å Saturday, March 18th, 2017

In an email Laura asked:
“…are these models supposed to be colored or should we bring them in as plain white paper models? If they are supposed to be colored, how realistic do the ‘textures’ have to be?”
The project brief states:
“materiality of the object must somehow be represented in the paper model”

We do not expect texture maps to applied to the patterns in Rhino, as we did with the wood and chair cane on the chair study project. Very simply, these textures can be drawn or painted onto the assembled model – we would be very excited to see this mix of computer generated patterns with a more hand-worked representation of surface, color, materials, etc. Note that we use the word “somehow” in the project brief. This is an effort to allow for plenty of flexibility, abstraction, and simplification in how this aspect of the project is treated. This can be very simple, basic, and/or subtle and does not necessarily need to be very realistic. For example, if your object was chrome, you could simply use gray or light blue paper to hint at this.

But I would say that if you are struggling, we would prefer that students prioritize form, proportion, scale and craft if sacrifices need to be made on the materiality aspect of the assignment. In other words, don’t ruin a nicely done model if you run out of time.

Part 1: Paper Model Round 2 (final)
Revise your Rhino model as needed and create a final paper model for this project. This model should be a well crafted, carefully proportioned likeness of your chosen object, demonstrating thoughtful decisions about what to include as part of the form, what to represent with graphics, and how to abstract compound curving surfaces into simple, developable surfaces. For now, focus on creating the model, but over spring break we will ask you to create another google doc with similar content to last week, so be sure that you are working in an organized fashion in Rhino as we will review the files.

Part 2: Install MasterCAM 2017
You will get an email with instructions for how to download and install MasterCAM 2017. This software will only work on Windows.

Part3: Bring Protective Eyewear to Class
There is a chance we will have a hands-on demo with the CNC router. Students will need protective eyewear to participate.