3D Printed Object: Concept Generation

This week in class we were shown to the world of three-dimensional printing, more specifically 3D printed objects that are self supporting. For those who don't know three-dimensional printing is the process of slicing a design/object into hundreds if not thousands of layers, depending on the size of the design, and have those layers all be made on a 3D printer that uses melted plastic to stack up all of these layers. Most printed objects are made using supports that are removed after the design is printed, this is because if they did not have supports the design would collapse. Self supported 3D objects are made without the use of support, hence where the name comes from.  

We were tasked with generating no less than ten concepts on Rhinoceros 5, to view my concepts see the images below. I wanted to experiment lots with all of my concepts for this project, I made sure that all of my designs looked completely different from each other. I chose to have some concepts be very clean and organized, while others are lopsided and uneven. Keep in mind that these are concepts that were made very quickly, and as such most of them have slight flaws and are most likely subject to change in the future. In future posts I will have more professional and finished products.  

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Papercraft Objects:Final Design and Schematic

For our last week on this particular Papercraft Project we had to finalize our Papercraft objects. Prior to this being assigned to us our class critiqued one another’s work, we discussed the elements we thought worked and did not work within someone’s design. There were lots of positive comments about my project, such as others enjoying the intricate pattern I have across the majority of my piece. The one thing that both I and the class agreed on was the crab legs I had given my second prototype seemed out of place, to be honest this is an extremely fair and true observation. Although I like the crab legs I had created I don’t think they work with the design that I was going for, they could possibly work on another project that I do later on but they don’t work for this assignment.

One other small critique I received was that the legs seemed too small, if you view my first and second prototype they are smaller than my actual shape. This creates a harsh and sharp transition between the body and legs, this was a simple fix however. I simply increased the legs size and immediately the piece looked better, not only was there no longer a sudden transition from body to legs, but now the piece looked much more organic and like it could actually be a living thing. Since I was reworking my leg design I decided to incorporate a crab element to pay homage to my initial idea of crab legs, what I ended up doing was giving my creature crab claws that can actually move. I accomplished this by using small aluminium tubing to act as a rivet so to speak. I cut two small pieces of it tubing and bent their rims outward. After I had put the tubing through both claw pieces I hammered the rims of the tubes so that they would become flattened and keep the claws in place. These rivets slightly violate the purpose of a “Papercraft” assignment, but they add an interesting element to my piece.

For this project we were not only tasked with creating our final and polished objects, but we also had to create schematics for our shapes. These schematics include the flattened form of our shape that has been covered with patterns and designs, it also include multiple three-dimensional views of what our design looks like when it is in its cut and folded form. To get these three-dimensional views we had to go onto Rhinoceros 5 and refer back to the original shape we made. Once we had loaded our shapes we simply had to use the command “Make2D,” which would take a screenshot, so to speak, of your shape from your current view. Once we had taken multiple screenshots of our shapes from different angles we then put those angles onto our schematics. This would allow someone who was constructing your shape to refer back to these images to see if they are constructing it correctly. The purpose of the schematic was so that someone could print out our designs from their home and make it themselves.

I found this project to be one of the most fun so far in my 3D Object Design class. This project alone taught me how to use Adobe Illustrator and Rhinoceros 5, two programs which I had never even touched before. It also showed me how many prototypes and concepts someone can go through before reaching their final polished product. Although I have only shown three papercut designs in my blog posts I had created dozens, which were never used. I also learnt how important it is to do research before attempting to create something, in my case it was researching what a sea urchin without its protective spines looked like. Although this sounds simple it was a much more complex task than that. I examined how large the small circular patterns on the urchins shell were depending on where they were positioned on the sea urchins shell. I also looked at what colors or shade of color they would be depending on where they were in relation to the center of the urchin. This project truly taught me how much time and effort goes into something that looks relatively simple, but in truth is an extremely complex design with hours of thought and hard work put into it.

One final statement I would like to make is that I feel as though with this project I had created an actual creature that evolved over time. Its first form being a plain white shape that later became a sea creature, which was a mix of a crab and a sea urchin. And finally it became a large, clawed and beautifully patterned little beast. I am extremely happy with the, so to speak, evolution of my design. 

See the images below to view the entire project from start to finish. 

Prototype 1

Prototype 2

Reference Images Used

Final Project Schematics

Top

Bottom/Legs

Final Project

Claw and its range of movement

 Bottom

 Top

 Evolution of Design Comparison

Papercraft Objects: Second Phase

This week we were tasked with refining our papercraft prototypes by fixing any issues we had with our initial designs, giving our prototypes a protective vinyl cover, and giving them a design/texture that was created on Adobe Illustrator. The design could be anything we chose. I found that in my initial prototype that it was hard to completely seal my shape because I had to tape very small edges together in areas that were too small for my fingers to fit. To correct this problem in my second version I chose to create a small area at the bottom of my object (this can be seen in the image of my pattern, the cut out area is the small white hexagon) which would be cut out so that I could still reach the interior of my shape in order to fully seal it and make it one solid piece.

The design of my second prototype was inspired by, once again, a sea urchin that has lost all of its spines. Sea urchin that have lost their protective spines will often have a beautifully coloured shell underneath, these shells can have a wide variety of colours that can be anything from a light pink to a dark green. For my design I chose to use purples, and very light pinks and oranges. I tried to mimic the pattern of the sea urchins the best I could, and I think I succeeded. In Adobe Illustrator I created my design then placed it on top of my original outline of my papercraft shape. Using the command "clipping mask" I was able to cut out my final shape with the ornate and intricate design within the outline of my shape.

That was only half of my shape completed though, I still had to create the design for the legs of my shape. I was not able to find any clear reference images for what sea urchin legs looked like so I chose to give the legs of my shape crab claws instead. I know that these are two very different sea creatures but I still found the two different designs to work well together as well as give my piece some humour. Originally I wanted to make the legs orange and yellow but I was finding that colour scheme to be too messy. In the end I chose to go with the red and white coloration often seen on spider crabs. One thing I physically changed about the legs of my shape in this version was that I used actual wire instead of paperclips, which created the framework of the legs (Image can be seen below).

I found this to be an extremely fun project, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the process of taking an object that was created in a three-dimensional software, like Rhinoceros 5, and slowly but surely turning it into a flattened objects that could be cut, folded and glued to make up a real life shape that I could hold in my hands. I look forward to doing more projects like this in the future. 

To view the first prototype and its process view my previous post titled "Papercraft Objects: First Prototype"

Original Phase 1 Prototype 

Original 3D model

Original paperclip legs framework

Phase 2 Prototype

Final Design/Pattern (small black lines indicate where to cut and fold the shape)

The new leg design

Reference I used for the crab legs

Reference images for the sea urchin design and colours

Final Design 

Front View

Bottom View (With wireframe) 

Close View at the design of the "Crab Legs"