Streamlining Art and Design with 3D Scanners

James Whistler said, “An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.” unfortunately for artists, this still rings true today, with art pieces often taking months, if not years, of work to create. And just like any other professional, artists always look for ways to streamline their production process. So it’s no surprise that many have quickly adopted 3D scanners into their art and design workflow. And the reason for this is simple 3D scanners are potent tools helping artists explore new creative avenues and save time.

So, let’s get into it and look at how artists leverage 3D scanners to create works of art.

Creating Sculptures

Whether artists are creating massive or small sculptures, 3D scanners are essential as they allow them to create a highly detailed small model in clay. Then scan it, scale it up or down in software, and use the size data to create casting molds or 3D print their creation easily. This allows for the much easier, cheaper, and more efficient design of sculptures, as well as freeing up the artist to focus more on letting the creativity flow rather than worrying about production.

Digital Art

3D digital art continues to grow in popularity due to its ability to transcend reality and create mind-bending pieces in ways that just weren’t possible with traditional methods. But even digital art starts in the real, with 3D scans of objects often being the starting block for transformation into the surreal. And, of course, making 3D models quickly without the need to model them manually is a massive time saver. Why not check out some of these top artists’ work, like Francisco Rossi, Nicole Wu, or Jeremiah Shaw? 

CGI

You may have noticed that some movies or tv shows are more green screens than sets these days as directors have wholeheartedly embraced technology that allows them to create the impossible easily and under budget. However, making all these digital assets from scratch would take a ridiculous amount of time. So with the help of 3D scanners, they can save a lot of time by rapidly creating models by scanning real objects and people and then modifying them as needed. It even has the added benefit of the models already being scaled correctly to fit into the digital scenes.

Movie Props and Costume

Creating a believable world in a movie is largely down to the set design and the props and costumes that fill it, whether done traditionally or by CGI. And proper makers have found a winning combo with 3D scanners and 3D printers, helping them to scan real-life objects that they then modify in 3D modeling software to fit the movie’s aesthetics and then 3D print. Also, getting full body scans helps the prop makers create well-fitting costumes that are comfortable for the actors and believable to the audience.

Jewelry

3D scanners make it easy to modify existing designs by scanning them, then importing them into CAD software for modification. They also make creating new designs faster by making it easy to create models of things that would be incredibly hard to measure and build in design software manually, like shells, pet heads, and leaves, for example. 

Even repairing broken jewelry is made faster with the help of 3D scanners by scanning the fractured parts and, piecing them together, then remaking them. And finally, creating perfectly fitting designs for things like bracelets or rings by scanning the customer’s finger or wrist and using the 3D model to design the piece around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbzdCbi4fws

Graphic Design

Using 3D scanners and 3D printers in graphic design has opened new doors to creative ways of visualizing information that make it easier to understand and more impactful. Rather than a boring bar or pie chart, with a bit of 3D scanning and printing, statistical data can be transformed into a more physical concept like 3D dioramas that gets the idea across in a new unique way.

So it’s pretty clear that the use of 3D scanners in art and design has significantly impacted the creative world by opening up new fast ways of creating unique designs, art, graphical content, and without a doubt, even more things in the future.