3D modeling is pretty fun.. but it adds a whole new dimension when you can print it out and hold it in your hand. Thanks to Carlos Coimbra for letting me use his 3D printer I believe it was a Zcorp 650 printer there are many videos on youtube how it works.

This was a pedal power electric hybrid 3D vehicle that I designed and rigged in Maya several years ago. I had to make a reduced resolution version of it for printing so it didnt fall apart.

The printing happens over a period of about 10 hours layer by layer and in the end you have to dig it out of the powder. I felt sort of like a Paleontologist digging up a dinosaur:-) you have to be very careful using the vacuum since the model is very fragile at this stage.

Once it is finished printing it is coated in an epoxy like substance to give it more resiliance. If you look closely you can see the horizontal lines that are artifacts of the printing process.. still very cool

In exchange for him letting me print my model for fun I made him a 3D model for a dragonfly wing. From there I made a negative of it so he could use a high pressure aluminum injection casting to create metal dragonfly wings.. pretty cool