A Pigeon At Work

As colour 3D printing specialists we have always taken an interest in data creation. We began to try out low-cost, hand held 3D scanners to see what kind of results we could achieve. We were really impressed by the results produced using photogrammetry. This led to the pigeon model that we created in 2016.




Software model created using Agisoft PhotoScan
Prepared for printing in Materialise Magics
Printed on 3D Systems Project 660Film Credits:
Film production: Lucy Lee at Instinct Media - www.instinctmedia.co.uk
Sound by Louise Brown at Sync Sounds

We found that photogrammetry needs to be done in a disciplined way. With good planning and good photographs we were able to get a usable result. It really helps having the colour information to make sense of the lumps and bumps in the geometry. 


Below are some of images of models created from the original file. 

3D printed pigeons - cast photo

3D printed pigeons - family portrait

3D printed pigeons - crowd scene

To find out more about colour 3D printing please visit www.lee3d.co.uk

A Democratic Monument

In the summer of 2017 we were approached by Adam Nathaniel Furman to produce a full colour 3D printed model for the New Typologies Exhibition at the Architecture Fringe. We captured the making of the model on film to illustrate some of the manual work associated with colour 3D printing.

Designed in Rhino Serengeti (v6 WIP)
Prepared for printing in Materialise Magics
Printed on 3D Systems Project 660

Film Credits:
Film production: Lucy Lee at Instinct Media - www.instinctfilms.co.uk
Sound by Louise Brown at Sync Sounds

"Democratic Monument is a proposal for a new kind of Town Hall for British cities. It re-groups various civic functions into one visually symbolic composition of architectural forms that reconfigure and express varying references, ornament and allusions, depending on the metropolitan area it is situated in and embodies. It is an expression of urban pride, chromatic joy, and architectural complexity." - Adam Nathaniel Furman



To find out more about colour 3D printing please visit www.lee3d.co.uk

Optimising size and cost for 3D printing

The purpose of this post is to illustrate the effect of size and scale on cost in 3D printed architectural models. 

After a brief discussion of the relationship between size and cost in 3D printing we will look two worked examples using a context model and a facade study model as examples. 

This post is aimed at architectural models where choice scale is always a factor. 

Relationship between size and cost in 3D printing

Cost of 3D printing is never directly proportional to size. 

Doubling the size of a model can mean up to 8 times more material is used. Some printers may take up to 8 times longer to print all of that extra material. (See note on the maths of hollowing models at the bottom of the page.)

It is important to understand that different 3D printing techniques are priced in different ways but ultimately no matter how a part is priced doubling the size disproportionately increases material used and time to produce and therefore cost to produce.

Powder based systems such as the ones we use at Lee 3D are self supporting and thus hollowing parts greatly mitigates the effect of increasing size. Some other 3D printing methods needing supports can be hollowed and the additional supports are trivial while other printers need solid supports and hollowing will not reduce material used. 

The Context Model

In this case we have printed the same model at 3 different scales. The detail in each model remains visible but of course the visual impact of the larger model is lost with the smaller models.

The effect of hollowing on price depends on the shape of the model. Context models like the ones shown below are ideal for hollowing. In this case, doubling the size by changing scale from 1:1000 to 1:500, reduces printed material from a factor of 8 when printed solid to a factor of 4 when printed hollow. 

Choosing intermediate scales can often optimise the balance between size and cost. 

To illustrate the effect size or scale has on cost with some typical numbers. The hollowed models shown (not including the inserts) in the image above might cost something like:

1:1000 - £200

1:750 - £400

1:500 - £800

Printing these models solid would not be viable - unless you just like to have a good weighty model and deep pockets.

Note that these prices are intended to show proportional costs of printing at different scales are not a guide to actual pricing.

The Facade Study Model

In this example the effect of hollowing is less pronounced than with the context model shown above. Doubling the size by changing scales from 1:100 to 1:50, reduces printed material from a factor of 8 when printed solid to a factor of  6 when printed hollow. 

