Table Of Content3D TECHNOLOGY
IN FINE ART AND CRAFT
The possibilities for creation are endless with 3D printing, sculpting, scanning, and
milling, and new opportunities are popping up faster than artists can keep up with
them. 3D Technology in Fine Art and Craft takes the mystery out of these exciting new
processes by demonstrating how to navigate their digital components and showing
their real world applications. Artists will learn to incorporate these new technologies
into their studio work and see their creations come to life in a physical form never
before possible. Featuring a primer on 3D basics for beginners, interviews, tutorials,
and artwork from over 80 artists, intellectual property rights information, and a
comprehensive companion website, this book is your field guide to exploring the
exhilarating new world of 3D.
• Follow step-by-step photos and tutorials outlining the techniques,
methodologies, and finished products of master artists who have employed
3D technology in new and inventive ways
• Learn how to enlarge, reduce, and repurpose existing artwork and create
virtual pieces in physical forms through a variety of mediums
• Research your options with an accessible list of pros and cons of the various
software, 3D printers, scanners, milling machines, and vendors that provide
services in 3D technology
• Listen to podcasts with the artists and learn more tips and tricks through the
book's website at www.digitalsculpting.net
Bridgette Mongeon is a master sculptor with over 20 years of experience in figurative
sculpture. She writes and often lectures about the arts, technology and marketing in the
arts and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in combining 3D Technology and Fine Arts
from Goddard College. She is a contributing author of Digital Sculpting with Mudbox:
Essential Tools and Techniques for Artists and is the host of the Art and Technology
podcasts.
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3D TECHNOLOGY
IN FINE ART AND CRAFT
Exploring 3D Printing, Scanning,
Sculpting, and Milling
Bridgette Mongeon
f Focal Press
Taylor & Francis Group
NEW YORK AND LONDON
First published 2016
by Focal Press
70 Blanchard Road, Suite 402,
Burlington, MA 01803
and by Focal Press
2 Park Square, Milton Park,
Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Focal Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2016 Bridgette Mongeon
The right of Bridgette Mongeon to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted by her in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
NOTICES
Knowledge and best practice in this field are
constantly changing. As new research and experience
broaden our understanding, changes in research
methods, professional practices, or medical treatment
may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on
their own experience and knowledge in evaluating
and using any information, methods, compounds,
or experiments described herein. In using such
information or methods they should be mindful of
their own safety and the safety of others, including
parties for whom they have a professional
responsibility.
Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Mongeon, Bridgette.
3D technology in fine art and craft : exploration of COVER IMAGE CREDITS
3d printing, scanning, sculpting and milling / By Front
Bridgette Mongeon. (left) Custos II by Bruce Beasley
pages cm (top to bottom)
Includes index. Victimless Leather by The Tissue Culture & Art
1. Three-dimensional printing. 2. Art—Technique. (Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr)
I. Title. II. Title: Three-D technology in fine art and Scanning of David
craft. by The Digital Michelangelo Project
TS171.95.M66 2015 Digital Model of Grambling University Tiger
621.9’88--dc23 by Bridgette Mongeon
2014045695
Back
ISBN: 9781138844339 (pbk) (left to right)
ISBN: 9781315730455 (ebk) Gold 2012 by Sophie Kahn
Akor Restaurant and Bar Walls by Matsys, 2013
Designed and typeset by Alex Lazarou Piranesi’s Coffeepot created by Factum Arte
CONTENTS
FOREWORD PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION
p. vi p. vii p. x p. xii
CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4
Primer A World Turned 3D Scanning 3D Modeling,
p. 1 Upside Down p. 57 Sculpting, and More
p. 35 p. 101
CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8
CNC Milling, 3D for Presentations 3D Printing The Foundry of
Routing, and CNC Milling p. 181 the Future?
and More for Enlargements p. 243
p. 123 p. 159
CHAPTER 9 APPENDIX INDEX
Copyrights, Ethics, p. 295 p. 302
Responsibilities, and
3D Technology
p. 284
CONTENTS
V
FOREWORD
D
uring 2009 I was contacted by Bridgette Mongeon with a request to
include images of my digital sculptures in the gallery of her first book,
Digital Sculpting with Mudbox: Essential Tools and Techniques for Artists. It
was exceptionally compelling as a training manual for traditional figurative
clay modeling as well as digital modeling with virtual clay.
The following year Bridgette invited me as a guest for one of the first
podcast interviews that she has produced during the past several years. Her
series of podcasts have proven to be a tremendous resource for anyone
interested in researching digital sculpture as a significant contemporary
aesthetic and emerging technological process for the production of
sculptural forms with numerous choices of materials.
After recent review of early production drafts from her new book,
3D Technology in Fine Art and Craft: Exploring 3D Printing, Scanning,
Sculpting, and Milling, I am once again impressed that Bridgette
successfully continues to advance research of digital sculpture with quality
production, graphic layouts, comprehensive overviews of current technical
processes, and extensive images of artworks by several renowned sculptors
who have pioneered computer design and manufacture of 3D form.
I am particularly proud that she has included Autodesk sponsored
“Digital Stone Exhibition” that toured China during 2008–2009 and the
2013–2014 Digital Stone Project Summer Workshops for Robotic Carving of
Marble Sculpture at Tuscany.
This book also presents exquisite examples of digitally produced work
from many other 3D design fields like the seminal “Out of Hand” Exhibition
(2013–2014) at the Museum of Art & Design, New York City. Professionals
in all 3D design fields will greatly benefit from this survey of CAD/CAM
techniques. Likewise, this will be an invaluable textbook for academic
programs that offer architecture, industrial design, furniture design, fashion,
jewelry design, and especially sculpture.
