We were contacted by members of a temple in Singapore to recreate a model of a statue for their own use. The statue was to be used during discussions and meetings amongst the committee members.
Early on, we wanted to 3D scan the statue and just do simple and quick edits to make it 3D printable. But given the shiny gold colors and the amount of details, this was impossible to capture without dulling the statue. As it was a religious artefact, we were not willing to dull the model down with powder or even place stickers on it to help with the 3D scanning.
So we had to manually model and sculpt the statue.
Above: a close up photo of the work to be done. The color and the small details that needed to be captured did not work well with 3D Scanning.
Above: 1st check-in point - Getting the general shape and dimensions correct before proceeding forward.
Above: Getting the details right. There was a ton of communication to get the small details right.
Below: How we had to communicate sizing. It was important to get the proportions and dimensions right as the model was to be used to cast and create copies of the original idol.
Above: Turntable video of final model
Above: "Quick" test print on the FlashForge Creator 3 to make sure we got the proportions and details right. We scaled the model down by half and did a print with tree-like supports. Came back 12 hours later to this - the model was knocked clean off the platform. Sometimes, no matter how experienced you are, 3D printing can be frustrating.
We're now working on 3D Printing a full-size model (it's 36cm in height). Once that works out, we'll either 1. Spray paint it gold, 2. Do a gold-plating or 3. do some casts with brass or bronze and then do a gold-electroplating.
Final outcome:
The client was happy with the 3D Modelling, 3D Printing and post-processing. We are in discussion to supply a larger quantity.
The Plug:
Do you have a similar project or something you think we can help you with? Contact us at contact@meka3dp.com to speak to one of our team members and see how we can help you. We've done a range of projects for a wide range of clients and even if we can't help you, we will point you in the right direction. Speak to us now.