Yadira Anguiano: Week 8 Prosthetic Accessory

 Design Intent

After watching Aimee Mullin's Ted Talk during class, I was inspired to create an object that solves a design problem by merging utility with aesthetics. I brainstormed issues that directly affect myself and the people near me, thinking of ways design could help solve these issues. During this time, I realized that my grandfather is someone that could greatly benefit from good "prosthetic" design. He, like many others of his age and demographic, is hard of hearing and cannot hold conversation without a hearing aid. However, as an old-fashioned Hispanic man, he also feels disdain for these devices. He refuses to wear them, likely because of the accompanying notion of aging with the device. I wanted to propose a change to this idea for my grandfather and many other Hispanic men who have the same disdain toward these medical devices. Instead of feeling shame or disdain, I want his demographic to think of their hearing aid as an accessory. Like glasses, I feel hearing aids should become an accessory that even those without hearing difficulties would want to wear.

Because my target demographic is older Hispanic (more specifically, rural Mexican) men, I drew inspiration from cultural "ranchero" style objects like belts, sombreros, and even horse saddles. All of these objects are heavily patterned with similar prints, and seemed to have a liking toward using gold, bronze, or silver as highlight detailing. These patterns are often embroidered or branded into leather. I also drew inspiration from Mexican jewelry, which displays similar patterns. 

Patterned ring

Patterned Saddle

Mexican "Centenario"

Initial concept sketch

I drew an initial sketch for what I wanted my earpiece to look like. This sketch is based on the general shape and design of a hearing aid. Later, I swapped this design since it felt too bulky, and instead opted for something more akin to a singer's earpiece. Instead of having a battery on the back of the user's ear, I imagined a smaller battery embedded into the earpiece for sake of sleekness. 

Modeling Techniques

I began my model by creating basic curves and projecting them onto my head model. I wanted to ensure a comfortable and ergonomic base, so I followed the ear's shape for the initial base that would then become my leather piece. I used loft and patch to then create surfaces. Afterward, I build a battery encasement within the ear. I had the idea to make this metallic early on, so I wanted a stiffer look to this piece. To do this, I projected my curves onto a planar surface and then used offset to create a general shape. I added smaller details, like an outer trim using similar methods. I built an extra platform piece where I would eventually add my pattern. To create my pattern, I began with creating curves inspired by patterns I saw in my references. I made sure the edges were tileable, and then proceeded to use fillet corner to remove any harsh edges. Then, once the curves were nicely arranged, I extruded and then attempted to use flow along surface. Since that function wasn't producing the results I wanted, I instead laid the pattern on top of the raised piece and used the Boolean difference command. Once the edges were filleted on my surfaces, I called it there. I wanted to create an earpiece that would be useful for everyday wear, though I created chains and different patterning for the piece, I ultimately kept it simple.

Materials

For my Keyshot renderings, I used titanium for the battery, aluminum for the pattern, and leather for the backpiece. I used these materials to keep with the "ranchero" style, keeping in mind that while I wanted to use shiny metals, they are not ideal for daily wear (and a bit out of character for my targeted demographic). I also chose a basic, indoor lighting setting as well as an outdoor one to capture both environments the earpiece may be seen in. I made sure to render as TIFFs, since this gave me the option to change the background to a gradient. Overall, I feel I was successful in redesigning a personalized hearing aid. 

Nick Nelson: Project 4 Serial Slicing

Project 4 Serial Slicing

Cat Axolotl Hybrid

For my animal hybrid bust I got the idea to combine a lizard called an Axolotl with a Cat

When sketching out my ideas my main inspiration was toothless from the how to train your dragon movies, but I also briefly messed around with the idea of adding birdlike or aquatic elements to my creature.

 

When modeling in Rhino I took basic shapes like ellipses and exploded them, warping their control points to get the shapes I wanted. I also cut holes to make the ears.

When it came to my slices I superglued them and then taped the exterior over for painting.

I was having trouble getting paint to stay on my model so I used spray paint to give it its pink coat. I also cut out paper and used clay for its little fronds its got.

