Jesus Javier Vela: Week 9 Laser Cutting

Vertical View

Concept

     Thinking of the recurring wave of organically shaped buildings around the world, I decided to build an architectonic piece. Like Capital Gate tower, I wanted the side of my piece to contour diagonally towards the ground. Three pillars make the piece free-standing while other smaller pillars add support between sections of the piece.

Approximate Rendering of Blend Operation

Techniques

     Flatfab, a 2D to 3D fabrication design software was used to make the piece. I first drew the top-most section. Then I attached a support pillar to it. I used the revolve operation to create the other two support pillars. Next, I added the bottom-most section to the opposite end of the first support pillar. I had to make sure this section interconnected the all three pillars. Using a blend operation, ten more sections were generated (twelve sections, total). Once the piece was down, I downloaded the flattened slab geometry as a .obg file. I formatted the file in Rhino, extended lines to intersections, transforming text into objects, and reviewing that the dimensions were accurate. Unfortunately, I didn't save the .txt file, so the piece was lost. Hence, a .obj file could not be generated to render in Keyshot.

Formatting in Rhino

Materials

     Before I sent the piece for laser printing, I made two prototypes. First, I printed the file using copy paper. The thinness of the material made it impossible for the piece to be free-standing. Next, I made a prototype using card-stock. The material was thicker, so the piece was able to stand on its side. When I finally laser printed the file using cardboard, the piece was able to stand vertically as well as horizontally.

Horizontal View

Jesus Javier Vela: Week 12 Laser Engraved Skateboard Deck

Original Photo

Concept

     While this project's first direction moved towards developing an abstract image, it eventually modulated towards realism as opportunities for visual interpretation became apparent. The final concept was recreating a photo of my friend attempting to look at her phone while wearing an over-sized panda head. Emphasis was placed on the panda head as well as the phone because they establish the visual conflict of the piece.

Layers on Adobe Illustrator

Techniques

     The design was developed using Adobe Illustrator. A photo of my taking was minimized with a three-color image trace. While some areas of the image were reduced to few lines, others were sustained by a field of blotches fighting for space. The image was then extended into objects and ungrouped. The objects were easily selected by similar color and sorted into layers designated by engraving weight. After playing around with the design, the final weights were raster, medium, and deep.

Laser Engraved Skateboard

Materials

     I used a blank 7.5" skateboard deck for the engraving at the Machine Shop. Given that the surface of the canvas was not entirely flat, certain areas of the board were engraved deeper than others. I am still pleased with the results, but the unintended consequence did undermine some of my effort to create depth in the design by adjusting the engraving weight relative to the distance of objects in the image.

Jesus Javier Vela: Project 2 Week 11 Polyhedra

Illuminated Polyhedra

Concept

     Given the semi dome-shaped appearance of the Half Truncated Icosidodecahedron helped envision the sun as a motif in this piece. Shapes were borrowed from past vector graphics I have designed, so it was interesting to re-purpose icons. This piece can be observed as an enclosed space where light enters through openings, and it can also be perceived as a lamp that projects symbols in the environment.

Formatting on Adobe Illustrator

Techniques

     Adobe Illustrator was used to develop the format of the polyhedra. Lines were sorted into layers designating guides, outer cuts, and inner cuts. Because some shapes in the polyhedra were not aligned to neither the X or Y axis, reference lines between shapes' anchors were used for alignment. Making the inner cuts required creating a dotted stroke path as well as simplifying the path.

Front View

Back View

Materials

     The piece was laser printing onto cardboard. the piece was able to stand vertically as well as horizontally. Assembling it required folding the inner cuts then glues the edges together using super glue. In the future, I will consider painting the polyhedra in a metallic color. The color could hint at architecture like the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The color is also industrial, so perceiving the object as a lamp will be feasible.

Jesus Vela: Project 2 Week 8 3D Printing

Ghosted View and No Naked Edges

Concept

     In the context of shape, the design of this pendant is based off a geometric pattern I created in an earlier painting of mine. Materials were inspired from popular crystal pendants. The materials lend themselves well to my design considering how rectilinear it is. 

Layers

Techniques

     The gridsnap aid me achieve a symmetrical appearance in the pendant. I started by laying out  polylines based off the geometric pattern in my painting. Each polyline was assigned its own layer: Inner V, Hear, Outer V, and Periphery. Next I extruded each polyline to the same height. Making the triangular tops to each layer required that I use object snaps. Most joints were made by half-trimmed cylinders. One joint was made using the arc tool. I created a Boolean union to get rid of unnecessary lines between layers. When unified, naked edges were not apparent, but I did explode pendant only for create the layers image in this blog. I did not have to scale the pendant to be lesser than 4" in each dimension.

Opening Shot

Back View

Materials

     Crystal pendants are often made using a crystal and wire, but wood has also become a popular additive to pendants. Lighting was important to convey the aesthetic realism of the crystal pendant. Materials used in Keyshot for rendering the pendant include: Ginger Bronze, Glass Red, and Glass Clear. Brightness was increased to help distinguish the curves around the crystals. Refraction was also increased to help the crystals look realistic. During the actual 3D Print, I chose blue because of what was available at the location I printed at. Looking at the pendant physically helped me decided that the top edges of the pendant shouldn't be as tall as the rectangular base.

Printed Front View

Printed Side View

Jesus Vela: Week 1 Castle

Ghosted Shot

Concept

     This castle was based off of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. As a concert hall adorned with vibrant windows and a clear stone, the palace is significant as a cultural torch for many Mexicans. I innovated the palace by adding additional towers to the structure while also reducing some details. The materials I used in the rendering of the images gives my castle an equally vibrant personality, making my castle an adequate residence for the Muses.

Layered

No Naked Edges

Techniques

     Throughout modeling, the gridsnap aid made it easy to arrange solids into the castle. When constructing the castle I first laid out a polyline around the castle's perimeter. Next I used the box tool to construct the main frame layer. The rest of the layers include more boxes (Entrance and Roof), paraboloids (Pillars, BigTowers, and SmallTowers), and extruded triangle and arc/half-circle surfaces (Roof and Windows). When running the naked edges diagnostic, all of the pillars and tall/small towers had naked edges. Since paraboloids are not originally closed solids, I employed to solutions to get rid of naked edges. First, the pillars which are composed of mirrored paraboloids were joined into a single solid. Second, The tall/small towers to closed using the cap command. All in all, layers simplified troubleshooting by allowing me to address issues in chunks.

Opening Shot

Materials

     The Palacio de Bellas Artes was built in an art Art Nouveau and Art Deco (Wikipedia). To reflect a similar importance in decoration through linework, materials and lighting were important to convey the aesthetic theme of the castle. Materials used in Keyshot for rendering the castle include: Anodized Aluminum, Ginger Bronze, Glass Red, Gold Polished, Soap Bubble, and Tiles Hexagon Dark Grey. The latter material worked perfectly as the ground layer because it accents the symmetrical character of the castle. While the metal pillars help define the glossy main frame, the metallic towers and entrances add volume to the structure. Soup Bubble material is very glossy and without edges, so brightness and contrast were increased to help distinguish the curves around the castle. Soup Bubble material was very exciting to work with, as color was manipulated when capturing shots inside as well as outside the castle.

Exterior Pedestrian View

Interior Pedestrian View