Do you consider 3D modeling a handcraft?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by katkinkead, May 26, 2016.

  1. katkinkead
    katkinkead Well-Known Member
    Hey everyone! I have a question for you which I've been contemplating: is 3D modeling a handcraft?

    This conversation came up for us recently in a meeting, where some people argue yes; that the tools we use in a software like zbrush (for instance) mimic the tools of real life clay sculpting. The only thing that is different is the medium that one is digital, and one is physical. But arguably, they both need a certain level of artisan fine-touch, which can only be transferred through the literal hand of an artist.

    So what do you guys think? 3D modeling, hand craft or no?
     
  2. Steven3D
    Steven3D Active Member
    Hi,

    I would like to see 3d modelling as a handcraft, but honestly this medium has a lot more advantages; major correction posibilities like scaling, mirroring, streching, copy, rotate,... endless digital stuff, while someone who makes something by hand is very restricted and has to make the right choises and use the right tools from scratch to finish.

    I made some clay sculptures in the past but I could never achieve the results I had later with digital sculptures.

    So I think a skilled handcraft-artist should earn more respect than a digital one. :)

    Kind regards
    Steven
     
  3. katkinkead
    katkinkead Well-Known Member
    Ah, I see your point!

    Although, it's interesting because the same could be said for an handcrafter in early BC verses one in AD. For instance, Cavemen only had their fingers and red dirt to create portraits... where later artists had small paint brushes, and finepoint pencils/tools to create detailed portraits and sculptures (not to mention better erasers!)

    As we've seen in our evolution, we're always creating new tools that make it easier to achieve new things in the mediums we have to work on. However, those tools have typically been physical until recently, where we've come into the digital medium.

    My point is, that we've always viewed the above mentioned artists as handcrafters, and the tools they had to create their work of art gave newer artists advantages to create advanced work that their predecessors wouldn't have been able to achieve. The same is true for us in the digital medium.

    Does the fact that our tools are digital negate the hand craftsmanship? Because we do still use our hands... and there is a level of craft involved.
     
  4. Keymaker
    Keymaker Well-Known Member
    I would vote NO.

    In handcraft you can touch your product from "ingredients" to final product. What we do as 3D modelers is digital crafting (if you want use that word) and out model are than manufatcured/created by machine into physical final product.

    Also i think you would call architects and or CNC operators handcrafter. (They also create they final product in digital space that is than created with help of machine into final product)


    Note: I am not native english speaker so there might small differences in what understand behind these words...
     
  5. Youknowwho4eva
    Youknowwho4eva Well-Known Member
    Computer aided handcraft. Just like CAD stands for computer aided drafting (or design).
     
  6. MrNibbles
    MrNibbles Well-Known Member
    This sounds a bit like the fine distinction between a model and a product. Perhaps the base level of human creation is braincraft, followed by the larger branches of nocraft and physicalcraft. Nocraft is simply finding an object in nature that can be used for some purpose. Physicalcraft leads to the additional branches of handcraft and toolcraft and machinecraft. Handcraft would be something simple like finger painting or molding a lump of clay into a cup. Toolcraft requires simple "hand" tools like a stick or rock to break or form something, although it's something that some animals without hands can also do (generally food related). Machinecraft requires things such as electric drills or even 3D printers that have more capability than basic human powered tools. A machine performs a major task with a minimal amount of human physical effort, or something that is beyond the capability of a human with a good set of hand tools.

    But now we return to the idea of 3D modelling. Where do we stick that? Does it go into its own branch or is it simply a part of braincraft? Or is it a sub-branch of machinecraft? You do require a computer to do 3D modelling unless you are some kind of numeric savant, and arguably a computer is a machine-tool. So it might be logical that the branches coming off of machinecraft are manually-controlled-machines and data-file-controlled-machines. 3D modelling could simply be an inherent and necessary component of a data-file-controlled-machine. If you had enough time and beer at your meetings you could subdivide the finer branches into types of data-files and 3D modelling software and file formats, but I don't recommend you spend the time on that.

    If you're still at your meeting and drinking beer you may also consider that a tree structure is not the absolute best way to classify all this stuff. A complicated flow-chart might also work since creation and production can be highly cross-hybridized with branches looping back and forth and reconnecting in various places. And if you begin to contemplate machines themselves generating 3D models for their own use you're going to need a few bottles of vodka in your meeting. That's going to require a big time revision of the charts, as in Skynet big time.

     
    Last edited: May 26, 2016
  7. barkingdigger
    barkingdigger Well-Known Member
    Some interesting answers so far!

