2. Digital bodies¶
Reference, Research & Inspiration¶
I have always found the phenomenon of pareidolia interesting. Those figures that can be sensed in shapes, whether in abstract objects or within nature. This phenomenon of pareidolia is a remnant of evolution where we could identify eyes, faces, and shapes that could pose dangers in nature, although today it remains just that—a remnant that often plays tricks on us in the modern world. This week I wanted to explore how the body can express itself through the objects and shapes that make up the structure. Cubes, bubbles, hands, anything that contains the message in the form of the object, representing various things at the same time.
There are three artists that serve as inspiration for this assignment. The first is the British sculptor Antony Gormley; he describes his work as "an attempt to materialize the place at the other side of appearance where we all live." His work attempts to treat the body not as an object but as a place, and in making works that enclose the space of a particular body to identify a condition common to all human beings. The work is not symbolic but indexical, a trace of a real event of a real body in time. (Wikipedia).
The second artist that inspired me was Han Hsu Tung, a Taiwanese sculptor known for three-dimensional sculptures that morph away into pixels. Hsu Tung Han's recent work consists of sculptures in which he achieves a pixelated effect on the figures. Think of your work as if it were a puzzle, arranging each piece in preparatory sketches and clay models. Using glued wood cuts, build blocks in which, similar to pointillism in painting, the small components become a larger structure that offers the artist infinite possibilities.
And finaly Alessandro Boezio An artist of versatile creativity, he uses an incredible number of materials, both precious and simple, to create sculptures, installations, and original works, each infused by a rich vein of humor. He transforms reality by toying with concepts and objects, which, as the artist affirms, “Everything can be transformed, everything can be re-used, everything is re-adaptable." His works often show a strong bond with nature, bizarre in its micro and macro figurazione. At the same time, Boezio pays a clear homage to technology with its useless knickknacks that man seems practically unable to do without.
I also loved the Advanced - Grasshopper Slicing by Aslı Aydın Aksan - TextileLab Amsterdam Her inspiration on Tamara Kvesitadze's work is amazing. I'll try to do something similar but using Blender instead of Rhino.
Sound Waves from George Gally (Radarboy) on Vimeo.
Weekly assignment¶
- Include some inspiration: research on artists or projects that work with the human body
- Document the use of 3D scanner and software to acquire a 3D model
- Document the process of repairing and/or manipulating a 3D mesh and slicing it
- Document the process of file preparation for laser cutting
- Learn how to laser cut, document the workflow including the machine settings, material type and thickness
- Upload your 3D file (STL/OBJ) and your 2D files (DXF/PDF)
- Build and/or assemble a mannequin or body parts
- Create a stop motion or step-by-step assemblying process and upload one picture (HIGH RES) of your mannequin (extra credit)
Tools¶
Process and workflow¶
With the inspiration finished, the first thing I did was look for a model to create my own three-dimensional solid. For this, I had the help of Sandra, the administrative manager of IDIT, whom I scanned with Kiri engine, a photogrammetry application to obtain the three-dimensional meshes.
Have to mention that I couldn't configure my webpage to show a Youtube video so I had to upload the video to Vimeo for it to be shown at this page.
After scanning I got two models, one "full" resolution, and the other a low poly. As it is evident, the "full" resolution mesh is in very bad shape, so I do not recommend to use it for working in a real life professional work.
It seems that KIRI engine is aware of it's deficienties so it also generates a Low poly model,that looks better than the full model.
Once i had the complete torso I Used This tutorial to learn how to use de Bisect tool to cut arms and legs from the model. That way I could have the exact shape I wanted to work with.
The Bisect tool helped me to get rid of arms and legs, that I was not interested in keeping.
Once I had the 3D solid in the shape I wanted format it was needed to repair the mesh. Fortunately, KIRI engine does not leave holes in the mesh, but it leaves deformed surfaces. I used Blender to repair this deformed surfaces. Mainly using three tools:
Use the Flatten tool to flat parts of the torso distorted by KIRI engine. The tool flattens a large area of the model
The tool Draw helps to add volume to the figure where it needs or if applied [Shift] Draw the tool will take material off the solid
Finally I manually modified the mesh by grabbing single vertex and aligning them with the rest of the surface
At the end I had a low poly 3D model I felt confortable to work with it.
//Imagine¶
I played with the inspiration and some ideas I had in mind to play with the final low poly torso.
The first modification to the torso was applying Voronoi skin using modifiers in Blender. I used This tutorial to achieve the Voronoi structure of the models skin. And also This tutorial to learn how to modify and apply all sorts of effects to make a render of the torso figure I obtained in previous step.
The second modification to the torso was applying scattered objects in the skin of the torso using particles modifier in Blender. I used This tutorial to randomly add particles and imported different objects to change the configuration of the body, similar to what Antony Gormley, Alessandro Boezio and Han Hsu Tung do with their art work. The first idea was to build a Voxel torso, adding a cube on each particle placed on the torso's skin
The second idea was to build a Bubble torso, adding a sphere on each particle placed on the torso's skin but this time I also played with the size of the sphere, randomly applying different sizes so it might look like real bubbles.
Finally I went to Alessandro Boezio's side, and downloaded this hand model called iphone hand from Thingiverse and made a Body made out of hands. If you see it from a distance, they look like strings, but if you get closer, it takes on a sinister appearance of hands emerging from the body.
After Rendering the images I exported the bubble and the voxel model into .STL format for 3D print
Here both prints Finished
Slicing¶
To make the slicing I uploaded this 3D model Hollowed Female Torso for SLA/DLP HQ print
Then I tried to make a boolean operation because I wanted the slicing to appear almos foating with four small sticks hiden inside the figure.
After hours of trying to make the boolean function work I found in a manual that it is very difficult for Blender to make a boolean operation if there are hiden faces inside the model. As you can see in the images, the model is empty, so it is impossible to make any boolean operation.
Then I decided to use the same scanned model, and insert the inner supports for the sliced figure
After placing the supports I made the boolean operation, and it was a succes, since the model I scanned had only one expternal face and it is completely filled.
Once I had the model as I wanted to be, I installed the slicing addon for blender downloading the zip file and installing in edit/preferences/themes/install. You can find the tutorial and downloading instruction of the Laser Addon clicking here
I made the process twice, since the Blender slicer slices all the figure to all parts be glued and I want to present a model with slices that appear to be floating. So I made two attempts one slicing 3mm for the MDF material I am using and then discard 2 out of three pieces so I could have a 3mm piece by a 6mm empty space. The Blender slicing Addon exports all the cuts to an SVG file in Inkscape.
At the end the 3mm slices ended like:
And the 9mm slices are also ready for laser cutting
After Slicing the next step is to laser cut the pieces to build the torso. I have experience using the laser cutter. You can see my Fab Academy webpage to see some pieces I made.
For further development we developed at Fab Lab Puebla an entire repository of all the machines, how they work and their pecularities. You can consult Fab Lab Puebla Laser machine caracterization here
To cut the Inkscape design, it was necesary to import the design into the Laser machine posprocesor to define speeds and laser power
Unfortunately, after cutting the MDF on the right side the machine is not cutting properly. I think there is a Z axle missalignment.
Due to this aweful cut some of the pices will need to be re-worked.
Finally I have all 55 pieces of my torso puzzle ready to be assembled.
When I assembled all the parts it turned out that the supports were too feable and were uncapable of sustaining firmly the entire structure so I decided to glue the parts. At the end my Assembled body turned out like this.
Fabrication files¶
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File: 3d modelling of mannequin ↩
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File: [Laser cut sheets] (../files/week02/Sliced_9mm1.svg) ↩