Charlie Chang: Week 13 Laser Scanning

Concept

Our concept for this was uncertain at first, then my partner Marissa Hernandez found a little heart toy and we went with that. The heart was simple enough of a shape that it would not take too much for the scanner to pick up on the details.

Heart object

Techniques

We went into the 3D studio, and originally, the heart had wings attached to with with white duct tape. This had difficulty scanning, so we removed them, and added dots to the surface to make alignment easier. We single scanned the heart from four sides, using standard quality. Then, we pieced the cans together, because unfortunately for us, the 360 scan was not very compatible with our object and the way it was painted and taped. After scanning, we went into Rapid Works and followed along with he videos that helped us create meshes and fill holes in. Then we saved the file and opened Keyshot to assign materials. After the Keyshot images were rendered into TIFF files. We chose a dimmer environmental picture, because we preferred how the light bounced off the metallic surface of the heart. Marissa Photoshopped layers and more in depth renders onto the image.

Rapid Works image

Materials

The materials used in this project were the toy heart Marissa provided, as well as the Scanning program, Rapid Works, Keyshot, and Photoshop. 

Final Rendered Image

We then returned to revise our project, and individualize them. We were given feedback that said to size up our models, and have one of them be closer to the foreground.

Revised Render

I chose to use a black rough Metal hexagonal mesh shape of 10mm. I went back in and added light through the holes in which the building peeks through. I also added a shadow more immediately below the shape, as opposed to too off to the side as we had it before.

Charlie Chang: Week 12 Laser Engraving

Concept

I wanted to make a board with a Swiss cheese plant design. I like the look of the leaves, and the holes within them. 

Monstera Deliciosa aka Swiss cheese plant

I thought the leaves would add a minimalistic touch to the board. Monstera leaves are a little "basic", but their look was perfect for the image I had in my head.

Techniques

I took some pictures off of Google and put them into Illustrator. Then, I used the curve tool to trace along the edges of the leaves. I did not use the pen tool because I felt that it would take too long to perfect the shapes, especially since the curve tool was perfect for the curvature of the leaves themselves. I did three pictures total, and duplicated them so that I could place three on each side of my board. I made holes into one type of the leaves so that there was variety. I then assigned layers to my lines. I ended up making the outer leaf lines the shallow depth, and the holes a deeper depth, which I now believe to be a mistake. I was not 100% pleased with the outcome of my engraving, but due to time and money, I did what I could. 

Illustrator

Materials

The materials used for this were a skateboard deck and the laser engraver. I bought the deck off of Amazon and from there it was mostly all Illustrator and then the Machine Shop. 

One side of the board

Second side of the board

As I stated earlier, I was not totally pleased with my finished piece, but trial and error added to my understanding of how engraving works. If I were to redo or add to this piece, I would make the outlines deeper, or even go as far as to use the laser to carve out or burn the inner parts of the leaves, and leave the holes to be more shallow as a contrast.

Charlie Chang: Week 11 Polyhedra

Concept

I wanted to create a design that would made a good lamp. I wanted the cutouts to be reflected on walls with the light from within. I followed the video tutorials the professor posted, and decided to make it my own from then on. 

Techniques

Rhino shot of Truncated Octahedron

I downloaded a PDF of the truncated octahedron file and followed along with the videos provided. When the section about making cutouts played, I made my own designs and chose star shapes. I used an 8 sided star polygon tool, and a 6 sided star polygon tool. I used polar array to add repeated circles to the larger star shapes. I had to size them all down, unfortunately, due to having made them larger than the flaps, which would have affected my model negatively.

Materials

Finished Product

The material for this project was e-flute cardboard. It was cut with a laser from the Machine Shop on campus. Not many other materials were used, but if I were to add to this project, I would provide a light bulb or string lights to place inside.

Charlie Chang Week 9-11: Laser Cutting

Concept

I wanted to make an animalistic sculpture for this project. I felt inspired by curved shapes, without many hard edges. Birds were the main animal I was trying to emulate in my design, but I also felt like manatees crept into the finished look of the piece. 

