Skip to main content

Bike Brains: Creating and Applying the Vinyl


I began by vectorizing my brain bike helmet drawing in adobe illustrator then imported the file into rhino 

After importing the drawing i exploded the shape and began marking all the points to find where i could cut the shapes in order to prevent issues with the vinyl bubbling or warping on the compound curve of the helmet.


I then began to start cutting up the lines that make up the texturing of the brain and disconnecting them from the outline of the brain to reduce overall stretch stress on the vinyl sticker.


I then also transformed my three sister mountain sketch into vector through Illustrator and began to search for a place to integrate these mountain lines into the brain.


Here is the design after some alterations to include the silhouette of the mountains mimicking the brain texture.


I then went over the outline of the brain breaking up the perimeter with circles using the arc tangent to other curves tool.



I then added a occipetal lope to my brain and a stem to make it look a little more brain like using the control point curve and  handle curve tools, the 2D model is finished.

Here is a concept render of the vinyl on the helmet created in Rhino.


Here i have loaded up my .Ai file the "Sure Cuts Alot 3" program, with a regular and mirrored version to apply to the both sides of the helmet.


The vinyl plotter begins making weird sci-fi sounds and plotting...


Once cut, I painstakingly weeded the vinyl ans cut it out.


I bought this "Glad press n seal" from my local grocery store as i read its a cheap and effective transfer adhesive for vinyl. Too bad my vinyl is cut so thin and the adhesive did not work whatsoever to pick up the vinyl pieces for transfer. :'c


So i then got a bunch of strips of masking tape and applied it for transfer.


Here's the masking tape with collected vinyl applied to the helmet.


And finally after some very carefull surgery we are left with just the vinyl, my technique of breaking up all the pieces sort of worked though the brain has slightly shrunken in size due to the compound curve and some pieces of vinyl were destroyed in the transfer.


Here is helmet on my head, quite happy with the result though i think my brain may be a bit small aha... this was a great learning experience, i hope to use the plotter in my future projects.

Comments

  1. Bryan Cera15 October 2017 at 17:39

    Ahhhh, I can't believe how well this turned out! You did a fantastic job. Clever use of AI for grabbing the geometry, and awesome how you divided things up in rhino so the concept would work in vinyl. love it!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exoskeleton and Identity in progress

For my object I decided to use a bike/skateboard helmet. As we are dealing with objects with designs that reflect who we are I decided on utilising a helmet because it expresses the self through its design and semiotics as a exoskeleton of the human body. (my object) The helmet is also a piece of protective equipment I hold very close to my heart as a symbol for the adventures I've taken it along with over the years, whether every day commuting on my bike, my 5 years long boarding in the down roads in the rockies and the streets of Calgary.   I've devised two object vinyl tattoo concepts i would like to potentially pursue. The first uses a sketch of the brain on both sides of the helmet representing my mind. I may want to take this idea further and include elements of myself inside this brain. During the critique my group was mostly interested in this concept as the brain relates quite well to the helmet as a safety device for the brain. brain version...
Post a Comment
Read more

Deconstruction of a lighter: Progress

For my reverse engineered object I had first chosen a lighter though after realizing I could not take it apart without destroying it I chose to the "Bic" lighter, a commonplace lighter sold around the world.  (Flick my Bic? that just sounds wrong) (The Bic Dissembled) Oval shape for the lighter The Lighter  body curve extruded and caped overlapping and oval with and oval trim to the shape  of the  red plastic lighter gas button and metal flame housing Post triming Once curveextruded we have the two approximattive shapes I then created the  springs using the  "spiral command" and counting the spirals on each of the lighter springs./ extruded cylinder for the easy to model flint flint capped and shaded gas  nosel approxamitive  shape Spark wheel: a circle and 60 pointed star Curve extruded rigged parts and center cylinder caped spark wheel Everythin...
1 comment
Read more

"Cool" glasses paper + cardboard prototype

For my prototype I began in 2D sketching from my rhino file, though changing the arms i had originally planned by directly running them from the back of the round lenses in an effort to make the glasses look more designer"esque" and less goofy. I still currently want to pursue my concept of commenting on material culture and the ephemeral nature of apparel such as glasses. I then traced and layered cardboard to add thickness and create the form. I then glued the layers together with a glue stick. I then used the same process to create the nose bridge using only 2 cardboard layers. I rolled paper to create stretched cones to act as the arms of the glasses, also reminiscent of icicles. I then hot glued the arms to the frame  finished prototype I'm looking forward to feedback tomorrow and am looking at ideas of incorporating more references to ice and the cold into the design of the glasses.
Post a Comment
Read more