Shell-Inspired 3D Printed Sculpture

This project was created as a course assignment at the California State University, Long Beach; taught by Behnaz Farahi: DESN 551: Materials, Tools, and Techniques of Prototype.

For this assignment, we were prompted to take something found in the ocean, and then turn it into a 3D printed object, using MidJourney, Rhino and Grasshopper to bring our ideas to life.

I was inspired by many different ocean seashells, and I wanted to explore the possibilities of where those textures could take me... Using Midjourney, I blended my ideas together to create the textures I was looking for, and then I brought that product to Rhino and Grasshopper to build my 3D structure.

Main Resources:

• MidJourney (Generative AI Program)
• Rhino Software
• Grasshopper Software
• Photoshop (For cleaning up images/editing)
• Polyjet Stratasys J750 3D Printer

Additional Resources:

• Premiere Pro (To document my process)

My creative process started out with MidJourney, a image-generative AI program, which I used to help inspire me with images that I would use to build my 3D Model. Prior to this assignment, I had never incorporated AI into my creative process, however I found it to be very helpful in terms of coming up with ideas that I could create.

Once I was happy with my final product, I brought my image to Photoshop to adjust the colors and vibrancy to enhance the final product.

With my image complete, I moved over to Rhino and Grasshopper to aggregate my image into a sculpture of my choosing.

Rhino and Grasshopper function together to create forms, so I used them both to create my structure. I first had to build my base shape, (from MidJourney/Photoshop), which I then defined, cut to shape, and baked the image into a physical model from Grasshopper into Rhino. From then, I was able to drag and drop my image onto my form to add color to my basic model.

At that point, I was ready to build my surface that I was going to aggregate my forms onto.

While it took forever for me to decide on what shape I wanted, I finally decided on a circle that I then folded and bent into an abstract shape. I liked the idea of having a shape that wasn't supported by any sort of base, rather something that almost looked like it was floating, or self-supportive.

Once I was happy with my shape, I then defined a point system for my images to sit on, which I then bent to the shape of my surface. Finally, I defined how I wanted my shapes to react with the point system, and then I baked them onto the surface form to create my sculpture.

After some final adjustments, I ended up with two forms: The first shade had a thinner surface, with a more varied texture patterns and more color variety. (This one ended up being my favorite, because of the beautiful color patterns/textures). The second one had a thicker surface, more compact texture, and more blended color (The thickness was because I took my shape and sandwiched two of them together. I then aggregated those shapes onto my surface for the final project)

After I finished up my forms, I sent them to be printed (see below)

Unfortunately the printer could not handle the file as it was too large to process in color, however we were able to print it using a resin printer to bring the model to life. I am very happy with how it came out, especially when lit from underneath really illuminates all of the little tips and curves in the model.