To illustrate the effect size or scale has on cost with some typical numbers. The models shown in the image above might cost something like:

1:100 - £100

1:75 - £200

1:50 - £600

Note that these prices are intended to show proportional costs of printing at different scales are not a guide to actual pricing.

Optimising size and cost

When looking to get a model 3D printed it helps to be flexible and it pays to get a guide price early on in a project.

Many of the models we make are context models with inserted existing and proposed options, like the model shown in the image below. 

Typical 3D printed architectural context model with inserts

Clearly if you need to print a series of options as the design develops it is important to consider the ongoing costs of printing additional options. 

There is often an intermediate scale that offers a good balance of size to price that makes use of 3D printed design models viable.
 

Note on the maths of hollowing models

The cost of printing is based on the amount of material used. So as the size of the model increases cost is not directly proportional to the size. Without hollowing the cost of increasing size is inversely proportional.

To illustrate this:
A cube measuring 10 x 10 x 10cm has a volume of 1000 cubic cm.
A cube measuring 20 x 20 x 20cm has a volume of 8000 cubic cm.

Translating this to architectural models we can see that doubling the scale can mean 8x the cost for unhollowed models. 

When we hollow parts this reduces the effect of scaling on cost by about half. In the simplified illustration below we can see that the effect of hollowing significantly reduces the cost.

Hollowing the cubes with a 3mm wall thickness and leaving the underside open to remove unused material:
A hollow cube measuring 10 x 10 x 10cm has a volume of 143 cubic cm.
A hollow cube measuring 20 x 20 x 20cm has a volume of 586 cubic cm.

In this case this represents a fourfold increase in cost for doubling the size of the part.

Please note that all 3D print bureaus have different charging rates and methods.  However the underlying principle that changing the size of parts has a substantial influence on cost is unavoidable.



To find out more about 3D printing for architecture and colour 3D printing please visit www.lee3d.co.uk 

New Typologies for Brexit Britain

The New Typologies exhibition at Architecture Fringe 2017 in Glasgow occurs in the political maelstrom that is Brexit. The exhibition opens just weeks after the General Election where the promoters and "owners" of Brexit took a hammering and opened up the question, "What kind of Brexit does the country want? What kind of country do we want to live in?" 

New Typologies asks what kind of buildings do we want to reflect this nervous new world. 

McGinley Bell's Health Centre with the corporate scale of a bank or power company headquarters cut through with monumental openings. An airy castle of health and not much in the way of grovelling in the gutter of austerity.

The school building by Stallan Brand amounts to a complete redesign of the learning process. The school reflects the needs of learning in the digital age where interpretation and questioning of data is the challenge that education needs to address. The rampant model presented in the exhibition suggests rather than represents a solution, an open venue of exploration and discovery. 

Adam Nathaniel Furman's Town Hall recognises the rise of the city as a political force that can and will make a difference in people's lives. His bold and colourful design is a reworking of the elements of a traditional Victorian town hall, moving away from the bland managerial local politics of today. Both a move back to the liberal mayors that "spearheaded reforms, and massive urban improvements that transformed the lives of those living in the new metropolises." and a move forward to a building, a Democratic Monument, used and owned equally by both elected officials and the people.

"In crisis lies the greatest opportunity for reinvention." says Furman. These are important explorations at a critical point in time. Brexit, wanted or not, offers an opportunity to reassess - everything. Possibly we might even imagine a world where there is more to public life than cost cutting.

Increasing productivity or part of the problem?

A couple of things happened recently that made me think differently about public perception of 3D printing. 

Firstly my mum recently visited our workshop with one of my nephews. My mum repeatedly referred to our 3D printers as robots, mainly because my nephew is at an age where he is fascinated by robots and all things mechanical.

The other occasion was in a throwaway conversation with our neighbour. I was banging on about driverless cars and AI imminently taking everyone's jobs. He turned to me and called me a hypocrite, I run 3D printers which are taking away other people's jobs right?

