Physical Replication Using 3D Printing

2020 - Seattle Pacific University Theater

Original

This is a sconce from the stage of Seattle Pacific University theater. The part is injection molded which led to high costs in replacing some of them which had broken.

Replica

This digital version was created using a combination of photo composites and mesh sculpting. The model was later printed and painted to match the original.

Process

I fed approximately 200 photos of the shell from different angles into Meshroom. Over several hours, the software combined them into a single 3D mesh representing the photographs in three dimensions.

The initial mesh captured many details but also included noise from the table and was solid rather than hollow. After removing the noise and creating a hollow interior, I smoothed the shell, added thickness, and reduced polygon count for faster rendering.

Final Result

Eight printed shells were subsequently painted and installed on the SPU theater stage.