Topic Rybka Support & Discussion / Aquarium / New chess pieces pics for Rybka 3 Aquarium! click here...
![[il]](/mwf/v12/flags/il.png "Israel")
Hello everyone,
I have created and am proud to present you beautiful pictures of chess pieces called "Free Staunton" in scalable vector graphics format; they are for Rybka 3 Aquarium. Also, 3 nice bitmap pictures of green and white colored chess board made of vinyl commonly used in tournaments are available.
Please see a screenshot below.
License: Free
Please click http://sites.google.com/site/freestaunton/, then click the attached file "FreeStauntonForRybkaAquarium.zip" at the bottom of the site.
Enjoy ;-)
Thanks,
Eran Karu
I have created and am proud to present you beautiful pictures of chess pieces called "Free Staunton" in scalable vector graphics format; they are for Rybka 3 Aquarium. Also, 3 nice bitmap pictures of green and white colored chess board made of vinyl commonly used in tournaments are available.
Please see a screenshot below.
License: Free
Please click http://sites.google.com/site/freestaunton/, then click the attached file "FreeStauntonForRybkaAquarium.zip" at the bottom of the site.
Enjoy ;-)
Thanks,
Eran Karu
Very nice and the imitation vinyl is something that Andy Warhol would be proud of!
Alan
Alan
![[us]](/mwf/v12/flags/us.png "United States")
Very nicely-designed pieces! Board is also nice.
As for uploading them - you already know how. It is same procedure you used to upload the pictures except instead of using the "img" button, you use the "url" button. Post it, then go back in and 'edit' the message via the ATTACH function - just like the picture. When you edit the message and upload the zip, just copy the resulting url to the zip file (including .zip name) and paste it in between the url brackets of your message.
As for uploading them - you already know how. It is same procedure you used to upload the pictures except instead of using the "img" button, you use the "url" button. Post it, then go back in and 'edit' the message via the ATTACH function - just like the picture. When you edit the message and upload the zip, just copy the resulting url to the zip file (including .zip name) and paste it in between the url brackets of your message.
Sorry - see you found another way to do this. Got the zip file via link just fine. They work great. Thank you very much.
![[gr]](/mwf/v12/flags/gr.png "Greece")
Very very very nice indeed.
![[mx]](/mwf/v12/flags/mx.png "Mexico")
saludos desde mexico:
very, very nice , thanks!!
very, very nice , thanks!!
![[is]](/mwf/v12/flags/is.png "Iceland")
Thanks. Which tools did you use to create the pieces?
Sandalls also posted several board themes recently.
It looks like we will have quite a collection of themes if users keep posting them at this rate :)
Sandalls also posted several board themes recently.
It looks like we will have quite a collection of themes if users keep posting them at this rate :)
I use inkscape.
Eran Karu
Eran Karu
![[ru]](/mwf/v12/flags/ru.png "Russian Federation")
I could upload your board theme to Chess Resources server so thay can be installed automatically in Aquarium using Downloader. If you don't mind, that is.
The resource will be something like /Aquarium/User Art/Pieces/Eran Karu/Free Staunton
The same also applies to Sandalls' board themes.
The resource will be something like /Aquarium/User Art/Pieces/Eran Karu/Free Staunton
The same also applies to Sandalls' board themes.
Hi Zruty,
Thank you for your interest in Free Staunton. :-)
Yes, you can upload my board and chess pieces themes to Chess Resources server now. No problem. Go ahead and do it; I am happy! ;-)
Thanks again,
Eran Karu
Thank you for your interest in Free Staunton. :-)
Yes, you can upload my board and chess pieces themes to Chess Resources server now. No problem. Go ahead and do it; I am happy! ;-)
Thanks again,
Eran Karu
OK, when I have time :) I'll report here.
The Free Staunton pieces are not just good. They are extremely eye pleasing (at least to my eyes).
I like very much the simple line - cartoonish concept a lot
I like very much the simple line - cartoonish concept a lot
My simple board themes (color patches) are for any Aquarium users who want them. :-)
Oops, it's already 20:00 here and I didn't have time for it today. Well, tomorrow I'll do it :)
![[nl]](/mwf/v12/flags/nl.png "Netherlands")
Very pretty indeed! Great job!
