Author, Animator, Visual Effects, Shabby Guitarist

I admit, I am new to CAD. Well, in a way I am very familiar to CAD. I’ve just never taken the opportunity to use it in a context like I have recently.

The Pencase was one of the more complex projects where I used a dedicated CAD package and NOT  an entertainment related and focused bit of software.

I’ve said before that anyone serious about 3d printing should get serious about 3d modeling. Old news. But CAD is a deeper profession and calling – and when you design everything as well, cad is just part of design.

There are many roles in design and engineering just like entertainment. And in the biz, I’ve always been considered a generalist, someone who can do many things when the job calls for it.

I have always hated the accusation that generalists are “masters of none” following the old saying. But what’s the alternative?  Sometimes that means the job won’t get done at all.

So CAD is yet another methodology and skillset I am definitely working at integrating into everything I design for 3d printing. 3d modeling skills have already given me a huge leap forward in that respect in that so many of the software elements are so similar.

What really has made a difference has been an old carpenter’s saying “measure twice, cut once.” Or in this instance, measure many times according to tolerances and environmental co ditions, and print again and again until it comes put just right EVERY TIME after.

Thats been a key diference and challenge with the pencase. Whereas before I would print single useful object as one piece, like my inkwell and pencil/brush holder, the pencase had moving parts that needed to work over and over.

Having an Ultimaker 2 to work with has been one of the saving graces – the reliability and cleanliness with which it prints makes the difference between this being just an expensive hobby and a viable business in then future.

I still stand by Google SketchUp for now, but as the future projects are more in need of component and electronic pairings, there will be a day when I part ways with it.

Until then, the pencase testing phase is well underway with 70 percent of the beta testers their getting their test models soon. I hope to get additional models in pipeline soon.

Its kind of a silly question. For me there has been nothing in the past 20 years that’s come as close to this interesting and rewarding creatively.

Professionally, that’s a tougher proposition.

I usually get a table at Long Beach Comic Con where I sell my comics (check me out on Comixology under Jesse Mesa Toves – blatant plug over haha). For the past few years, I have displayed some of my prints there to some very enthusiastic reactions.

But one of the constants has been how few people have actually seen something which is 3d printed. Sure, some kids have printers at their schools – it’s actually kind of encouraging given all the STEM efforts of late.

But for the vast majority of people, when I hand them a print,  it is the VERY first time they will have touched something 3d printed. It’s interesting to gauge their reactions.

So making the step to buying something 3d printed is also oddly confused. So much of the hoopla around printing reminds me of the first laser printers – everyone was amazed right up until you showed them a price tag.

To add to the confusion is the animus around plastics of any kind and the constant effort to make things more sustainable. The plastic filaments I use were developed to be biodegradable and I will never use ABS which is an option on the printer I use.

I’ll be perfectly honest. I think ive succombed to the most obvious temptation of 3d printing for artists like myself. I have spent so much time making 3d models for entertainment or commercial uses, that finally getting to see them in the real world is enormously seductive.

What’s more seductive to artists is the thought that someone will want to buy these things. But the promise of 3d printing and it’s infinite level of customizability has likely stunted the success of artists printing their works for sale. Or it could be the broader cultural change at some level to simply own less STUFF.

When I see people who profit from the ubiquitous unboxing channels, you can see this sort of thing happening. Its a vicarious consumerism where it becomes temporarily gratifying to merely watch someone obtain an object rather than actually own it.

I made a pretty consious change with my creative process on the Pencase, not meaning to sound so pretentious. I wanted to design something that satisfied some simple criteria.

One, I had to design something I actually would use.
Two, I wouldn’t finish it until a predetermined number of people wanted it as well.

After that, I am guessing I’ll need some new criteria.

If you know the name Ideo, you know I am not a competitor to them in any way.

But one of their tenets of product design is that testing should be as genuine as possible. In part I agree.

But for pencase, I have different agendas than Ideo.

Typically, they are a gun for hire, and as such have to engage with clients as well as consumers.

I’m going about this a little differently because my clients ARE the customers. At least that’s the hope.

One of the key product testing tenets is that developers not taint the testing with too much story,  interference, or instructions.

In the case of my product there is almost nothing BUT story. It’s an object with a catered and curated narrative and without it, there would likely be less interest in it.

Starting this project, I merely wanted tomake something which grew out of my art organically. I love the idea of full employment which is the maximum engagement of my cumulative skills. Needless to say, that can be a tremendous high. It can also be bloody tiring!

So the beta model in Ultimaker blue is looking clean and strong. But since this is the beta, it will have to get through the users brave enough to volunteer.

Watching viewer reaction was a beta test in itself. One which bears out many of the crowd dynamics research people have made for decades.

People will watch things sheepishly but paying great attention until some breaking point is reached and they make up their minds to participate.

I initially formed the beta program by asking very simply – who is interested. No reaction.

Then I offered users the chance to KEEP the model. A trickle of volunteers.

Then I started to close the program, and I filled the remaining spots in seconds. I had to turn some people away because of production capacity issues.

