Exploring 3D World

I decided to go ahead with my idea of doing the Me-262 in Sketchup to compare the experience of using OpenVSP for the same model.  The two systems take very different approaches to computer graphic modeling, so it is really kind of an apples and oranges proposition.  However, for the CG dabbler like me, it still seems a worthwhile comparison.

Google Sketchup and OpenVSP are both friendly to beginners compared to any of the other design packages I've looked at, and of course being free is also a plus they share.  From my perspective, the biggest advantage that Sketchup has over NASA's little OpenVSP is the capacity it gives the modeler to directly superimpose the model being drawn onto a set of three-view plans.  If you have a good, detailed set of plans a very realistic model is possible.  Another check in the plus column for Sketchup is in its forgiving nature; you can easily undo a whole series of mistakes with a mouse click.

The importance of starting off with a good set of plans probably can't be over-stressed.  The really proficient computer graphics guys amass dozens or hundreds of drawings and photos of their subjects before they start working on a model.  An example of what this kind of thorough preparation along with acquired skills can be found in a thread at BlenderArtists.org in which Marek Ryś details the construction of his Me-262.  This CG artist uses another free, open-source modeling program, Blender.

Sketchup was originally aimed primarily at architectural applications, and its capabilities were initially much better suited to that environment than to the kind of organic modeling tasks which Blender users have typically undertaken.  In the past couple years, however, a large number of plug-ins have been developed for the program which is making it a serious rival to the product developed by the large Blender community. An example of how far this process had come can be found in the work of an artist who goes by the name of Axeonalias in the Google Sketchup Forum.

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

my trike

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".

SF Queens

In 1971 Bobby Fischer was on the verge of becoming the World chess champion. In the U.S. interest in chess was at an all-time high and games could be found in progress at every lunch break. I had finally landed a job as an eligibility worker in San Francisco's Food Stamp program. Getting my first paycheck, I went next door to a Goodwill shop and bought an antique bone chess set for ten dollars.

I was thrilled with my purchase of the chess pieces because of their graceful design. Over the years, I have searched for clues about the origins and age of my chess set, but to no avail. The pieces are made from columns and disks of bone, turned on a lathe and threaded with tap and die for assembly. Red and white were the standard colors for chess pieces around the turn of the Century, and whale or camel bone often provided the raw material. My set exhibits the basic design simplicity that was introduced by Staunton in the late 19th Century, but the lines and proportions have a wonderful combination of strength and delicacy which I have never seen in another set.

The image above and a few others are available on the Free Wallpaper Downloads page of my web site.

Update:
I did a Google image search on "bone chess pieces" this morning and turned up an image of a set nearly identical to mine in an antiques sale listing. The context implies that the set is of American origin, though there is a good chance it is English. The red paint in the advertised set has faded, possibly from being displayed in a location too exposed to the light.



"[Item] 109, Ivory or bone chess set. Early 20th century (or earlier). [Estimated value:] $50-$150."

And then I found another image of the set on Flickr. I also found a couple ebay listings which describe the pieces as being "antique ox bone". I would still very much like to know who designed and produced the set, and when.

The chess set turned up again in an Aug. 29, 2014 photo essay in the New York Times.  This time it was set up ready for a match in front of a New York psychiatrist.

game pieces

One of the most interesting features available in all 3D computer graphics programs is the capacity to emulate forms produced by a lathe. In SketchUp the "follow-me" function is most often used for this purpose. A 2D cross-section of a form is drawn, and that is then spun around a central axis to produce the rounded 3D form. While one can thus produce round vase-like objects, the process is also useful for creating new shapes and surfaces through the intersection and joining with other shapes.

The pawn figures were actually an intermediate step in the creation of a thumb-latch in the model I am working on at present. After spinning the form, I sliced it vertically through the middle, and then laid it over on the newly-created flat surface. I like the simple elegance of the unaltered form, however, and perhaps I'll use it as-is in some future composition.

shape shifting

When I get stuck trying to model a particular shape in SketchUp my first step often is to do a search on "SketchUp [shape name]". That sometimes turns up a solution if the problem is a common one. Recently, for instance, I was able to generate a shape I needed, but when I tried to combine it with another I ended up with a bunch of fractured faces. It turned out that I just needed to up the scale of the model by a factor of ten to achieve a higher level of precision in joining complex surfaces.

Failing to find a needed solution via the search engine, I turn to plugins, which are Ruby-scripted add-ons for SketchUp which extend its capabilities. That seldom solves any immediate problems, but it does provide the opportunity to play with some interesting shapes. The above shape was generated by an edge extrusion plugin from a suite written by TIG and posted on the SketchUcation site.

The above shape also demonstrates what it is you have to work with in SketchUp and most other computer graphics programs. There are only vertices, straight lines and flat surfaces, which are defined by triangles or quadrangles. Smoothing curved surfaces is accomplished by adding additional basic elements, such as in the subdivision of surfaces with additional vertices and edges.