Then during a third conversation with a surveyor who had asked us to print a hole in the ground, yes he really wanted a print of a hole in the ground! Why did he want a colour 3D print of a hole in the ground? He was trying to persuade older contractors of the value of capturing 3D data. Often they just will not wait even to take a series of photographs from which a virtual model can be created to record complex underground servicing. 

From the mess of servicing underground you would think it would be a good idea to record and share this information. It is not a difficult idea to grasp but I can see how it could be a difficult idea to implement.

Putting all of that together, 3D printing of architectural design models is the staple of our business. The thing is that until 10 years ago it was really not possible to 3D print design models. 3D printers were around before that but price and speed where not right for making what are essentially concept models. 

So for most architects they became design professionals without needing 3D printing to make design models. And the truth is that like recording that underground servicing it has not been easy to introduce 3D printing into most architect's design workflow. 

This is not to say that architects have never used models and with the rise of 3D printing some have tried to apply 3D printing to their existing requirement for physical models - which is often for high quality presentation models. But that is not what 3D printing is good at unless a modelmaker is involved in transforming the 3D print into a convincing model.

A presentation model does not serve the same purpose as a design model. A design model helps stakeholders make decisions during the design process and presentation models sell the final design. 

In this sense, 3D printing design models is an attempt to add value to the design process. If we are replacing anything, it is the time consuming card and foam models which were traditionally made by architectural assistants. Often made over the course of a night, fueled by pizza and coffee. Architectural assistants do not become architectural assistants to stay up at night making card mockups, they do so to become architects. So are 3D printers taking jobs in this instance?

There is a real threat to jobs in large established industries from AI and robotics. Capturing 3D data on building sites and in road excavations or helping stakeholders make clear decisions in the design process is not a threat to jobs. Instead these are processes for adding value and increasing productivity of existing jobs.

Public perception of 3D printing is formed not by reality but by manufacturers hype and the imaginations of the media. 

Finally, is a 3D printer a robot? Robots do do boring repetitive tasks when they have time off from taking over the world I guess.

The gig economy - a missed opportunity

The term gig economy is often not what it says it is and this is usually bad for everyone except employers (except of course that they claim not to be employers). 

20 years ago I spent 3 years working in the gig economy as a self employed cycle courier. What this meant was working for a courier company with all of the usual employees, sales people, call assistants, controllers, managers but no couriers. All of the couriers; van drivers, motorcyclists and pushbikers were self employed.

At the time I didn't mind this, in fact I enjoyed the freedom and taking responsibility for looking after my own affairs was a positive experience. However the system was and remains inherently inefficient and the opportunity to make a living was limited.

20 years later I find myself in a position where I use couriers on a daily basis and being a somewhat impatient person I am frankly skeptical about the benefits of the so called gig economy.

What exactly is the gig here? Is it the individual job or is it the days work? Or the weeks work? Or the month or year? The way this work is renumerated is by the job.  The reality is that each courier is in service (employed) to a single courier company. As self employed couriers they should be free to take jobs from any courier company based on location and where they are headed. 

This would effectively widen the pool of couriers available from those in service to a particular company to the entire fleet of self employed couriers working at any one time. In other words creating a real market for self employed couriers to compete in.

Increasing the efficiency of the overall system in this way would mean a better service for customers, increased productivity of the couriers and improved services offered by courier companies.

How can a proper market for the services of self employed couriers come about? Can a GPS network based technology be applied to create such a market where courier companies hire riders and drivers based on their location, direction and availability? 

A system like this could increase productivity for everyone concerned including the businesses who need to use these services.

While writing this I came across a company called Brisqq who are supplying retail customers with deliveries. They say that "Brisqq's algorithm selects the best freelance courier (closest, highest rated, most appropriate vehicle etc.)"

Brisqq's reference to freelance couriers suggests they really are plugging into a pool of freelance couriers. I wonder if this is what they mean or is this their freelance couriers who are not allowed to work for anyone else? I hope its the former.

