Papercraft Objects: First Prototype

This week we were tasked with continuing to develop our digital objects into real life three-dimensional paper cut shapes. Firstly, we had to flatten our digital shapes in Rhinoceros 5 by “exploding” our objects, exploding is a function in Rhinoceros 5 that turns a shape into multiple parts instead of one solid form. Then we had to rotate all of those separate parts so that they were flat to the working surface so we could have a template of our shape in a one-dimensional shape. We then took our one-dimensional shape into Adobe Illustrator where we outlined our shape, added dashed line to indicate where on the shape needed to be folded and finally we created small tabs around the shape to allow us to tape the shape together by using these small tabs. Finally, we printed off our shapes onto cardstock paper and then cut and taped our shapes into their three-dimensional forms.

We had to choose one of our original shapes from our Digital Sample project, I chose to further develop my 7^th shape. To view my initial objects please refer to my earlier post titled “Papercraft Objects: Digital Samples.” I was able to finish cutting and taping my shape relatively quickly so my professor, Bryan Cera, inquired me about what inspired the creation of my shape. I told him I was influenced by the shape and form of an urchin that has lost all of its protective spines. Upon discussing this with him more he asked if they had legs, they in fact do, although they are very small. I then became inspired to give my abstract sea urchin some legs, this can be viewed in the images below. Although the projects outline was to create shapes using strictly paper I found that the paper legs were not strong enough to hold my object upright, I ended up using small paperclips to reinforce the legs as subtly as possible. To see the reinforced legs, view the images below.

I found this project to be extremely interesting as it has taught me how an object I’ve made on Rhinoceros 5 can quickly become a real life object. I look forward to working in these medium again in the future.

Lastly, this project and the images below are only a prototype. The final finished project will be uploaded in around a week’s time, look forward to it.

Reference of what a sea urchin without its protective spines looks like:

Original Shape

Prototype Papercut Shape

Front View

 View of Legs

 Top Portion of Body

 View or Reinforced Legs 

Papercraft: Research

Papercraft is the artistic practice of using cut paper to create highly detailed shapes and forms. Many papercraft artists will work in solely one-dimensional cut paper, but others will often create extremely life like work that have been made in three-dimensions. Examples of this include artists creating chairs, cameras or even parrots in three-dimensions using cut paper.
Two artists that inspired me were Deepti Nair and Harikishnan Panicker, these two are an artist couple who create paper cut light boxes. This is cutting many layers of paper that are all the same color and are generally always white, then stacking them on top of each other and lighting them from behind. When the cut paper piece is complete and fully lighted the piece is immediately given a sense of depth with all of its many different layers each lighted differently. The layers closer to the viewer will appear dark as opposed to the layers in furhter back which will be very bright and will show the warm color of the light used in the piece. This creates and incredibly beautiful piece of art that is truly unique and visually stunning.
Deepti Nair and Harikishnan Panicker pay extreme attention to detail making sure that they have not overlooked something even if it may not be lighted and is instead in the shade of the piece. An example of this would be in one of their works, shown below, there are roots of a tree in the shaded area of their piece but we the viewer are still shown the roots even though they may be hard to see. Another important factor to discuss about their work is that every element within their work is always a silhouette, nothing is every given full on details such as a persons facial features or the cracking bark on a tree. Even though they do not give extreme detail such as, facial expressions, they still give the viewer enough information to understand what is occurring within their artwork. This artist couple is extremely masterful in their field and they have truly inspired me to create my own pieces of art based off of their work. 
Further information regarding Deepti Nair and Harikishnan Panicker can be found in the following link: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/03/illuminated-cut-paper-light-boxes-by-hari-deepti/

Image that I discussed earlier that includes tree roots in a dark area.

