Blog | Sophie Kahn

3d printed stainless steel

Here’s another small test, this time using the gold plate stainless steel material from Ponoko. This is printed directly in metal — no moldmaking or casting required.

The design rules for this material are pretty stringent and I had a lot of trouble with the file… I felt bad for their (awesome and very patient) customer service team. I’m happy this finally worked!

posted October 11, 2011 | Comments (0)

Gender and marketing in 3d printing products for children

I don’t usually post about this kind of thing, but I felt compelled to do so after I came across the website for Origo, which claims to be “a 3d printer for mom, dad and the entire family”. The product — still in the concept design stages, it seems — is explicit about its being marketed to children. Looking at their advertising, and the advertising for 3D Tin, the cloud-based 3d modeling app they use, it looks like it’s mainly targeted at boys. Above is the video for Origo, which shows a boy dreaming about dragons, airplanes and other images stereotypically associated with toys for boys.

Here are some pictures of boys using the prototype.

Here’s the splash page for 3dtin: lots of cars, robots, and spaceships. If you follow through to the building page, you see more of the same, plus some blue cars and video game characters.

Here’s are the three alternating front pages for Lego DesignByMe. Notice a common theme? This is admittedly a cute product: it allows you to design and order 3d printed Lego blocks. But the minifigs in the software are almost exclusively male, and a prominent feature suggests that you “build with Dad”.

It’s interesting how marketing to children is far more explicit than marketing for adults. While I’m sure none of these manufacturers were even aware of this bias, and it isn’t limited to digital building toys, if these companies wanted to alienate 50% of their potential market this would be an excellent way to start.

I remember that even as a young girl, the marketing of certain construction toys sent a clear, instant message that they were designed for someone else. And now as an adult woman artist working with technology, and as the mother of a daughter, this kind of thing just makes me depressed. Of course the solution is more complex than including pictures of girls in their advertising materials, but it wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to 3d print a pink, sparkly fairy princess…

posted September 26, 2011 | Comments (0)

Full color Zcorp tests

I have been curious about using Zcorp full color 3d printing for some time, having seen several artists experimenting with it. It took me a while to get a workable file for output, though (hint: if you are UV mapping in Maya, you will need to export an .obj and then use Accutrans 3d to write the .wrl format.)

Once I finally did, I ordered this test from Solid Technologies’ 3d printing service bureau. This was printed at 1:3 so it’s about 9cm high; obviously the resolution would be higher at life-size. It’s been coated with cyanoacralate, no wax, which apparently leads to less yellowing and more color fidelity.

I wasn’t sure how my photographic texture would translate, but I’m actually very pleased with how this came out. Ben at Solid Technologies was extremely helpful throughout the process, which I really appreciated, as my files are usually messy and 3d printing them is never straightforward.

I’ve never used any kind of color in my sculptures before, so this is a big step for me… Feedback is welcome!

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New work in Sculpture section

I just posted images of a new sculpture here. This is the first piece I’ve made in ABS acrylic. I’m also thinking of having this cast in metal soon.

posted September 23, 2011 | Comments (0)

NYFA Fellowship

I am excited to announce that I have been named a 2011 NYFA fellow in Digital/Electronic Arts. The New York Foundation for the Arts is a wonderful organization, and I am very grateful for their support.

The other NYFA fellows in this category are all making really interesting work. Here is the listing from the NYFA press release, please check out their websites when you have the time:

Leonor Caraballo-Farman & Abou Caraballo-Farman

Jeremy Olson (link to come)

posted July 12, 2011 | Comments (0)

3d scanning Stephen Colbert

On Monday I visited the set of the Colbert Report, to make a 3d scan of Stephen for Bre Pettis of MakerBot, who was the guest on Wednesday’s show.

The scan we made, with additional modeling by Jon Monaghan, was uploaded to Thingiverse for others to remix.

The crew documented the scanning process, and you can see my brief appearance in this video: start at 1:04.

posted June 10, 2011 | Comments (0)

This came in the mail today

This is Rachel, one of the subjects of my most recent portrait project.

I deliberately had this piece 3d printed at the minimum thickness of 1mm, to give it the translucency of human skin.

posted June 08, 2011 | Comments (0)

On the set of the Colbert Report today

What am I doing on the set of the Colbert Report, with Makerbot’s Bre Pettis and Jonathan Monaghan? And why is Stephen Colbert wearing a cape? More details to come soon… (And watch the show on Wednesday night, when Bre is the guest, to see if my appearance made the cut!)

posted June 07, 2011 | Comments (0)

Profile in Prattfolio

I was recently interviewed by Abigail Beshkin at Prattfolio Magazine, for this feature in their Innovation issue. The photo is by Rene Perez.

Click twice to see a full-size scan of the article. You can also read the full pdf of the magazine here.

posted June 02, 2011 | Comments (0)

Another sculpture

Another piece from the MAD scanning day. This woman had a beautiful profile.