Annemarie Baldauf

The 3D printer is an exciting technology, adding to your art program possibilities of sculpture, jewelry design, pottery, and more. In recent years, these printers have become more affordable and user-friendly, so I was eager to incorporate them into my curriculum.

For our final 3D printing project, students drew figures on paper and transformed them into 3D designs. This project required the students to adopt a new way of thinking and planning for the resulting 3D print.

Practice Projects
During the school year, I introduced students to 3D printing through four practice projects using a CAD (computer-aided design) program. Students made heart rings, a shamrock necklace featuring their initials, 3D printed business cards, and a flowerpot. Through these projects, students became comfortable with 3D modeling and thinking. They learned through a process of trial and error, ending with a 3D object they modeled on their Chromebooks. Students learned how to place, move, view, size, align, group, copy, duplicate, rotate, and connect in the CAD program.

Moving to Miniature Figures
The final project of the school year was a miniature 3D figure of a person, anime character, or avatar. Figures were to be small; this was important because the detail one can achieve with 3D printing really stands out with miniature art. It was also practical because the material for 3D printing is expensive.

Students had plenty of choice for how their figures would look, but they had to consult with me once they planned their designs so I could anticipate any functional problems with printing.

Digital Languages
Multiple programming languages are used to create a 3D print from a student’s drawing. Students start with picture language, drawing their figures, then use CAD program language to build their drawings into 3D models, creating STL language on their Chromebooks.

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