[Oscar36]

Its been a while since I made a more complex model/pattern for my collection. Took me a couple of hours but made this oni mask Samurai bust. Oni's are evil spirits from Japanese mythology and folklore. My dimensional goal is 12" x 12" x 1" for the final size.

My first attempt at a pattern was to use the height map method due to the depth of the model but got poor results.

So my next attempt at making a pattern is to manually adjust the height of the geometry and try to get a good pattern. This method can be tedious and time consuming with going back and forth with tweaking and adjusting different parts of the model until they produce a decent pattern.

 

[gwilki]

That looks incredible to me. Would you mind posting what CAD/CAM software you used to achieve that result?

 

[Oscar36]

I very much dislike CAD software due to the precision you have to use. I primarily use art focused 3d software to create my models.

Primarily Blender 3d followed by Zbrush. I also have 3d Coat but still haven't used it much. So its a mixture of parametric modeling, polygonal modeling and digital sculpting.

The workflow using these software is different than using true CAD/CAM. Its a lot more free flowing and flexible. I do a lot of eye balling and Kentucky windage instead of measuring. Just like my woodworking now.

 

[Oscar36]

Really happy with the final model. Model dimensions are 12" x 12" x 1.25" with about 3.5M verts. The STL size is currently 150 megs.

I can reduce the geometry a lot without losing any detail and reduce the size of the STL in half.

From start to finish was about 4-5 hours so not horrible. Another one in the bag.

 

[Oscar36]

And a down side with my sloppy modeling, its super fast but you sometimes have issues. lol

I had a heck of a time making the model into a clean pattern. Seems I had a hole in the geometry my software dislikes. I finally tracked it down and patched it. Threw it into my CAM software (CW Designer) and made an actual cnc pattern from the model.

This is at 12" x 12" x.75". On my hobby machine, I can carve upto 1" with my normal 1/16" carving bit. I need a different long 1/16" bit to do a deeper carve. I do have a 1/8" deep carving bit though. Really haven't done any deep carvings (1"+) up till now.

Says about a 3 hour carve so not sure if I will do it anytime soon.

 

[gwilki]

Thank you. I don't have the artistic gene so I need to rely on the "abilities" of CAD/CAM to any modelling that I do. That said, I do not do much.

 

[Oscar36]

I hope you do more then.

I have really atrophied rusty artistic genes myself. I've been playing with this stuff going on 9 years and my initial stuff was really, really bad. So its taken me a while to get past the awkward brand new beginner phase. I quit three times before it finally stuck (3d). I am only still probably at the advanced beginner level. I have a long ways to go to where I want to be.

Next in this series, is a Viking themed bust followed by a Native American bust. I was planning doing three patterns in this series.

For the samurai bust, I wish I had a stronger connection but other than my military background there isn't one. Zero Asian genes.

For the Viking bust, my given name is from Viking origin. Oscar comes from Osgar which means spear of the Gods. Random trivia that I think is cool. Going with Vidar (Norse god) for the motif.

For the Native American bust, thanks to Ancestry dot com I know I am mostly Native American. Don't know yet what way I am going with this one. I want something a little different.

 

[Oscar36]

Playing around with final design elements and overall design. My initial design did not look good so changed it on the fly. So this is totally (mostly) ad hoc. Not sure if I want to add horns to the helmet. Not historical but sometimes cool looking. Vidar survives Ragnorak and slays the wolf Fafnir in vengeance for destroying Valhalla. Re-used the shield and the bearded axe from my library. Everything else new.

What do you guys think it needs?

Playing around. I used some ram horns but don't really like it.

 

[gwilki]

FWIW, I would prefer it with horns, but I think the ram's horns are too much.

 

[Cncest]

Very nice work!

 

[Oscar36]

Thank you, both.

I'll play around with different horns today and start making the model into a pattern. I kind of like it better with horns as well. Looks like its missing something without them but I'll see what I can do.

For everyone,
Thanks for sharing the ride so far. This is the base model of the sword I made. For my pattern, I had to shorten the blade so it would fit in my 12" x 12" envelope so this is a little longer. Hopefully, someone can use it for something.

 

[Oscar36]

It was not as hard as I thought it would be to make into a pattern which is odd since I used a ton of Booleans and non-manifold geometry. I did have to switch a few things around to get the height to work.

Off to design the last bust in the series.

 

[Oscar36]

I'm calling this one done (mostly). I haven't started making into a pattern yet and may leave that for another day. I re-used several elements from my library but it still took too many hours to make.

Thanks everyone for following this series making journey. With this one, the series is done and I'll stop spamming you guys.

edit:
This does not happen often. I ported the STL into my cnc software and I am pretty happy with it without a ton of tweaks it usually needs.

 

[Oscar36]

Native American plaque test carve.

I didn't have any nice 1.5" deep lumber so chopped up an old cedar construction 2x4 I had lying around for the blank. A lot of knots so I painted it. I also hate sanding so I have a lot of fuzzies left. Both from the type of lumber used and my laziness to sanding. Overall really happy with the pattern though.

Carved 3/4" deep on 11" circle.

 

[John Smith_]

Oscar, have you toyed around much with HDU (20# or better) for your CNC projects ?

 

[Oscar36]

John,

I haven't. I've pretty much stuck to lumber.

I have a stack of corian for lithophanes but haven't gotten to those. Too many hobbies not enough time.

This weekend was a paracord whip making weekend. I have the bruises to prove it when I went to test to see if it would crack (I am not very good with them yet).