Alec McKay: Pepakura

Concept: I was inspired by some of the other figures I've seen in the ATEC building, so I decided that I wanted to do a figure. However, to do a full figure the way I would want to would end up well over 300 polygons, so I decided to do one that is just the torso, as I have seen done in a few different Greek marble statues and other sculptural work. I also wanted my figure to have a more dynamic pose than just standing straight up and down, so I adjusted the torso after modeling it to give it more of a pose.

Technique: I modeled the torso in Maya, beginning with a cube and a few reference images of a male torso. I added more edge loops and moved points around gradually until the torso began to take shape. Initially I modeled a figure with arms, legs, and a basic, featureless head, until I decided to stop trying to lower the density of my model further and just remove those extra parts. Once that was done, I used bend and twist deformers to pose the figure. From there, I converted the model to an .obj and went about the process of unwrapping it, placing the seams in rings around the torso, and then moved the 2D images to rhino to be cut. Once I got my pieces back, I started from the top and worked my way down, since the legs were where I would have a base with a hole. I also covered all of my edges with white tape.

Materials: For the physical sculpture, I decided to go with Professor Scott's suggestion of the E-Flute cardboard, because it is a thin cardboard that is sturdy enough to hold its shape but thin enough to fold well. The bottom plane of the sculpture is cut from 2-ply cardboard, for a sturdier base. I also used a white tape to cover my edges for a more finished looking product. There are also weights placed in the legs so that his leaning pose doesn't cause him to fall over. In my KeyShot renderings, I decided to make my model out of stone, to see what it would look like as a stone statue.

One of my favorite parts of this project was the physical work of putting the pieces together. I actually tried a small scale pepakura work once before when I was in high school, with less success. The larger scale made it easier to put together. This was one of my favorite projects, and I look forward to doing more projects with the laser cutter while I'm still at school.

Alec McKay: Waffle Structure

Concept: My design was inspired by other furniture I found online that had been made with waffle structure, such as the above chair. From there I decided to do a sofa, so I did some research into interesting designs for sofas, which was where I got the idea to put a shelf into the back of the couch. I thought the rounded form of both the sofa and the shelf would look good with the layers of waffle structure, and the shelf would add more interest to the back side of the sofa.

Technique: I started with an ellipsoid, and I used another ellipsoid and BooleanDifference to create the seat of the sofa. To create a base, I drew an ellipse curve and used Sweep2 to create a surface connecting it to the ellipsoid above it. Once I had that shape, I created another ellipsoid for the shelving unit. For a flat-bottomed shelf, I used a flat surface to cut the bottom off, and then I used another BooleanDifference to cut that out of the sofa. I also used a large fillet on the edges of the sofa and the shelf so that the arm rests and seat wouldn't be too sharp.

Materials: For my laser cut model, I decided to go with the thin E-Flute cardboard because I thought it would look better for the small scale to have a thinner material, so it would look more similar to what I imagined it would look like at full scale. For my renders, I went with a plastic painted in metallic red for the solid version, and a nice light wood for the waffle structure. A light colored wood was what I thought I could use if I made a full scale version of the waffle structure sofa. I chose a different material for the solid version because the wood didn't look as good in this context, so I went with a bright, shiny metallic plastic.

Alec McKay: Slots

Concept: After looking through several animal silhouettes, I came across birds and decided that a flock of birds would be perfect for this type of process. From there, I tracked down one image with several silhouettes of the same type of bird, so that the different silhouettes would look like they go together. I also thought that birds lent themselves well to the incorporation of slots, because I was able to incorporate them into feathers or the beak, and they don't look too conspicuous.

Technique: I brought the images into Illustrator and generated curves from the silhouettes. After that, I brought them into Rhino and created rectangles that were exactly 0.06 inches wide. Then I arranged them around each bird piece and connected them to the silhouette curves with some trimming and joining. After cutting a couple test pieces, I reduced the size to 0.05 for a tighter grip between the pieces. I created a few different arrangements, with one being the more organized V shape and another being an attempt at a more chaotic swarm, but I thought the V shape worked the best with my pieces and looked the best.

Material: I decided to go with the E-Flute cardboard because I thought the birds would look best in a thin material, so they'd be more delicate. It was also the cheaper material, and I figured that if this came out well I could do another run with a nicer material at another time. The one regret that I had with this decision was that the cardboard isn't a very sturdy material so some parts of my pieces bent easily.

Alec McKay: Serial Slice

Concept: After having done so much work that was more polygonal and straight-edged, I decided to do something flowing and fluid. I also thought the serial slicing method would lend itself well to the curves present in a fluid sculpture. From there, I decided to do a swirling form that moves around the central cores.

Technique: I created two curves, with one for the front view and one for the side view, which I later cut in half and lofted to create the solid form. I did several iterations of curves that I lofted, because several of them created creases that weren't what I wanted. I found that using a loose loft rather than the default loft sometimes helped with this. Once I had the desired shape, I used the Contour command to create the serial slices.

Material: My model is cut from two-ply cardboard with two 1/4 inch dowels as the cores. I glued each layer together using superglue. I also left the holes in the bottom so that I can create a base using the two dowels and a block of wood. In keyshot, I decided to use a metallic paint with a deep blue color in keeping with the theme of fluidity.  

Alec McKay: Laser Engraving

Concept: I wanted to create the image of a portal, like those often seen in science fiction. My goals were to create a composition that was dynamic and had great depth. While my piece did not go exactly as planned, 

Technique: Most of my work was done in Rhino, by modeling a shape and then using it to create curves. First I modeled the shape of the portal by making a cone using heptagons. I used Sweep2 to make surfaces from each ring around the cone. After that I used Make2D to take the perspective view and create 2D curves with it.

