This past week, we were back at home base in 3030 BIF. It felt good to be back, and it was surreal. Much like Josh, I looked around the room and the realization of how much I’ve learned this semester hit me with such force. I can actually say, without hesitation, that I am a maker. It’s such a cool feeling to be able to think, and create something from that single thought; it may be really simple and silly, or so complex and thought provoking that it changes the world.

The topic of this class was 3D scanning and MeshMixer, presented in part by Arielle. First, we had to play around with a scanner in order to get an object file to manipulate. This was my second time using a scanner (the first was at the build-a-printer event) and I have to say that it went much better than anticipated, based on my previous experience.

Pri and I worked together, each in charge of scanning the other’s head in order to eventually create a printed bust. The common theme was messing up on the person’s hair and chin features, which brings us to the next part of class: Meshmixer.

Meshmixer is software that allows a person to manipulate a mesh of triangles of a scanned object. This allows you to modify and customise just about anything, anyway you like it. Arielle was gracious enough to tell us of her own experience using the program to modify the racing gloves, and was there to answer any questions. This proved very helpful to me as I was able to iron out all of the kinks in editing and printing mockups for our semester project. I’d consider that a win!

Overall scanning and editing seems like a good workflow for projects where you have to go from a physical object to a digital model, although it is very time consuming. Getting the chance to iron out workflow with someone who’s experienced in using this specific program was priceless.