Arches add variety to your terrain. I wanted to design pieces that can be used for both bridge and on buildings.
I used the same techniques for the arch span and support as I did for the stairs. Here is an arch span:
Arch Span
The arch span is printed upside down. This allows for a clean arch without requiring supports or having ugly printing artifacts. Clips with top locking pins are printed separately and inserted into the top of the arch.
Arch Span and Separate Clips with Top Locking PinsClips with Top Locking Pins Inserted into Arch Span
The top locking pins in the clips match those found on walls with top locking pins.
Clips with Top Locking Pins Inserted into Arch Span
Right now, there are two types of arch spans, one with I side ports and another with L side ports. I will be adding a O side port version as well.
Arch Span with I Side PortsArch Span with L Side Ports
Now that we've introduced the arch span, here is the arch support that is used with it:
Arch SupportArch Support (alternate view)
Arch supports are also printed upside down for the same reasons the arch span is printed upside down. No clips are required however, since these are meant to be covered with the arch spans and floors. Two arch supports can be connected together to make a support the same length as an arch span.
Arch Supports Connected
You attach the arch spans to the arch supports to complete the arch.
Arch Spans and Supports Connected to Form Arch
The arch spans and supports are versatile and can be used to create bridges or to add variety to buildings. To create bridges, you just need to assemble floors with low walls and stairs/ramps. The example here uses low stairs, but you can use high stairs as well.
Assembling BridgeBridge Example Using Arch Spans and SupportsBottom of Example Bridge
The arch span and support was designed to accommodate floor terrain placed under them. Here I show that you can fit floors under them. Eventually, I want to design floors with water so it will look like water is running under the bridge.
Arch Spans and Supports Accommodate Floor Terrain
The arch supports can be connected to other arch supports to make arches as wide as you need.
Wide Arch
Multiple arches can be combined to make longer bridges.
Longer Bridge Example
Bridges can also be made taller by using risers and more stairs/ramps. Here, I raised the bridge by 2 inches (size of A wall), but you can raise them as high as you need.
Tall Bridge ExampleTall Bridge Example (alternate view)
The arches made from arch spans and supports are not limited to just bridges. Here is an example of the arch spans and supports used to make an alley between buildings. For the bridge, I used the arch spans with the L side ports, but for this building example, I use the arch spans with the I side ports.
Building Example
I will create a few different lengths for the spans and supports. Right now, I just have a span that is 4 inches (Q wall) long, but I do want to add a few more lengths. The idea with these was to be able to build bridges AND use them in buildings.
If you made it down to the end of this blog post, I want to thank you. As always, I value your feedback, so please let me know what you think.
Just a quick update on the progress with the OpenLOCK terrain I am working on. I continue to create different wall pieces with the different tessellations. I've completed the set of brick wall toppers which include IA, BA, A, C, D, and Q tessellations.
Q, D, C, A, BA, and IA Wall Toppers
I am working on both high and low brick walls. The plan is to create IA, BA, BA-AS, A, AS, D, and Q walls. The IA, BA, A, D, and Q walls will have optional top locking pins. For low walls, there will be standard brick walls and capped brick walls. This is where my time is being spent currently.
Q, D, C, A, BA, and IA Wall Toppers
Finally, I will be adding some slanted walls to add variety. These will be built on floor tessellations, but provide side ports and optional top locking pins to connect them together and stack walls on top. Here is an example of a slanted brick wall pieces.
Slanted Brick Wall
Creating the various walls is necessary for a foundation set. I'll be working on these through early next week.
When it came to the risers which are the building block for achieving height at my table, I did not want to have a standard wall height and a higher wall to accommodate them. This is where the wall toppers come in.
Example of Wall Toppers
The toppers can be thought of as very low walls that can be floor height or a little taller as in the case of the ones I'm designing. As you can see from the example, the toppers are used to connect the walls to the floor seemlessly. There are different sizes for the wall toppers including IA, BA, and A (pictured below) and I plan to add D and Q. The wall toppers I designed here are just a continuation of the pattern of the wall and when placed on a wall with locking pins, it just looks like a higher wall. Of course other designs are possible, but for the effect I am trying to achieve, I went with the same pattern.
Wall Toppers
The slots on the bottom of the wall toppers fit into the locking pins of the walls and have ports to connect the toppers to floors.
Wall Toppers Connected to Floor
The idea is to completely surrounds the risers. A combination of walls, floors, wall toppers, etc. can be attached to the riser.
Walls and Floor Connected to Riser
The wall toppers are designed with a different slot size on the bottom than your standard wall. This was done so the wall toppers can overlap multiple walls which can be needed to cover the O, I, or L column pieces. Using the wall tessellation is what sets a wall topper apart from a floor piece.
Wall to Wall Topper Tessellation Comparison
The idea is the toppers need to straddle the locking pins so they can accommodate the columns.
Wall/Columns and Wall ToppersWall Toppers on Wall/Columns
I plan to include a set of wall toppers with the full height and half height walls once I have those complete.
“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” – Gloria Steinem
The first OpenLOCK set that I am asking money for just went up on Cults3D yesterday. I spent about 2 days painting the pieces I used in the example pictures. Honestly, the process of painting is not my favorite, but the end result is satisfying and my players will be grateful for some color at the table! After some research, I decided to use Krylon Matte Clear Finish (1311) to seal the pieces and lightly coated them twice with the finish. Finally, I used my phone to take the pictures. For the backdrop, I went with 4 pieces of white paper taped together and they are paper clipped to my DMs screen. A world class setup!
