NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR SET MODELS
Many theatre designers now use CAD programmes to produce their plans and working drawings, and AutoCAD is generally considered to be the industry standard software. Those of us who have explored a little beyond the basics will have discovered the advantages of 3D modelling: A digital model can be constructed on-screen, from which hard copies of plans, elevations, sections, isometric or perspective views can be printed out at any scale, from the same model, - almost literally 'at the touch of a button'.
Recent technological advances now permit us to take a spectacular step further: Computing and Network Services here at the University of Alberta in Canada has a Zcorp Z400 3D printer which will convert a digital model into a remarkably detailed tangible object model. (Photographs above)
Having constructed my set model for Nuova Opera's production of "Don Giovanni" (See photograph of the actual set on stage at right) as a digital model in AutoCAD 2000, I 'exported' the data to STL (stereolithograph) format and emailed the data to Programmer Analyst Chris Want of CNS, who fed the data to the 3D printer. About twelve hours later I was able to collect the model. The quality is astonishingly good. Fine details such as recessed panels on the doors, doorknobs, handrails and open-tread 'get-off' steps are all accurately rendered to scale. (Photograph below)
The machine works by "printing" cross-sections of the model onto a thin layer of plaster dust, using an inkjet printer head with a sugar-water binding agent instead of ink. Wherever the binding agent touches the plaster, the dust hardens, creating a solid cross-section of the digital model. The printer continues adding and hardening layers of dust until the model is complete. The model is then excavated from its bed of plaster dust and gently air-cleaned. The completed model is already durable enough to hold and pass around, but may then be coated with wax for a more polished look and extra durability. Undercuts are irrelevant. In fact, models can be printed out with built-in moving parts if needed.
The hardware is surprisingly unspectacular. (Photograph right) The printer itself (on the right in the photograph) is about the size of an office photocopier. The completed model is transferred to the cabinet in the middle of the picture for airbrushing to remove the surplus plaster-dust, which is later recycled. The machine on the left is for wax coating the finished model. The total cost, including a supply of plaster and a three-year service contract, was about 80,000 Canadian dollars (about £33,000). There is a size limitation: The maximum size the machine can handle is 25cm. x 20cm. x 20cm. - so my model had to be printed at 1:48 scale, or quarter inch to one foot. (Yes, - rather surprisingly, Canada still uses the old Imperial system.) The total cost of the model was $120, (£50) including waxing, technician's time and VAT.
Having made a prototype, I realised that printing out a complete model in this way is not the most efficient use of the technology. It would be impossible to paint the hard-to-reach areas of this model, for example, and the plain rectangular backing flats would be much better made from card in the conventional manner. It would be far better to use the 3D printer to make individual items, and then assemble them onto a base after painting. The thick base was a real waste of plaster and increased the cost considerably. However, a really valuable use of the technology is to print out scale furniture for use in set models, - an extremely lengthy process when working by hand. The photograph (left) shows furniture constructed in AutoCAD and printed out to scale by the 3D printer at very little cost.
Models can be painted with gouache; (a coat of fine artist's gesso will provide a good base) and then varnished for a gloss finish if desired.(right) In fact, it is even no longer necessary to paint the models by hand, as the new generation of 3D printers will not only print at a much higher resolution, (600 dpi), but will also print in colour, 'wrapping' a bit-map around the surface of the model to suggest a woodgrain, or an eighteenth century tapestry seat cover which you have scanned from a photograph.
A 'library' of digital models can be built up on your hard drive, and re-used as required. This means that you literally have at your finger-tips a range of furniture to include either in your technical drawings or digitally constructed set models, which can also be printed out to the correct scale by the 3D printer for inclusion in the presentation model. Imagine having the ablility to pull furniture from a well-stocked digital store at will. (below)
Further advantages include the possibility of producing multiple models of a set design, thus avoiding the frequent tussles between workshops, director, lighting designer and stage management, all of whom would like access to the set model. A designer working abroad can now send a model in digital form by email to be printed out at its destination. (Designers who have spent tedious hours attempting to package models securely for commercial transportation will appreciate this particular advantage.)
I feel very lucky here at the University of Alberta to have easy access to a 3D printer, and I realise that at the moment there are not many designers who enjoy this luxury. However, I clearly recall when, thrilled that my new 'Commodore64 Home Computer' could produce as many as sixteen colours, but dissatisfied with the rather crude black and white prints from my dot-matrix printer, I made enquiries about the possibility of buying a colour printer. I was told that although colour printing was becoming possible, it was not something that would ever be available for domestic use as the cost was astronomical. Now, not so very many years later, colour printers are on almost every office desk, often costing little more than the replacement ink cartridges. Perhaps we should all start clearing a space beside our drawing boards for the 3D printer.
You will find details of the 3D printer in use at the University of Alberta at
http://www.ualberta.ca/CNS/3DPRINTER or at http://www.zcorp.com- - - - - A POSTSCRIPT - - - - -
I had just collected my first digital model from the 3D printer, when an email arrived from Chris Want suggesting that I might be interested in viewing my digital set model in the 'Vizroom' - a virtual reality immersion environment operated by the Computing Science Centre.
The Vizroom is a cubicle about 2.50m square with 'walls' consisting of back projection screens. Behind the walls, large angled mirrors redirect projectors towards the screens. Wearing a stereoscopic vizor, I stood inside the cubicle as my digital model was projected onto the walls. The effect of reality was startling. The image was sharp and convincingly three-dimensional. I reached for a doorknob, - but my hand, of course, passed through it. It is possible to navigate through the environment by means of a joystick. I was able to move along the arcades at the sides of the set, pass through a doorway, up the 'get-off'steps at the back and onto the virtual balcony. From here I could look down onto the stage.
My model was not coloured, but had been lit digitally by some coloured virtual light sources, (hence the blue floor.) However, I was shown other examples that were fully coloured and digitally textured.
The photograph above shows my colleague Lee Livingstone inside the Vizroom, using the joystick to move through the model. It is not possible, of course, to photograph through the stereoscopic vizor, so the picture can give only a very poor impression of the actual experience.More information about the UofA's Vizroom at
http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~pierreb/VEDP1.htmI'm most grateful to Chris Want and Denise Thornton from Academic Information and Communication Technologies and Dr. Pierre Boulanger of the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta for their friendly help and encouragement with this project.
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