Digital Bodies

Ron Mueck - hyperrealistic human sculptures and the uncanny valley

Graham by Patricia Piccinini - Graham's body anatomy has been 'redesigned' in order to optimise his chances of surviving a car crash. Based on research of injuries sustained by people in real traffic accidents

Stelarc - bioengineering extensions to human body

Orlan - obtainign plastic surgies turning her body into canvas

Organic vs. Geometric

Antonio Gaudi - Casa Mila

Marcel Breuer - St. John’s Abbey Church

Aesthetics: rhythm and repetition

Anatomy: skeleton structure and muscular system

Essai d'anatomie en tableaux imprimés: Figure 14, Jean-Baptiste Gautier, 1745

Anatomische studie van de rug van een vrouw, Pieter van Gunst, after Gerard de Lairesse, 1685

Anatomische studie van de lege borstkas, Pieter van Gunst, after Gerard de Lairesse, 1685

Adjustable mannequins

Images of i.Dummy Part III by Allan C.K. Chan, Gordon Wong, Tsui Ka Ping, Ryan Hon and Ann Wu from A' Design Award & Competition.

Projection mapping on human body

Museum of Natural Sciences

Process

Design

3D Scanning

I did have myself 3D scanned with a Kinect Sensor attached to Kuka robotic arm. Fab Lab BCN is equipped with an automatically rotating, computer controlled platform that made the process smooth and fairly easy. Kinect is a depth sensor and a camera as well, the scans may have original colors applied as a texture. Some glitch still occurs.

Slicer

In the end I didn't use my 3D scan nor other 3D model. So, after watching a tutorial on how to use Slicer for Fushion 360, I did not work with it for this assignment. The software

MakeHuman

Weight

Gender

Proportions

Cinema4D

Import 3D model from MakeHuman to Cinema4D

Export the model texture as an UV map

Illustrator

Import the UV map and create the structure

Back to Cinema4D

Create a new material of the edited UV map and apply it to the model

File preparation in Rhinoceros

Fab Lab BCN uses Rhinoceros to send files to the lasercutter. Import file in .dxf format.
Set the inner cuts and engravings to one color and the big outer outlines to another. This way you can set the order of cutting making sure the elements don't move while cutting

Fabrication

Lasercutter

lasercutting at Fab Lab BCN, Trotec Speedy 400

File preparation

save your vector file in a .dxf format
import that file in Rhinoceros (if you want to save it or open a Rhino file, use version not newer than version 5)
set your inner cuts to display in red (R:255, G:0, B:) and outside cut contours in blue R:0, G:0, B:255)
use the PRINT command in Rhino, set the viewport print option and move the viewport accordingly
One Job - A dedicated software for Trotect Lasercutters should open automatically
drag your job into the viewport
run the OPTIMIZE command to save the cutting time of your job
select the MATERIAL PROPERTIES option and set your settings: Speed, Power and Frequency for all the color layers you have in your design
make sure the Air Compression is on in the Material Properties Tab

Machine use

double check if your material is safe for lasercutting
turn on the engraver
turn on the air compression for fume extraction
put your material flat on the machine bed
use paper tape to fix the edges of the material sheet to the bed
move the laser head somewhere around the middle of the material
use a specially designed device to focus the laser beam (by calibrating the distance between the material and laser head, the z position)
depending on your material and settings, you may optionally do a test cut first, cutting a small shape in a waste area and check the results
start the process, stay by the machine and watch out for potential ignition

No 3D file available at this point, as the process was different for this design and evolved
PDF file download here

Materials

Cardboard tends to bend and deform during lasercutting. Some types of paper and cardboard make it impossible to focus the lasercutter in the right point and are not suitable fort this use
For this prototype I used 1.5mm thick white cardborad with lasercutter settings: power: 45, speed 2, frequency: 1000

Assembly and adjustments

Conclusions and notes to self

paper can be surprisingly tricky as a material due to its bending
stiff materials are easier to lasercut but don't allow free shaping after cutting
there definitely are easier ways for 3D modelling and design than using 4 different softwares
paper and cardboard are great for early prototyping as they are easy to cut with regular scissors and easy to glue together
paper tape used to fix sheet to lasercutter bed may rip top layer
burn marks ang glue stains will be visible on white cardboard
failing to maintain flatness of cardboard sheet results in loss of laser focus and uncut lines
manual cutting of complex organic linear shapes after lasercut focus failure is not fun

Outcome