arming Kapitein Knoest

The arms of a LEGO minifig are pretty difficult to model, because of all the curved surfaces that need to be joined together at different angles and the connection to the torso...

I always like to break more complex shapes down into primitives (especially when I'm going to make a paper model out of it ;o) and then edit those into the more exact shapes of the arms.

That way, you can see how all the different curves interconnect, making it easier to "see" how you can make them into one, smooth arm-shape.

But still, this is going to be a difficult piece to model, so I'll probably need a few tries before I get an arm that is satisfactory... ;o)

Stay tuned!

Clothes make the pirate

Kapitein Knoest is from before LEGO started to print the backside of torsos too, so there's only the front of the torso to texturize. ;o)

Creating a texture is actually very simple: a texture is nothing more than a 2D image that gets pasted onto the 3D model, so you can use any image editor you like to create one.

When re-creating an existing object, just like with the 3D model, you can scan the original, and use it as an underlying layer so you have a good guide to create all the shapes you need for Knoest's shirt.

After saving the image, you can load it into the 3D program, and apply it as a texture.

SketchUp has the Paint Bucket tool for this, which works very simple, but you usually have to position and scale it a bit to make it fit the 3D model properly (using the context menu after right-clicking on the texture).

I've always thought Knoest's shirt looks rather smart on him, doesn't it? ;o)

Stay tuned!