I’ve got a king! I intended to start with the king, but then realized it made more sense to make the pawns — kittens — first and then increase the size and add decorations for the other pieces. Instead of first, the kitten king was the last one made. Blender has some cool “brushes” for creating folds and gathers in fabric.
Still working on the yarn ball, but I’ve got a pouncing knight.
I figured a cat tree was the kitten version of a castle keep. So I’ve got a kitten napping. I’m going to have to take the little ball off. That doesn’t seem like something that would 3d print very well.
I modified the pawn to make a bishop
I copied the pawn and grew her a little. Added a crown and necklace … voila, a kitten queen! I’ve been using the smooth brush a lot to even out the surface. I’m curious how these will 3d print because the model is made up of a lot of little triangles.
421,132 to be exact. As I’ve discovered, you can configure the viewport to add data in overlays. Statistics is a nice one!
A pawn … this little guy took quite a long time to get cat shaped, but I think I’ve got it!
OK, so I don’t know that anyone would see this and say “cat!” … but it’s a start!
My idea is to have a king and queen, a knight pouncing on something, a bishop based on the beckoning cat, and a rook that is a cat sleeping in a little cat tree. Pawns will just be kittens. Should probably start there since they’re the least adorned.
I’ve got a start to my chess pieces — now I just need to figure out how to use all of these sculpting tools to nudge this cylinder into the shape of a kitten king!
Originally, I wanted to sculpt the entire thing in python, but it appears that the programmatic interface only works in defined shapes. I guess I could construct millions of tiny triangles? polygons? to create cats … but I suspect that using the actual sculpting tools is going to be the easier approach.
However, the base of each piece seems perfect for a script. This will ensure consistency in my chess pieces (and let me play around with the Python approach since I think it is really cool that Blender takes Python code!). I am making decorated cylinders onto which my figures will sit.
import bpy
import bmesh
import math
INCH = 0.0254 # meters per inch
params = {
# Cylinder base size
"base_diameter_in": 1.75,
"base_height_in": 0.25,
# Wreath hemispheres
"hemi_count": 24,
"hemi_radius_in": 0.05,
"hemi_offset_in": 0.125, # inward from base outer edge
# Collection
"collection_name": "Chess_Base",
}
def inch(v):
return v * INCH
def ensure_collection(name):
if name in bpy.data.collections:
return bpy.data.collections[name]
col = bpy.data.collections.new(name)
bpy.context.scene.collection.children.link(col)
return col
COL = ensure_collection(params["collection_name"])
def build_base():
base_r = inch(params["base_diameter_in"]) / 2.0
base_h = inch(params["base_height_in"])
# Place the base so its top is at Z = base_h (sitting on Z=0 plane)
bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cylinder_add(radius=base_r, depth=base_h, location=(0, 0, base_h / 2.0))
base = bpy.context.active_object
base.name = "Chess_Base_Cylinder"
# Link explicitly to target collection (in case active collection differs)
if base.name not in COL.objects:
COL.objects.link(base)
return base
def make_hemisphere_mesh(radius_m, segments=32, rings=16):
bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_uv_sphere_add(radius=radius_m, segments=segments, ring_count=rings, location=(0, 0, 0))
sph = bpy.context.active_object
bm = bmesh.new()
bm.from_mesh(sph.data)
# Keep the top hemisphere: delete vertices with z < 0 (tolerance to avoid floating error)
to_delete = [v for v in bm.verts if v.co.z < -1e-7]
if to_delete:
bmesh.ops.delete(bm, geom=to_delete, context='VERTS')
bm.to_mesh(sph.data)
bm.free()
hemi_mesh = sph.data
hemi_mesh.name = "Hemisphere_Mesh"
# Remove the temporary object but keep the mesh datablock
bpy.data.objects.remove(sph, do_unlink=True)
return hemi_mesh
def build_wreath_hemispheres(hemi_mesh):
base_r = inch(params["base_diameter_in"]) / 2.0
base_h = inch(params["base_height_in"])
ring_r = base_r - inch(params["hemi_offset_in"])
count = params["hemi_count"]
hemis = []
for i in range(count):
theta = (i / count) * 2.0 * math.pi
cx = ring_r * math.cos(theta)
cy = ring_r * math.sin(theta)
obj = bpy.data.objects.new(f"Hemi_{i:02d}", hemi_mesh)
# Flat face of hemisphere (its equator at local Z=0) sits on base top (Z=base_h)
obj.location = (cx, cy, base_h)
COL.objects.link(obj)
hemis.append(obj)
# Join hemispheres into a single object
bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
for o in hemis:
o.select_set(True)
bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = hemis[0]
bpy.ops.object.join()
wreath = bpy.context.active_object
wreath.name = "Wreath_Hemispheres"
return wreath
def build_all():
base = build_base()
hemi_mesh = make_hemisphere_mesh(inch(params["hemi_radius_in"]))
wreath = build_wreath_hemispheres(hemi_mesh)
print("Built:", base.name, wreath.name)
build_all()
Scott and I were learning enough Blender to modify a mount for the Ranger, and Anya had randomly borrowed a “Blender for Dummies” book from the library. As we’ve been learning more about Blender, I came across a video series showing how to create chess pieces as a way of learning the program. Which has sparked the family blender challenge — everyone is creating their own chess set. Anya spent some of her holiday break translating one of her wood carvings into a model to use as the pawns … now Scott and I are behind! I think I’ll make a cat themed set … I just need to learn how to sculpt in Blender since the python API interface only seems to create basic shapes.