Danielle Aras-Independent Project Process

These are some images of the process of making the Chicago Federal Building model.

 I did the initial 3-D model in Maya. Knowing the building was symmetrical, I made it as easy as possible on myself by only modeling one of each wall that was repeated more than once.

 The next step was to take the model into Pepakura and unfold it. I made two separate models, one for the base and one for the cupola. In this image, the colored pieces in the right window are all I needed to build the whole model.

After unfolding the model, I used Illustrator to add the cutout details and windows.

 This is what the files I sent to the laser cutter looked like...

And these are the pieces I got back, ready to be assembled. The final product can be seen in my other post.

Maria Barragan: ENGRAVING

FROM MAYA TO ILLUSTRATOR TO ENGRAVING

LASER CUT FILE

Danielle Aras - Pepakura Final

This is my final Pepakura piece. I modeled it in Maya then used Pepakura, Illustrator, and Rhino to create the layout for the laser cutter.

 This is the original model in Maya. The open windows were not originally part of the design but while putting the piece together I decided to leave out those pieces both for aesthetic reasons and to make it easier to put together.

This is basically what the layout of the cut file looked like (there are also some extra pieces that do not belong to this sculpture). I ended up leaving off the large base piece as well because it didn't really need it and it was much easier to put together with the bottom completely open.

Danielle Aras - Pepakura Studies

This is the first study I did leading up to the Pepakura project. I got the shape from the polyhedral models website.

This is what the cut file looked like after I had taken it through Illustrator and into Rhino:

For my second pepakura study, I started with a model in Maya and went through the workflow using Pepakura and Illustrator.

This is what the model and cut lines looked like in Pepakura:

Ashley Wood: Eye Monster

This is my Eye Monster sculpture. It was 3d scanned and brought into an obj. file. It is opened here in Maya.

Ashley Wood: Pepakura

This is a form I did in Maya. My focus for this project was to make a complex form with both mountain and valley lines so I could learn the Pepakura process.

 

Eddie Holecko: Project One, Digital Cleanup

Once the model was exported to an obj from RapidWorks, I imported the model into zbrush to clean up the polygons. 

Original geometry

Using the Dynamesh command in Zbrush, I evenly dispersed the polys throughout the object resulting in a much cleaner mesh. 

Dynamesh Model

I used Dynamesh in Z-brush to create several different high resolution and low resolution versions of the object.

29K polycount (left), 72k polycount (right)

191K polycount (left), 470k polycount (right)

After the model was exported as several obj files, I imported the low poly object into maya and experimented with creating a wire frame version.

maya screenshot, low poly obj

low poly obj (left),  reduced poly wire frame geometry (right)

Eddie Holecko: Project One, Process Photos

For this project, taking inspiration from H.R. Giger, I created a small WED clay sculpture.  The sculpt is roughly 4" tall so it works well with the 3D scanner's short range focus.  

roughed out creature sculpt

roughed out creature sculpt

refined creature sculpt

refined creature sculpt

refined creature sculpt-profile

rough creature sculpt back view

Next, the sculpt was sprayed with Kryolan Crystal Clear to seal the detail during the scanning process. The quick creature sculpt was then taken to the scanner.  I added several tracking points which make combining the geometry from each scan easier. 

Sculpture, with tracking points, mounted to the scanner.

Sculpture, with tracking points, mounted to the scanner.

Positioning the sculpture is very important in order to receive a clean scan. If the sculpt/object is not in focus then the scanner does not read the geometry. 

The scanner doing its magic

The scanner and  a glimpse at the Scan Studios interface

 In order to capture enough of the sculpture to work with in Rapid Works, Zbrush and Maya, I had to scan the object 360 degrees from three different positions.

Re-positioned sculpture

After the sculpture was scanned, I combined the scans from multiple angles to create one mesh.  I also cleaned up the geometry and cut out the metal pole that appeared in the scan. Then I imported the mesh into Rapid Works, where I patched a few holes in the geometry.  After the mesh was fused to one and completely patched, I exported an obj file.

Next, I imported the obj to Zbrush in order to clean up the geometry.  More information on mesh clean-up coming soon!

Eddie Holecko: Project One, Reference

I'm Eddie Holecko, junior visual effects major at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I love both sculpture and digital modeling and I look forward to this class because it integrates both techniques.  

Being interested in creatures and characters, I decided to sculpt and scan a maquette of an original creature inspired by one of my favorite artists, H.R. Giger. He is responsible for designing the very famous alien creature in Ridley Scott's film Alien.

Below are a few images of Giger's work.

Sami Lee Woolhiser: Crystal Installation Process

The digital segment for this project required four programs including Maya, Pepakura, Illustrator and Rhino.

Maya: I designed the elements in Maya simply by creating a cube, extruding faces and continually manipulating the shape via control points and corners.  This was the fun part.
One problem I had with the original test models was that the faces were warped in the digital world and when I laser cut them out of eflute they weren't meant to bend. To solve this I simply cut all of the polygons into triangles so that the three points would create a flat surface, this was a full proof way to make sure I didn't run into that problem again when actually fabricating the pieces.

Maya

Pepakura: An amazing program, also a fun part. Here I unfolded all of the structures.

Pepakura

Illustrator: This can be a tricky step. It is crucial to make sure that all of your lines are expanded so that they are individual segments or the laser will read them as one line and not cut the dashed mountain valley lines. It is also important at this stage to convert everything into a hairline at .001 pt thick so that the laser only cuts each dash once.

Illustrator

Rhino: The not so fun part, make sure that there are no duplicates at this stage. Explode all block instances until all that remains are curves.

Rhino

Devin Thompson working Pepakura magic!

Anne Mason

Ty Derousseau

only about half of the pieces made

Transporting them! 

In the warehouse 

Pre-Fashion Show, raining!

So this project came together really quickly, I only had a week to design, laser cut and fabricate this installation. I just want to thank Professor Kelley McClung for the opportunity and Professor Andrew F. Scott for all of his support and the knowledge about digital fabrication that he has passed on to me.

I had a tremendous amount of help with the digital elements from Devin Thompson, another talented  Sculptor. When it came to actually fabricating the works I had a ton of help from my friends Audrey Dakin, Ty Derousseau, Devin Thompson, Daniella Zeman and Anne Mason! Also the Gulfstream Lab was awesome for accommodating this project. And the SCAD Physical Resources department was incredible in their dedication to this event and their willingness to help with anything and everything!