Digital Bodies¶
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)
What You'll Need
- Phone + 3D Scan App (Polycam) - obtain .obj or .stl file or .gltf file
- Software
- Blender
- Slicer for Fusion 360 or Inkscape - obtain .svg or .dxf file
- Laser Cutter
- Your Appropriate Laser Cutter Material
Initial Thoughts (during and after lecture)¶
I have to say, when I saw the title of this lecture many moons ago, I really focused on the "digital" part of it, leading me think of digital fabrication and data. "Body" itself inevitably makes me think of the human body.
The latter then reminded me of Robert Longo's work. In the 1980s, Longo drew a series of large charcoal drawings called "Men in the Cities". These drawings depict humans dressed in business atire and doing, what looks like, a distorted, distressed dance. The figures look contorted and in pain. The figure to the left is called Untitled (1980).
The human body is simply one of many bodies. We're surrounded by bodies - bodies of water, bodies of land mass, black bodies, "heavenly bodies" (celestial bodies), bodies of knowledge.
Initially, I thought to collect X, Y, Z data collected from NASA to then import into Blender and see what kind of 3D object the software would create/render. But, for this exercise, it seems a little ambitious and it also doesn't directly involve scanning.
What interests me more than the human body itself, truly, is form and playing with form.
I thought to create something that's somewhat distorted and touches or grazes electricity, origami, plays with form, is both timeless and futuristic, and uses materials we can cheaply find anywhere.
Research + Inspiration¶
Needless to say, I've been heavily inspired by origami and kirigami. I'm so fascinated by the fact that you start with one flat 2 dimensional material that's available virtually anywhere and, with it, you're able to make so many beautiful simple and complex sculptures. And not only can these complex paper sculptures be static; they can be magically kinetic. Kind of how modular synthesizers become this body of otherworldly music through the interconnections between printed circuit boards and hundreds of cables.
Masahiro Chatani, a Professor of Architecture at Tokyo Institute of Technology, and his colleague Keiko Nakazawa, developed a cut and folded paper sphere, along with more origamic sculptures that involve building with intricate cuts of a special knife. Read more about it here.
Saskia Helinska's Digital Bodies work from Fabricademy 2021-2022 resonated with me. She manipulated paper almost as if it was the exoskeleton of a human torso.
I was also inspired by Naim Ali's Digital Bodies work that combines digital fabrication, a poetic resonance between the heart and mind, and electronics that make his piece rather interactive.
All of the above reminded me of the illustrative work of Katsuya Terada - extremely imaginitive, mechanical, showcasing traditional and futuristic extensions of these female characters.
Sketches + Investigations¶
So, with this project I didn't really want to work with the human body. I wanted to work with something that was body-like. Where I live, my landlady has a number of antique lamps that are very beautiful and shapely. I sought to 3D scan one of these and, through slicing horizontal slicing and kirigami/origami principles, create a form that is that neither looks like a lamp or a human body. It almost would transform into a unique body of it's own. Initially I contemplated scanning my arm and the lamp and somehow combining these forms in blender to create a kind of merging between electrical object and human being but perhaps for another project.
I used the principle of the Miyamoto Tower to attempt to stack the variable obtained across the lamp itself. I sketched (albeit very roughly) what this might look like.
This might pose problems because Miyamoto Towers aren't entirely structurally sound. They're meant to be pulled apart but not able to support itself. So instead of stacking, I thought I would hang these varying towers from one point on top and see what comes of it.
Scanning + 3D Modeling¶
To scan, I first used the 3D Scanner App. I don't have any sort of gimble that would allow my phone to rotate smoothly around the object so I acted as the gimble. Also because you have to use the front camera of the phone which poses a very significant challenge. Needless to say, it resulted in a very shaky scan.
I then opted to scan my object using the Polycam App. This resulted in a better scan and, not only that, I was able to easily crop my object from the rest of the environment scanned as a result. I emailed myself links of these files so to export them on my computer. Feel free to pay for this app but that's not the move for me. I exported these as .gltf files (offered in the free version of the app) which you can also import into Blender.
Don't get me wrong, these scans have their defects. One is hollow from under the lamp shade (which would not result in a solid horizontal slice going into Slicer for Fusion 360) and the other lamp is not quite connected (which would also not result in a continuous vertical slice going down the length of the lamp in Slicer). I chose to go with the 2nd lamp scan because the lamp shade is solid not hollow.
I also had a crazy idea to make a "body" or shape with many objects stacked together. To make a kind of cool, nifty helmet. I placed pots and dishes together, scanned it using Polycam, and exported that .gltf file as well.
Anyway, I imported my main LampSolid.gltf file into Blender (File>New>Import) and started by resizing it (clicking the model and pressing 's' on the keyboard).
Because the object looked rough, I smoothed it by selecting the object, right clicking it, and selecting Shade Smooth.
I used Sculpt Mode to modify my file because it got slightly distorted in one area. In the Object Mode dropdown, click it and select Sculpt Mode. The sculpt tools appear at the bottom of the page. On the right hand side, click the Gear icon (underneath the Scene icon) on the right to change the size of your sculpt brush to make larger or smaller changes to your model. I sculpted the lamp but I was also able to sculpt the helmet a bit. I'll show an example of the latter!
Once you have your files ready in Blender, make sure you export and save them as .stl files.
