Rebecca Genung: Week 13 Pepakura

For my Pepakura, I wanted to make a Xenosmilus as they are, in my mind, the embodiment of primal power. Xenosmilus is a species of saber-toothed cat (Smilodons are the well known species from movies and such) that had so much strength and such ferocious teeth that literally one bite was all they needed to kill their prey. Unlike any other land species, Xenosmilus would take a single bite and follow their prey until they died of blood loss. Ironically, this is what led to their extinction, as following prey took up precious time and energy. They were out-competed by other saber-toothed cats; who, in turn, were out-competed by "normal-toothed" cats. I am always a fan of "double-edged" forms and the unfortunate story of Xenosmilus has always stayed with me because of that.

For technique, I modeled it in ZBrush. I then sent it to Maya where I manually simplified it by deleting edges. This is because the auto simplify tools of both programs were simplifying the complicated parts, such as the head, into non-shapes while leaving the simple areas, such as the back and neck, more complicated than necessary. Once satisfied, I sent it Pepakura.

For material, I used yellow zinc in KeyShot as I prefer that particular texture over the gold options. I used the non-simplified model for the KeyShot pictures and the Pepakura file is much more simple in comparison. I couldn't afford any good material from the school, so I used hardened paper.

Rebecca Genung: Week 12 Waffle Lamp

I wanted to use only basic shapes this project. Inspired by cube-shaped statues and a oddly shaped building near where I live, I created a simple but modern design.

For technique, I just kept it simple. I placed cubes in the shape of the building I mentioned above and Boolean-difference a cylinder from the center to leave room for the light. The Rhino scripts provided glitched out on me so I did everything by hand.

For materials, I used oak in the KeyShot. In KeyShot, I made the vertical pieces beige to keep the textures from muddying the form. The actual lamp itself is made of .25 cardboard.

Rebecca Genung: Week 11 Laser Engraving

For this project I wanted to do a heart. Heart abnormalities run rampant in my lineage: so much so that I, my mother, and my great-grandmother all have a extra, fully formed, and functioning valve. I also have a heart rate averaging 4 times higher than the healthy amount for someone of my build. I'm not unhealthy, it's just genetic. With that in mind: I will die of a heart attack one day relatively soon. To me, hearts don't represent emotion but rather the duality of life and death. My heart powers my body, but it will ultimately be the thing that kills it.

For my image, I drew a heart in vector in PhotoShop with the pen tool (shape mode). Then I imported the .PSD file to Illustrator and converted it to a .AI file. I wanted to imply the animation of a beating heart.

While I think cut metal would be the nicest looking,  I went with cardboard for financial reasons. While the lines were smooth, the cut has several puncture areas that stand out. I still like how it turned out though.

Rebecca Genung: Week 10 Serial Slice

NOTE: The scars are only on the one side

For this project I wanted to do something culturally significant to my heritage (I'm mainly Scoto-Norse) so I went with the most impressive beast of both the Celtics and Norse: Dragons. In pre-christian Celtic mythology dragons are natural beings who are either sea serpents (such as the Mester Stoor Worm) or impossibly large beasts who make up mountain ranges. As I started working on a earthly dragon ( a sea dragon would have fins and other protrusions that would violate the "closed fist"-like rule) I wanted to focus the design. I took inspiration from the Norse side and decided to make my interpretation of Fáfnir. Fáfnir was a Dwarf who murdered his brother for treasure from the Æsir (long story) and slowly turned into a dragon from his greed. He was eventually slain by the hero Sigurðr (another long story). My design originally was much more menacing; with protruding teeth and jaw horns. Unfortunately, these didn't read well in the sliced version and I removed them.

For technique, I modeled the head in ZBrush (about 40 minutes to make) with vertical cutting specifically in mind. Still, I had to snip the last ring from his bottom chin to meet the no double rings requirement. I'm a little worried about how many cut sheets I used, but making the model small enough to fit on less sheets cut away too much detail for me to be comfortable with. The main problem is that there are many layers of large size in the mid-section of the bust.

