6. Computational Couture¶
Research & Ideation¶
After hearing and watching Julia’s presentation I was impressed by all the things you can create using 3D printing. She is a crack in this field and an inspiration. It’s a new world of opportunity, creation and innovation that can transform the way we see Fashion. One of my inspirations is Ganit Goldstein. She is a Jerusalem-borned Computational Textile and Fashion Designer that has spent years exploring alternatives to standard production methods and workflows. She combines craftmanship with technologies, science and arts, constructing garments that hybridize 3D printing and traditional methods of weaving and dyeing techniques.
Another inspirational designer is Srushti Patil from India. She was named the designer of the year on 2024.She just graduate as a Fashion designer fron FIT New YOrk, but she did an incredible final collection. She works with sustainable materials; she likes to work one-on-one with the clients to create a custom designed for important moments. She uses 3D printing specially.
Danit Peleg is the first designer to create an entire collection using a 3D home printer. She aims to revolutionize the fashion industry by working towards making fashion accessible and sustainable by reducing waste and pollution. She believes that 3D printing opens new opportunities in digital fashion, where creativity and innovation intercept to create positive change.
You can follow them.
Getting to know the 3D printer¶
After having done research about other designer works and looked through different Fabricademy projects I went to the Fablab and asked how many fashion projects they had made and if they have samples, they didn’t have so I thought about making swatches, first for me to get to know the process and then to document the results. So, I started to do research about biomimetics and 3D printers to get inspired and begin my journey.
BIOMIMETRICS¶
Biomimetics is the practice of learning from and biomimicking nature's structures, models, processes, and systems to solve complex human problems. The word comes from the Greek words bios (life) and mimesis (imitation). It involves drawing knowledge from various fields like biology, engineering, materials science, and more to understand and replicate natural systems.
It seeks to emulate how nature has already solved complex problems over billions of years of evolution, replicating the function of a biological system. Biomimetic solutions can lead to more sustainable designs. Various materials, structures, and devices have been fabricated for commercial interest by engineers, material scientists, chemists, and biologists, and for beauty, structure, and design by artists and architects.
Inspirations¶
The dragonfly and the sunflower¶
The dragonfly is a small insect, of variety of colors and beautiful. Its life cycle starts as an aquatic nymph to a flying adult. It flies quite fast and keeps the equilibrium on the edges of the plants and branches with majesty. It is an animal that mystically means transformation, change, adaptability and new beginnings. For some cultures dragonflies can be seen as messengers of hope, light, joy and prosperity.
Sunflower¶
Sunflowers first originated around 1000 BC in the Americas, mainly in what is now known as Arizona and New Mexico, and had a huge variety of uses. Sunflowers got their name simply because they move to face the sun. In Greek mythology, the story goes that a nymph named Clytie was in love with Apollo, the God of Sun and in a jealous reaction form Clytie, Apollo turned Clytie into a sunflower.
Sunflowers symbolize loyalty, long life, vitality, growth. Its vibrant yellow petals can evoke feelings of warmth and positivity. Sunflowers stand tall and strong, representing resilience in the face of challenges.
Get to know the 3D printers and its filaments¶
For me this is all new. I never printed in 3D. My other local instructor, Jonathan Leon, showed me the 3D machines that we have at the FabLab and explained to me the basics for print.
Type of 3D printers:
• Fused deposition modeling (FDM), also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF), or filament 3D printing, is the most widely used type of 3D printing at the consumer level, and the most recognizable for the average layperson, who may associate the broader concept of 3D printing with this ‘hot-glue gun’ method of building parts. FDM 3D printers are many people’s first introduction to 3D printing technology.
• Stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing was the world’s first 3D printing technology, invented in the 1980s. Despite this, SLA has taken longer than FDM 3D printing to achieve widespread adoption and awareness due to typically higher prices and a slightly more complex printing process. SLA 3D printers produce parts with smoother surface finishes, tighter tolerances, and higher dimensional accuracy than other 3D printing technologies. These printers are ideally suited for functional prototyping.
• Selective laser sintering (SLS) is the most common additive manufacturing technology for industrial applications, trusted by engineers and manufacturers across different industries for its ability to produce strong, functional parts. SLS 3D printers use a high-powered laser to fuse small particles of polymer powder. The unfused powder supports the part during printing and eliminates the need for dedicated support structures.
Type of filaments¶
The type of filament you need depends on the type of object you want to print. I was surprise of all the different types and thier functions. I couldn't believe it.
Standard filaments
• PLA (Polylactic Acid): Easy to print with low temperature requirements, making it popular for home and classroom use. It's derived from organic materials and is good for decorative items and prototypes, but it is more fragile and has low heat resistance.
• ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene): Tough and impact-resistant, used for functional parts like LEGO bricks. It requires higher printing temperatures and a heated bed, and can emit fumes, so ventilation is crucial.
• PETG (Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol): A good middle ground between PLA and ABS. It is more durable and chemically resistant than PLA, while being easier to print than ABS. It offers good strength and clarity for mechanical parts and containers.