Cyberbond for 3D printing

I am a loyal Cyberbond customer. I have used their cyanoacrylate to finish 3D printed parts for more than 10 years now. The only reason I would change is if I found a product that would produce a better finish.

The fact is Cyberbond make a high quality product. Here is what I mean.

The test parts shown below were made in 2009 and 2010 respectively. They have been kept out of sunlight since that time and discolouration is minimal.

Sample parts in 2009 and 2010 
shown along side a part made in 2017

This ability to keep colour is not the same with some other products. If you leave Cyberbond to go off in the bottle it remains completely clear. No discolouration as it ages. I have had samples of inferior product go yellow in weeks.

When I visit customers I want to see design models crowding their offices that look good. Models need to stay good for the life of a project which could easily be 5 or 10 years.

This is not a promise that our parts will never discolour. Direct sunlight, moisture and dust will all discolour 3D printed parts made on ZCorp or Projet x60 machines. 

In addition to not discolouring, when choosing cyanoacrylate for this purpose you need to look at other physical characteristics of the glue. If the glue is too thin it will leave a white powdery look to the model. Too thick it will produce an uneven finish with matt and shiny streaks. 

All in all, sales people are not going to fare well armed with their "very competitive price" and claiming to "supply all the major users in the UK and Europe". Well, I am sorry but you are not supplying this one. 

www.lee3d.co.uk

Yet another 3D printing App!

Oh gosh another app to connect engineers and designers with 3D printing bureaus. Still peddling the 3D printing hype, now with a rambling message conflating additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping and all projected into a dreamy future.

Allegedly engineers do not know if their parts are printable. They need an app to check their parts, to fix them and then to tell them what material to use and who should print it.

In these days, before AI finally saves us from our own innate idiocy, it is usually best not to expect help from an app. If engineers really need help then it is best to speak to real people with real experience. Automated file fixing procedures are very unreliable and can lead to all manner of unfortunates being printed.

Not only can people advise on printability and appropriateness of materials they can also advise on how to optimise files for cost. An app will not turn around and suggest you hollow the part, make it in parts, nest parts or simply reorient the part to reduce costs. It would be very easy to pay over the odds through an app.

Phone around some bureaus, ask the usual questions. Will this work? Is there a better way to do it? Is there a way to do this for less? Bureaus are in business to build trusting relationships with their customers and to build their reputation generally. Apps have nothing at stake on each job they process except the percentage they take.

Apps are seductive. They give the impression that everything is going to be easy, everything has been thought through. Its pure snake oil.

Time well spent

In today's business world there often seems little time to think, let alone read a book. Over the years, we have built a successful business based on solving a problem for architects. The problem we have been addressing is how architects can present designs using physical models almost without breaking stride in the design process.

The essence of 3D printing is a combination of slavish accuracy of the machine-made and astounding speed of delivery. Often the process of printing models is squeezed into just a few days and sometimes just a few hectic hours. 

We began to realise that this process of time compression can lead to short-cuts in decision making which in turn can lead to a certain sameness of outcome. Often, the potential of the process was not quite met in the cut and thrust of meeting deadlines. So we decided to commission a full study of 3D printing as used in the architectural design process. The result was Digital Craft - 3D Printing for Architectural Design.

A book, in many ways, opposes the pull of 3D printing towards quick fire decisions. In the discussions that lay behind the writing of the book many insights were uncovered. It became clear that in many people's minds 3D printing fell somewhere between printing and modelmaking. The book, as the title suggests became in part a reasoned argument for placing 3D printing firmly into the realm of modelmaking. 

The traditional relationship between architect and the modelmaker was being disrupted and needed to be examined in the new light of 3D printing. Digital Craft became the product of this exploration. 

Why read the book? We believe that the perspective given in Digital Craft will help architects to make more effective 3D printed design models. That is, the kind of model used to communicate the design to clients, planning authorities, the public and indeed to the wider design team itself. 

