Monday, October 22, 2012

3D Scanning and Printing Help Emerging Artist Create Realistic Sculpture

 
The staff at Direct Dimensions is passionate about a lot of things: movies, music, video games, history and art, just to name a few of our favorite topics and pastimes. We consider ourselves extremely lucky that we often have the opportunity to work on projects that correspond to our passions and we get very excited when we have the opportunity to use our 3D scanning tools to lend a helping hand in fields that we love.


One such opportunity arrived recently when emerging artist Josh Kline posted to the Parsons School of Design website looking for someone with 3D scanning and modeling abilities to help him with his new piece for an upcoming exhibition at MoMA’s PS1. Mr. Kline embraces new technologies (like 3D scanning and printing) to make a statement in his sculptural work.



Direct Dimensions owner, Michael Raphael, saw Josh’s post and, knowing how difficult it can be for emerging artists to get funding for this type of technology, thought this offered a great opportunity to help out. He contacted Josh and volunteered DDI’s services.

Direct Dimensions employees Jeff Mechlinski, Eric Hall and Andrew Camardella travelled to New York where they spent two days scanning the hands, feet and heads of 12 individuals for several of Mr. Kline’s pieces. Because of our passion for art and our 3D technologies, this was another great opportunity to show off the capabilities of 3D scanning as a tool in the process for the creation of art. Typical technologies used for art/figure scanning projects include the ShapeShot face scanning system, Minolta scanner and Faro Scan Arm.


The ShapeShot system takes what is a essentially a 3D “snapshot” of the subject, generating the data for an exact digital 3D replica of the sitter with the ease of taking a digital picture. This system is perfect for figural sculpture and also for VFX for film and games. The Faro Scan Arm and Minolta scanner were excellent tools to capture all the tiny, organic detail of the hands, feet, shoes, and other consumer products (we also use this to create 3D files for prosthetics).

Mr. Kline used the final digital models in the creation of his new works where he “employs the visual language of advertising to investigate the lifestyle economy. His sculptures of hands and other body parts are based on body scans of the designers, architects, and tastemakers who shape the brands familiar to us all.”

You can see Mr. Kline’s sculptures at MoMA PS1 in the NewPictures of Common Objects exhibition October 21, 2012–December 31, 2012  in the 2nd Floor Project Rooms, MoMA PS1.

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