Expert: Andre Hickman - 11/1/2007

Question
hi, i have been trying to find easy tutorials on how to make 3D chess pieces for 3ds max. i have been able to find the pawn and have created it, but i can't find anything on th other pieces. maybe you can help me with this issue?

Answer
Hey Heather,

Your question is a bit too broad for me to answer...It would take 10 pages worth of text to explain.  If you can't find any other tutorials, this is what I suggest:

I am assuming that with the pawn, they either are using a method of "boolean" modeling, or creating a lofted spline object or rotating a spline around a center point (lathing).  You need to get a chess set in front of you, and physically study the pieces.  Then try to use the same techniques that they showed you in creating the pawn, to create the foundation of all the other pieces.  Most of the pieces are relatively the same in circumference all the way around the piece, with the exception of the Knight (horse) the notch, or "mouth" on the Bishop's hat, and the cut' outs for the top of the castle wall...Oh and adding a cross to the Kings hat, and the waviness of the queens crown.

Other than that, everything should be able to be done exactly in the same technique as the pawn.  All of there bases certainly should be pretty much the same...

Try to get as far as you can with each piece, and then when you run into a specific problem on a certain piece, ask me how to overcome THAT problem. And I will try to walk you through a solution.  It may involve using a different modelling technique than the one that you are using for the pawn, but I won't know until you get to it, as I really don't have a guage to know how much you know right now, and whether you understand "boolean modeling" "lofting" and "lathing" as well as direct sub-object vertex manipulation.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Cheers,

Andre'