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UPDATE: Click here to QUADRABAR I, the first of the artworks derived from this 3D model

I’ve been working on a new piece in 3d in Blender. Made up of multi-colored cubes intersected with multi-colored bars, the cubes step up and down, forming a kind of undulating geography. Here’s a short fly around screen cast of it.

I’m using this 3d medium as a new way to make 2d prints. This is a new artistic process for me I’m calling 3d Derivatives. When I made a 3d printed Hash sign for the recent W/O Limits exhibition at the Artists Archives, I first did renders of it to study the form. A lightbulb went off in my head and I realized I could take these renders, export them out and transform them into 2d cnc cut-out prints. Here’s an example: ESCAPE HASH II – CNC Cut-Out Print on Acrylic

My next step with this piece is to study renders with different light sources at different inclinations to cast realistic shadows across the forms. I can set up camera views looking at the forms in multiple ways; from the top, the sides, at angles, rotated etc. In addition to this, I can view it in perspective or orthographically. With the right views and lighting, I’ll be able to do high resolution renders and export them out to be printed on acrylic and cut out on a cnc router. Stay tuned for 2d artworks derived from this 3d model to come.

Like all of us, as another year is about to fly away into memory, each of us has had challenges that live among the joys we experienced this year. In 2023 we look towards the new year to come as a fresh start. With hope in our hearts, Bruce and I wish you and all the loved ones that touch you, joy this holiday season. And to all our creative friends we look forward to seeing the beauty to come.

Here’s my work in the exhibition W/O Limits. To read about this special art exhibition, click here.

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This new series is kind of a hybrid artwork. It begins in 3d and transforms into 2d.  I use the 3d modeling software Moment of Inspiration (MOI) and blender, an open source 3d program. I do the 3d modeling with MOI because it’s easy to navigate and it’s very responsive and fast. I then go to Blender to render the 3d model.

This is a cuboid shape that has hash symbols carved into it, one on each of the 6 sides. This exposes another cuboid inner cuboid (in red). Now the cuboid is a special shape, what in Euclidean geometry is called a Rhombohedron. A rhombohedron is a cuboid with 3 pairs of rhombi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuboid

This view is if my virtual camera eyes were hovering above and me turned upside down and looking down. I played with the light source, a source that mimics the rays of the sun, at different positions as it makes its arc through the day. The artwork hung on the wall looks to be upside down but in reality it was me that was upside down in virtual space, capturing a snapshot of it from my upside down vantage point.

The virtual world is dynamic where I can move in space with no regards to gravity. Up and down is relative to my position in virtual space. 

I chose not to do a perspective view but rather an orthographic view. From Britannica:
Orthographic projection is a common method of representing three-dimensional objects, usually by three two-dimensional drawings in each of which the object is viewed along parallel lines that are perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.

Orthographic views are often used by engineers and architects to explain a design in the form of construction drawings.