Papercraft Objects: Digital Samples

Papercraft is an extremely interesting and creative form of art, but in order to create these beautiful shapes and forms they must first be made in a one-dimensional form firstly before they can be cut and folded into a three-denominational form. One fantastic way to make these shapes in a one-denominational form is on the program "Rhinoceros 5," it allows for the creator to first make their shapes in a three-denominational and complete form and then it allows them to go and unfold their shape so that they could print it off on a piece of paper and then cut and fold their shapes into their complete forms.
After learning about these features in Rhinoceros 5 I decided to try and see what interesting shapes I could create, it was surprising how varied shapes and forms can be made with simply changeling the angle or size of each shape. The below images are the results of my experimentation in Rhinoceros 5, each image shows the assembled and disassembled shape. 
I found Rhinoceros 5 a very easy to use program once I had figured out a good majority of the hot keys which allowed me to easily create these shapes. In the first couple attempts at creating shapes it was hard to remember what hot keys and functions did certain actions, it was very helpful though to visit the Rhinoceros 5 website as a reference for using their program. 

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Geometric Patterns Sample Sheet

This past week I was introduced to Adobe Illustrator and was given the task of simply playing with some of its many options to create geometric designs and to also become comfortable and well oriented with this program. Using a wide variety of different tools I found it quite interesting as to how much is possible with only a base understanding of Adobe Illustrator. I found it incredible as to the amount I was able to make when essentially I only knew how to copy and paste, rotate, create simple shapes and draw curved lines. After only having spent a brief time using Adobe Illustrator I found it to be what seemed like a program without boundaries and limits, I look forward to using it more in the future. 

You can view my work below, it consists of twenty-five different thumbnail designs.

Thingiverse Mashup Final Resul

After having experimented in my initial "Thingiverse Mashup Concepts" and hearing the feedback from my colleagues about my ideas I decided to go ahead and refine one of my designs so it was more fleshed out. The design concept I chose to refine was my tenth concept, which was named "What the Heart Wants," for this concept I received lots of positive feedback so I chose to take that feedback and let it influence my final design.
When refining my design I chose to make it more bizarre then it initially was after hearing from my colleagues that they would like to see me take my idea further. I did this by angling a couple of its many arms so that they faced downward as if they were legs, I also chose to have the arms along the outer area of the heart as opposed to being closer to the centre. I did this because my colleagues  found in my initial concept it was hard to understand what the separate pieces actually were, with my final design its is easy to make out both the shape of the heart and the many arms which gives off a much more creepy visual. Another piece of feedback I received from my colleagues was that the name given to this design should be "Heart Attack" as it was both a clever pun and much more suitable name. 
I found that when I was doing my refining from my concept that my colleagues feedback helped me to find what did and did not work in my initial idea. An example of this was when one of my colleagues mentioned that my design was free floating, it did not have legs and this seemed odd, having the viewpoints of others definitely helped me in creating my final design.
Working on these past two thingiverse projects has been a very interesting experience for me as it has both shown me a new creative field and it has exposed me to a massive community of fellow creative individuals who work in the same medium and mentality associated with remix culture. When I was creating my initial concepts for my thingivese mashup assignment I constantly  thought about what two objects would combine well together, that is where I got the idea of having both my objects be organic in nature. That thought process led me to creating an organic design that looks as though it could actually be something that is living and breathing, as warped and creepy as it may be.
I think that my final creation truly embodies what remix culture is all about, I say this because I have taken two objects and combined them to make something that looks as though it had been designed as one solid form when in reality these two objects were taken from two completely different creators and combined. My design, hopefully to others, coveys the true embodiment of what remix culture is.
The original design can be found below as well as my new design.

Links to the original designs: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10310/#files, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1746236/#files

Link to "Heart Attack" design on Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1804569

Original Parts Used

 

Original Design: "What the Heart Wants"

Side View

Side View

New Design: "Heart Attack"

Front View

Side View

Rear View

Side View

Thingiverse Mashup Concepts

Remix culture has taught me how enjoyable it can be to simply combine two or more objects and create something new but reminiscent of what it once was. I personally found that working in the "Remix Culture" mind set I created odd but interesting models, one such example in my "Dolphin-Buster" which is a remix of a dolphin and the Hulk-Buster from the movie "Avengers" (image can be seen below). I will continue to create and experiment in remix culture in the future as it is an extremely amusing form of model making.

