Well, after reading this BlenderNation post, I thought it would be possible to do the same this using Dynamic Paint rather than Rhino.
I used dynamic paint to simulate a 3d scan on Suzanne. I haven’t constructed the model out of cardboard yet, but I just wanted to post this because I am quite excited !!
It basically uses an animated plane, where every frame, the plane moves upwards the same distance of the thickness of cardboard used. I used 1 cm. It then paints an image of the object, and this image dissolves every frame, so it’s a different image each frame, thus segmenting the 3d object as 2d plane.
It’s then pretty much a matter of printing out the images to scale, and cutting out the cardboard slices to match the printed pattern.
extract a cross shaped piece vertically through the mesh, then add a plastic “bone” of the same shape in the real world to build up on. That should keep everything aligned.
If part of the mesh doesn’t pass through the cross shape, it may still become misaligned. I was thinking perhaps to superimpose a grid over each section, and at the edges of the cutouts, make little marks with a marker, so that when gluing, all the marks should align, regardless of the mesh section.
If all the pieces of the stock cardboard that you use are the same size you can use the waste cardboard as a mould. Also to stop the whole thing sticking together line the mould with clingfilm (that stuff thats used to wrap food with)
Alignment holes in the model where ever you can fit them, would allow you to stack it like in the video. Three would do nicely. Then cap the ends with one solid piece to cover the holes.
I managed to assemble Suzanne using scrap cardboard. The model is 6cm high, and consists of twenty 0.3mm cardboard squares. Each square was 10.6cm x 10.6cm.
After the dynamic paint baked the images, I overlayed a grid using After Effects and rendered out each frame as an image. I imported each image into MS Word, and resized each one to 10.6cm x 10.6cm.
I printed out the layer templates, cut them to size, and stuck them onto the cardboard squares. I then used scissors and an exacto knife to cut out the template as cardboard. I then glued each layer on top of each other, trying my best to align them using the grid. All this took around 5-6 hrs.
Problems:
1)resizing the images to real size in MS Word. There must be an easier way to prepare the images for printing.
2)cutting the cardboard. This was the most time consuming process.
3)aligning the layers. The grid was helpful, but there was still some “eyeing out” during assembly.
Proposed fixes:
1)no idea
2)cnc machine?
3)as suggested by many, alignment holes, or something which is consistent through each layer, are needed.
maybe after printing it off, stick it on cardboard sheets the same size as the paper. then, you can just glue all the cardboard slices (just putting glue on the dynamic paint spots) and cut off the extra cardboard with a knife layer by layer.
hope that makes sense:D
If you had gobs of ink you could print very thin layers on transparency film sheets. Many layers of course. This should give a 3d object in a cool stack of clear film.
Imagine building a mini cnc machine with a high powered laser, perhaps about 300mW, maybe even more, and using it to cut out the shapes in craft foam. Or even doing it by hand, with the laser!
Daydreaming away, I’m thinking of buying some craft foam to make the cutting easier. This would allow the cutouts to be more accurate, and easier to handle, and plus I could use a needle to run through each grid intersection on the cutouts to align the sheets, similar to the cardboard video.
I’ve built my own mechanism with a 2’x3’ cutting area from plans online. I just haven’t decided on the motor and driver package. Trying to make sure I research completely. Lot’s of option when it comes to motor/driver systems and then you need to decide on the software. Yea there’s free, but not as easy for setup.
Soon, very soon.
I’ve found a few other options for slicing but this seems very complete for what I have in mind. I look forward to the smell of plywood being cut.
Thanks again for the tip. Never played around with dynamic paint so this is a good work out.
Great works!