Drawing a Chess Piece: The
Knight
The wire frame method
Created by Gordon Patterson
Instructor
July 11, 2007
Rhino Skills: Placing a
picture as a background in Rhino, tracing with a curve, using the revolve
command and other surface commands, using the array polar command and array
along a curve, split, hide or change layer and turn off. Split a 3d shape with
a 3d shape. Rendering with materials and changing the environment.
1. Start a new file, go with
default setting. Save as Queen etc.
If you want to choose a
different setting, type units and hit enter, the dialog box will open. The
Default setting for Model units is Millimeters. This can be changed to other
metric units or SI units like inches, feet etc.
If you change to inches it is
recommended that you also change Absolute tolerance to .001.
2. Start by finding a Profile
view ( Right side) of the chess piece that you are
drawing. Save the image as a bitmap or jpeg to your picture files.
Below are two images of a knight that I made.
The front view is provided only to give some perspective on this project. 
3. In Rhino right click on the Right view and drag down to Background Bitmap and over to Place.
4.
Find the picture
you saved to use and open it.
5.
Zoom out in the
Right view so you can see the top half of the grid.
6.
Turn on snap and
snap on to the left edge and Stretch the image until your cursor in on the Y
axis. After you click your image should appear.
Here I wanted the base of the
knight even with the X axis. You can make your chess pieces any size then scale
them to fit together.
7. I have already Double
clicked on Front to maximize that view window.
8. To turn off the grid press the F7 key.
9. Change to a bright layer, for this tutorial
I will start with red.
10. We will start by making the base. Step one
draw a vertical line through the center of the base.
11. Next we will trace the edge of the base. It’s
hard to see but there is a red curve on the right side of the base.
12. Finish the base with the revolve command. Use
the red vertical line to revolve around.
13. Moving up from the base we will do the neck.
Start by tracing the sides of the neck. I started at the point were the head
and neck meet.
14. We will use the arc command start end
direction to form the top and bottom edges of the neck. I have turned on Planar and I have double clicked on
Right to get back to four view ports.
This helps me to get the bottom arc to fit on the revolved surface of
the base.
15. Once you have the bottom and top arcs made
you are ready to surface the neck. For
this step you could use Surface from 2, 3 or 4 Edge Curves. If you do not want
to draw the top curve you could use sweep two rails also.
16. We are ready to trace the head. Note I have
maximized the viewport and zoomed in to do this.
17. We need to Split the line we have just made, by the nose. We will draw a line that intersects the red
curve just below the nostril.
18. We need to create a profile curve of the
head. To do this I will turn on midpoint
and endpoint on my Osnap tools. I will change layers. Also check to see if Planar
is on. We will want Planar on to
create this profile curve. Note I will start the profile curve in the right
view but use the top view to help. Also I have used hide to help me see the
line I am making better.
19. Now we are going to start moving control
points to get a better shape of the knights profile especially the nose. You
can turn on control points by using the menu as pictured below or by pressing
F10.
20. In this next step I am going to select all of
the control points above the one that has been selected in the picture. This is
where I want the nose to begin. Note I have used a crossing window moving from the upper right corner to lower left
corner to select the points.
21. After selecting the points I hold the Shift key while moving them.
At this step I am only working in the Top view. Look at the progression of
changes and note in the last picture how the nose has flattened out a little
and flared out for a nostril.
22. We are ready to make the preliminary surface.
We will use the command “Surface from
Network of Curves”.
Remember this is just a preliminary
surface. We will Split this surface up into smaller parts then duplicate some edges and finally turn on the control points of
these edges to adjust the shape of the head.
23. In the Step that follows we will create a Plane and Copy it about 4 times.
24. I rotate
3 of the 4 planes to get a better cross section of the head. Note the left
plane is to the right side of where the head joins the neck. This is a very
important placement of the plane and if you miss this there is a good chance
that your final surface will not work. I have place a red circle to highlight
the area I am talking about.
25. In this step we will split the surface of the
head by the surfaces of the Planes. Use the
26. At this point you should have split the heat
into 5 surfaces. You can delete the Planes
27. We are ready to “Duplicate Edge”. Every time
you split this surface you created two edges, it does not mater which edge you
select, pick one and move on. When you are done you should have something like
the bottom picture here with 4 lines highlighed.
28. Now we will delete the surface leaving the frame
of lines. Note I have created 4 new very bright layers. I will place 3 of the
cyan lines on these new layers now.
29. The reason I use these colors is in this next
step we will be working in the front view only and the colors help me keep
track of where I am on the head.
