Chloe Ferris: Semester Project

Project Overview

This project is a way to utilize and combine digital fabrication techniques with traditional hand
work. Aesthetically, it will be centered around the theme of natural elements, and how humans interact with these. A 3D sculpture of the source form is to be created, which will then be triangulated and knocked down into only the most necessary polygons, aiming to keep the count in the sub-1,000
range. Once the model is finalized, it can be unfolded in Pepakura and laid out in sheets to be
printed with a laser cutter. Initially, I would like to run smaller samples in single-ply cardboard or
thick card-stock to test out the model and see what it would look like fully assembled. At this point,
it would be decided if a framework of full-sized cut-out panels, covered in lacquered paper, would
be preferred, or if solid board panels would be more effective in driving the aesthetic of the form.

Project Proposal
Chloe Ferris: Digital Fabrication Independent Project Proposal

Inspirational References

Tomás Saraceno, Cloud City

Timothy Reynolds, Landscape Study

Gabby O'Connor, What Lies Beneath

Timothy Reynolds, Save the Arctic

Baltek Elsner, The Branch

Week 2 (8/31)
The main focus of this week was to form the project concept and create a framework for the semester. A project proposal was created (see: link above), which details the entire project. I laid out a tentative schedule in four-week segments for the semester, to provide a guideline to keep the project on track and completed on time, as well as provide slotted time in order to receive feedback and reiterate on multiple steps during the semester.

An large array of references were gathered, primarily including low-poly works from artists that I admire (see: photos above). I was particularly influenced by Gabby O'Conner and Baltek Elsner. O'Connor's work is more abstract, incorporating light and texture, but puts a great emphasis on form, which I admire. Elsner creates more recognizable forms out of cardboard, often infusing humor with the environment around the work. Both of these artists, as well as many others, will be the base inspiration for the project, from which I can springboard and strengthen my own work.

Next week, I will move into the creation phase. The primary focus will be the solidification of the project idea, as well as detailing the subject. Once that is done, I can move forward with the modeling phase of the project in order to prepare it for printing.

Week 3-4 (9/7-9/14)
When exploring references and sculptures from other artists, I became particularly inspired by the powerful way in which the stag moves during a fight (see: sculptures below). Their bodies rear up and lunge forward with their entire might in an attempt to subdue their combatant; while brutal at the core, this movement is also extremely graceful in its own way, riding the fine line between beauty and animosity. I feel that this encompasses the essence of the struggle that man has against nature, as well as his cooperation with it, something that I want to highlight in my work.

Fighting Stags, bronze sculpture, Michael Simpson

Elk Stags Fighting, outdoor exhibit, High Desert Museum in Central Oregon

I worked out my concept through physical sketches in order to get an idea of how the forms would work, and how the subject would be presented. Wildlife photography of primarily red deer was referenced, as well as traditional sculptures and paintings. Anatomical drawings were also referenced in order to build a stronger foundation for the pre-visualizations. This understanding of the skeletal structure is vital to inform the overall form of the final sculpture.

After exploring with concept sketches and anatomy, I was able to nail down a specific form that would fit my vision. At this point, I went into Maya and began building out a low-poly model base model of the stag. In order to make sure the anatomy was as accurate as I could possibly make it, I modeled the stag in a standing position, in order to check the scale and proportion against anatomical references. Moving forward, I'll be able to add a small set of joints to the model in order to pose it to match the envisioned final form.

Next week, I want to make any last adjustments or tweaks to the base model. Once I'm completely confident in the model, it can be then be moved into the pose that I want for the final piece. Test prints and material exploration can begin once posing is completed.

Week 5-6 (9/21-9/28)
I was out of town dealing with an illness week 5, so not quite as much progress made during that time.

The model is completely finished, and I am happy with the way it turned out. I took a long time in tweaking and altering the pose of the model, but I was able to settle on a composition that portrayed what I was looking for. The front end of the piece may be heavier than the back, but if it becomes a problem, there are plenty of ways to weight the back end in order for it to sit properly. I did originally kick out the back and make it larger to accommodate, but it weakened the composition, so I plan to try weighting the test model and seeing if that will work. If there are too many problems, I can always go back and move it slightly so it can balance on it's own.

