You have a nice eye for design but I see a problem in that the K and Q are not so easily distingushed. There is a reason that kings have crosses on them that goes beyond the obvious religious reference. Your knight is nicely designed except for scale. Why is it so small? My first thought upon seeing it was that it was insect like, probably not the impression you were trying to convey. Also have you given any thought as to how you are going to weight those pawns? Modern play does include blitz and bullet and proper weighting is a must. With a shallow base and thin shaft I see problems. Anyway, you did ask...
Should I put my chess set into production?
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Chess Clock pls?
Thanks for the comment. Nice to get some other eyes on it. Now that you mention it i think that you are right that the knight should be a bit more voluminous. Fortunately that is easily fixed.
Also I agree that the pawn needs more work. Considering how big an advantage it is to be one pawn ahead in position, I think the piece deserves a bit more presence. It should not look like some insignificant piece that you can sacrifice at a whim.
I had the idea that I could model a cavity inside the squares on the board, where you can insert a magnet. If you then put a piece of metal inside the pieces, then they will not only stick to the board, but also tend to center nicely on the squares when you put them down.
I didn't include a clock, because that is not typically a part of a chess set, and you can't 3D print a clock. However I do see that it could add to the feel of luxury, if the set not only come with a board and pieces, but also a clock in a matching style. Anyway, I think I'll stick to the basics for now.
Sep 7, 2013
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#6
Wow, this is very nice. I agree that the king and queen need a bit more distinction and the cross on the kings head is traditionally the solution. You have a first customer i think. Study the weight of the pieces. They need to be stable and carry weight. Good stuff.
The funny thing about the bishop is that after I made the design I read about the piece on wikipedia, and it turns out that it is not that different from the way it used to look before the Staunton design became the canonical way a chess piece is supposed to look like.
After having tried my hand at designing a chess set, I have found a new respect for the guy who turned the Staunton set. Getting the balance right is really difficult. Moving a control point a pixel in the wrong direction will completely throw off the flow of the curves of a piece.
Anyway, I think that the slanted cut in the classical Staunton set is probably the weakest part of the design. It looks like a compromise between cutting straight down through the middle to bifurcate the piece top and in that process lose the ball on the top, and ot making the top look like a bishops hat at all. Anyway, it's hard to explain where I got the inspiration for my bishop from. I think I dreamt about it one night.
Blender
I think you should definately consider mass production ,I think these would be a huge success as I would love a chess set like this ,money is not an option when it comes to detail ,goodluck may you sell many chessboards
Rook looks a bit too much like a lego piece for me, but the pawns are gorgeous.
Why do you put your designs in public? Do you have them patented? They are very nice. You should discuss with a entrepereneur.
Sep 7, 2013
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#13
Very nice looking set! I agree about the King and Queen though--they might be a bit hard to distinguish from one another.
But you've got a customer here!
Two words:
Looks good!
Venture capital would be nice, but as I explained above I don't even know how much money I would need. If anybody knows someone who can help, I would appreciate if you could get me in contact with that person.
As for why I show my design in public. I don't realy bellieve in keeping stuff like this secret. Yes, there is a risc that someone may copy my design, but I think the risc of the project never getting anywhere because you don't dare showing it to anybody is greater.
Let's play a little game of "spot the differences". I made some modifications, based on your comments. Let's see if you can spot them, and please let me hear what you think.
Looks great the new way ;) !
Very nice. A few close up pics of the black pieces to get an idea of their color would help. Many buyers steer clear of pieces that shine for regular use. Is this going to be more of a show set or something you expect people to play with? What is an idea of your price point? Material, weight, and size? Are they balanced properly or have a weighted bottom? I think the rook is a little large and the top half of the knight is small, however it makes the set unique and does not necessarily need to be changed if you don't want to.
You made the knights taller which is an improvement, but I think they should be a little chunkier as well. Looks like the base of the pawns is a little thicker as well. The turret of the rook is smaller and you may have changed the main diameter as well. What did I miss? Overall the set does look more balanced. Now if we can just lose the crenellations (I think that's what you call the points) on the king and put a cross there. Reducing the ones on the queen does help distingush them though.
Recently I have been modeling a chess set as an exercise in 3D modelling. At first I just made a knight piece, but then I got so engrossed with the process that I went on to make a complete set.
I had the idea that I could upload the model to shapeways.com, where people would then be able to order the set as a 3D print made to order in the material of their choice, but as I kept working on the pieces and saw how nice they got, I thought that maybe they deserve to be put into production in a better quality than you wold typically get from a 3D print.
This post is like a feeler to check if there would be enough interest from the chess playing community to make the project worth the while.
I thought that maybe I could make a project on kickstarter.com, but I think I need to know more about what it would cost to produce the chess sets in different materials, and what the expected retail price would be, so that I can set a realistic goal for the project. So I need help from someone who knows something about these matters.
I must admit that I am an awful chess player, so when I play I need some chess pieces that I can easily recognize in order to maintain an overvew of the board. That means that I can only deviate that much from the classical Staunton pattern. On the other hand I like the pieces to be interesting and at the same time aestethic. Also I want the pieces to be well balanced and invite the player to reach out and touch them.
I'll let it be up to you guys to decide if I am on the right track. There are still a lot of details I want to tweak, but all in all I think I have reached a point where I dare show my work to the world.
Please let me know what you think (the pictures are high res. Right click on them and select "view image" in the pop-up menu).