In last month's e-newsletter, I waxed poetic about a stone sculpture made up of intersecting circular forms that lay in different axial planes. The sculpture was designed in 3D CAD and then sent to China to be carved out with a waterjet. A few readers had some interesting observations:

Dimitri Galitzine from Design Development Associates LLC says, "Leonardo DaVinci, artist, scientist, and engineer, did not actually chisel his own sculptures! It would have been impossible for one man to make such a volume of art in one lifetime. The standard process was to make a small scale maquette or model of the art and then oversee a squadron of laborers with chisels, hammers, and calipers who actually carved the stone. I think that this is a fitting description of modern digital sculpting processes: Art is the creation of the idea, not the mechanical process. When Michelangelo was asked how was he ever able to create the magnificent Pieta sculpture, he responded that it was easy; take a large piece of marble, and chisel away everything that does not look like the Pieta. Seeing the Pieta in your mind is art. Removing the excess marble is work." He also suggests visiting digitalstoneproject to see a shop that practices digital stone carving.

And Kwong Wong says, "Please don’t take this the wrong way, but how does putting together a wacky shape in a 3D design package and then having a shop in China (or anywhere else for that matter) carve it out of granite count as “Art Work”. Along those lines, having a bolt designed in a CAD package and machined with CAM seems to be even better artwork with greater discipline. Anyone who has played with a CAD package probably has pulled library shapes and assembled a few things at random and as I see it, this “Art” exhibits the same depth of thought."

Questions? Comments? Send them in, and we might publish them here!

— Leslie Gordon
leslie.gordon@penton.com
twitter
LinkedIn
Second Life: Pez Balut

1. A day without sunshine is like night.
2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.
3. 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
4. 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.
6. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

UPCOMING WEBCASTS

Burton Snowboards Brings th eBest Designs to Market with the Help of 3D Printing
Sponsored by Objet
DATE: February 5th, 2009
TIME: 2:00pm ET/11am PT

Design and manufacturing companies are faced with ever increasing competition. More innovative product designs and technology are essential to successfully compete in today’s market.

Burton Snowboards has been the world’s leading snowboard company since 1977 and continues to set itself apart by quickly adapting to snowboarding’s continuous progression. Burton’s latest bindings innovation, Extra Sensory Technology is an example of this adaptation. Fully developed, tested and delivered in 18 months, EST shattered previous timelines by 6 months with the aid of in-house Rapid Prototyping.

Join us as Burton Snowboard Senior Prototyping Specialist Ryan Larson and Objet Senior Applications Engineer Neil Ranney team up for a webinar that explores how Burton Snowboards uses rapid prototyping and 3D printing to cut time and costs off new designs.

Click here to learn more and register!

ARCHIVED WEBCASTS AVAILABLE FOR FREE VIEWING

First Cut
CNC machined parts in 1-3 business days. Get parts with better material properties, surface finishes and dimensional properties than additive rapid prototypes. Visit www.firstcut.com