Concept #1 - Geometric Frog

Original sources: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:189479

 http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3997

For this model I wanted to create something organic but yet odd, I remixed a frog and a geometric

sphere in order to create model a unique look unlike anything I had seen prior.

Concept #2 - Demon Skull

Original sources:http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:441087, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:473590

For this model I ended up using a human skull and the horns of a ram in order to create a demon-like head, which is both creepy and cool in my personal opinion.

Concept #3 - Bird with Dreams 

Original sources: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:182246/#files, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:373367/#files 

This model was a remix of a penguin and a highly detailed tyrannosaurus skull, I ended up using the bottom jaw as spine like protrusions along the penguins back.

Concept #4 - Shrine of Bender

Original sources: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:14328/#files, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18261/#files

This model is almost like a shrine or temple to the character Bender from Futurama, I also wanted this model to have a small amount of humour in it.

Concept 5 - Un-creepy Gnome 

Original sources:http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1778540/#files, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1096917/#files

This is a remix of a cute bear and a gnome, when remixing this model I set a goal to myself of trying to create a gnome that does not look creepy. I think I was successful in that regard.

Concept #6 - A Rook's Sword

Original sources: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1005110/#files, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:633144/#files

This remixed model uses a very elaborate sword and extremely complex rook from a chess game. I used the rook to detail the majority of the sword, this can be seen along the blade and also in the handle of the sword.

Concept #7 - Dolphin-Buster

Original sources: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1767488/#files,http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1787416/#files

For this model I remixed a dolphin and the Hulk-Buster to create a very silly piece that I have named the "Dolphin-Buster."

Concept #8 - Not Batman

Original sources: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1753758/#files,http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1754061/#files

This remix uses a very detailed head model and the signature batman mask to create an interesting remix.

Concept #9 - Fancy Pyramid

Original sources: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1415885/#files,http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1750640/#files

This remix, although it may be simple, I found to work quite well because the pyramids eye along with it's top hat gave it a personality.

Concept #10 - What the Heart Wants

(Different angels of model)

Original sources: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10310/#files,http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1746236/#files

This is definitely my creepiest remix but one of my favourites. I chose to remix arms and a scientifically accurate heart together in order to create a horrifying creature which in my opinion turned out quite nicely. 

Objectified

After viewing the documentary "Objectified" I came to the realisation that truly everything around, and in, our lives was at one time designed and then created by someone.

It may sound ridiculous to say, but this simple realisation never occurred to me until after I had finished viewing the film. It is still mind boggling to think of how much time and effort is put into each and every object we see. After watching the film, I became inspired to create something that is widely used, but that could still be given an interesting or new look. I chose to create an alarm clock. I created the alarm clock while thinking of classes that I attend later this week. This gave me the idea of an alarm clock that not only will wake you up, but it will also notify you the amount of time you have before your next class begins. I chose to not only have the standard analogue clock face, which tells the time, but to also have an additional two analogue clocks that count down the time until your next class.

If someone were to own this clock the would enter in their class times for the week -- an example being that they have a lecture on Monday that begins at 10:00 am -- the clock would then have record of the times of classes for every day of the week and give the owner a countdown on the smaller analogue clocks of how much time they have left before their classes begin on a certain day. My overall idea behind this clock was that a student who is attending either a college or university would not have to worry about setting a different alarm for every day of the week to wake them up, instead the alarm clock would wake them up as it has record of their class times. When I chose to make a clock which is an item an item that almost always looks similar to every other clock, /i wanted to give my clock a simplistic, sleek and retro design to make it truly stand out among its competitors.

(Original Concept)