Digital Craft - 3D Printing for Architectural Design. Time well spent.



For more about Lee 3D printing please visit www.lee3d.co.uk

Colour 3D Printing

Colour matching in 3D printing is not quite the same as colour matching in traditional reprographics. Different materials reflect light differently and three dimensional forms create shadows producing variations in tone of colour that are not seen on flat images.

There are many factors that affect 3D printing in colour: reflectivity, translucency, surface texture, tonality and saturation are just some of them. 

As is often the case, it really depends what you are trying to achieve. The ability to produce skin tones or very light and washed out colours are often more desirable over fully saturated bright colours. 

At Lee 3D, we print using the ProJet 660 printer, made by 3D Systems, which prints CMYK coloured binder onto a white substrate powder. This offers a wide range of colour and tonal qualities. 

Sample parts made on ProJet 660
Gloss finish can intensify brighter colour

Parts made on ProJet 660
Light and subtle tones

While we have never claimed to match Pantone or RAL colours, we can get quite close as shown in the image below. 

The reality of these machines is that the whiteness of the powder varies slightly between machines and if printheads are not properly aligned and parts are not finished meticulously then they can produce inconsistent part quality. But by attending to details, it is possible to make high quality colour 3D prints using this system.

Matching colour to the RAL paint system
It is possible to get something pretty close with most colours

There are two main alternatives to the ProJet for colour printing. These are the MCor and Stratasys machines. The MCor machine has limitations on the geometry that can be produced, while the Stratasys offerings are significantly more expensive machines to buy and to run. In particular, it is usually not possible to print hollow parts on these machines as they need a solid platform of material supporting all parts of the model as it prints. A third colour printer looms in the background in the form of the HP offering, but this appears to print on a black substrate precluding pale and pastel shades. 

Of these, the newly released Stratasys J750 printer may prove to be the most accurate colour printer ever made. The parts are likely to be highly accurate and can have multiple material characteristics as well as colours. But lower cost and the achievable quality on a well made ProJet part may continue to make this the machine of choice for much colour work for years to come.

Colour 3D prints made on ProJet 660

For more information about Lee 3D colour printing visit http://www.lee3d.co.uk

Exporting for 3D print

The subject of this blog is one of those topics that rarely gets covered in depth. In practice I am frequently telling customers to move their data to the origin before exporting for 3D print. But why is this? 

Many BIM, CAD and 3D modelling programs have a very large drawing space. An example of why this would be useful is when designing a very large structure like a road or railway. Similarly a large coordinate space allows buildings to be designed at their correct location in relation to a city grid.

When exporting 3D models for applications such as 3D printing a problem can occur causing the exported data to become deformed as shown in the image below. 

Bad STL export of sphere from Rhino when
deliberately modelling far from origin

The problem seems to be that most 3D modelling programs are based on geometric modelling Kernels such as ACIS or Parasolid. These work fine when close to the origin but lose accuracy outside of the kernel's modelling space. 

Confusingly many of the applications functionality is unaffected by modelling outside the kernels modelling space but certain functions either fail completely or result in degraded data.

In MicroStation for example the coordinate system (Working Area) will go well beyond a million km from the origin but the Solids Area is only a 4.2km cube. The 4.2km limit being set by the Parasolid modelling kernel used in MicroStation. When you draw more than 2.1km from the origin the lower resolution may not be immediately apparent but may manifest downstream, such as when you export to STL etc.

This is not a problem restricted to MicroStation. It is a problem with most 3D modelling packages. As a consequence it is always best practice to model near the origin whenever possible. 

Modern Architectural Design Tools Timeline

The following timeline places various architectural design tools by date. The purpose for this record was to create a context in which to view 3D printing as a design tool. From this point of view, today (2016) it is clear that the use of 3D printing in architecture is still very new. Even though early adopters were employing SLS and SLA printing for architectural model making in the 1990s and plaster-based printing from the 2000s these are still few and far between. 