Preparing 2D File¶
For this, I went into Slicer for Fusion 360. A couple things to keep in mind while you're here:
- The Import button
- Manufacturing Settings
- Object Size
- Construction Technique and
- No, you're not wrong, this thing is f$#@%*g infuriating
To import, plain and simple - I clicked the "Import" button, selected my .stl file and was ready to go.
Manufacturing Settings are a little tricky. This is the size of your material which kind of goes hand in hand with how big your laser cutter bed is. I clicked the pencil icon, clicked the single plus icon at the bottom of the window that just popped up to create a new "laser cutter", double cliked the name to rename it, and input the (estimated) dimensions OF MY MATERIAL. Very confusing, I know.
I used cardboard and cardstock so I put the height, length, and thickness of my cardboard/cardstock. Now, if your 2D parts don't fit as shown in the preview pane on the right, you can simply flip the length and height dimensions in the manufacturing settings of your custom material settings to try to make your parts fit.
Object Size is not automatically set when you import your file. The dimensions in Slicer are sort of flipped from the ones in Blender. Width in Slicer is Height in Blender. How tall your object is. So, I imported my lamp file and changed the units to mm and ONLY changed the Width in Slicer to the Height I set in Blender, which was about .509m (509mm in this case). The rest of the dimensions followed suit since "Uniform in Scale" is selected.
For Construction Technique I chose Radial Slices. I then changed Slice Direction and Modify Form.
I sliced this in a way where the vertical long slices are more or less perpendicular to the horizontal circular slices. This was also really a matter of trial and error. I played with the orientation of the object and selected certain dials to see how moving the angle would change the slice direction.
Although I modified my chosen lamp scan/model in Blender, the lamp still wasn't entirely continuous/connected. Well by modifying the form, selecting Shrinkwrap and moving the the dial a little ahead and clicking "Apply", I was able to make my model a bit robust. Literally. It's a thicker, more shapely lamp model. I was please with this plan so I then clicked "Get Plans" to obtain my .dxf zip file with my soon-to-be laser cut pieces. I then modified my model once again to hollow it out, just given my unorthodox creative plans.
I fiddled with these files in Inkscape (changing the Stroke of the lines to 40px to properly see them in the files) and isolated all the solid circular disks/slices and hollow vertical slices for the purposes of the project into their own respective .svg files.
This was a very tedious process. If you're doing this, make note of a couple settings in Inkscape:
- Document Properties - File>Document Properties - I would play with these settings to adjust the document dimensions to either your design or laser bed dimensions. Whichever makes most sense to you.
- Group - Object>Group - Your design is more likely imported in very small pieces. Group allows you to combine all these pieces in one.
- Locking Aspect Ratio - Lock icon next to Height and Width in the top tool bar - When you click to lock aspect ratio in place, it allows you to resize an object uniformly instead of unnecessarily stretching or compressing the design even slightly from the original.
Laser Cutting¶
Now here is where I had the absolute BIGGEST problem. Suffice it to say, I'm in the middle of a move and getting access to a laser cutter was one of the hardest things to do. I got lucky in that a friend of mine has access to a very makeshift hackerspace here in the bay area known as the Sudo Room. The laser cutter is most likely hacked, very manual, and uses software I've never used. I didn't have a flash drive (which I needed) and I forgot my material. Go figure. Nevertheless, I got access to at least scrap cardboard lying around and a borrowed flash drive while there.
Anyway, I had access to this laser cutter for about 2 hours and that's probably it. I was scrambling with Inkscape to prepare my file because at the time I didn't exactly have everything prepared to laser cut. Very quick turnaround.
I cut something very haphazardly but it was something.
For now, I was able to laser cut one of my prototype files. Here's a cool video of that and the settings used for the laser cutter.
I was in the middle of moving this week but I finally got my hands on a laser cutter (a Glowforge) to cut my final pieces.
Material Used + Laser Cutter Settings:¶
- Cardboard and Cardstock - 4mm or less thick
- Speed: 50 mm/s
- Power Percentage: 50%
Final Assembly¶
In the end I decided to simply use the solid circular slices with kirigami cut into them (solidcircularslices.svg). The hollow vertical slices would've been superfluous. I laser cut the file with the notches on the outside to make room for the vertical slices. It definitely comprised the structural integrity of the final "lamp" but I'm pleased with the results nonetheless! I used an awl to poke in the middle of each slice and yarn to thread through each piece. It was supposed to be kinetic in many ways.
Fabrication files¶
3D Files:
- Lamp Shade - Hollow Version: LampHollow.stl
- Lamp Shade - Solid Version - I used this one to create 2D files from: LampSolid.stl
- Makeshift Helmet - For fun!: Helmet.stl
2D Files:
- Solid Radial Interlocked Slices (Horizontal Disks): solidcircularslices.svg
- Hollow Radial Interlocked Slices (Vertical) - I didn't end up using these: hollowverticalslices.svg
- Hollow Radial Interlocked Slices (Vertical) - 2nd File - Again, didn't use these but may be you will!: hollowverticalslices2.svg
- Helmet - For fun!: helmet.svg
References¶
- Origami Simulator - To simulate origami!
- Slicer for Fusion 360 Tutorials - Really good set of tutorials and explanations for the Slicer
- EZgif - Converting videos to .gifs