3-D Object Design: 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