MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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3-D Copying Makes Michelangelos of the Masses By Virginia Postrel
By EmmaZahn on Sat, 06/16/2012 - 9:56am |
When Cosmo Wenman went to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in late May, he did what many people do.
He took photos of some of his favorite sculptures. But instead of a few snapshots, Wenman took hundreds of pictures, documenting busts and reliefs from every accessible angle. Then he did something currently unusual -- but likely to become common.
Wenman turned the photos into three-dimensional digital maps, using a free program called Autodesk 123D Catch. Then he used the maps to print miniature plastic replicas on the $2,000 MakerBot 3-D printer in his home office. And he made one of his best scans freely available, uploading it to the Thingiverse site where MakerBot enthusiasts share digital plans. Now, alongside the hobbyist designs for specialty tools, robot figurines and hair ornaments, you can find an 18th-century relief, John Deare’s “Venus Reclining on a Sea Monster with Cupid and a Putto.”
On Thingiverse, you can also find data maps for around three dozen sculptures from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Unlike Wenman’s one-man amateur venture, these scans are the result of an official collaboration between MakerBot Industries LLC and the Met. This month, the museum hosted a two- day “Hackathon” in which artists working with MakerBot staff members and equipment used the same process to create scans and replicas of Met sculptures, as well as their own derivative works.
URL:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-14/3-d-copying-makes-michelangelos-of-the-masses.html
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