The Ink is Still Wet

One of the two parts of my 3D computer sculpture has been printed. It is still a bit sticky because the resin hasn't cured yet. It stands 10" X 10" X 6". The two parts will intertwine. 

Over all I am surprised how much it looks like the 3D computer model. It is in no way a finished  sculpture yet. There are some issues to work on, for one, it is suppose to be hollow but I made the drain holes on the bottom to small so the liquid resin stared to set up before it could all drain out.

As you can see in this detailed photo there are air bubbles in the front legs. To solve this we are going to reprint them as solid clear resin. This will remove the blown glass quality of the sculpture, but the dead line for the SculptCAD Rapid Artists project is to close to reengineer it. 

SculptCAd Rapid Artists hit the Media

Ginger Fox Bird on a Branch

Last week Jerome Weeks from KERA Art & Seek stopped by SculptCAD to see what the SculptCAD Rapid Artists program was all about. He talked with the director Nancy Hairston and 5 of the artists; Heather Gorham, Shane Pennington, David VanNess, Ginger Fox, and myself. A few days later he meet up with Nancy and Ginger Fox at the Rapid Prototyping Lab at SMU to see what it looks to print something using the 3D rapid prototyping process.

All of Jerome's work has resulted in a report broad cast on KERA's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Plus a posting on the KERA Art & Seek website, plus a Youtube video of the Rapid Prototype Lab.

Sending My Sculpture to the Printers

With a little help from the staff at SculptCAD, I shelled (hollowed out) my sculpture, sized it (10" X 12" X 8") and sent it of to be printed at a rapid prototype lab. The clear plastic sculpture should be printed and back at SculptCAD by Tuesday of next week. A pretty quick turn around on a sculpture that has taken me months to learn how to build.

I am expecting it will look a little bit different in the real world from the 3 D computer model. That is always the case when you convert one material into another: Wax to bronze, clay to ceramic, digital imaging into clear plastic.

After the Wednesday delivery, I think there will only be 3 other artist's sculptures left to print, making a total of 15. I can't wait to see them all together.

Posted on Brad Ford Smith Blogspot.

David Kirkpatrick is blogging about the SculptCAD Rapid Artists Project

The freelance writer and journalist David Kirkpatrick has been posting about the SculptCAD Rapid Artists project on his WordPress blog. His blog is very well developed with posts going back to Jan.2008. Topics include Arts, Business, Politics, and Technology. Some of the recent posting are on the topics of Invisibility Cloaks, Google in China, and iPads. There is also a nice list of other blogs and web sites of interest.

Art & Seek drops in to talk with the ScultpCAD Rapid Artists

Shane Pennington talking with Jerome Weeks from KERA/Art & Seek

Reporter Jerome Weeks from KERA/Art & Seek dropped by the SculptCAD studio to talk with some of the artists involved in the SculptCAD Rapid Artists project. He was there for over 2 hours patiently recording the techno geek terminology and the arty babble. Hopefully he got enough intelligent, understanable dialoge to post something on Art & Seek.

On a side note, I think all the artists benefited from having to put into words what they have been doing in the world of 3D computer modeling.

The Twisted world of 3D sculpting

This opportunity to work with the SculptCAD Radip Artists has been great. I am really getting comfortable using the few tools that I have chosen to focus on, and not hitting myself over the head for not knowing more about ALL the tools at hand. When I see people like Nancy Hairston or Heather Gorham work with this program, they just pull out tools, whip them around and wallah! It makes me yearn to have more time to play, but the Drop Dead due date for sending our sculptures to the printer is April 14th.

Developing a feel for the 3D world

In the real world, your clay never just disappears. But in the 3 D computer world, your hard work can just simply vanish, which is what happened today. Of the 3 hours I put into my project, I only have about 15 minutes of work to show for it. GRRR!

On the other hand my feel for using the sculpting tool is starting to feel much more like reallish sculpting.

A few days working at SculptCAD

I have been working with the Free Form program for a couple of days now, mostly focusing on making the duck that is part of the tutorial, but I have learned enough to generate this first 3 D model of my sculpture "Chicken Neck Johnson" for the SculptCAD Rapid Artists project. It still needs a lot of work before it is ready to be put through the 3 D printer.

Art Statement for SculpCAD Rapid Artists program

With access to the Rapid Cad technology and its incredible array of tools and casting mediums, I instantly had visions of producing my very own version of the “Homer”, a car designed by Homer Simpson that was so outlandishly stuffed with add-ons that it caused the finial collapse of Powell Motors.

So, with that in mind, I have tried to focus on learning how the Rapid Cad program works, and how to blind this technology with my own artistic direction, resulting in a sculpture that breaks new ground and makes historical sense. I have of course spent a lot of time just playing; this program seems to encourage that sort of “what if I do this” activity. In the end I have slipped the Rapid Cad into my normal creative process, which begins with lots of drawing on paper, those are then reprocessed and reprocessed to create a composite drawing “Chicken Neck Johnson”. This drawing is scanned onto the Rapid Cad desktop, where it is fleshed out, manipulated, and reprocessed. The resulting 18” X 18” X 6” sculpture is a composite of shapes that I love working with, plus a humorous animal reference, which I credit to the playful, toy making aspects of the Rapid Cad program.

The sculpture is made from an almost transparent red plastic. The Rapid Cad program has allowed me to shell the sculpture so that it is hollow and very light. The walls vary in thickness, which causes the red color to become more intense in the areas where the plastic is thicker and almost water clear where the walls are thinner. The shelling process has also allowed me to create a bottom heavy counter balance, which allows the neck and head to be extend in an giraffe like appearance with an almost transparent head.

SculptCAD Rapid Artists role call

Here are the links to the artists that are involved in the SculpCAD Rapid Artist Program being sponsored by SculpCAD. Nancy selected a group of artists that work in a wide range of styles, mediums and disciplines to see what artists would do with a 3-D computer sculpting tool that is normally used by draftsmen to design medical implants and consumer good like tennis shoes.

• Brad Ford Smith
  
• Dave VanNess
  
• Jay Sullivan
  
• Erica Larkin
  
• Heather Ezell
  
• Ginger Fox
  
• Heather Gorham
  
• Katherine Batiste
  
• Mark Grote
  
• Shawn Smith
  
• Tom Lauerman
  
• Bert Scherbarth
  
• Nancy Hairston
  
• Shane Pennington

A Duck made in the world of SculptCad

We had our first SculptCad Rapid Artists meeting today. We all introduced ourselves and commented on how our first tutorial projects were going, Note the duck pictured above. I'll post the links to all the participating artists in the next post.

Frist Day as a ScultpCAD Rapid Artist

Had My first chance to play with the Free Form 3 D computer sculpting program today. Mostly just poking holes and making cheese doodles. I can see that this program has a lot of similarities to the tools found in Adobe Photoshop. But it seems a bit more user friendly. Then add the Phantom desktop carving tool which is a pencil like mouse that simulates the feel of carving into real material.

Next week I'll start using the tutorial to help me learn the program. I can see