Robert Michael Smith
Associate Professor, Fine Arts
New York Institute of Technology
October 20, 2014
FOREWORD
VI
PREFACE
I
have been an artist ever since I could pick up a crayon and a traditional
sculptor for more than 30 years. Working with 3D technology came through
the influence of a friend, Mike de la Flor, and from my many trips to the
SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques)
Conferences. I watched as the digital tools became more intuitive for a
traditional artist, and in 2007 and 2008 I began using them in my own
workflow; first for presentation purposes, and then, as the technology
advanced, for creating my own work in a physical form.
I am known for my life-size bronzes and monumental sculpture as well
as my portrait work. Digital technology expedites my process, gives me
new tools and methods to explore, and in many ways saves me time and
gives me many more hours to create.
A journey through the world of digital technology and marrying it
to the traditional processes took a bit of boldness and self-esteem. The
computer graphics world is primarily a male-populated area. I have joked
that I have had to go through many tutorials of aliens, busty women, and
monsters to get the training needed. At first, when I would approach the
computer graphic artists and tell them that it was important for me to
get the work out of the computer, they would ask, “Why do you want to
do that?” They asked with a tone that made me think that my skin was
turning a shade of pink polka dots. Creating work for animation, movies,
and two-dimensional rendering, they just could not see why that would be
necessary. As a traditional sculptor, the digital art is useless for me unless
I can make it into a physical form. Eventually, the digital resources such
as advances in 3D sculpting, 3D scanning, 3D printing, and CNC began
to catch up with my needs. I continue, as many other artists do, to push
the processes. As I embraced this new technology I noticed that many
in the traditional art world looked on the idea of using digital tools in
the traditional studio with a bit of hesitation. To my dismay, many turned
away as they whispered the words “cheating” or “manufactured” and not
“real art.” I think it is important to bring these whispers of trepidation to
light and create dialogues around them, and I have tried to do just that in
Chapter 2: A World Turned Upside Down.
I’m not alone in having one foot in the digital sculpting world and
another in the traditional sculpting world. There are many who have gone
before me and have done the exact same thing. Through their efforts,
exploration, communication, and sharing they have inspired me and many
PREFACE
VII
like me. There is no greater pleasure for me than to feature some of them
and their work in this book. Talking with them on the online podcasts and
hearing their journey through digital technology, a journey that in many
cases began 20-plus years before my own, has deepened my respect and
appreciation for each of them and their work. I recognize their creative
process and what they have had to endure for the technology to get where
it is, and for the general public, galleries, and museums to accept the work
as legitimate fine art. I know that they paved the way for many artists that
have come after. I feel honored to call them associates, and I hope I may
also call them friends.
Incorporating the digital process into a traditional studio can be
trying, but many artists have reported that it also can extend their careers.
That is one of the motivations for me. Over the years, pushing hundreds
of pounds of clay around had given me some pretty big Popeye forearms,
and incredible hand muscles. After years of creative abuse, my passion
also caused some internal injuries. Bruce Beasley, a pioneer using this
technology, spoke of what he refers to as the “dancer’s trap,” but for
sculptors. We have linked our creative expression, just as a dancer has,
to our physical bodies. For many sculptors, over the years, our physical
expression causes damage to our bodies, which can shorten our time to
create. My body is my most important tool and, at the height of my career
as a sculptor, injuries forced me to look at life without doing what I loved.
“Allow me to hand you my business card,” I would try to smile as I held
the thin piece of paper between my index finger and thumb and grimaced
at the immense pain. Incorporating 3D technology helped me to continue
to create while doctors fixed my artistic body. I have found others on my
journey that have had similar experiences. I’m careful about taking care of
my most valuable tool—my body. I’m thankful for the digital tools, because
with them—and some incredibly talented and devoted interns—I can
continue to create work that will exist in the physical world, for many years
to come.
This “sculptor’s trap” also prompted me to go back to school and
formulate what I believe was one of the first Master of Fine Arts degrees
that combined traditional and digital art. Documenting my process for
both my thesis and this book made me aware of things that one would
not usually notice. The idea that while sculpting in the traditional studio,
I would actually close my eyes to “feel” if I sculpted something correctly.
Over the years, touch becomes as important to my process of sculpting as
seeing. Alas, touch is lacking in a digital world.
Another aspect of working digitally that has vexed other artists as well
is that, when an artist purchases a tool for traditional sculpting in the studio,
it does not change. A caliper is the same today as it will be five years from
now. This is not so with digital technology. The computers change and the
PREFACE
VIII
software changes. There are advantages to these changes as the software
and hardware designers push the limits and boundaries a bit more, allowing
artists to do something else that, just a few months prior, they could not.
This comes at a price; an artist incorporating these tools into their workflow
is on a perpetual learning curve. Some of the learning, at times, can feel
overwhelming.
I have often said, you don’t know what you can do, until you know
what you can do, and once you learn what you can do with this technology,
the possibilities will blow your mind. For me, creating art is important,
but sharing adventures and inspiring others are just as important. It is my
hope that this book will inspire the reader and give them the courage and
the tools to explore. Technology will change, and perhaps I’ll be lucky
enough to create an update of this book in a few years. The new book will
feature the changes in the technology and may include artwork from those
who used this book as their springboard, artists who were encouraged to
explore and experiment.
My purpose for this book, the online podcasts, and the book’s
accompanying websites is to inspire and show the incredible possibilities.
It is a one-stop guide for a traditional artist to begin in the digital world,
or for digital artists to realize their artwork in a physical form. Have fun
creating and be sure to drop me a line and let me know how this book
has informed your own creative journey. I can’t wait to see the art that you
create.
Bridgette Mongeon
PREFACE
IX
