on the forum. The reference images I used to create the chess set were wooden chess pieces. The knight was hand carved and I tried to copy it. Didnāt work out for me.
If you take a cube, add a subdivision modifier (2 level of subd) + cast modifier with a factor of 1, you will get a perfect shaded āquad sphereā. It would have 16 ring segments so you would be able to easilly replace those top part with whose new sphere.
Or, you can leave it as it is, but create a new sphere with some big amount of segments, like 256 by 128 or so, and shrink what you top part of geometry after subdivision modifier.
Wouldnāt it be the same if we just select the edge loop ā Extrude ā Size 0 ā Merge by distance (to merge all vertices from the extruded 0 size loop into one) so we got a triangle cap. Then, select every other edge an dissolve them?
E and N poles are essential to sub-D modeling. You canāt model without them.
Donāt stress too much about the poles/tris/n-gons. Yes, itās good to learn how to model with nice topology, but donāt fall into the trap of the āN-gon cultistsā of the early 2000s era.
Practically speaking, poles/tris/ngons are all fine, as long as you know what youāre doing, what your topology is doing, the purpose of your asset, and the final result of your shading.
Thatās exactly the point. Those poles ended up there by accident, unnoticed by me. I have no idea what I am doing, and thatās my main source of trouble right now .
Not quite, I think. Iām pretty sure you can appreciate the āflowerishā illumination on top of it. I have lowered the central vertex in order to make the effect more noticeable, but there it is.
I think the first question I need an ansewr to is, do I have a problem with the topology of the mesh or just with the angles of the faces? What do I need to rework?
Second one sounds like hiding the problem in a lot of polys to me!
First oneā¦ what if the top of the pawn is not spherical? Do you suggestion implies that you think the topology is correct but somehow the disposition of the faces (angles, sizes, etc) isnāt?
Hehe. Itās all part of the fun. I recommend this classic Polycount thread. You will find a TON of useful info and examples and challenges to boost your learning journey.