I wanted to take advantage of my model's asymmetry. The first concept is a marble statue that somehow survived through the ages. The KeyShot material is called Granite Gray (I added some aluminum coloring).
The second concept was that this was a lost treasure of some sort: maybe Jade or Malachite. The KeyShot material is called Tempting Turquoise.

Ideally, I could mount this on my wall as a conversation starter (I already have several odd things of similar nature for my future parlor). I've considered adding a papier-mâché skin so I can paint scales, glowing eyes, etc.

Rebecca Genung: Week 08 Prosthetic

For my concept I wanted to create a prosthetic leg that resembled that of a Theropod, specifically one that resembled a Dinosaur. I have always admired dinosaurs, specifically Theropods as they developed a larger, quicker, and less complex form of bipedal movement millions of years before man. The evolutionary significance of Theropoda is quite impressive, and that is without going into the detail of the individual species. I take great joy in the near constant discoveries we have made in recent years in regard to figuring out these amazing creatures who once ruled the world. The best part is that dinosaurs didn't die out entirely and their legacy goes on in the form of birds: the best fliers, in both maneuverability and energy use, to ever live on Earth. The overall form of athletic prosthetic tend to resemble Theropod anatomy to begin with. Hypothetically, this would be a cover for a proper blade prosthetic. 

When the entire thing is broken: fix everything.

For my technique, I redid everything: including the design. In my origanal, I tried to push my boundaries by attempting an organic form and I grossly overestimate my abilities. I apologize. This model is all done with previous techniques. I filleted what I could. The bases, orbs, and pole are modified shapes. Everything else was created from curves.

 

For material, I exclusively used metals. I used titanium for the inside base pieces and the center pole. The "padding" and blades are chrome. I originally had the whole piece silver-colored but I found it to be too gray-scale, so I changed the materials of the crests to blue zinc and the orbs to a blue smooth metal I manually made darker.

Rebecca Genung: Mouse

I wanted to make a jewel beetle (of no particular species), but when I got to the legs and antennae I decided that I didn't like them. I ended up with a simplified version of my original idea.

For the technique, I basically followed the tutorial but did things differently to fit my beetle idea. Turns out that was a bad idea, so I had to go back and redo a lot of parts to make everything work in the end.

For materials, I want to make something that looked like a literal jewel beetle. I used colors that are common in jewel beetles, such as their trademark bright green casing. The bottom was originally black but I found that any color made the rest of the mouse too dark, so I switched it to a light that would illuminate the whole top part. Coincidentally, this makes the top view resemble the insect even more.

Rebecca Genung: Hammer

I based my hammer off of the Phoenix Hammer Skin from Guild Wars 2. Mine is notably more simplified though. I went in knowing for sure that I wanted to replicate the birds at least.

I drew out the bird and tails separate. As shown in the pictures, most of the shapes were drawn at the same point and set outward. It should be noted that the "chain" on the back (the two circular rings) are immune to gravity in-game and are thusly in my work too.

I wanted to replicate the blue to white from the game in the materials. I chose colored metals for all but the "crystals" which are a gem material.

Rebecca Genung: Flashlight Sleeve

I wanted to create a lightsaber. I didn't know that anyone else had made one. I based my design off of mainly Qui-Gon's lightsaber but I prefer a smoother design, so I changed a few things to fit my mental image of a lightsaber.

I made the inner sleeve (the black inside) separate from the outer sleeve and then combined them together. The "on/off buttons" on the side don't do anything and I left a hole on the button so one could use the flashlights real button. To ensure (I didn't really need it) that I didn't block the flashlight hole I created a cylinder the dimensions of the flashlight at the beginning and difference-cut it from the sleeve at the end.

For materials I just went "shiny". I mainly used polished titanium and added color to it. I wanted to emphasize the inner sleeve separate from outer one even though they are the same piece now.