ANIMATED 3D ROBOT CHARACTER IN BLENDER

I’ve been brushing up on 3D modeling after a lot of Unity learning, here is a character I made that I actually like, hopefully it makes it into a Unity game sometime soon.

WIRELESS CHAT USING NRF24L01+ 2.4GHZ RF TRANSCEIVER ON ARDUINO & RASPBERRY PI UBUNTU LINUX

After a bit of success implementing an Arduino 2.4GHz Transceiver , I was encouraged to explore a more familiar environment, something with Python and Linux in the mix.

After a short period of research I landed on the circuitpython-nrf24l01 pypi project page, and quickly began digging through their examples .

It wasn’t long after I had a working prototype that mirrored my Arduino code quite closely:

Components

• CanaKit Raspberry Pi Zero W (Wireless) Complete Starter Kit - 16 GB Edition
• RF24L01+ 2.4GHz Wireless RF Transceiver Module

import sys
import select

from circuitpython_nrf24l01 import RF24
import board
import digitalio as dio

# addresses needs to be in a buffer protocol object (bytearray)
address = b'Nessy'

# change these (digital output) pins accordingly
ce = dio.DigitalInOut(board.D4)
csn = dio.DigitalInOut(board.D5)

# using board.SPI() automatically selects the MCU's
# available SPI pins, board.SCK, board.MOSI, board.MISO
spi = board.SPI()  # init spi bus object

# initialize the nRF24L01 on the spi bus object
nrf = RF24(spi, csn, ce, ask_no_ack=False, data_rate=250)
nrf.dynamic_payloads = False # this is the default in the TMRh20 arduino library
nrf.payload_length = 32

# get username
username = input('Enter Username: ')

# set address of RX node into a TX pipe
nrf.open_tx_pipe(address)

# set address of TX node into a RX pipe
nrf.open_rx_pipe(1, address)

nrf.listen = True

print('Welcome %s' % username)
while True:

    # handle write
    if select.select([sys.stdin,],[],[],0.0)[0]:
        nrf.listen = False
        for line in sys.stdin:
            msg = b'[%b] %b' % (username.encode(), line.rstrip().encode())
            nrf.send(msg)
            break

    # handle recieve
    if not nrf.listen:
        nrf.listen = True

    if nrf.any():
        # retreive the received packet's payload
        buffer = nrf.recv()
        data = buffer.decode().replace('\x00', '')
        print(data)

WIRELESS CHAT USING ARDUINO & NRF24L01+ 2.4GHZ RF TRANSCEIVER

It has been quite some time since I’ve tinkered with an Arduino, and this go around I decided to learn something new.

The [NRF24L01](http://amzn.to/3iFalxX(opens in a new tab)) 2.4GHz Transceiver is an extremely affordable wireless chip, I managed to pickup 10 units for around $12. This chip allows sending and receiving on the 2.4GHz wireless band .

Lucky for us there is a great Arduino library just waiting to be imported, thanks maniacbug !

REAPER BONE MINIATURE PREPARATION

I can’t believe it’s been nearly 7 years since I’ve backed Reaper Miniatures Bones II: The Return Of Mr Bones! ; it was my first real exposure to the miniature painting hobby.

Over the years, I’ve had ups and downs with these affordable figurines, and I’ve certainly learned a thing or two.

By no means is this the only way to prepare a Reaper Bones Miniature, this is merely the approach I take to help illuminate those fine details before adding color.

WARHAMMER 40,000 KILL TEAM STARTER SET

During the last couple weeks I’ve begun painting the Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team Starter Set which I picked up months back.

This was my first time painting anything from Games Workshop, and I’m blown away with the fine detail on these sculptures. They were extremely enjoyable to paint!

Check out the timeline as I paint each module layer by layer.

Warhammer

I used the following products on these miniatures:

DIY DUNGEON & DRAGONS TERRAIN

I’ve been spending a lot of time watching Terrain building on Youtube, and Black Magic Craft has some bad ass videos!

Following one of his earlier video’s I set out to make myself some realistic foam Dungeon Tiles :

I decided to go all in and grabbed myself a Proxxon 37080 Hot Wire Cutter . This table makes cutting the base foam, and the 1x1 grid lines a breeze:

After all those cuts I went to texturing using a rolled up ball of Aluminum foil, this step really adds a ton of character to the piece:

MORE CARDBOARD WARGAMING TERRAIN

I wasn’t completely satisfied how my paper craft shipping container came out. I thought I could probably do better terrain with cardboard and acrylic paints.

That is when Scotty’s awesome DIY 3D Ruins from Cardboard Miniature Terrain gave me some much needed inspiration. Shortly there after I set off on constructing my own scene out of a cardboard box.

I managed to constructer 8 pieces in just a couple of days using basic craft supplies:

EXCELLENT WARGAME TERRAIN

I’ve been wanting to play some Star Wars Legion , but don’t have a lot of large terrain to make the matches interesting. Thats when I noticed a had a large pile of cardboard boxes laying in the corner.

I originally thought about create structure from this cardboard and painting them, but then I got an idea, why not print out artwork and textures and glue it to the card board.

BLENDER 2.8 HAS REACHED LIGHT SPEED!

With the release of Blender 2.8 I figured it was time to dive back in and see what all the hype was about.

I immediately noticed a much cleaner, and much improved user interface. The software really feels like it’s reached the modern generation, huge kuddos to the development team!

Due to all the changes, and my time away from Blender I needed a little help relearning the fundamentals. This was where the official Blender channel blew me away. I can’t recommend the Blender Fundamentals 2.8 series enough!

LORD OF THE RINGS CARD GAME TRACKER

Lately, I’ve been playing a bit of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game by Fantasy Flight . The game is seriously fun and quite strategic.

Like most strategy games, there is a lot of token and phase tracking, something I thought could be easier with a simple web application!

Introducing LotR TCG Tracker !