Alright folks, looks like I’m back after a bit of a hiatus here. So this week, I’m going to post some of the work I did this past semester in graduate school at NYU. I took 3D Modeling, optimization & rapid prototyping, Compositing in the Foundry Nuke & Photorealistic CG Lighting as well as VRay for advanced CG lighting. So one of the models that I worked on in this post would be the main character, Sakura, for my thesis project Kaze Jetstream. After 3D sculpting the figure in Cinema 4D & Mudbox, I created a turntable animation with her & I prepared the model I made for 3D printing on the University’s ZPrinter 650, a high-performance composite powder and binder printer. The ZPrinter 650 can output complex geometries and fine detail with a minimum feature size of 0.004” (0.1 mm). It offers 24-bit color (390,000 colors per individual part) from five print heads, including a dedicated black, in a build size of 10”x15”x8”. This printer is well-suited for quick prototyping of model files and testing model build integrity.
I also did a second print on the The Advanced Media Studio’s Objet Connex500 , a premium multi-material printer capable of printing fully-functional assembled objects, is available for printing more sophisticated or finalized objects. The Objet Connex500 uses a PolyJet Matrix, which allows for jetting of multiple model materials simultaneously, including composite Digital Materials TM on-the-fly, in a single print job. It can create objects with properties ranging from opaque to transparent, bendable rubber to hard, rigid plastic, in addition to ABS-like plastic.

So basically I started modeling with a really rough sculpted shape in Mudbox that has the basic appendages that the human figure has. Head, arms, legs & torso as you can see below.

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The last couple of steps I prepare my 3D model, which is great for animation but not for 3D printing. So the figure has to have solid shapes around the geometry in order to prevent it from breaking during the geometry extraction process. The hair had to be remodeled & the clothing had to be solidified for this reason. During the last of the 3D printing preparation I decided to go with a white dress for the material as opposed to the pink to more be in tuned with the storyline of my thesis project.

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