Material: For the material I used plywood, which unfortunately burned around the edges a little more than expected. In part because of this, and in part because I hoped to make the thin engraving lines stand out more, I decided to paint my piece. While I think the blue is a strong color, it currently looks too flat, so in the future I plan to add more paint to give the piece its intended depth using color.

Alec McKay:Prosthetic Accessory: Polygo Modifications

After our critiques on Monday, I decided to make some changes to my prosthetic accessory. While the concept stayed much the same as before, there were some additional modeling techniques and changes to materials.

Modeling Techniques and Changes: Polygo now has a thinner shell design, which I created using an Offset Surface on my existing shape. I also removed one row on the inside of the leg so that the wearer can remove their accessory more easily. To do this I exploded the model and removed some faces before doing the Offset Surface. I also added a clip on the inside wall that can fasten the shell onto the pole of a prosthetic leg. 

Material Changes: To add more visual interest to my prosthetic accessory, I added onto the color palate with a new design. Colors gradating from yellow to red-orange form stripes down the leg. Polygo is made from plastic with a matte paint finish.

Alec McKay - 3D Print: A Joyous Mug

Concept: After seeing several interesting mug shapes, from those designed to hold a cookie inside to those that are shaped like various animals, I decided I wanted to do my own design for a coffee mug. A Joyous Mug came about from my desire to create a mug with a surprise on the inside that reveals itself as the drinker finishes their coffee. From there, I was inspired to make a mug that looked quite dark on the outside, but with a shining smile on the inside. The ring of semi-spheres was inspired by a common decoration for dungeon levels in Mario, which is a single row of silver spikes on a dark grey background. I decided to do spheres rather than spikes so as not to stab the coffee drinker’s chin.

Modeling Techniques: The cup shape was created with a Sweep around two curves, using circles to create a round mug shape and Offset to make it hollow. The top edges were rounded off with filleted edges for smooth drinking. I created the face by starting with a sphere, and then building other shapes to use for a Boolean Difference for the facial details. A polar array followed by a Boolean Union created the ring of semi-spheres around the top.

Materials: The mug is made of a glossy ceramic material, as most mugs are. The outside coloring was designed to be similar to my inspiration for the outside, with dark grey for most of the mug and the semi-spheres painted a light grey. On the inside, the colors were inspired by emoticons, with a bright yellow face, round black eyes, and a bright red for the inside of the mouth. 

Alec McKay - Prosthetic Accessory: Polygo

Concept: I started out looking at some unique shapes for high-heeled shoes, and I found some that used polygons in interesting ways. This inspired me to make my boot, which later evolved into a prosthetic cover for just the shin, through experimenting with polygonal shapes and how they fit together. The shape is intended to be simple, fun, and suitable for casual or active wear. Polygo is a play on combining the words “polygon” and “go,” to signify both its angular form and its energetic feel.

Modeling Techniques: I began creating several iterations of the prosthetic by playing around with shapes in Rhino to see what things looked like.  Once I settled on a shape I liked, using heptagons going down the leg in a zig-zagging pattern, I used Sweep to fill in with surfaces the shape I had built with curves. Previous versions of my prosthetic gave me a lot of trouble when it came time to chamfer the edges, and there were a few lessons I learned from that about both patching holes that can be left from chamfering, and creating shapes that are easier to chamfer. For the inside of the prosthetic, I built a new shape using circular curves and Sweep rather than using Offset, since I wanted it to be hollow but the inside didn’t require the same design.

Materials: Polygo is made from rough, hard plastic so that it can be durable, light weight, and more scratch and smudge resistant than shinier finishes. To accent the dynamic shape of the prosthetic, I chose a bright yellow color with black lines that accent the edges. The top, bottom, and inside of the prosthetic is colored in the same black color as the accent edges, so that the yellow contrasts well against the rest of the prosthetic.

Alec McKay: Week 4 Detergent Bottle

Concept: The shape of my bottle was loosely inspired by one shape of All detergent that I found. The top is at an angle, and the handle cut-out is an oval that sits fairly low on the bottle. The cap has a few different grooves in it to provide traction to twist it off.

Modeling Techniques: I used the offset tool to make the bottle surface into a hollow bottle that’s still read as a closed surface. The screw on the top of the bottle was created using the one rail sweep of a curve along a helix curve. The whole for the handle was created using a two rail sweep that was later filleted for a soft edge.

Materials: The coloring for my detergent bottle was inspired by All detergent, which usually has a blue bottle and a yellow cap. The cap and bottle are both made from the rough plastic material. Every bottle of detergent I looked at was made from plastic that wasn’t too hard or shiny.

Alec McKay: Week 4 USB

Concept: I wanted to give my USB a cap because most of the USBs I’ve used have had some mechanism to cover the plug when it’s not in use. I wanted to model the cap such that it matched the main case for the USB. To do this, I made more cut-ins to make the cap look like it goes with the USB.

Modeling Techniques: To make the cut-ins on the sides, I made use of the two rail sweep tool to create a surface between the original surface and the floor of the cut-in. I also used a linear array to evenly space the cuts. The boolean difference tool created the hole in the cap for the USB.

Materials: The outside case for the USB is made out of black plastic, as most USBs are made of plastic. The plug that goes into the computer is made from a silver metal. The pins on the inside are different colors from the outside, so I made it a darker metal.