Specialty and advanced filaments
• TPU / TPE (Thermoplastic Polyurethane / Thermoplastic Elastomer): Flexible and elastic filaments, used for parts that need to bend or stretch, such as phone cases or gaskets.
• Nylon (Polyamide): A very strong and durable filament with excellent wear resistance, but it can be challenging to print with due to its high moisture absorption.
• PC (Polycarbonate): One of the strongest filaments, known for its high durability and impact resistance, making it suitable for high-stress applications.
• Carbon Fiber: A strong and rigid material that is often blended with other filaments like PLA or Nylon to increase their strength and stiffness.
Composite and aesthetic filaments
• Wood Filament: Blends PLA with wood particles to give 3D prints a wood-like look and feel, which can be sanded and stained.
• Metal Filament: Contains metal powders (like bronze, copper, or steel) mixed with a polymer binder, resulting in prints that are heavier and can be polished to a metallic finish.
• Glow-in-the-Dark: These filaments, typically PLA-based, contain phosphorescent additives that make them glow after being exposed to light.
• Conductive Filament: Filaments that can conduct electricity, used for creating simple electronic circuits.
• HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene): Often used as a dissolvable support material for ABS prints but can also be used on its own.
• PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol): Another dissolvable support material that is especially useful for printing complex parts with PLA.
First, I looked for a dragonfly wing and the center of a sunflower, because from them I was going to replicate them in Rhino for the modelling process.
First, I started with the dragonfly wing. One I had it, I tried to replicate it. Once I had it, I used the mirror command to change the position to be able to arrange them trying to leave the less open spaces of the surface that I would use on the 3D Machine.
After having the layout ready, I proceeded to offset the pieces leaving them 2 mm thick and extruding 6 mm, exporting it as a .OBJ file. Once I had it, we open it in the 3D printer software and found out that I would take nearly 9 hrs. to print. Therefore, I had to reduce its height to 4mm, reducing half the time.
Materials:¶
• Mesh Textile
• Lykra Textile
• Filaments PLA and TPU
• Clamps or/and magnets
• Time
The first dragonfly printing I used a PLA filament, cause in our FabLab they had never used the PTU. Jonathan told me that each layer has a height of 0.2mm so I waited until the 3D printed placed the 1st layer, to put the mesh textile on the board, making a sandwich for a better grip. We attached it with clamps at the top and bottom of the board, because on the sides they obstructed the head printer. After that I press the play button for it to continue printing.
NOTE: All the documents exported as OBJ files need to be modeled on a 225 mm * 225 mm surface leaving a margin of 180 mm * 180 mm
TPU 85A transparent 3D printing Parameter¶
This is the fisrt time that we print with TPU filament, so we do not know how its going to react to the heat, the speed and all the different parameters, so we decided to print a really small cube to see how it goes and make the ajustements neccesary.
For that we asked Chatgtp for the correct parameters for our 3D printer and this is what answered.
I model the cube with really small holes and send it to the printer as an OBJ file.
We had to change the PLA filament for the TPU one. It was transparent son we had to take out all the waste kept on the coil. Something funny was that because the filament is transparent the machine did not detected it but at the same time neither marked a kind of trouble, so we procede to print.
The cubes are soo tiny that you can not appreciate the holes, but you can squeezed it and it is actually flexible ans softer.
Since the prototype worked, we started printing again the dragonfly wings ans had the same procedure. I noticed that it was a little more sticky and as well that while it was printing over the mesh some bubbles were formed and it looked as if the color of the mesh vanishes and mixed with the filament.
## TPU 85A transparent with sublimation
I did another sample with TPU and sublimation. I had made a model in Rhino with figures similars to a Sashiko weaving with holes and some tind of pins to samble on the holes. I thought that being the TPU transparent maybe it would look nice. Here is a photo of the model.
Then I looked for a picture of a dragon, thinking on the dragonfly made before and of the chinesse dragons. I foun a picture full of color and it looks like a ancient painting on a piece of wood. It has vivid colors, red, turquoise, blue, green. I save de picture in PDF, send it to the Epson printer, then I cut it and place it on the 3D board.
Once the sublimated paper was on the 3D printer we play the machine and it started its process of printing. I may say that I reduced the thickness 50% because at the beginning it was going to take 9 hrs and 30 min to print. Doing that the time I reduced the time to 5 hrs and 40 min. I was really curious of the final result because I had never done this.
As you can see, the result was really nice. The colors are vivid, the picture is perfect and is thin enough to blend and adquire different shapes. On the other side, the result was not as expected. It looks like snow or frost, with bubbles and it shines beautifully, but as I reduced the model 50%, it is not as good as I wanted. I think that the knowledge adquire is that it will be perfect thinner and without a structure design on the surface. I will definitely try it again and play with the forms.
PLA printed in an spiral form¶
I wanted to make another sample that the shapes could move and I wanted to try it with a different textile, but this time not in a sandwish form. I did not have time to print it, but I share with you can show you my model in Rhino.
