Link to Group Presentation + Individual Process Documentation
Upon ideating on objects to scan, our group decided to utilize Smiski figures in creating decorative technology accessories. Smiskis are collectible mini doll figures that come out in different variations of poses and concepts. While maintaining the same face and body figure, each Smiski collectible offers a unique element of personality. We especially appreciated this aspect of the Smiski: the fact that we could create variations of the same character and still categorize them altogether under an overarching series.
We started brainstorming ways in which we could make a variation of the Smiskis. We narrowed down to a compromisation of making decorative accessories, whether on technology devices or the mannequin. Initially, we were all going to create Smiski x Apple Collaboration-themed airpods, and ran into a problem of not being able to scan an exact replicated model of the airpods (which will mess with the dimensions of the product). After realizing this, we decided to branch out individually so we could explore more creative freedom.
Because the Smiskis are branded with a very specific shade of green, our moodboard generally consisted of pose inspirations and various ways in which we could contextualize the Smiskis into everyday life objects. We came up with sketches to make hairpins, mugs, cable organizers, cable biters, lamps, as well as jewelry bowls. After deciding on a specific pose of the Smiski figure, we started ideating ways in which the figures could be formed into accommodating a specific part of the design of the decoration. We then each used either a real life Smiski collectible or other nearby objects to video scan in Polycam.
The main problem with apps like Polycam was that the objects were not scanned to the highest quality, leaving room for low-poly, “unfinished” edges that would often come out rough in rendering format. On top of that, because the app focused too hardly on scanning the entire environment, too many unnecessary elements were added onto the scan and therefore created more work for us to essentially clean up the edges.
It is clear that the scanned objects, when viewed in the clay mode on blender, needed areas to be cleaned and smoothed out. The figures that we scanned on Polycam ended up being extremely bumby (on the surface), and we had to manually use the edit tool (selected in orange in image above) to erase unnecessary scans. The hardest part for this specific stage was actually doing the manual eye and hand labor of checking if any vertices or edges need to be cleaned up. Once the edges were slightly more refined, we used smoothing tools in sculpt mode and also utilized subdivision modifiers to create more voxel divisions and smooth surfaces on the digital figure.
The process of refining and upgrading the models was extremely fun. This is where all the members got to explore their creative curiosities and played with different values, shapes, and geometry to break down the anatomy of the Smiski and give it more personality. I personally used an iPad app called Nomad Sculpt in order to give more detail to the limbs as well as the facial expressions. One limitation that our group faced was having to awkwardly elongate certain parts of the 3D shape and the program would not give us full control over the angle and power of the shift. One note that I’ve made to myself is that handmade 3D models are much smoother and of greater detail and symmetry. However, as this project focuses on the use of 3D scanned objects, I decided to print a figure that is essentially a combination of the scanned object and the modeled object. I wanted this to be a personal experiment, to see how differently they print out in terms of the texture and accuracy.
Now that we have finalized the scans, we exported them into 3D printer OS and scaled the object. We learned how to scale any axis of the file all while keeping proportions, and we decided to give a height of 10cm to this figure. The figure took approximately 2 hours to fully print out. The print was done in white PLA filament, and once the final figure was printed out, we cleaned up the support and sanded sides slightly to etch surface in preparation for the spray paint (by experience, etched surfaces absorb paint in a much vibrant tone).
We thought it would be interesting if all of our figures represented different visual themes in terms of colors. Some of us made use of the spray paint booth in the makers space, others utilized airbrush technology, and some of us even utilized regular hand paint to add details to the face. With this variation added, we concluded project 2 by finalizing our series and documenting them into one big project of Smiskis put into real life.