OpenLOCK Stairs
I started with the stairs instead of floors and walls because I think they say something about the type of terrain I'm hoping to contribute to the community. I really do not want to just repeat what others have already done, I want to add new ideas. I know these are just stairs and there are a bazillion fantasy stairs already! Yes, there are other stairs, but I think my approach to how these stairs can be as tall or wide as desired using bannisters is unique. I also am fond of the tomees, they really do make tactical combat easier to run on a table with a lot of stairs. I have plans to use the technique I employed on the stairs for a future bridge set that will allow for maximum modularity using OpenLOCK pieces. These stairs can be used with other OpenLOCK terrain designed by others; I myself have used them interchangably with sets from Printable Scenery.
I want to build on the bricks I used on the stairs. I've been fervishly creating the necessary walls and floors as these are a necessity to getting to where I want to be. I'm going to run with the brick theme for now for my initial ideas. A dais, a bridge, some interesting buildings! All with the goal of adding something new. I want to push the envelope just a bit to expand what is possible with the OpenLOCK system.
At some point, I will tackle working with other textures besides bricks. My journey right now is just at the beginning. I'm learning how to model using Blender and boy have I learned a lot already about that tool in a short time! It has a steep learning curve and my first pieces took forever to create. I nearly quit several times, but luckily Blender has a large community with ample documentation and videos so I was able to pick up on ways to do what I've done before faster.
I hope you stick around as I feel I'm just getting started.
Early on while printing out OpenLOCK terrain, I learned the clips were too rigid and not easy to insert or remove from the ports on the pieces. Luckily, I stumbled across a solution by eleotlecram which solves the problem, springy OpenLOCK clips. These clips really do work and the solution is ingenious. With these clips, I no longer struggle locking my terrain pieces together or taking them apart.
OpenLOCK clip version 5.4springy OpenLOCK clip by eleotlecram
The only problem I found with the springy clips from eleotlecram is they break too easily in the middle. This may be a problem specific to my printer or the filament I'm using. I solved this by remixing the springy clip design, but with thicker walls in the middle.
springy OpenLOCK clip by Stryfell Studios
Here is a side by side comparison of the clips.
side-by-side OpenLOCK clip comparison OpenLOCK clip version 5.4 (left) springy OpenLOCK clip by eleotlecram (center) springy OpenLOCK clip by Stryfell Studios (right)
Other users have uploaded remixes of the original springy OpenLOCK clips to Thingiverse/Cults3D and I have uploaded mine to Cults3D as well. I cannot recommend enough that you try out one of these springy clips. If you are constantly locking and unlocking terrain pieces, you will find using them much, much easier.
I can honestly say that painting terrain is not my forte. For as much as I am enjoying designing terrain, I'm the exact opposite when it comes to painting. I watched a few YouTube videos and settled on a paint scheme that looks decent which I will be using initially for the Stryfell Studios Sample Pack. I do have an airbrush which I use to prime the pieces. I'm not an airbrush expert, having only used it half a dozen times before now and it took me the better part of a day to setup, prime, and paint a myriad of terrain pieces. I have an inexpensive airbrush and box which I keep in the closet and bring out when I need it.
airbrush setup
I primed everything using Vellejo Ghost Grey which turned out to be a mistake. The color is way too light, even lighter than the cool grey PLA the pieces are printed with.
primed piece (left) and raw piece (right)
I ended up hand painting all the primed pieces which I really wanted to avoid. For walls, I used Army Painter dungeon grey for the base paint. I then used Vallejo cold grey and Vallejo chocolate brown for select bricks. I just picked a dark brown I already had. Finally, all the walls were drybrushed with Vallejo stonewall grey.
painted wall
For the floors, I went with all the same colors except one change. For the base paint, I used the same Army Painter dungeon grey. For select bricks, I went with the same Vallejo cold grey but used Army Painter ash grey instead of the brown I used on the walls. I used the same Vallejo stonewall grey to drybrush the floors.
painted floor
After realizing the mistake with the airbrush color, I did order some Army Painter airbrush medium (thinner and flow improver) so I can use the dungeon grey in the airbrush. Until that shows up next week, I'll be painting the pieces by hand.
E-Stair High with A-Banister Low Stair High Temple
A high banister is taller, coming between a human 28mm miniature's waist and chest. E-Stair High with A-Banister High Stair High Temple
The high banister allows for a lock to be used on the front and back. The low banister does not have room for the port.
front view A-Banister Low Stair High Temple (left) A-Banister High Stair High Temple (right)back view A-Banister Low Stair High Temple (left) A-Banister High Stair High Temple (right)
Newel posts use the same dimensions as an O-Column but can vary in height as long as it can accommodate a port for the lock. Here are the newel posts and a AS-Floor. The AS-Floor is used in the space between the two newel posts in the example.
O-Newel Posts and AS-Floor
The example shows how the stairs, banisters, and newel posts can be combined to make fancier stairways. The newel posts could be designed into the banisters, but then they would always be present when stacking the stairs. I like having them separate so I can have the option to use them or not.
Stairs, Banisters, and Newel Posts example
Here are stacked stairs with newel posts on the far ends of the stairs.
Stairs Stacked with Newel Posts (far end)
Here are stacked stairs with newel posts between the stair pieces.
Stairs Stacked with Newel Posts (between stairs)
Of course, with this terrain being OpenLOCK compatible, other options are available. For example, you could use low walls in place of the newel posts.