An Nguyen: project 4 - Serial Slicing

Concept

The attached collage below is a collection of 10 creations/characters. I started off with the shape of her burst with the similar shape of Mike from Monster Inc. To make my creation different from the original Mike, I give her a goggle inspired by characters in a video game Among Us instead of the iconic big eye. I really love Grogu/ Baby Yoda so I give her long ears like him. When I glanced at Pascal, Rapunzel’s chameleon, I had the idea to give her some spikes but big and sharp like a dinosaur. My design is simply a combination of many characters that I chose in my reference images. I think the conceptual development from my inspiration to the sketch is quite good, well representing the unique parts from reference characters. 

Collage of Ref. Images

Sketch 

Process

One of the 5 commands that I used is Rebuild, in order to create more control points to change the shape of an object. I created her body by first creating a sphere and increasing the control points by Rebuild command. After that, I clicked and dragged the control points to turn the sphere into Mike’s head shape. I only reshaped half of the sphere and used Mirror Commands to duplicate the other side so the two sides are symmetrical. One obstacle I had when I was using the Rebuild command to reshape the object is that I could click the wrong points and shape the object weirdly. I overcame it by doing it slowly and looking at many viewports at a time to make sure I grabbed the right control points.  I used Extract Isocurve to pick up the curve of her back so that later I can line the spikes correctly following the curve of her back. With that curve, I created a pyramid to be the spike and multiplied them by using ArrayCrv. With ArrayCrv, the pyramids/spikes are quickly multiplied, equally spaced out, and perfectly laid on the curve of her back. The fifth command that I used is Offset Surface. I used this command to turn the goggle from a planar surface to a solid goggle. I had a difficult time learning how to make the goggles solid. I tried to use the Extrude command but it didn't work. My final solution is to create a planar surface from the outline of the goggles and use Offset Surface to turn that planar surface into solid. Pros to 3D modeling is that my model is simple and straightforward so I had the ideas of what commands I need to use and how I can create all the parts of her. I found the most difficult part of building her is to turn the outlines of her parts into solid objects. I planned in my head that I would use Extrude but it didn’t work so I had to watch videos and tried many ways to have all her parts solid and attached to her body. 

Rhino: Orthography in Ghosted black and Layers Panel

Rendering and Fabrication:

In Keyshot, I used Cloth Weave White for the body and the ears because it has a crossed pattern. I could not find a paper material or texture so I chose this material which gives out the look of paper. I chose Paint Texture for the goggles. I simply used a 3 medium light for the gray background orthography. The intended environment for her is her in the countryside and being pulled into a UFO. I tried to make a spotlight on the UFO and pointed down at her. 

I think the post processing part went well for me since all the parts like her ears, her goggles, and her spikes are built in/ attached to her body. When I put all the parts together, the two rods just keep all pieces in place and easily build her into shape. However, there are two spikes missing some pieces so I had to cut and glued paper to fill in the missing. For paper mache, I used paper tissue instead of newspaper because that was the material that I had access to. If there’s anything I could have done differently, I would use newspaper instead because I think it would create a smooth surface compared to the bumpy surface of the paper tissue. I made two layers of paper mache. The process of paper mache wasn’t bad. It was just a matter of time to glue paper on and wait for it to dry. After paper mache, I painted her and the post processing was done.

Keyshot: Extruded Model with 2D Drawing

Keyshot: Orthography in 4 viewports on gray background

Keyshot: 3D Model in Intended Environment

Physical Sculpture in the Intended Environment

A composition of Orthography of Physical Sculpture

Physical Sculpture with 2D Drawing embed

Physical Sculpture before Post-Processing

Vincent Joubarne: Prosthetic

 Design:

I've always really enjoyed the pirate look and aesthetic and the most iconic part of the pirate look is the peg leg however I wanted to mix it up and make a futuristic space pirate peg leg.

Modeling:

In this model I used the basic commands and shapes tool to create the prosthetic I messed a lot with the GumBall and learned how powerful of a tool it can be. Other than that I used the boolean to combine objects to create the final piece and then filleted the edges to make it look cleaner.