I am currently half-way through unfolding the model in Pepakura. Once that is done, I'm going to print a ~1/6th scale test model in thin paper in order to check general proportions and see how the form works in a physical space. After that, the sheets can be sent off to be laser cut on single-ply cardboard.

Week 7 (10/5)
Reworking some parts of the geometry in order to better fold out on a flat sheet for construction.

Week 8 (10/12) 
Now that I was happy with the geometry, I worked through cutting up the model in Pepakura and laying out the faces flat. A lot of thought has to be put into this step, because this will determine how the final sculpture will be put together. I did not want to rush it, and made sure to go over every piece in detail. My goal was to cut the faces in a way that would make the assembly as simple and easy as possible. The construction plan will be to completely assemble the horns, head, and front legs separately. Then, I can attach the horns to the head, and build out the neck and chest. The legs will be attached at this point, and then I will work my way down the model, ending at the very bottom. This process will ensure that I always have room to reach inside the model to make attaching the pieces easier. Some of the larger pieces, such as in the topline and rock, needed to be broken up in order to fit onto a 48x24 space, but for the most part, the geometry is broken up into consecutive sections.

After laying out the cut sheet, I printed out a test sheet on plain printer paper at a ~1:6 scale. This was an important step, so that I could work out what the model would actually look like put together. Although it took up a decent block of time, I feel that it was very helpful, as it gave me a chance to work through the assembly process before working with more expensive materials. It was not meant to be anything final, so it was a very rough model, with some missing pieces that were too small to properly build at this scale. By building the maquette, though, I was able to find some areas that needed to be unfolded differently in order to be more easily put together. From this, I went back into Pepakura and re-cut and re-combined some edges in preparation for the large-scale model. Midterm presentations were this week, in which I presented my maquette and current progress and explained my goals for the finished sculpture.

Week 9 (10/19)
Waiting for prints to come back from the shop.

Week 10 (10/26)

This week, the prints were ready, and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. One piece from the first page needs to be printed, because a tab fold was labeled as a cut line, but other than that, everything seems to be there in good condition. I took the pile home and separated the pieces into stacks by their page number from my cut sheet, created labels for each face inside Pepakura, then wrote each label on painter's tape for all the parts. This process took a long time, but this allowed me to not have to print the numbers on the outside where they would be visible, which isn't what I wanted. Now that the grunt work is out of the way, I can focus solely on basic fabrication. With the little time left on Sunday, I was able to assemble a complete leg, so I am optimistic about the current time schedule goals.

Week 11-16 (11/2-12/7) 
Assembly.

Assembly Process
I started by piecing together the sculptures from the extremities inwards, to try and avoid potential issues with having to reach too far down into the sculpture. The antlers were the most time consuming; getting down towards the bottom of them, it started to become difficult to curl my hand inside in order to hold down the glued tabs to form a bond. I worked on both antlers at the same time, doing each corresponding piece for the right and the left one after another, to ensure they came out as symmetric as possible.

After the antlers, I formed the cup of the chin, and then worked upwards and around to form the cheek and jowls. I then separately folded both ears, to attach once the head was finished, since they connected to the first piece of the neck. This would make it easier to attach the antlers, as I would be able to attach them to the mask of the face (which is primarily flat), then attach the entire group to the cheek through the open hole in the neck.

Using this method, attaching the antlers to the face to form the head wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Most of the time consuming parts of this section came from trying to maneuver around the antlers without bending them, and building support structures for them to rest on when I needed to reach underneath the head. The large, continuous bottom piece of the neck was then attached straight down from the cheeks. At this time, I also began building out the portion of the legs from the knees down.

This is where I began running into more issues, and lost a lot of time in the process. For the most part, I had been building flat on the floor, since the pieces so far could easily lay down without damaging the pieces. Once I built out the neck and shoulders and connected the legs to them, though, I had to maneuver the sculpture around much more and keep it vertical, which pointed out some of the flaws in the antlers. Although very light weight, the antlers lean forward out from a very small joint on the head, and at this point in time, was very unstable. Any movement of the bust would cause the antlers to flop around and start to droop. I was also very nervous about having them lean against anything, because of how delicate the structure was, as it seemed like they might be able to rip off. To help remedy this, I took a detour and created an internal support structure for the antlers. Using a mixture of foam and bars of cardboard, I reinforced the base where the antlers met the head. After this, I stuck a bar under each of the antlers, and joined them together near the jowl. This middle section was then attached to the base of the neck, to help make sure they don't move around too much. The outer antlers still shift when moving the sculpture, but they are stable enough to endure wind and inspection without wilting.

