Daedra Evans - Project Three - Serial Slices

I decided to create an image of one of the more profound horses in history, Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's warhorse. Bucephalus' heroic deeds were renown through Alexander's rule. Bucephalus was described as a fiery, aggressive, but courageous steed whose deeds helped Alexander maintain his  hold on his conquests.

I did not want to create a soft, curvy horse as I did not think that would capture the essence of this powerful animal. I referenced images of stone busts or sculpture to base my model from. I wanted the profile of the horse hear much like Caesar's or other rulers whose visages' were often pressed in coins.

I loved the curved muscular neck in all of the reference images, but wanted to create a more polygonal, basic shape to convey his power. I did not include a bridle or any object enslaving the animal as I wanted his raw unaltered force to be free of constraints.

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In Rhinoceros 5, I originally created Bucephalus through the curve tool and extruding the curves. The result was too soft and organic which was the opposite of the look I wanted to achieve. I redid the model using basic polygonal shapes to create Bucephalus. I began with a sphere for his jaw.  I then attached truncate cylinders for his head and neck. I used another sphere for his nose using smaller spheres to Boolean Difference his nostrils. I Boolean Combined two smaller spheres for his eyes and triangles for his hears. His mane was created by scaling a cylinder then duplicating his neck and Boolean Difference to create the curve along his neck. I repeated the same process for his forelock. I originally had the entire model around 16 inches, but I had to reduce the size to 13 inches.

                       

                       

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Once I created the model I contoured vertically to create the curves for the serial slices, and created solids for the serial slices. I exploded the model after having an error come up that there was not geometry in my scene. I tried the horizontal slices as well, but really preferred the way the vertical slices fit the character of the model and Bucephalus.

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After fixing my model, I opened it in KeyShot 5 to play with various materials and looks. I decided on a hard, shiny, black plastic to achieve the end result I wanted. I did not want a heavy grain or texture to take away from the simplicity and strength of the model.I tried various wood grains including an antiquated wood texture and an oak texture which really did not bring out the idea I was focusing on. I then decided to use more basic textures and materials. I really liked the way the simple color of the model brings out the vertical slices of the solids. I chose black as the base color for its intensity and simplicity. I wanted the color to enhance the presence of Bucephalus, but not overpower the natural lines and beauty of the model. The shiny, black plastic material created the exact look that I envisioned when imaging this exquisite animal.

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Next, I used the curves's groups to layout the serial cut diagram for laser cutting. I had a lot of trouble making the model fit in the 48 * 24 inch space. I decided to scale the model down to get the layout where I wanted, and ended up doing this several times. Finally, I achieved the layout for printing and had all of the layers setup correctly for the laser cutting process. I included the outer cut, inner cut, text, and reference.  The outer cut layer was magenta forming the curve group combines with the blue inner cut layer of the rods for the laser placement. The text layer was red to show the text and other engraving for the machine. The reference layer was the bed size of the laser cut machine to make sure I stayed within the boundaries of 48 " x 24 "

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The final result was a powerful serial sliced image of the celebrated horse, Bucephalus. The simple lines, basic textures and polygonal shapes define the equine hero who once carried a Grecian leader, Alexander the Great into countless victories.