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2. DIGITAL BODIES

RESEARCH

During our weekly class, we spoke about artists and project who work with the body. One of my favourite styles mentioned was INFLATABLES

HARRI

A London-based artist and designer originally from India. He views fashion as a symbol of non-conformity, with boldness and individuality being integral to the industry. Here is his website.

His work deeply explores and embraces inclusivity by integrating various crafts and art forms from around the globe. Drawing on the century-old Indian art of woodturning, working with premium Sri Lankan latex, and tailoring Scottish wool, he believes that weaving together these diverse cultural and artisanal traditions is key to creating a world without boundaries, where craftsmanship, culture, and community unite.

“What do we call clothes that aren’t clothes as we know them?”


Straytukay

A South African Australian, Finnish-born designer from Moscow based out of London, according to his Instagram. A graduate from Central Saint Martins. In 2024, he collaborated with Rick Owens for his Fall/Winter show. Just like Harri, he uses inflatable latex and other materials to create innovative, reckless and architecturally imaginative designs.



3D SCANNING

We started by scanning ourselves using Skanect and Sensor Kinect from Xbox 360.

There are also apps for the phone that are worth checking. The best ones that we found were 3D Snap and Polycam.

We went to the tarrace to get better lightining for our scans.

Unfortunatelly, the apps didn't turn out the best. The results gave an interesting game-like avatar effect. I felt like I was creating myself as a Sim!



IMPORTANT STEPS

When you have your scan ready on Skanect, you should click to Process and run:

1. Fill Holes 2. Remove Parts 3. Colorize

Then click Share and save it as an .OBJ file (with colours), and if you want .STL (in case you ever need it, for example for 3D printing)

IF YOU EVER ENVOUNTER A PROBLEM WITH YOUR .OBJ FILE, HERE'S WHAT TO DO TO FIND IT:

  1. Open Skanect
  2. Navigate to the "Load" option and locate your saved scan (.skn file).
  3. Now you need to find where are the files on the computer (usually you can see on the others .skn files. In my instance it was: This PC -> Documents -> Scans -> Find your file (based on the time when you scanned)
  4. Once the file is loaded, go to the "Process" or "Prepare" tab and re-export your scan, selecting .OBJ format or a format that supports textures and colour (e.g., PLY).

MANIPULATING 3D MESH

Since our scans weren’t ideal for laser cutting, I used an app called MakeHuman to create a 3D model of a body.

How to manipulate the mesh in Rhino?

  1. Create your person in MakeHuman
  2. Save in .OBJ
  3. Open the file in Rhino
  4. In the Standard section go to Box
  5. Create a box around the part you want to cut off
  6. Go to Mesh Tools section
  7. Select the object you want to cut a part off
  8. Click on Mesh Boolean Difference
  9. Select the second object, in this case the box
  10. Press Enter

If you want to add a shape to your model, e.g. a cone to the breasts, like I was trying to recreate Madonna’s famous bra shape, and then give the body BBL, here's how to do it:

  1. Create a geometrical shape that you want to add to your model
  2. Go to Mech Tools section
  3. Select Mesh Boolean Union
  4. Press on the model and then on the object you want to add and click enter

When you’re done with editing your body, save it in .STL.

After this step, I’d suggest to go straight to Anastasia’s tutorial and follow it step by step.

PREPARATION FOR LASER CUTTING

  1. You need to open Slicer for Fusion 360
  2. Change the manufacturing settings and add you custom settings:

  1. Change the size of your object
  2. Change the Construction Technique – I used Stacked Slices

  1. And check on the right side of the screen how many sheets you have.

  1. We were allowed to use 2 per person, so I edited the size of my object to fit within these 2 but at the same time use all the space available.

CUTTING + ASSEMBLING

Always remember to check the settings of the laser before you start cutting. It's all based on the material you use. It's better run it twice than destroy your material by burning it, or setting FabLab on fire!

I needed to run the laser cutter twice as the first setting was too low and didn't cut the cardboard.

The last step was to assemble the pieces together and glue them.

And that's my final piece!

3D MODEL

BBL by aleksandra.pio on Sketchfab

FILES

  1. FILE: 3D MODELLING TORSO ↩

  2. FILE: LASER CUT SHEETS ↩

  3. FILE: SLICED FILE ↩