Computer Science 3710

Computer Graphics

Project – 3D Modeling Software

Kyle Hankinson

Pawn Version One

Pawn Version Two

How I Started

I choose to model a chess pawns. Choosing what I wanted to model turned out to be the most difficult part of this assignment. The reason being once you know what I wanted to do all I had to do was find a modeling method that would work. I stumbled onto a tutorial for modeling wine glasses and I used the same technique for my pawns. The reason I choose this technique was simple, pawns like wine glasses are symmetric which makes them very easy to model orthographically.

Modeling

The key to this method of modeling is to do it almost entirely in an orthographic setting. So it makes sense that the first step is to set the model window to only show two detentions. This can be done by pressing 1 then 5 on the number pad. Next I found a side view of a pawn which I then loaded into blender as a background. This gave me a template to work from.

The next step was to create a circle mesh and move the scale it to the base of the pawn in the background. I also set the number of vertices to 12. Once I had the circle set up in the correct spot I started filling in my template with model. The process was simple; I would extrude a segment of the circle up then scale it to fit in the template. Then I would do it again and again all the way up the picture of the pawn. To make the process easier I learned some basic hotkeys.

E – Extrude G – Move Left click – Set Tab – enter/exit edit mode

S – Scale Right click – Reset Ctrl-r – Post -cut

Once I reached the top of the pawn I pressed Alt-M and merged the points at the center. The same step was taken at the bottom to create a solid object. Once I had the basic shape I took some time to neaten the models up and add a bit of detail. Since I used a circle mesh I was actually working in 3D even though it looked like I wasn’t. So the end result was a 3D model of a pawn.

Once I had the model I wanted I added some modifiers, set up smooth lighting, and reset the normals. These steps were to create a nicer texture that went over the frame I was working with to model the pawn. These steps also helped round the overall shape of the pawn. I later went back and sharpened corners as needed. The next thing I did was center the pawn and created a transparent plane underneath so a shadow could be projected onto it, this was mainly for presentation. Lastly I set up the camera and light where I wanted them.

Final Thought

I ended up creating two pawns one was the one I originally made and the other was so I could have pictures showing the steps I took. They both turned out alright so I put both into this write up. Also for some reason the hardest part of this assignment was choosing what to model.