Gothic Chess by lauriebonnell52

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

In total 37 *.STL files are required to perform this task and it is intended to be a group project. Collaborative efforts encourage learning from each other’s talents, that being said one person can create this project on their own.
Scaling at a uniform scale or sectioning the model may improve the outcome if the printer used is not large enough to make the model components in one piece.
To summarize this project is about gothic creationism. To build out and up, this is the basic premise of 3d modeling. The chess pcs have base guides with arrows describing the direction of each player’s capabilities making the learning curve much easier. Just like Microsoft made icons say a thousand words, these guides will stop the novice questioning how each player moves and how they coordinate attacks. The middle pedestal should be made from clear crystal which is easy enough if you make the reverse mould from the models included.
The board is elongated and risen up at each rank, creating a more realistic perspective of the game but changing no other aspect of the games rules. Knights attack and defense patterns are circles of the opposite color from the moves start but in gothic chess the attack profile is an oval that changes depending on the placement of the pc on the board. Similarly the angles of attack from queens and bishops are more curved and less obvious increasing the level of competition.
I used auto cad for the starting models and imported to 3d studio max which I then exported as STL files for printing. I could have used other formats but STL seems to be most often used for printing. I used very simple math to design the board with a logical and even progression to keep the games logic intact. Team work between the player peace’s are what I am expecting from the project participants.
Objectives in this project are scaling or sectioning the model, testing fit between components and adjusting sizes to have a more smooth fit. Using different mediums like making reverse moulds for liquid crystal, leather or cloth for the covering, painting the exterior and blocks of the board as well as taking interest in chess itself as the greatest math teacher in history.
The Audience should be anyone willing to learn chess with icons beneath each piece that teach their moves. The project participants should be intermediate modellers able to address issues that arise from fit of components and testing smaller samples befor making a commitment to a larger project. Any artistic student will see the simplicity of the math creating something new from something old.
In preparation the student s should test themselves and others on Staunton chess sets to investigate how easy or difficult this model is. They should consider the cost of leather for the binding and the crystal for the pedestals of each piece; they should also consider improving the design of the cover or outside or even changes to the step and depth of the design. The size of printers and their precision will be variables that may differ from one class to the next which will change their approach to completing the model and not the least of preparation is the finding of good instructors and equipment.
The most obvious first step would be making the chess pieces in one mould (provided) test the chess pcs on a regular Staunton chess board for sizing and then make the pieces in three steps also included as models of each separate pc. Creating the mid pedestal will require making a reverse mould as each pedestal is unique to the type of pc and base. Making a Boolean subtraction of the words in the base from the mould of the mid-section would make the fit better but the pc themselves may have to be glued or otherwise connected by modeling male and female fixtures.
The board will fold into a book after a cover binding is used, so investing some time into the design and sizing is required. My prototype works well with Velcro for fasteners, but I will not include the size of each cover, that will ensure that the components are not already done and simply put together after printed. (A plastic hinged connection will work just as well as leather)
The playing field sides are identical except for the male and female connections that also could be designed better as incentive for the class to show off their ingenuity. That being said the board is 16” at the longest points which is out of limits for smaller marker bot systems, so the board will have to be made in components (models included) or sectioned or scaled uniformly to complete the project.
I hand painted my prototype which could also be a good part of the project and I also made models of people for the pcs not included. The cooperation of students with different skill sets could produce similar yet different results which are the basics of chess and math.
As result of this project I am hoping the students learn how easy adapting their own creativity to known art work can be a very fulfilling thing to do. Modeling and using different mediums together should teach them how cooperative efforts make the best music. The math I used is simple and repeatable in other projects that they hopefully will have lots of in their future. I have been an architectural draftsman and 3d modeller for over twenty years and find that this is the most rewarding of any work I have ever done. It is true that if you work at what you love you will never really work a day in your life.