2013
Archival Pigment Print
40″ x 60″
edition of 10
Tag: light signatures
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Print Some Layers
Pulse Storm, 2015 – Convergent :: (click to see more) I think this is it – corrected some layer issues and tightened up all the masks so all layers add up to a complete image – it’s now 24 layers tall.
Here is the second render. Printing is next!
Glossy Orange Green Blue Candy Layers, 2013 – animated layer render b :: (click to see more) -
A Good Render
Tropical Storm, 2015 – Convergent :: (click to see more) I did manage to decipher Blender again and go on to fix up a bunch of errors and problems and even add a whack of new layers. Here is the first render which revealed some issues that I’m correcting now.
It’s looking more and more like I’m ready to build out the lozenge any day now.
Glossy Orange Green Blue Candy Layers – animated layer render :: (click to see more) -
Anima
Dust Storm, 2015 – Convergent :: (click to see more) Got the fly around working so now I can fully see how each of the layers are interacting and correct problems before I go to print and build.
Here’s the first successful flyover animation that gives a realistic sense of what the Light Signature pieces will look like once completed. At last I’m ready to begin building the prototype. Now to select which image.
Blue Horizon Animation, 2015 – Light Signatures
[for optimum viewing – click the settings gear during playback, select speed 0.5, quality 480p – or click image below for a new window]
Blue Horizon Animation, 2015 – Light Signatures :: (click to open in window) -
Progress
Line Squall, 2015 – Convergent :: (click to see more) Feeling energized this afternoon – after definitely determining urethane resin is the way to go – transparent, clear and much less carcinogenic/smelly than polyester resin. A few items left to work out but feeling ready to actually proceed with volumetric printing Light Signatures. First step is make a smaller test piece to work out the process but also to generate an example to show.
One slight issue – the pieces will be horrendously heavy – a 1×1.5m piece will be 260kg. Yikes – going to need a fork lift. For this reason and the high production cost, large might not be the way to go. We’ll see.
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Volumetric Prints
Private Discussion In Mauve, 2014 – Light Signatures :: (click to see more) A friend recently showed me a kickstarter project that has some interesting similarities to how I was considering printing these images. Although they go about it by stacking together a series of clear plates with printing on them – whereas I was considering building up layers of ink on clear polyester resin. But I think the result is fairly similar and very cool. They call it volumetric printing and the prints are a kind of three dimensional hologram of objects encased in a solid clear cube. Take a look here for a visual and at the kickstarter here for a full description.
These objects this brother and sister team are making will be small – up to 4″x6″x3″ whereas I’m contemplating something much larger – huge in fact – perhaps 48″x72″x3″. It’s still a massive experiment for me and will require a separate clean, dust free space to try it out in. One with ventilation or far removed from living breathing things as the polyester resin emits some incredibly poisonous volatile organic compounds – VOCs for the rest of us – the stuff that makes you high but kills brain cells at a prodigious rate and eventually gives you cancer and all kinds of other ills like skin ulcers and such. Nice stuff.
This is assuming I’m able to transfer the ink to the resin as I’ve seen done in a youtube video – very cool idea by the way – and assuming I’m able to break the images into layers in a way that speaks to their internal shape and movement.
There’s also a serious technical problem to consider and somehow work around. Normally I would want to break an image into layers with darkest objects on the back layer and lightest objects on the top layer… but I can’t do that. In fact I have to do the exact opposite. And this is simply because printing inks are additive not subtractive – meaning the more ink I print in an image the darker the image gets – and it’s impossible for me to print white. There are printers with a white ink channel but mine isn’t one of them. So white is assumed – as in supplied by the white base of the paper. All this means is lighter objects have less ink and require more light to transmit from the back of the print to the front. Darker objects are a build up of multiple layers of ink and lighter objects are made up of layers with ink holes topped by a very light ink layer.
But seeing Shawn and Christina’s completed volumetric objects I’m thinking this problem is not such a big deal after all.
First things first – I need to complete the Light Signatures images. Which I’m aggressively doing now – aiming for the end of June. Wish me luck.
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Homogenous
Diaphanous Veils, 2014 – Light Signatures :: (click to see more) Watching a Kevin Hart comedy show last night I was struck by how homogenous we’ve become as a society. Despite the different languages and cultural history of his audiences in each country there was a great deal of similarity between them. It’s exciting to think that elsewhere in the world our compatriots are experiencing and dreaming similar things – but also saddening to think the world is just more of the same – less diverse – smaller.
I lament the loss of diversity. I revel in the cultural diversity in my own city – it provides me a rich existence. A loss of diversity would mean a poorer existence.
How can we retain the benefit of diversity while acquiring the strengths of homogeneity? Faster and faster we’re becoming one single global society. For better or worse that’s our situation – now we have to make the best of it.
