Pauline Vaandrager, Kristina Andersen
This project revolves around the relationship of creating between human and machine. It explores the potential of the 3D printer to be an expert creative collaborator, whose role can exceed beyond being an executor of predetermined human vision. The project highlights the process of creation, rather than on the outcome. How can we exploratively create, together with 3D printers?
In 3D printing, the final product is more important than the creative journey of making. Imagine traditional 3D printing is like creating a dish. The head chef (designer) has a creative vision and orders a sous-chef (slicer) to turn the idea into a recipe (G-code). Finally, another chef must follow the recipe meticulously to cook the dish (the 3D printer). The chef later returns to taste the dish but is displeased to find out that the dish does not taste how they had imagined. Was the original concept flawed? Did the sous-chef not create the correct recipe, or did the chef fail to execute the instructions?
The Doodle Printer aims to break the visionary-executor hierarchy in 3D printing. Instead the Doodle Printer will allow human and 3D printer to collaboratively create explorative line-art, in the form of doodles. The project uses image-to-image artificial intelligence (I2I AI) to grant the printer a creative “voice”. Practically, the user doodles on a screen, which is processed through the I2I AI, and projected back onto the screen. The human then draws on top of the projected image. The final doodle is automatically converted to printer instructions and printed on pre-stretched fabric, allowing for multiple cycles. In traditional 3D printing, modelling and printing takes a significant amount of time. However, with the Doodle Printer, this process only takes a couple of minutes. Furthermore, the slicer software is taken out of the equation to enforce a direct dialogue between human and machine.
The project explores the potential of the 3D printer to be an expert creative collaborator whose role can exceed beyond being an executor of predetermined human vision. In this, it highlights the process of creating rather than focusing on the outcome of the production. The Doodle Printer is a first speculation at what explorative-based creating alongside 3D printers might look like. However, to engage with the full potential of the 3D printer, it would be interesting to take this concept into a design context and work with point cloud artificial intelligence models to build 3D creations.