    The way I see it, we really have to tease out the true definition of "handcraft". Originally it meant things that were created manually, by holding tools in your hand and "eyeballing" the design without a fixed pattern. This differentiated it from "factory" products where the machines turned out identical items by the thousands. In this usage our CAD designs and their printed realities are not strictly "handcraft". However, our modern usage of the term seems to really imply "art" as opposed to "engineering" - ie something we create from our mind's eye to be pleasing rather than something whose shape is determined by function, measurements and sets of rules. In this sense, a funky 3D-printed sculpture may be "handcraft" while a printed bottle-opener may be "engineered" because the former was mainly the product of art and the latter was specified by mechanical rules and functional needs - even though they were BOTH the products of CAD design and 3D-printing. If that is the case then all our 3D-printed items can be divided similarly between those where the predominant design force is artistic, and those where the design force is functional, with a very blurry dividing line between the two. So, no simple "yes or no" answers, I'm afraid...

    Remember, the Optimist says the glass is half-full, the Pessimist says it is half-empty, and the Engineer says it was imprecisely specified by the client!
     
  8. UniverseBecoming
    UniverseBecoming Well-Known Member
    BRAINCRAFT! HAHA! GOOD ONE! I LIKE THAT! :D

    I look at my tools as extensions of my hands. Whether pushing a mouse or a pen across a tablet or even gliding my fingertips across a touchscreen it's no different to me than when I'm using a plasma cutter or a hammer or a milling machine. I know though that I appreciate, and I know most others do too, when an artisan has spent a lot of time on whatever it is they have created. So, in that regard I'm not so concerned about how the item was created, but rather how much expenditure of time they had to invest. On the other hand, I have a great appreciation of items completely made solely by ancient methods, because they take time and also effort, as in expenditure of muscle power. Like traditional Japanese carpentry for example. That that kind of crafting really makes me think of handcrafted.

    3D modeling though, because it needs to go through some kind of digital method to make it tangible is more along the lines of machine made to me. I've seen Shapeways use the term, "digitally handcrafted", which I think is a fitting way of describing 3D modeling along with 3D printing.






     
  9. Shea_Design
    Shea_Design Well-Known Member
    Yes, I am an Artist, thanks for asking. ;) -Shea
     
  10. ROOKA
    ROOKA Active Member
    my vote is YES , because computers are just to be considered tools and there should not be a line drawn across old and new techinques, they are the newest tools who allow us more advantages than previous ones as katkinkead previously mentioned, but make no mistake it may take years for someone to master the software like 3d max or zbrush and not even after that the work isn't done as there is an tendency to improve on them at a very fast pace ..... so this isn't a easier way to create as most of the people might think
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2016
  11. Daphne
    Daphne Well-Known Member
    There are different sorts of 3D modeling. Sculpting with Zbrush or Sculptris is something I would consider handcraft. With a mouse or drawing tablet the movements of real sculpting are used. Solid modeling is more like engineering. It can be a creative process, but it is not handcraft. One way is not better than the other, but they have different purposes and require different skills.
     
  12. stonysmith
    stonysmith Well-Known Member Moderator
    Do your "handcrafters" allow you to use a knife? Do they allow you to use a hammer? What about a motorized drill (Dremel)?

    Those are tools. The 3d printer is also just a tool. It takes a human to conceive of artwork.

    My response to "purists" is.. I'll send you a box of sandstone powder and a pint of superglue.
    Let's see you build this:
    https://www.shapeways.com/product/C962E4N5V
    [​IMG]
    And to Kat's original point.. I didn't "draw" this, I used OpenSCAD,so I "coded" or "math-ed" it rather than using a mouse.
    :):)
     
  13. CTackett
    CTackett Member
    If you're using sculpting software to create the models from scratch, such as ZBrush, Mudbox or the like, then definitely yes it's hand crafted. Items created with most of the software under the Easy 3D Printing Apps, I would not equate with handcrafted. Too much help from the computer with patterns, conforming shapes, etc.

    Even fine artists, carpenters and whatnot use templates, or stencils at some point. But I'd say that the majority of the model would have to have been made where it was obvious that there was unaided hand skill involved. Then it should be considered hand made. Otherwise we could call just about anything hand made.
     
  14. wozwasntere
    wozwasntere Well-Known Member
    I don't see it has handcraft.

    There's skill involved it using software to design something but untill it's printed out all you have is a bunch of digital ones and zeros that make a nice image on a screen. A machine does the crafting part.

    Stick your thumb in a lump of clay requires no skill but you have handcafted something (badly) and you have a solid object to look at and admire (or think WTF). You could even call it art, stick it in a gallery with a huge price tag.
     
  15. Having actually crafted things as a model builder from scratch and as a designer I get the same results at the end. It is true, I use different tools. It is also true the materials the end product is in is different as well. I view both as being hand crafted. I can just reproduce the 3d printed hand crafted design faster and more consistently than I can with using my two hands to build the model another way.
     
  16. wozwasntere
    wozwasntere Well-Known Member