These pieces and board, and also Sandalls' board themes are avaliable via Downloader at /Aquarium/User Art .
Installation instructions:
Download, Install.
:)
Installation instructions:
Download, Install.
:)
If you want your own pieces / board themes to be accessible there, express your wish and it will come true :)
-- Zruty the Good Wizard :)
-- Zruty the Good Wizard :)
Hi chess lovers,
Humbly thank all of you for your wonderful compliments.
I worked very hard by creating fine chess piece pics in Inkscape, an open source vector graphics editor. It was a painstaking job and it made me very exhausted and I slept more than 20 hours!!
I repetitively drew the outline of chess pieces so that they looked as close as to Staunton chess piece shapes like ones played in real tournaments. In addition, I carefully pick up right colors for the chess pieces and the board. That means, the colors of the chess pieces and the board must be different but in good harmony pleasing to the eyes. Also, this helps the chess pieces to look salient and thus it likely makes a chess player to overlook less in games.
Take care,
Eran Karu
Humbly thank all of you for your wonderful compliments.
I worked very hard by creating fine chess piece pics in Inkscape, an open source vector graphics editor. It was a painstaking job and it made me very exhausted and I slept more than 20 hours!!
I repetitively drew the outline of chess pieces so that they looked as close as to Staunton chess piece shapes like ones played in real tournaments. In addition, I carefully pick up right colors for the chess pieces and the board. That means, the colors of the chess pieces and the board must be different but in good harmony pleasing to the eyes. Also, this helps the chess pieces to look salient and thus it likely makes a chess player to overlook less in games.
Take care,
Eran Karu
Inspired by your work, I downloaded inkscape and looked at your pieces in it. Then I tried learning inkscape. After a few hours, and acquiring some basic appreciation for the program's features, I can much better appreciate how painstaking your effort was. It had to be a LOT of work. This is something I am unlikely ever to have the patience and skill to do. You did a fantastic job, not only in inkscaping the pieces, but with the design job itself.
Your comments about piece-design are right-on. Not all piece sets are well-designed. The contrast of the pieces against the board have to make them stand out, and their design must be so you can tell them apart using peripheral vision (you can tell a pawn from a bishop or a king from a queen without looking directly at it). Pieces shouldn't be 'too busy' looking (not always the case). Black and white pieces must be clearly distinguishable (some of the more decorative designs make this difficult, such as lots of brickwork in rooks).
In short, your pieces, in particular are well thought-out and superbly engineered. They are a very nice addition to Aquarium. And your board design was really nice too. They go well together.
Hopefully at some point in time you will be rested and eventually, in the middle of some night, become blindingly struck with the overwhelming desire to design another Aquarium meisterwerk piece set!
Best regards.
Your comments about piece-design are right-on. Not all piece sets are well-designed. The contrast of the pieces against the board have to make them stand out, and their design must be so you can tell them apart using peripheral vision (you can tell a pawn from a bishop or a king from a queen without looking directly at it). Pieces shouldn't be 'too busy' looking (not always the case). Black and white pieces must be clearly distinguishable (some of the more decorative designs make this difficult, such as lots of brickwork in rooks).
In short, your pieces, in particular are well thought-out and superbly engineered. They are a very nice addition to Aquarium. And your board design was really nice too. They go well together.
Hopefully at some point in time you will be rested and eventually, in the middle of some night, become blindingly struck with the overwhelming desire to design another Aquarium meisterwerk piece set!
Best regards.
The attached document describes how I converted the Merida piece set to SVG. There are many other free fonts available (see links in the document). If anyone is interested in adding new piece sets to Aquarium it shouldn't be too hard using these instructions.
Attachment: ConvertingChessFontstoSVG.pdf (352k)
Thanks very much for the fine PDF instructions. I'm sure they will help a great deal (I might actually try this someday, sometime :-) ). Regards.
Glad to hear that you are enthusiastic to learn how to use inkscape and study my pieces as well. It is fun! ;-) Inkscape is powerful but it takes time to learn.
