Savage - Dice Rolling Box

It occurs to me that I had images dated to the 6th of November but forgot to make this post until now (as yesterday a friend expressed interest in buying one based off of the dry-assembled version I had out).

This is a dice rolling box for board games and pen & paper roleplaying games. Dice go in the top, tumble down the inside flaps, and roll out into the drawer at the bottom. This fairly rolls the dice without the possibility of cheating. Unfortunately, I made the flaps a bit long and haven't cut them down yet, so dice get stuck between them, as you can see below.

 

The images on the front and back were inspired by heroic fantasy, as games like Dungeons & Dragons are where dice rolling boxes are primarily used. The front shows a knight fighting a dragon, with depth given by the drawer in its extended position. The rear shows the fire left by the dragon's breath. The other sides show five of the different kinds of dice used in D&D, displaying the purpose of the box.

Reference used for dragon 

The decals on the sides were drawn (admittedly poorly) on paper and scanned. After this, I used Inkscape's bitmap trace and converted that to an Illustrator file [using Illustrator's bitmap trace, I couldn't generate curves] for import into Rhino. Once in Rhino, I drew over the scan curves again using Rhino's curves to get a lower-detail version suitable for laser engraving.

Update 2015-12-14:
Had the box re-cut to actually allow dice to roll (whoops). Unfortunately, the stain came out far darker than I would have liked on the MDF, but the designs are still somewhat distinguishable. Pretty decent for a second prototype, needs some more engineering work done since dice tend to get stuck on the last (less steep) rolling panel.

T Savage - Laser Engraving

Laser-cut MDF. I am still deciding how to finish the project.

     This project was a collaboration with a close friend of mine. She had drawn a transgender symbol (the large symbol here, with the male, female, and mixed gender arrows) with a K (her first initial) attached. This became the centerpiece of the cut. Outside of the symbol is a field of chaotic lines reflecting both her relationship with her body and the way others sometimes define her based on her body. Inside the symbol, however, the lines are much thinner, calmer, and ordered - to reflect the calmness that identifying with the label and that transition can bring.

Rendered view of the symbol.

    Here is a rendered view of the model. The female and male portions of the symbol are colored with the colors typically associated with them, and the mixed arrow is yellow, to be as different as possible from both.

Engraving file in Rhino

    The background is the most interesting part of the process; it was created by rendering difference clouds in GIMP (a free raster image editor), then thresholding out the darkest and lightest parts. Afterwards I traced the raster image in Inkscape, converted it to .ai and imported it into Rhino where I had a Make2D view of the model and trimmed the background around it.

Savage - Midtern 3D Print Model

 

There's not a particularly large story to tell here. Prof. Scott changed this assignment from a flashlight to anything one wished to print - and I knew instantly that I had to model a snake. I like snakes, and I wanted to play into a running joke among many of my friends that I "am" a snake because of my height. And because the original assignment was a flashlight model, I included the lantern that the snake is holding.

 

The head and tongue were modeled using control point distortion from a sphere, and the snake body consists of a pipe around a control point curve with radii set up so to fit the lantern at an appropriate place. The lantern itself was made primarily with a torus, extrusions of curves, and the offset commands. You can see in the image above that I had removed part of the head in order to fit the tongue; this was in order to save some support material when printed but ultimately I boolean-added the two meshes together once they were created, so they would print as one piece.

 

 For the render, I knew I wanted to change things up from realistic materials. The lantern subverts expectations by being dark and soft, unlike the expected brightness and hardness of metal. If this were a larger piece, I would install a blacklight or infrared lightbulb in the lamp. The snake, by contrast, is metallic, rough, and brightly colored.

T Savage - Week 2 Flashlight & Duck

The flashlight and rubber duck tutorials are very simple. I only added small embellishments to the designs. On the duck, I added wings (sculpted from a sphere like the other parts of the duck). The flashlight has a ring around the button.

The rubber duck tutorial introduced the use of control points to deform solids into smooth 3d shapes. I added folded wings to the sides of the duck (mirrored across the center) to get a bit more practice with this. The flashlight tutorial was about Boolean addition and difference of solids, which I had already done in my castle model, so I worked with the trim function a bit to clean up the button and ring.

The materials of the duck and flashlight are based off of the plastics and metals that they would be made out of. I chose chrome for the flashlight specifically for the reflection in the second render (above). The duck (below) uses Keyshot's "paint" defaults as an ambiguous middle ground between plastic, rubber, and metal.

Caotan Pham: Week 2 Duck

A duck is a bird, and birds have wings, so I made my duck with wings made from a boolean fusion of several ellipsoids, and a little shaping.
This model was built using point editing, and shape splitting.
The body and wings are made of a soft yellow plastic, and the beak is made from a harder orange plastic. The eyes are glass beads, with no irises.

Caotan Pham: Week 2 Flashlight

This flashlight was based off one I have in my possession, with a wide handle, and tipped ends to aid with impact.
Only three shapes were used: ellipsoids, tapered cones, and cylinders. Both boolean additions and subtracts were heavily used to create a hollow space inside the body and the tips.
The lens is made of glass, and the switch on the back end is made of rubber, emulating the real thing. The body is composed of a dark colored, smooth metal with high shine.
The lighting was chosen to show off the gloss of the body, as well as the reflection from the floor.

T Savage - Week 1/2 Castle Model

For the castle model, I based the architecture on German, Austrian, and Swiss castles. The squat form of the wall towers is inspired by Castle Hohensalzburg in Salzburg, Austria. The other buildings have German and Swiss forms.

 

In making the model, I made heavy use of the `array`, `make hole`, and `offset` functions. The crenelations on the walls are an array of the same form repeated and trimmed at the corners of the walls. The windows in all of the buildings were made using arrays (flat for the rectangular buildings, polar for the towers) of rectangles turned into holes in the structures.

The materials used in the render are stone and wood, approximating the colors of the buildings in the references and my memories of Hohensalzburg years ago. While the real castles have tiled or shingled roofs, especially if they've been kept up over the centuries, a slight alteration of one of the default wood textures creates the (admittedly poor) illusion of wood paneling. I used a warmer stone texture than the references, as well, for a more inviting feel.

Caotan Pham: Week 1 Castle

Though it isn't obvious from the renders, this castle is based off the concept of a castle on a floating island.
Only primitive shapes were used and were positioned with array rotations and cloning tools.
Because it is a castle, outdoor materials were chosen. The "floating island" base is a dark and rough stone, and the secondary towers are made of white marble. The main tower and walls are made of brick which looked strange until the samples option was modified. The extra structures are made of wood because they are supposed to be easily repaired or rebuilt.
The lighting was chosen to be a little weak to reduce the glare from the shine of the marble.

Blake Kostroun: Week 1 Castle

My inspirations derived from the classic movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and our aspirations as a global entity to explore the unknown.

The techniques that I primarily used were the Array modifier, duplicate, and rotate.

In Keyshot I setup the model to suggest that it was floating in space, the materials represent an other-worldly space station.

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.