Victoria Mayfield: "Division" Prosthetic Accessory

Concept: When I first began the process of designing my prosthetic accessory, I really had no idea where to begin. I knew I wanted to do a modern design, but didn't know what would work as an addition or in place of a prosthetic leg. I began working up sketches of possible ideas, but didn't like anything that I came up with. I was sketching while I was at work and came up with this design. I thought it would translate well to a mesh shell, that I could then simply clips onto the main rod of the prosthetic leg.

Modeling: I used many different modeling techniques in order to achieve my final version of Division. I used the curve tool, the loft tool, and the ellipse tool in order to create the main shape of the accessory. I was then able to use the arch tool to trace the pattern of my design. I then extruded the curves and used boolean difference on a plane to give me the cutout of my design, 

I extruded that and then used the flow along surface tool to wrap it around my original calf shape, which gave me the shell. I did this three different times to achieve the mesh look I had in my design. I would then just scale down each shape and put it inside the other. From there I used cylinders and rounded arches to create the support struts on the inside. Finally I used the fillet edge tool on the outer cast circles. I chose to leave the inside edges unfilleted to give it a more modern look, which is what I was going for. 

Materials: For the materials of my design I decided I wanted to stick with the modern theme I started with. I used a vivid, shiny white plastic material. I wanted the material to be plastic to ensure that it would be malleable enough for the wearer to pull open from the back and snap onto the pipe of the prosthetic. I used a basic matte black for the leg, in order to contrast with the bright white of my accessory. The support struts inside are what hold the layers of plastic together, and snap the accessory the main prosthetic, so ideally they would need to be made of a strong material like metal. So for this inner support system, I decided to use a shiny, silver chrome metal material. I wanted the material to be highly reflective, in order to give the illusion that Division is simply floating around the leg post. Overall, I am pleased with the final product.