 

Rendering:

The rendering portion came down to subdividing the different objects into the correct layers and then choosing the materials that went with the theme I was going for. In the end, I decided on committing to a black-and-red look similar to the dark side in Star Wars. I used Rhino to render my image and it came out looking pretty good I messed around with some post effects to enhance the glow of the lights that I added to the model.

Faith Romero: Week 15 Prosthetic

 

Design Intent 

    I had an idea to create a prosthetic that would act like an upper and lower art cover. I would make this prosthetic in a way that it could be separated into the top piece and bottom piece to be placed on broken arms. This could serve as a stylish alternative to plaster casts. My other idea was to use this for burn victims as an external cover. And a final way to use this would be a prosthetic cover. 

Modeling Techniques 

    To begin I rebuilt the original arm to simplify the model. I created curves to project on the model and rebuilt the curves. I created curves to project vertically and horizontally after I ran Network surface to make a clean surface. I rebuilt the surface to simplify once again, I duplicated the object and offset the layers so one would sit on top. I created a loft between the surface to make it one object. I decided to go back and add some detail, I looked for a way to have some offset detail. With the advice of Professor Scott, I projected curves on my surface and split the curve from the base. I cut out the top layer of the model leaving the split on top, I created a loft on each side connecting it to the base finally, I filleted the edges. 

    To Create the detail I duplicated the arm, and offset it to the side, and exploded the surface. I deleted the cuff surfaces to have the detail just appear on the base. I ran grasshopper with the parakeet plugin, and I created a script to have a "growth on mesh". I converted my object from brep to mesh and ran it to the growth on mesh, I created a button and timer. The growth on mesh was run to a pipe, to have well-defined lines. I ran the program till I liked the look, and baked it to the artboard. 

Rendering and Materials

   

 The material I choose was Axalta Paint. I decided to go with a bright color for the main body this shade of orange was a nice neutral that mixed with the "Nite tide" navy color I choose. I decided to go with these colors since they are complementary and they are seen in retro artwork, hence the name. For the detail, I did not want it to match the cuffs, but I wanted it to complement the colors, a "Midnight" shade was chosen to have variation and depth. 

Brock Fuller - Architectonic Lamps

Assignment:

For this assignment, we were to design the structure for a lamp and apply a grasshopper code to slice the model into layers and achieve a grilled "waffle" effect. The layers could then be laser-cut from a material such as wood or cardboard. I created three lamp designs.

Design #1 - "The Dog Toy"

Perspective view (ghosted)

Perspective view (rendered)

        This is a small lamp with a simple, radially symmetrical design. It has 6 vertical segments and 8 horizontal segments. With the dimensions of 8.50" x 8.50" x 7.25", this is the smallest of the three designs. It's name was decided when a friend named Clement stated: "it kind of looks like a dog toy." Indeed, its shape is not unlike a rubber, treat-holding toy for a dog, and so it is aptly named.

Design #2 - "The Urn"

Perspective view (ghosted)

Perspective view (rendered)

        Another lamp with a radially symmetrical design. Like the previous design, It has 6 vertical segments and 8 horizontal segments. However, at 10.0" x 10.0" x 10.81", it is by far the tallest of the three designs. It is named for its urn-like shape.

Design #3 - "The Commode"

Perspective view (ghosted)

Perspective view (rendered)

        The last and perhaps most unique of the three designs is not radially symmetrical like its siblings and only displays bilateral symmetry along a single axis. Additionally, with its 8 vertical segments and 10 horizontal segments, it is constructed from more layers than the other designs. With its dimensions of 10.0" x 5.86" x 8.51", it is further cemented as the "middle child" of the trio. It is named for its toilet bowl shape which was entirely unintentional.

Additional Images

complete perspective view (ghosted)

complete perspective view (rendered)

complete side view (ghosted)

complete side view (rendered)

complete top view (rendered)

Laser-cut Product

The three designs were cut from two sheets of 1/4" x 24" x 48" birch plywood.