Studio Blog | Stéphan Angoulvant

3D Fundamentals 2 - Part 1

Second term is going well here at Art Center and we’ve just passed the midterm point. The past few weeks have been intense but the rhythm has slowed down and we’ll soon be gearing up again for finals. With the midterms we ended the first portion of 3D Fundamentals 2, a direct continuation of 3D Fundamentals 1 which I had mentioned last term.

The second part of 3D Fundamentals 2 will be a continuation of Study Models. We will be working on creating a dynamic-looking form out of automotive clay.

As expected, we continued to learn new tools and techniques and practice our skills with the ones that are now familiar. The class started with a refresher on the table saw. The aim of this project was to build a tool box to specific dimensions, with a sliding cover. It will be used to store our clay modeling tools in the second half of the course.

I used the laser cutter to engrave my name, adding a personal touch to the project.

Along with the tool box, we created “modeling angles” out of plywood and masonite, which will help us in sculpting our clay model. These had to be perfectly square.

The wood was cut on the table saw, then sanded to clean up the grain. Two triangular shapes were cut out of a rectangular piece of wood and stacked together so they could be made to the same shape. I then drilled holes to create the handle which was cleaned on the router and then sanded.

The parts were then glued together and finished with wax. A layer of masonite was finally added to make the angles more durable.

A new skill we learned was working with fiberglass. We started by creating a simple shape out of polyurethane foam, which was then vacuum-formed to create a mold.

Once sprayed with gel coat, we applied layers of glass fiber and resin to the mold.

After letting the resin cure we extracted the part, cleaned up the edges and finally sprayed it with gray primer. The final result is a sturdy reproducible fiberglass part.

Our biggest project was probably the so-called “geoforms” project, a set of the four basic shapes (cube, cylinder, cone and sphere) that are used for reference in our rendering class (Viscom 2). We also had to build a base and acrylic case to store these in.

The cylinder, cone and sphere all started with a rectangular block of wood which was mounted on the lathe.

From the block of wood we created a cylinder with an even diameter all the way across, which is the base for three of the shapes.

For the cone, we simply carved down the cylinder making sure to keep the proper angle and height.

The sphere was far more difficult and starts with flat angular guidelines.

We smooth these down and use a laser-cut template to check the accuracy of the surface, slowly chipping away at the high spots.

Eventually the shapes were sanded down to the exact measurements, the grain was patched with wood filler and the shapes were primed and painted.

Building the acrylic case was a rather frustrating and arduous process, but in the end the result was a rather nice set of reference material.