Four buildings have been added to the timeline to act as a reference. These are somewhat arbitrary and do not necessarily represent precedents in use of technology. 

Each of the buildings shown relate in some way to the story of computing in architecture, not least the Lloyds building, the design of which commenced before any of the CAD packages that we know today. The Lloyds building was designed and built in the period that saw the appearance of the first personal computers. This led to a change in the way buildings are used and serviced and consequently changed the form of the buildings themselves. The affect of computing on architecture is undeniable but not always obvious. New design tools change the way architects work but the affect of design tools on the design of the buildings produced is sometimes less easy to identify.

There have been a great many pioneers of architectural design tools. Many tools have been developed and for one reason or other they have been abandoned or superseded.  It is worth making the observation that there is often little inclination to share detailed information on active design projects. Once buildings are complete and considerations of confidentiality have past these details fade from memory as focus switches to new challenges. Therefore much pioneering work is lost to public record. This timeline is admittedly only the bare bones of the story. 


1928 Tintenkuli nibless drawing pen (precursor to Rotring Rapidograph)

1953 Rotring Rapidograph drawing pen

1953 IBM 650 series of computers

1956 First computer keyboard

1957 Jorn Utzon wins international competition to design Sydney Opera House. Ove Arup & Partners engaged as engineers.

Sydney Opera House detail
Image by Leithcote / Antony Oliver (Flickr)
via Wikimedia Commons

1959 Letraset founded - manually applied lettering system

1959 Calcomp 565 pen plotter 

1960 DEC release first Mini Computer, the PDP-1, priced between $125,000 and $250,000. This computer was used to play 'Spacewar', the first digital screen game.

Spacewar running on PDP-1
Image Joi Ito via Wikimedia Commons

1962 Douglas Englebart envisions BIM in "Augmenting Human Intellect". He anticipates object based design, parametric manipulation and a relational database

1963 Ivan Sutherland writes Sketchpad considered to be the ancestor of modern CAD programs

1963 First Pantone Matching System Printers Edition

1963 First computer mouse, invented by Douglas Englebert

1965 After 8 years work on Sydney Opera House Tim Rice and Tony Cramm write a program from scratch, they run it at night borrowing time on an Australian General Electric computer to calculate positions of pre-cast segments. 

Sydney Opera House 1968
Image by PhillipC (Flickr) via Wikimedia Commons

1968 Conference 'Computer Graphics in Architecture and Design' Yale University

1969 Appalachian Conference, led by SOM at an IBM research facility. Out of this was formed the SOM, Computer Group

1973 Sydney Opera House opens

1974 Intergraph IGDS, precursor to MicroStation

1975 DRAW2D, SOM Computer Group

1977 DRAW3D, SOM Computer Group

 1977 Really Universal Computer Aided Production System (RUCAPS) sold through GMW Computers Ltd (from GMW Architects)

1978 Richard Rogers begins work on Lloyd's Building

1981 IBM launches first Personal Computer running Microsoft MS DOS 1.0

1982 AutoCAD 1.0

1982 Catia 1.0

1982 Romulus, the first 3D modelling kernel. Later becomes ACIS.

1984 MicroStation 1.0

1984 ArchiCAD 1.0 (named Radar CH for first version only)

1984 First HP LaserJet printer, Apple's LaserWriter followed the following year

1985 MiniCAD 1.0 (later renamed VectorWorks)

1986 Lloyds Building completed

Richard Rogers Partnership, Lloyds Building detail
Image from Oast House Archive via Wikimedia

1987 First commercial SLA 3D printer, SLA-1, made by 3D Systems

1988 STL file format 

1989 First Commercial SLS 3D printer built by DTM (later acquired by 3D Systems)

1989 ACIS 3D modelling kernel

1989 Parasolid 3D modelling kernel

1990 Photoshop 1.0

1992 Magics 1.0 (an STL editor which became the industry standard software for 3D print bureaus.

1993 PDF 1.0

1994 Gehry Technologies founded

1997 First commercial Z Corporation 3D printer, Z402

1997 Foster + Partners begin work on 30 St Mary Axe

1998 Foster + Partners' Specialist Modelling Group formed, 30 St Mary Axe becomes one of their first projects 

1998 Rhinoceros launched

2000 Morphosis buy a ZPrinter from Z Corporation. They are one of the first architectural practices to run a 3D printer in-house.