The size of each picture of one square for each chess piece is 353.63 X 353.63 pixels. Using File|Document Properties... menu, define 80 x 80 grids on each square. Just divide 353.63 by 80 equals 4.4204 pixels for both of Spacing X and Y each. In addition, drag 2 vertical and 2 horizontal guides from the ruler bars as follows below.
Left vertical guide = 30.943 pixels from left edge of square
Right vertical guide = 322.689 pixels
Top horizontal guide = 322.689 pixels from bottom edge of square
Bottom horizontal guide = 30.943 pixels
(At the bottom left corner of the picture is X = 0 and Y = 0)
That would look like four margins around the square. This enable you to draw a piece shape not further than the margin. Make sure you enable "snap" both to grids and guides.
When I draw pieces I mostly use Path. When working with Path, it is like you manage with elastic ropes on surface. It takes time to learn how to use Path. I fill up colors in pieces by managing with Object|Fill and Stroke... menu.
Now, as to picture of chess board, you need 3 items: white.bmp, black.bmp and panel.bmp. They are bitmap and not scalable vectore graphics. I googled any colored vinyl in any commercial sites. Then after downloaded some, I modified color, etc of each bitmap pictures to make the best one of it by using IrfanView.
Lastly, inkscape is somewhat buggy. Each time I saved a document, inkscape crashed. So, it is better to save a new document in the beginning to avoid future crashes. Also, if you are gentle to inkscape, inkscape less likely would crash. LOL
Have fun.
Eran Karu
The size of each picture of one square for each chess piece is 353.63 X 353.63 pixels. Using File|Document Properties... menu, define 80 x 80 grids on each square. Just divide 353.63 by 80 equals 4.4204 pixels for both of Spacing X and Y each. In addition, drag 2 vertical and 2 horizontal guides from the ruler bars as follows below.
Left vertical guide = 30.943 pixels from left edge of square
Right vertical guide = 322.689 pixels
Top horizontal guide = 322.689 pixels from bottom edge of square
Bottom horizontal guide = 30.943 pixels
(At the bottom left corner of the picture is X = 0 and Y = 0)
That would look like four margins around the square. This enable you to draw a piece shape not further than the margin. Make sure you enable "snap" both to grids and guides.
When I draw pieces I mostly use Path. When working with Path, it is like you manage with elastic ropes on surface. It takes time to learn how to use Path. I fill up colors in pieces by managing with Object|Fill and Stroke... menu.
Now, as to picture of chess board, you need 3 items: white.bmp, black.bmp and panel.bmp. They are bitmap and not scalable vectore graphics. I googled any colored vinyl in any commercial sites. Then after downloaded some, I modified color, etc of each bitmap pictures to make the best one of it by using IrfanView.
Lastly, inkscape is somewhat buggy. Each time I saved a document, inkscape crashed. So, it is better to save a new document in the beginning to avoid future crashes. Also, if you are gentle to inkscape, inkscape less likely would crash. LOL
Have fun.
Eran Karu
Thanks for all the useful details. I think you have great patience and tenacity. I may give this a try sometime just to see if I can do it, but I will not be holding my breath. Thanks for taking the time. Regards!
![[au]](/mwf/v12/flags/au.png "Australia")
these are nice. thanks Eran,
and now a decent 3-d set? (of course, i understand that aquairium needs to be designed to handle 3-d, before you can design a set)
best
J
and now a decent 3-d set? (of course, i understand that aquairium needs to be designed to handle 3-d, before you can design a set)
best
J
Okay, but 3-d set is not popular for serious chess players.
Eran Karu
Eran Karu
eran, I like your theme colour with the stanuntan, but i can't quite replicate it on my computer. What theme are you using?
best
J
best
J
Of course, I use my own themes, Free Staunton and Tournament, in Rybka 3 Aquarium, for they are my favorite ones.
Why can you not replicate it on your computer? Is your screen's resolution low?
Take care,
Eran Karu
Why can you not replicate it on your computer? Is your screen's resolution low?
Take care,
Eran Karu
Topic Rybka Support & Discussion / Aquarium / New chess pieces pics for Rybka 3 Aquarium! click here...
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