Most of the struggle from this point on was simply the logistics of rotating the sculpture to apply the pieces without damaging any of the others. This was actually extremely difficult, and some pieces were unfortunately bent slightly in the process. There was also the issue of the geometry itself. With the larger panels, some angles were hard to reach, and some subtle twisting on the faces cause creases to form where the cardboard lost stability. In the future, it would be better to either cut the faces up into smaller pieces, have thicker material, or have the faces glued on top of support beams or something similar to help them keep shape. To attach all of these, I went slowly, and had the sculpture laid out between two chairs so I could crawl underneath it to work. I also used various pillows and other objects to stack and support the sculpture to avoid having to lay it down completely, forcing weight on the weaker areas such as the antlers and legs.

After finishing the basic fabrication, I went back and added a 2x3 stud down the middle length of the base, because the tension and lightness of the large cardboard sheets was causing the base to curl upwards off the ground. This base helped add stability, and keep the sculpture oriented correctly, without the base trying to collapse in on itself. As well, it should also help aide in maneuverability and transportation, to keep the base from snagging and to keep it from direct contact with the ground, where it had a tendency to shift. This is also the point where I added caps to the antlers, worked out any last issues, and reinforced the joining areas from the inside as much as possible.

Final Reflection
Overall, this project gave me much more trouble than I had previously anticipated. The 3D model had to be retopologized multiple times in order for it to be optimal for printing, the layout sheets had to be done twice, and during assembly, problems kept cropping up. It felt like I was never going to get this done, and right before finishing I realized that I had to completely rip out and reconstruct the base of the model, as my fix for the balancing issue wasn’t working. At this point, I was exhausted with the project and ready to get rid of it, but I’m glad I persevered.

I am extremely proud of the work that I have done this semester. It isn’t perfect by any means, and the sculpture itself has many flaws. There are areas where cardboard warped or creased from the angle and twisting of the face. Not everything lines up quite right, and there are some unsightly gaps. If done again, there are many things I would change; however, considering this is the first large-scale sculpture I’ve created, and only the second Pepakura work I’ve done (the first an extremely simple box shape), I feel that what I have made stands on it’s own as a legitimate piece of artwork. I was able to see through the project to the end with my vision still represented through every decision that was made in construction. The work takes demand of the space that it is in, and I am very happy with how the overall form presents.

This project has helped me grow tremendously as an artist. I have learned more from completing this piece than any other I have in the past, despite (or perhaps because of) the amount of struggle involved and the unprecedented problems that arose. Construction of such a large, sharp sculpture with such a thin, delicate material was a challenge of its own, though the end result is surely worth the trouble. This work speaks to who I am as a person, and even despite its physical flaws, I feel that the soul of the work shines through.

Going forward, I want to continue to explore and create beautiful and interesting forms. The world of digital fabrication is utterly fascinating to me, and all because I enrolled in the “3D printing class” on a whim last semester. Through this class, I have fostered both my work and myself as an artist, and I plan to continue as long as I am able.

Chloe Ferris & Nathan Bower: Final Project Chess Piece

When we grouped up together, we started looking at different inspirations for our chess piece. When searching we found a very interesting, modern set that we wanted to recreate. We chose the bishop from this set, as we both felt it was the most interesting and aesthetically pleasing, as well as being achievable within the scope of this project.

Chess Piece Inspiration

Nathan created the model for the bishop in Maya, since it was going to have to be a polygonal model in the end anyways. He made sure to try to keep the polygon count very low, so the piece would be easy to assemble. I took this exported OBJ and loaded up into the Pepakura Designer to create the flat sheet that we would need to recreate the piece in 3D. I tried to make the cuts on the model in places that would allow easy access to the entire piece during assembly to the best of my ability, so it would not turn into a huge hassle later. Then, I took these cut pieces and arranged them as close as possible on the sheets, and exported the sheets out to be sent to Rhino. Once there, I used the Grasshopper script to create dash and dot-dash lines for the valley and mountain folds on each piece.