FlatFab design

FlatFab design

Techniques

The process for this laser cutting project started in FlatFab, where I began by making random shapes, and found that a large planar shape I had created resembled a bird. I then created crests along the back, like a spine, and a large tail feather/ fin shape towards the end. I created two planks to hold up the main structure. I also went back and copied a second main plane, to create depth.

Next, I went into Illustrator and converted it to a flat sliced document, which I then transferred to Rhino. In Rhino, I sliced all the points that were crude and not near the edges. I would later find out that as I was grouping my shapes and sizing them on the template, that I missed two of the slices. This would later cause an issue with the actual sculpture. Then I put my information on it and sent it to the laser cutter. 

Layered View

Layered View 2

Rhino Flat

Materials

Keyshot View

Keyshot View 2

For the Keyshot render, I chose to make my model out of different glass materials. I liked the transparency of the material, and felt that it added a sophisticated look to such a strange sculpture.

I chose to use the Red, Yellow, and Orange Solid Glass materials from Keyshot. When choosing backgrounds, I went with a desert road, because I felt it had the look I wanted when looking through the sculpture. The other environments detracted from the piece, but with the tree in the far back of the desert road, the model wad the focus. I obviously do not think that a real  version of my sculpture would be placed in a desert, but for the sake of showing it off with the limited environment options Keyshot had, I figured deserts would show the translucency of the model off well.

Finished Product

Charlie Chang Week 8: 3D Print Midterm

Ghosted Layer shot

Concept: I wanted to see how much detail I could squeeze on a small print. I decided to make a ring, even though I am not a jewelry wearing person. I wanted a ring with protruding "gems", and I wanted them to be various sizes. Engagement rings were a source of inspiration, even if I didn't reference any specific pictures of them.

Ghosted shot

Techniques: I began this project by painstakingly creating cylinders and smaller cylinders to Boolean difference them. After several attempts at this, I discovered the Tube tool, and the work got easier. After my base for the ring was made, I created spheres with the solids tool and places them symmetrically on the ring, making sure to embed them into the surface. I then joined the spheres to the base and made them all one layer, which I now regret, since I could have separated them by layer and made the spheres a different material. I then wanted more intricate details on the inner part of the ring, so I created a hexagon, copied a mirror version of it and flipped it upside down, and Boolean differenced both the right side up and upside down shapes into the ring. This created a set of cuts into the ring that came out nicely when 3D printed.

Shot 1 rendered

Materials: In Keyshot, I used the 24k polished gold material. I didn't like the texture of the brushed gold or rough gold. I envisioned the ring to be made of gold in real life, even though most engagement rings tend to be more silver and diamond-like. For the printed version, I used black plastic from Makertree in FDM.

Shot 2 rendered

3D print

Charlie Chang: Project 1 Castle

Ghosted

Concept:

My concept was a decorative, "just for show" kind of ornamental castle. I had no clear image to take inspiration from, I just created it. I wanted it to appear intricate, but not habitable. The castle's design is very much an appearance- based one. The architecture of the model would be simple, but the materials would elevate the design and aesthetic.

Layered

Techniques:

Creating the model involved using join and Boolean union. I created the pillars themselves with the Polyline tool, and the rest of the shapes were solids. I used Boolean difference to make the cutouts within the bases; the large rectangle, window indents, and the shapes in the front base part. I extruded the shapes made by the Polyline tool and joined them to the solid pyramid shapes. Creating symmetry was a bit difficult, but the Mirror was helpful in that, as was Copy and Paste.

Bird's Eye View

Pedestrian View

Materials:

The materials used in the model were Brass Rough 10 mm Hexagonal Mesh for the base, and Gem Stone Tourmaline for the top turrets. Gem Stone Rose Quartz was used for the lower base spikes, and Gem Stone Smoky Quartz for the pillars. The turrets all match in materials, to create a sense of unity. The strange cutouts of the brass add interest to the base rectangle. Overall, the materials come together in a dainty, ornate castle.