Taylor Volquardsen : Week 13 - Laser Scanning in Detail

Scanned Object

Ghosted Image Painted Black

Render 1

Render 2

Concept: When I first started this project, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to scan. I've had this little red dachshund eraser for a while now, and when I saw it it reminded me of those chrome balloon animal statues by Jeff Koons. I thought it would be cool to play off of that idea and scan the dog and make it out of chrome.

Scanning Process: Like everyone else, I scanned my object once from the side and once from the bottoms to make sure I got all the parts in. It was a bit difficult positioning the dogs since the thinner parts like the legs and tail could bend and offset the scan if I wasn't careful. The first set of scans I did without any guide dots, and I wasn't confident that I had aligned them correctly so I ended up rescanning the whole thing again with markers placed all around my dog. In the end, it wasn't all that hard, the real challenge only came from the fact that I was working with technology and software I was unfamiliar with, unlike in other projects where I at least had some experience with the programs involved.

Rendering Process: This was probably the easiest part for me since unlike with scanning I actually have a little experience with Keyshot from previous projects, and a lot of knowledge of photoshop in general.  I chose the front of the visitor's center because that grassy area in front is a prime spot for a statue, especially a large one like the dog I placed. Getting the model to match the environment was the trickiest part since the shadows didn't want to work with me, but the rest was pretty smooth sailing. I ended up tweaking the shadows using photoshop anyways since the statue looked like it was hovering just slightly above the ground no matter what I did in Keyshot.

David Rake Puzzle Box Progress

Throughout this semester I am creating Puzzle Boxes. Puzzle Boxes are boxes that can be opened via a mechanical sequence. These boxes either blatantly appear as a lock box or are more inconspicuous.

Attention: If anyone has any intention to solve these blindly ignore the pictures as the give away clues.

Drawers:

Concept: My first box if seen from the front appears as almost a chest of drawers except they're vertical. It has five vertically moving bars and one horizontally moving bar at the bottom. I started drawing and creating it last spring but didn't get far before realizing how confusing it is to reverse engineer a puzzle that doesn't exist.

Method: I did some brief sketches with the intended solution which was later ripped apart and recreated. The original solution was eight steps and was changed to a seven step one because I realized a flaw that made it solvable in three steps originally. After deciding the way the puzzle moves and is solved I created curves in rhino simulating my drawings. Then I started to test build it in 3d space to make sure all the pieces fit together and solve it before it was physically made.

Materials: I originally planned for it to be laser cut, but I tried out the idea of 3d printing it and that was too costly so I have fallen back on laser cutting. I am using MDF for my first build but if it goes well I may look into other materials like more aesthetically pleasing woods.

Cube:

Concept:  My second box idea quickly came to me while working on the first box and I almost finished the second box before the first because of my excitement about it. It is more of an inconspicuous box and is not clear on how to even start tackling the box. For the picture below I did not use Ghosted because it was very confusing looking.

Method:  I did some brief sketches and ran through multiple iterations on how to do the internal locking mechanisms. It wasn't until I had a dream about it that I really figured out the best way for this first version. I started with a square shape and added and subtracted from that shaped to create all the parts. I use space much smarter than in the first box so this one is much more compact. For the picture below I was using red and purple because it was easier on my eyes to work with.

Materials: I'm using MDF for my first cut out and would LOVE to move to a nicer wood if it works as well as I hope. I think this design will be one of the prettiest out of all since it is more inconspicuous.

Engraved Lock Box:

Concept: This box is much in its infancy but I wanted to create a box with a puzzle on the outside in engraved pictures. I may create two of these specific boxes with one having pictures that can be translated to a solution and one for my Dungeons and Dragons Players for them to solve with clues from their adventures.

Valeria Cavazos: Castle Fall 2017

Concept:

                  The concept for my castle was to create a sandcastle on the beach and using objects that could be found scattered in the sand. The design for the castle was also created to fit a king, in this case a small crab, the King Crab. There was a general idea of how to make the castle but details were added and created as the castle was created, such as the glass pieces and the drawbridge.

Techniques:

ghosted image

ghosted image with Keyshot layer assignment

                  The sandcastle was created using mostly rectangles and flattened circles, such as the base and the main structure of the castle. Sitting on the center of the castle was created using the truncated cone tool along with the small details bordering the castle, alternating from the truncated cone and a regular cone, then copied and pasted an entire row of the alternating cones and pasted on the remaining three sides of the castle. I made the windows of the castle through the MakeHole command and curve tool, made the draw bridge using the cylinder and torus tool, and the scattered glass pieces placed onto the walls of the castle was created using the line tool and scaling it to an appropriate size for the walls. I made the crab statue by using the sphere tool, copy and pasting and scaling it until the claws and eyes were appropriate sizes to the body, then added small cones to represent claws. Once the main details were placed, I added scattered truncated pyramids around the castle to create small mounds of sand and made two triangle pieces on either side of castle, using the triangle tool and twist command to create a deformed shape to represent a shard of a bottles neck.

Materials:

                  I wanted to create a sandcastle with the objects found on the beach but some materials were not available in Keyshot, so some changes had the be made. There was no sand material available so the actual sandcastle illusion had to be made with, disturbingly, human skin material. The glass pieces placed around the castle were created with basic glass colors such as red, orange, and clear to create a variety in the pieces, while the two giant glass pieces used a scratched and waved glass material. The draw bridge used a variety of wood materials, such as ash wood and old plank wood, in order to keep the theme of items that can be found throughout the beach. The flat circular objects on the pillars of the castle were originally going to be sand dollars but there was no materials that could be used as a replacement, so they became miscellaneous objects such as using the bubble material and rose gold material. The giant crab sitting in the center of the castle was going to be an actual crab but while playing with the metals to find a material, I came across the rusted metal material and decided that it would be best to have a statue in honor of the king that has been worn down over time from the sea.