2000 Revit 1.0

2001 Microstation v8 (file format changes for first time)

2001 Smartgeometry Group formed

2002 Autodesk acquire Revit


2002 AutodDesk whitepaper "Building Information Modelling"

2003 Bentley Systems' Generative Components in Alpha

2003 64-bit processors become available in personal computers

2004 Morphosis begin designing Cooper Union building using 3D printing as part of the design process

2004 Foster + Partners' 30 St Mary Axe completed

Foster + Partners, 30 St Mary Axe
Image by Nevilley via Wikimedia

2005 Launch of Spectrum 510 colour 3D printer by ZCorporation. The increased resolution and build size meant reasonable quality architectural concept models could be printed overnight. 

2008 - ZPrinter 650, replaced for the 510 with slightly larger build 

2008 Great Recession begins

2009 Morphosis's Cooper Union building completed

Morphosis, Cooper Union building
Image by Short Dale via Wikimedia

2012 3D Systems acquires ZCorporation and rebrands the ZPrinter range as ProJet x60

Advertisement:

2016 Digital Craft - 3D Printing for Architectural Design, written by Bryan Ratzlaff and published by Lee 3D. The first book to deal with 3D printing for architectural design as its sole subject.  


Find out more about Digital Craft at http://www.lee3d.co.uk/digitalcraft/

Digital Craft - why we published

Digital Craft - 3D Printing For Architectural Design
Examining techniques for a new mode of craftsmanship

In terms of the entire process of architectural design, modelmaking may appear to have a relatively small part to play. In terms of 3D printing, architectural models are hardly the main focus. So it could be considered that 3D printing of architectural models is a rather niche subject. But now, the intersection of the ancient profession of architecture and the upstart phenomenon that is 3D printing has a book researched, written and published. Lucky 3D printing for architectural design!

1:1000 massing studies

So why was this book published? From a practical point of view, one of the motivations here at Lee 3D was to help and encourage architects to make better and more effective 3D printed models. 

The term '3D printing' can be quite misleading. At one end of the spectrum it may seem just like printing to paper - it's a printer, isn't it? While at the other end, 3D printing or additive manufacturing, is deeply revolutionary and in many ways needs new ways of designing to exploit its capabilities.

The subject of this book though, lies elsewhere. Here is no polemic about revolutionary potential and still no exhortation to just press print. The focus here is not on the printers but rather on what is being printed. This is a realistic book about using a new tool within the conventions of modelmaking. It is a book about the new digital craft of making.

1:100 facade study model

Another good reason for publishing the book became apparent during the initial research phase. Intellectually, the starting point for the project had been the question - to what extent can a style be applied to a standalone 3D printed model? During early conversations with the author it became apparent that models made as part of the design stage are rarely seen outside the architects' studio. As a consequence, scope for sharing of ideas among professionals was limited and that this lack of cross fertilisation inhibited the evolution of 3D printing styles in architectural modelmaking.

Thus, it became an ambition in publishing Digital Craft that the book would spread ideas about 3D printing architectural design models across the profession. That by doing so it gives 3D printing for architectural design a nudge in the right direction.

Digital Craft published February 2016

About the book
Digital Craft can be purchased from Amazon stores in Europe. It should be possible for Amazon to ship to most countries from these stores. 

About the Author
Bryan Ratzlaff is a Canadian architectural designer working in London with five years’ experience in 3D printing for architects. Bryan has a Master of Architecture degree from University of Westminster (RIBA Part II).

About the Publisher
Published by Lee 3D Ltd, a specialist 3D print bureau focussed mainly on the AEC sector.