See a problem? I do. You can say it’s because I should have just jumped to that last step, but it’s a consistent problem of fear and credibility that marketers deal with all the time.

I don’t want a mass market, I simply can’t make that many products right now. But the measures you have to go through, no matter your skill level to break though the collective fear of a crowd when you are making something, anything, is truly an exercise in stoicism.

So I am printing the beta models of the Pencase. And it feels like a real thing now – and its been tentatively branded as the TIK for Tactical Inking Kit.

So like any artist, I try to get my work out there. Digital, traditional whatever – sometimes you just want to draw. In fighting the war of art, you need weapons, or so went the joke when I came up wi the design for this pencase. It fits two pens or mechanical pencils and refills for both plus an eraser.

Artists argue about tools all the time, but today for me, it feels like making the tools IS my art. And that has been far more fun these days.

It’s late in the year but thanks to Inktober I can reset some long dormant projects.

One of the longest waiting in the wings is a 3d printing project which features some new filament from Protoplant – stainless steel PLA. I finally got some of this stuff and hope it turns out well.

In comics I hope to start another issue of my mini anthology, Pages of Eight which is on Comixology now.

http://bit.ly/1Njatwo

I also want to develop some content for the Ultimaker community through Youmagine. They are currently offering some impressive featured models from Le Haslam – a really talented modeller and model builder.

https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/view/17702-introducing-leo-haslams-fantastical-creations

That’s it for now. Got to get busy.

Well after too many months, and many episodes of Defiance, I’m posting an update.

I didn’t realize the level of commitment that was going to be required for the 3rd season of SyFy’s Defiance. Most of that has been of my own doing. No one really asked me to make that commitment. But I think it has been worth it.

In other news, I did finish the redo of one of my comics and I am kind of stunned at the results. It felt effortless and unending at the same time – a strange sounding combination. But I was – here’s that word again – committed to making it as good as the comic that followed it. Issue 5 was what set me on the path of redoing issue 4.

I explained this before but issue 4 of Trouble, Guts & Noir was a personal challenge years ago – could I finish an entire issue in one month – all aspects. Writing, layout, inks, etc. Everything. The answer was yes, but at a cost to quality.

I wanted to know if I could make a comic every month while holding a full time job – the answer was yes but it wasn’t nearly as clear, rendered or polished as I thought it should be.

I final result has been submitted and approved through Comixology and should be available soon, and I have already written the follow up.

But one of the negative sides of working in television is that the breaks between seasons can be downright unpredictable – but the upside is I can work on personal projects.

This year will be no exception.

Protopasta has released an interesting entry into the filament spectrum – magnetic iron filament.

There are some complaints about 4d printing filaments being a bit dull and not able to carry a sheen that more accurately simulates metal.

I chalk this mostly up to the paradox of many 3d printing enthusiasts not being more experience model builders and knowing more of the classic techniques to simulating metal.

But this material category actually does something movie magicians rarely or never accomplished with their tricks – giving magentic properties to plastic.

While this might not seem very interesting, think of it this way. How many object in your home have slime magnets embedded in them in order to make them function? Small cases, gadget slip cases, cabinets, drawers, even toys and recently some wearable tech have been including magnetic features.

So a material like Magnetic iron PLA fits into an industrial designers vocabulary very well indeed.

But for me the most interesting attribute is definitely its ability to weather like metal – rust. If you have ever seen Corten steel you know that one of its most interesting properties is that it is INTENTIONALLY formulated to rust. That layer of rust becomes a protective layer from additional weathering and although this feature was intended to have industrial applications, artists thought it had incredible aesthetic properties.

I love the look as well, and I am using one of my more recent sculpts to test the material for later MUCH larger projects.

I will eventually try some new cold casting methods which use similar concepts, but for the time being you can get this material from the folks at Protopasta right here:

 https://www.proto-pasta.com/pages/magnetic-iron-pla

I attended the annual 2015 3d Printing World show on my Saturday lunch break and instantly recognized two things. The show overall was smaller and less well attended than last year, and DLP had a much greater presence. But that might have just been me being grumpy about working on a Saturday.

Given my history with Makerbot, part of me wanted to take all mynfailed extruders to their table and stand there like and angry brown Ralph Nader warning people of their futures. But I have said before I WANT them to get it right. And to their credit they actually had working machines on the floor this time.

I feel like this should be called “the show that ZBrush built” because it seemed to be the only thing that gathered enough mass on the show floor. It was really the only exhibitor that has the resources and clout the show to command attention because of its roots in the process of 3d printing. That, and a loudspeaker and big projection screens.

I am actually surprised still how long it has taken for some people to realize that 3d printing has zero future without the ability to either synthesize or expertly manipulate shapes.

Software for building anything you want has come further in my lifetime than most apps I can remember and I would argue that vehemently. The earliest modellers I used could scarcely handle basic primitives let alone multi resolution million plus polygon modles WITH texturing.

That actually has as much to do with hardware really so to be fair being able to make anything digitally still doesn’t mean being able to print it. But oncw you get to the level where you understand 3d modeling deeply enough to target digital AND physical media, you’ve got a winning combo.