From 2D to 3D: An Introduction to Additive Manufacturing and Desktop Fabrication

Desktop fabrication is the digitization of analog manufacturing techniques. Comparable to desktop publishing, it affords the output of digital content (e.g., 3D models) in physical form (e.g., plastic). It also personalizes production through accessible software and hardware, with more flexibility and rapidity than its analog predecessors.

Additive manufacturing is a process whereby a 3D form is constructed by building successive layers of a melted source material (at the moment, this is most often some type of plastic). There is little waste, as material is not removed from a block to create the shape, as in traditional machine milling, for example. The method also affords the materialization of forms not possible to construct from traditional subtractive processes of manufacturing. The technology driving additive manufacturing in the desktop fabrication field is the 3D printer, tabletop devices that materialize digital 3D models.

In this workshop, we will introduce technologies used for desktop fabrication and additive manufacturing, and offer a possible workflow that bridges the digital and physical worlds for work with threedimensional forms. We will begin by introducing 3D printers, and demonstrate how they operate by printing things throughout the event. The software used in controlling the printer and in preparing models to print will be explained. We will use free software sources so those in attendance can experiment with the tools as they are introduced.

The main elements of the workshop are

Acquisition of digital 3D models — from online repositories to creating your own with photogrammetry, scanning technologies, and modelling software
Software to clean and reshape digital models in order to make them print-ready and remove artifacts from the scanning process.
3D printers and the software to control and use them
Those attending are asked to bring, if possible, a laptop computer to install and run the software introduced, and a digital camera or smartphone for experimenting with photogrammetry. Workshop facilitators will bring cameras, a 3D printer, plastics, and related materials for the event. By the end of the conference, each participant will have the opportunity to print an object for their own use.Those attending are asked to bring, if possible, a laptop computer to install and run the software introduced, and a digital camera or smartphone for experimenting with photogrammetry. Workshop facilitators will bring cameras, a 3D printer, plastics, and related materials for the event. By the end of the conference, each participant will have the opportunity to print an object for their own use.
Instructors
Jeremy Boggs, University of Virginia Library
Jeremy Boggs is the Design Architect for Digital Research and Scholarship in the Scholars’ Lab, at the University of Virginia Library. His dissertation, entitled “The Designing Historian,” explores design as a methodology for doing digital history. Other research interests include the history of design, the history of technology, and social/cultural history. He has conducted workshops and introduced 3D printing at the Scholar’s Lab.

Devon Elliott, Western University
Devon Elliott is a PhD candidate in history at Western University. In addition to his application of digital fabrication methods to his dissertation project on the history of stage magic, he has conducted workshops on 3D technologies at universities, conferences, galleries, and hackerspaces. He is also an instructor on digital fabrication and physical computing at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute.

Jentery Sayers, UVic
Jentery Sayers is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Victoria, with research interests in comparative media studies, digital humanities, AngloAmerican modernism, computers and composition, and teaching with technologies. He is the director of the Maker Lab at UVic, and teaches digital fabrication and physical computing at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute.

Audience
Targeted towards scholars interested in learning about technologies surrounding 3D printing and additive manufacturing, and for accessible solutions to implementing those technologies in their work. Past workshops have been for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students in the humanities; librarians; archivists; GLAM professionals; digital humanities centers. This is an introductory workshop, so little prior experience is necessary, only a desire to learn and be engaged with the topic.

Length and format of the workshop
The one day workshop will have three major components that all participants will engage with. These core components are:

1) Where to get digital 3D models. This can be from online repositories that are freely available (and also serve as potential archival solutions or distributive channels) to creating one’s own models with photogrammetry or scanning technologies, or drawing virtual models in design software.
2) Software solutions that mediate between the virtual forms and the corresponding physical technologies are necessary to clean and postprocess models to make them suitable for printing. There isn’t one tool to do all this, so this section will introduce those various software platforms, and explain both how the virtual model needs to be transformed and the specific elements of those software packages that enable one to make those changes.
3) 3D printing What is it? How does it work? What machines are available? Pros and cons of using the devices. Software to interface with the machines. Materials that they can print with. Limits of the printable forms.