Cut Sheets From Pepakura

Cut Sheet From Rhino

After printing, we constructed the chess piece using Loctite to hold it together. The piece was pretty easy to assemble. We started by making the square base first, then adding each side for the middle part. We then assembled the head separately and attached it to the main body, then added the top piece.

Final Assembled Piece

Chloe Ferris: Week 12 Box

For this project I used BoxMaker to create a 6x6x6 box. It is a decorative box, meant to be used to store personal items in. Each side face of the box features a decorative cutout, based on a stained glass leaf design. The removable lid has a circular flower cutout, to make it easier to lift the lid off of the box. The box was printed on 1-ply cardboard, and was very easy to assemble.

Cut Sheet

To create the designs, I used a series of curves that I trimmed to each other to make one continuous piece, so it would not fall through the hole. This was then rotated and copied to the different faces of the box, to mix up the design a bit. On the lid, I created a teardrop petal shape with curves, and then used ArrayPolar to cast 7 of them around a central circle.

Assembled show, showing removable lid

Chloe Ferris: Week 11 Lamp

My lamp was influenced by aesthetic of vases. As plants give off a source of light, a lamp almost mimics the same idea, giving off warmth and light for a home. The structure of the lamp itself was designed based off of a traditional style of vase, in order to encase the "plant," which in this case, is the light bulb. The design features one main curving bulge, which tapers into a neck in order to hold the bulb, before fanning out at the top. I made the lamp small, in order to comfortably fit on my desk.

In Rhino, I created a profile curve shape of the lamp, and used Curve Boolean to have one solid curve. I then took this curve and rotated it 360 degrees, to create a solid, round shape. Then, I used the Section command to draw my waffle sections onto the lamp. Afterwards, I used the CutMyRibs script to create the waffle ribs, and then used the BetterMassiveUnroll script to unroll the ribs onto a reference sheet for the laser cut bed. I also used the Make2D command to create 4 orthographic views of the model. The lamp is meant to be print on a shorter piece of material that I have, so it is pushed all to one side on the reference sheet, and there is a lot of "empty" room that will not actually be wasted, as the sheet I am using is not 24 x 48.

Massed and waffle forms

I chose to use a hard plastic material for this design. I used alternating bright purple and lime green colors for the different X and Y ribs. These two colors are complimentary, and go together nicely. The alternating of the colors also adds visual interest. I then took this render and added the orthographic views and the cut sheet to show how the lamp would be made in a real life manufacturing situation.

Final Render with Orthographics

Final Render with Cut Sheet

The final lamp came out okay. I ran out of hardboard, so I ended up having to cut it on cardboard, which was hard to assemble. I used a 7-watt nightlight candelabra bulb inside the lamp, to create a nice warm glow affect.

Assembled Lamp

Chloe Ferris: Week 9 Serial Slice

This project is based around the concept of a sound wave. When thinking of different forms that would work well using the serial slicing method, I came to sound waves, as they could be represented in an interesting way when sliced, while still holding very true to their original form. I researched different sound waves, and came to a royalty-free website that had many different sound clips. I chose a clip of an ocean wave crashing into a rock, as this continues my previous exploration of ocean waves in the modular slots design project. I referenced the climax point of the sound clip, when the wave first breaches the rock, which is also the most aesthetically pleasing point in the wave.

Ghosted view of the original and sliced model

In Rhino, I used the freehand curve tool to trace over the sound wave reference using a tablet. Then, I went back and edited the individual control points of the curve to make it smooth and accurate. I always went back and added edges to the sides and bottom, then joined all of the curves together. I then turned this curve into a planar curve, and revolved it 180 degrees. I only wanted to revolve 180 degrees so that the back of the wave would be flat, in order to eventually mount it on a wall. I then added the intersection of the support rod, and used a combination of the contour and extrude tools to create the actual serial slices. These were then laid out on the 48x24 laser cutter bed reference, but because the model was small, I was able to fit the slices together so that I would only need a partial sheet of material, which was more cost effective.

