{"id":1800,"date":"2012-11-30T17:25:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T17:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/archives\/1800-3d-printing-reinvigorating-wood-sculpture.html"},"modified":"2014-07-03T17:24:08","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T17:24:08","slug":"3d-printing-reinvigorating-wood-sculpture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/3d-printing-reinvigorating-wood-sculpture","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing Reinvigorating Wood Sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>We get to see a lot of amazing uses for 3D printing here at Shapeways, but this technique is new to me! <a href=\"\/shops\/selwy\">Ben Godi<\/a> from Italian company 3D Wood shares a really interesting technique that combines 3D printing and traditional wood turning.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In his words&#8230;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Hi I&#8217;m Ben and I would like to share a production process I have developed this year, together with a local wood carving company <a href=\"http:\/\/www.3dwood.com\">3D Wood<\/a>.&nbsp;We already use this production pipeline daily now, because it has so many advantages and Shapeways plays a major role! (how could it be otherwise!)&nbsp;I&#8217;m going to explain the steps with the help of two models that are for sale on my <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ben-godi.com\">website<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>1. Digital Sculpting<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I use Pixologic ZBrush for sculpting. It allows me to create and sculpt the model entirely on the computer from concept to final sculpture. I&#8217;m able to change things based on client&#8217;s feedback quickly, with no need of making laborious changes on a clay model for instance.&nbsp;What I have to keep in mind is, that the outcome will be a physical object and in this special case, an object made out of wood. As you already know for sure, wood consists of fibers that grow in a certain direction. Therefore it&#8217;s necessary to avoid thin parts that go across that wood grain. They break easily.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ben-godi-emancipated-01.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>2. Preparing the model for 3D Printing<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>When I&#8217;m done with sculpting, I make use of ZBrush&#8217;s &#8220;decimation master&#8221; plug-in and reduce the polycount. A super-highres mesh isn&#8217;t necessary for printing. I use Magics RP from Materialize to combine all shells to a single shell and to fix mesh errors, in case the model has any. Removing shells is necessary for giving your sculpture a wall thickness later on. In Magics RP I also perforate the sculpture, so the dispensable powder can be removed after printing.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ben2.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>3. Prototype and Production 3D printing<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>For production on the pantograph (see point 4 below) you need to work on a reference model that is at least twice as big as the final wood figurine.<\/div>\n<div>That&#8217;s necessary for transferring all the small details to the wood and makes it a lot easier to work with, because you must trace the surface by hand on the profiling machine later on.&nbsp;But before I order the big printout for production, I get a small version, ideally the size the final wood sculptures will be, to see how the model looks as a physical object.&nbsp;Whenever I feel something doesn&#8217;t look right, I go back to ZBrush and try to fix it things like composition and balance.<\/div>\n<div>Shapeways <a href=\"\/materials\/sandstone\">full color sandstone<\/a> material is fantastic for printing prototype models it&#8217;s really affordable and looks great. For production, I go for <a href=\"\/materials\/strong-flexible\">Strong and Flexible<\/a> with a wall thickness of 1.5 mm.&nbsp;These models are pretty big, up to a total height of 50 cm and sometimes more.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ben3.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>4. Production on the Pantograph (3D profiling machine)<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I fill the double sized plastic 3D printout with a special resin and mount it on a metal plate. Everything has to be assembled very strong to prevent it from bending or changing its position during tracing on the machine.&nbsp;The tracing itself isn&#8217;t an automated process yet; you still have to do it by hand. And you have to be super careful. Oh boy, in a moment of carelessness you can ruin the whole row of figures!&nbsp;You start with some bigger milling heads for rough machining and switch to the smaller once for detailing. I use maple wood for my work. It doesn&#8217;t change its color over the years and allows very fine details.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ben4.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>5. Finishing and Refining<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The figures that come straight from the pantograph look great but aren&#8217;t finished yet. They need a lot of sandpaper work to smooth the surface. I add details with my set of small carving knifes and boost the ones that disappear during milling. Finally I paint the parts I want to be painted and add a thin layer of wax that prevents the wood from getting dirty.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ben5.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>6. The final product<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>If you keep an eye on some production restrictions, (wood as a living material, the dimensions the pantograph allows, avoiding spots that are difficult to reach with the milling heads and so on), the possibilities are endless!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ben6.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Ben&#8217;s cowgirl model is available in his <a href=\"\/shops\/selwy\">Shapeways shop<\/a> or you can visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ben-godi.com\">his website<\/a>, and see more examples of this technique at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.3dwood.com\">3D Wood<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Do you know an innovative use of 3D Printing? Let us know in the comments and we can feature it!&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We get to see a lot of amazing uses for 3D printing here at Shapeways, but this technique is new&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":13791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[477],"class_list":["post-1800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-1-whats-hot"],"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/ben6-625x899.jpg","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v23.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>3D Printing Reinvigorating Wood Sculpture - Shapeways Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We get to see a lot of amazing uses for 3D printing here at Shapeways, but this technique is new to me! 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