3D printed serpentine sculpture for VMSD

A textured serpentine sculpture for VMSD, 70 cm tall, designed to print in pieces that join on pegs, then printed in white PLA and sprayed yellow.

Client: VMSD
Service: Art Installations & Wall Murals
What it is: A textured serpentine sculpture, 70 cm tall
What we did: 3D design for printing, the print in white PLA and a yellow spray finish
What the client got: The 3D file and the printed sculpture

Plan an installation Send a brief

Tall, as marked in our design: 70 cm
Pieces in the design, joined on pegs: 5
From the design order to the print order: 15 days

What we brought

What we can do
Split to print, joined on pegs
We split the sculpture into five pieces: two legs, two arches and the curve between them, with pegs where they meet.
How we look after you
Texture over the whole tube
A raised texture covers the tube over both arches and down the legs. Our design deck shows where we smoothed it out.
What you get
Printed and finished
We printed the pieces in white PLA and finished the sculpture in yellow spray paint.

Gallery

The whole project at a glance. Drag or swipe to browse; tap a picture to enlarge it.

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The finished piece
RenderFrom an angle, one arch behind the other.
RenderFrom the side.
The 3D designRenderOur design slide, from the front view to the split.
RenderThe texture, smoothed out on the arch.
RenderFive pieces, split with pegs.
RenderA peg at each joint holds the pieces.

The build

How we built it

5 steps, from the brief to the finished piece. Pick a step to jump to it.

The brief

Step 1 of 5

Height: 70 cm
Our scope: 3D design for printing, the print in white PLA, a yellow spray finish

At Additive Inn, our 3D printing studio in Singapore, we designed and printed a textured serpentine sculpture for VMSD. It is a tube 70 cm tall that rises and falls in two arches, and we designed it so it could be printed in pieces and put together.

The 3D design

Step 2 of 5

We modelled the sculpture in 3D with its texture over the whole tube, and a close-up in our deck shows where we smoothed the texture out. We then split it into five pieces: two legs, two arches and the curve between them, with pegs at the joints for support.

Design slide: the sculpture from the front with its 70 cm height marked, two more views, a close-up labelled Smoothed out, and the five pieces split apart, labelled Split with pegs — RenderOur design slide, from the front view to the split.

A view of the sculpture with an arrow to a close-up circle labelled Smoothed out, showing the texture over one arch — RenderThe texture, smoothed out on the arch.

The sculpture split into five pieces, two arches above two legs and a U-shaped curve, with a close-up of the pegs on the ends and the holes they fit into, labelled Split with pegs — RenderFive pieces, split with pegs.

Second design slide in light grey: the whole sculpture in three views, the five pieces apart, and a close-up of a peg on the top of one piece, labelled Pegs for support — RenderA peg at each joint holds the pieces.

The print

Step 3 of 5

We 3D printed the pieces in white PLA.

Joining and finishing

Step 4 of 5

The pieces fit together on the pegs at their ends to make one 70 cm sculpture, and we finished it in yellow spray paint.

The final build

Step 5 of 5

VMSD received the 3D file of the sculpture and the sculpture itself, printed in white PLA and sprayed yellow.

Render of the sculpture from an angle, the two arches one behind the other and the texture covering the whole tube — RenderFrom an angle, one arch behind the other.

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3D printed serpentine sculpture for VMSD

What we brought

Split to print, joined on pegs

Texture over the whole tube

Printed and finished

Gallery