Back at the Airport

I'm working at learning the rather daunting interface of the Blender 3D drawing program. Meanwhile, I'm still having fun noodling around with Google SketchUp.



The small airport composition is made mostly from recycled parts. The planes were replicated from a previous drawing. The two figures, the bike rack and the bench are from SketchUp's sample box. The spiral stairs is nearly a one-click production, thanks to the marvelous on line plugin from The Engineering Toolbox.

The inspiration for my small airport came in part from the ad below which appeared in the Nov. 1944 issue of Popular Mechanics. I also have my own memories of flying off grass strips in the '40s and '50s in Kent and Renton, Washington.



It certainly made good sense for Aeronca to target farmers with their ad pitch for new dealers. Farmers had the land, as well as the necessary mechanical and construction skills to support such an undertaking. I don't know how many such ventures were successful; probably a rather small percentage in the long run, I'd guess. Ultimately, of course, the small airports succumbed to the same suburban development onslaught that contributed to killing off the small farms.

I suppose there is still some possibility that one could start up a small aviation business these days, but the budding entrepreneur had better have an MBA, and maybe a minor in computer science.

ready to fly

Taking a break

I've parked the Fokker at the Airport while we are in Phoenix for a week.



I have a few details yet to finish when I get back. This will be a good chance to evaluate where I am with this stuff. There is a little irony in the fact that I have spent $600 on a computer to run a free program.

Decoration

I decided my airplane needed some identifying insignia, so I set about figuring out how to do that.



The tail surfaces are flat and present no difficulty, but the fuselage and wing surfaces have curves that resist direct drawing techniques.

The maltese cross image was projected onto the slightly curved sides with a technique demonstrated in a video tutorial by Aidan Chopra, author of "SketchUp for Dummies".

For the crosses on the wings, I tried a plug-in tool that allows drawing on curved surfaces, but I couldn't achieve the kind of precision needed to complete the design successfully. In the end, I used the same technique that allowed me to cut the hole for the cockpit.

A form with the desired profile is pushed through the surfaces, the two objects are merged, and new edges and surfaces are created. Once an area is enclosed with a continuous perimeter, materials and images can be projected or painted onto it without leaking onto the contiguous surfaces.

I've also scaled back the cowling a bit to give the plane a profile a bit more in line with photos I've seen of it. I'm planning on tweaking a few more details, laying on some color, and hope to wrap up this project in a week or so.

All the parts together

I'd like to do a bit more with this Fokker d.VIII, but my old Dell computer is balking at the prospect. In order to display the shadows in this image I had to turn off hardware acceleration, so the process really slows to a painful crawl. I have learned quite a bit from doing this model, however, so I think I can put this one in the success column too. I can go back to doing simpler models for a while as there is still a lot of the basics I need to learn.

airscrew

One of the aspects of 3D modelling that I enjoy is the research which allows accuracy, or at least reasonable resemblance, to the object being depicted. While looking for some guidance on how to draw a propeller, I came across this fine blueprint at the excellent Wooden Propeller site. There is also a wonderful illustrated article on the art and craft of propeller construction.



The next challenge is how to translate a good plan into a SketchUp drawing

around and around

I'm working on a new SketchUp model of a WWI plane. The 110 hp engine in it was an Oberursel Ur.II, a German product copied from a French design. I was vaguely aware that in such rotary engines, much of the machinery went around along with the prop. It wasn't until I began looking at CAD representations that I began to understand why the rotary was considered a good idea at the time, or what made them work. Two CAD depictions in particular make the functioning of rotary engines a lot easier to understand.

The cut-away depiction below is from the marvelous Vintage Aviator site. If you look closely you will see the key feature of the engine, which is that there are two axes of rotation.



How the machinery is linked by the two axes is illustrated with great simplicity by an illustration at the Animated Engines site. Once there, click on the "Gnome Rotary" link to view the animation. Under the "About" link, you will also find an excellent explanation of how the engine animations are produced.

flying clothespins

Albuquerque Squadron

35mm

The first 35mm film was conceived of as a motion picture format in the labs of Thomas Edison. The format was put to use in a large number of miniature still cameras in the first decades of the Twentieth Century, including the Leica. The pre-loaded 35mm cassette was the invention of Dr. Ernest Nagel of Stuttgart who devised it for his Retina line of compact folding cameras. Kodak acquired the Nagel factory in 1931 and began marketing the Retina cameras and the film, which was designated as Kodak 135, in 1934.

The interactive 3D model is at the Warehouse.

Busman's Holiday

I spent the afternoon today modeling these 120 roll film spools which came along with my two oldest box cameras. The cores of the spools are turned wood, and the end caps are stamped sheet metal.



I needed a break from working on my latest airplane. Some little alignment errors have proven difficult to correct, and I'm not sure if this one will ever fly. I did learn several new SketchUp techniques in the process, however, so I still feel the time was well spent.

Atomic Doughnuts

Continuing the theme...



The 3D model is at the Warehouse.

coffee and a doughnut