Sunday, August 22, 2010

Monday, August 16, 2010

shiny



This version was produced with a rendering program called Shaderlight which operates as a plugin for Google Sketchup. The program makes direct use of Sketchup's textures, but can also enhance imported textures. The interactive operation is a big improvement over anything else I have tried. Shaderlight is still at the Beta stage, but it certainly looks promising.

in situ

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Monday, August 2, 2010

the six pieces



Chess pieces are a nice subject for modeling practice. They are made mostly by spinning a half profile. The knight must be carved or formed by other means. SketchUp has a limited capacity for such functions, which in part explains the rather blocky look here. I may have another go at this subject once I have attained more skill with Blender.

errata:
Handling my chess set prompted me to pick up an old chess primer by Fred Reinfeld. I was reminded that there are - strictly speaking - only five chess "pieces": the King, the Queen, the Rook, the Bishop and the Knight. As Reinfeld notes, "the Pawn is just a pawn".