30. The Control Points are on and we need to
start moving them a little. This time we will move them one at a time. In this
picture below I have started at the second point from the top and moved it up
and out a little, then as in this picture I have selected the second point and
moved it up and to the right a little also. As you look at the Front view
notice that the new curves that were created by duplication intersect the red
line which is located on the green Y axis at a fairly good angle. If we do not change this our knight will have
a very sharp look to his head when we mirror it at the end.
31. In this next serious of images I have moved
forward on the head to the orange line and am shaping the head right in front
of the eye.
32. Finish off with the nose.
33. To use the command “Surface from Network of Curves” you will need to work in all view
ports.
34. After you select the curves and press enter
you need to select them again in the same direction.
35. After pressing enter the second time you select the other curves and press enter again.
36. Right click on hide bring back the neck and
base and you should have something that is starting to look a little like a
knight.
The Mane for the knight.
37. Hide the head and the neck surfaces, then join the green curve of the neck to the red curve of
the head.
38. We will spilt this curve in two places. One split up by the ears and
the other down almost where the line curves into the base. The blue lines will
be used to split the green curve.
Array along a Curve Before proceeding lock the layer of the surface that the head
is on.
39. Start by showing
the head surface. Then in the Right view port create a cylinder use object snap End to place
it at the end of the curve that was just split. Make the length of the cylinder
slightly longer than the width of the head. The diameter can be a little
tricky. When you use the command fillet
surface for the end you probably will not be able to use the default number
1. I needed a decimal less than one. Note after
making the fillet you will need to join the cylinder it may be in three parts.
40. Rotate the
Cylinder. First select the rotate command use the object snap center. I rotated my cylinder – 20 from
the top view port.
The second rotation I did was down in the front view port.
Again using the rotate command select the cylinder, in the front view port snap
to center and rotate – 10. Note after the this rotation I selected the cylinder
and moved it just a little so that the flat end protruded past the flat edge of
the head see top view below.
41. Array along a Curve.
Note that Number of
items I have set to 27 (this number might very a
little) and in the bottom section under Style I selected Roadlike. I
then clicked in the right view port to finish the command.
42. To finish of the mane we will use polar array.
Start by copying the first
cylinder that you started with rotate it 20 degrees and change it to a
different layer. You may need to move it from center to the center of the top
cylinder.
43. Rotate the red cylinder up about 10 degrees before doing the array.
44. Array polar remember to set the angle to fill
to 90 and I used the number 5 for the amount of objects.
Note before I do the trim I have rotated the individual red
cylinders up and moved them a little.
45. Before using trim
create a plane in the Right view port.
Snap to and end point and make the plane larger than the head.
46. Trim.
47. We are ready to
make an eye. I used Ellipsoid by diameter and the right view port picture gives
you the size.
Note that the Ellipsoid goes to the
drawing plane an you will need to move and rotate it to make it look good.
48. Making the
nostril. I used an ellipse by diameter and placed it about where the circle
was. Then I turned on the control points to change its shape. After looking at
some horse pictures I decided to move it a bit forward then rotate it.
49. You can project
the curve onto the surface or just extrude it. Here I extruded it.
50. You can trim or split the surface away. You will need to
create a concave surface for the nostril.
51. After you have
created the hole duplicate the edge. I used an arc with planar on to create the
concave surface. Once you have an arc there are a number of surfacing tools
that you could use to create the surface.
52. After the nostril
is done, show hidden surfaces, I joined the head and neck. Do not join the
inside of the nostril. Place all of mane on the same layer.
53. Making the ear.
Skip this step if you just want to mirror your project and render.
I start with and Ellipse by diameter using all four view
ports to place it. Note here it is on the drawing plane. We will move it in the
top view.
54. You need to do an
ortho move. Move it over just to the right of the mane and rebuild it with more
control points.
55. Turn on planar
and start moving the points around one by one until you have a C shape.
56. Draw a curve
using near from the edge of the ellipse near the eye follow the ear in the
front view. Make sure planar is on
57. Place a point at the end of the curve.
58. Next you will array the ellipse along a curve then in the Right view port scale the ellipses so they are the same widths as the ear, delete the top ellipse leaving the point.
59. You are ready to loft the ear.
60. Mirror and join.
61. Change object properties, add materials and render. For the effect below I used cork and did and Edit.
62. Try different lighting or backgrounds.
With this tutorial and the Queen
Tutorial you should be able to make the whole chess set.
Have fun with it!