Sheet Layout

For the material, I chose a polished Mahogany wood in Keyshot for the model. This wood had both a nice color as well as a very nice grain pattern, which I saw fitting to the sliced model. This wood material was to represent a better, more finished wood model, which I could have cut again in the future. I added a diffused light to the right side of the model, hoping to catch the edges of each slice to accentuate the overall form.

Final Render 1

Final Render 2

The laser cut model came out extremely well. The lab tech I worked with was very concerned at how small my pieces were, but I am happy with my decision to keep the model small. It was challenging to assemble, but the range of sizes is very interesting to look at, and accurate to my original design. The slices were cut on 1/8th inch pressed hardboard, and assembled with Loctite glue and small wood supports, for structural integrity.

Final Assembly 1

Final Assembly 2

Chloe Ferris: Week 10 Waffle Structure

I decided to continue my exploration of water and waves with this project. I chose a water ripple, caused by a drop on a still body of water, as my subject. After looking at different references of water ripples, I decided to create a 3-wave ripple, with a tall center that had been released from the drop itself. I thought that this would be an interesting subject to use for the waffle structure. The ripples have a completely rounded and smooth design, which would contrast with the straight and rigid structure of a waffle.

Ghosted view of massed and grillage forms

Although my ripple design features radial symmetry, I did not want to use radial slicing for my ribs. I tried out both radial and planar slices, and thought that the planar provided an interesting visual contrast to the design, so I decided to use that method. I created the mass by making a silhouette curve of a ripple, and then revolving that 360 degrees from the origin. I then used contours in the X direction and sections in the Y direction to come up with my planes. These were them processed with the CutMyOwnRibsV3 script, and then unfolded with the BetterMassiveUnroll script. Then, I cleaned up the edge slots by extending the inner slot curves. I arranged the Y ribs on one 48x24 rectangle, and the X ribs on another 48x24 rectangle, as I decided that I was going to use two sheets to complete this project, as I did not want to compromise the size. I plan on adding in a few other things that I want cut for personal projects onto these sheets, so as not to waste material.

Sheet Layout 1

Sheet Layout 2

In Keyshot, I applied two shades of a blue shiny plastic finish to all of the ribs. I wanted to recreate the look of acrylic, which I may want to use as a material for this project in the future, if I decide to cut it again. I went with a subdued white lighting, to accent the plastic without drawing attention away from the structure, and to catch the shine.

Final Render 1

Final Render 2

Chloe Ferris: Week 6 Slots

For this project, I wanted to create an abstract sculpture out of the laser cut pieces to display in my apartment. I was very inspired by the idea of water and the flow of waves, so I focused my idea around that. I looked at many references of other's slot projects, along with sculptures of water, in order to solidify my idea. I created three different curved pieces, to show three different stages of a wave flowing, along with two smaller, simple curve pieces to act as connectors. I wanted the connectors to be more geometric and without cutout pieces, in order to provide a contrast to the waves and not draw attention from them.

Reference 1 - Stallman Studio

Reference 2 - Stephen Kishel

Reference 3 - Lubo

I created the pieces completely in Rhino, using curves. I used the 3-point curve tool to create the different wavey shapes, then placed the notches at different angles and combined them together to make one curve with the CurveBoolean tool. For the connectors, I used the arc tool to make two arcs (inside and outside), then connected the bottoms with a line. Then, I added notches, CurveBoolean'd them together, and filleted the bottom edges to keep with the curved design. I did not want any hard edges besides where the notches would be.

The Root Piece, and the Modified Designs

The 48 x 24 Layout

I had these laser cut on 2-ply cardboard, because I wanted the pieces to be a little thicker. When I brought in the file to the lab tech, he suggest I delete a couple of the pieces in order to keep the time down, so I cut out about 6 pieces from the original file. The whole cutting process took 15 minutes, but about half of the pieces had to be cut again with a razor blade, because the laser had not gone all the way through the board on one end (the lab tech said the bed on that side got too cold). I then took the pieces, arranged them how I wanted, and glued them together with Loctite glue. I did not use all of the pieces I cut, but I think it looks better that way.

Final Composition 1

Final Composition 2

Here is a breakdown of how my time was spent on this project:
Week 6: Idea formation, planning, creating forms in Rhino
Week 7: Finalizing forms, laser cutting, and physical assembly