Today on our weekly live 3D Hangouts, our Community Spotlight features the prolific and playful 3D designer and hobbyist Perry Engel who currently is sharing over 450 designs up on Thingiverse and elsewhere. (Best known online as “cerberus333”.)
We have been exploring his work and interviewed him about his exploration of design and 3D printing!
Interview with Perry Engel (by Matt Griffin)
Hi! Who are you, and what do you do?
I am Perry Engel I work in IT professionally. Been a “maker” since a child. Modelng and printing 3d is a workflow I have really been excited about. Modeling and having a object in hand in a few short hours is really exciting! A modern ‘folk artist’ seems to be a label that applies to me.
What are your go-to machines? (Desktop printers, services, hand tools, etc!)
I will limit to 3D additive tech. 3D printer is currently a replicator (original wood box, single extruder). A asparagus pot I use for acetone vapor polishing my ABS prints. Assorted hand tools for finishing (files etc).
And what software do you use to get your work done? (Design packages, CAM software, slicers, host software?)
I use Sculptris for my “organic” (animals etc) models. Truespace (version 5) for most of the rockets and machine type models. It’s a old program, but can do many things newer programs don’t, and it’s free! Meshmixer is a decent program that is also free. NetFabb basic 5.2 (this is good at fixing meshes. Automatically (lots of times, not 100%) and free! Tinkercad, easy starter 3d modeler, that is really underestimated. makehuman This is a good way to make a human for further modeling in sculptris.
What is one (or what are some) of your designs that you’d like for everyone to check out?
I have 460 posted designs on thingiverse. so I will mention a few I personally like best.
- Robot Schmobot
- Cthulu from lovecraft sketch
- Horned Owl
- Skovox Blitzer (Dr. Who)
- Jack’O Lantern rev 3
- Silurian [Dr Who]
- Fluffy
- Bender kit 2
- Black Cat (Halloween arched back pose)
We love these, too — and have shared them throughout this post!
What are design challenges that you have faced (and perhaps or perhaps overcome) when creating your work?
Most software has limits that you need to work around. I have learned to save often! Sometimes moving to different programs helps (Booleans in meshmixer while not perfect often gets results where other programs crash.) there are lots of ‘gotchas’ in each program. Learning to get the result you want can sometimes be a challenge.
What challenge do you most look forward to tackling in the future?
I have a lot of ideas I want to explore. Mostly I see 3D printing as just another tool, not the only tool. making rubber by making molds in ABS is a good example. I don’t see the only way as using a rubber filament, but rather using 3d printing as a step toward a final objective.
Any pointers for those just starting out with design and 3D printing?
Wow too many to post. for complete beginners, I think tinkercad offers the best workflow for getting a stl file for a printer all in one package. Sculptris is the best for making animals/humans and other freeform sculpts. I would say this over all else, feel free to experiment, making mistakes is where we learn the most. Many of my models are actually showing earlier versions to show the process for example http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:162909 was followed by http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:163972 so I am not horrified by showing works in progress, it helps to show the process.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! We also offer the LulzBot TAZ – Open source 3D Printer and the Printrbot Simple Metal 3D Printer in our store. If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!
