Hi Marhsall, Bathsheba, rPML,
Congratulations Bathsheba. Love it!! I'll get back to you on your proposal.
Sounds interesting.
Marhall, now this is what I like to hear!! The fastest growing sector of the
rp world is in fine art!! I can attest that there are at least 30-50 fine art
users. I'm not quite sure if this makes it the fastest growing market, but
lets take a look for a minute.
News
I've just returned from Paris where Christian Lavigne, a french artist,
organized a major event in the French Senate called intersculpt. ONe part of
this event was an exhibition of Digital Sculpture in the City Hall of the 6th
arrondisement in Paris. The other aspect took place in the George Clemenceau
hall, over two days, some 14 speakers talked about technical and aesthetic
aspects of Rapid Prototoyping, Fabbing, 3dimensional printing or whatever
you'd like to call it. Of those speakers roughly half were artists. The event
also coordinated 4 other sites in the world in which exhibitions of rapid
prototyped sculptures were taking place. We had video conferencing set up
with three of those sites. The sites included The University of Hong Kong,
The art institute of Cincinatti, A school in Manchester England, and Arizona
State University in Tempe. In three of those cities there was an exhibition
of sculptures made with rapid prototypng. In two of the sites, 3D systens
donated machinary that ran throughtout the exhibition. IN one of thos sites
(Arizona State University) they have two rapid prototyping machines that were
kept busy over the week building peoples parts.
There was also a competition in which some 42 entries from all over the world
were considered for 1rst second and third place, based upon the criteria of
several judges of which I was one.
This was a fabulous event. This is the second such event by intersculpt and
Ars Mathematica and there are plans for this as a biennial event. This was
the first time that so many companies participated to make it happen. 3D
Systems, Auto Desk Systems, Auto Des Sys (Form Z), Senseable, and others all
participated.
You can see that I was not in charge of the public relations (I'm being a
little tongue and cheek here). Unfortunately the event was under covered, in
part because it was put on by a small group of people with a big vision.
Kudos go to Christian Lavigne, Alain Bernard, Alexander Vitkine. All I did
was show up and give a talk.
A stabe at quantification
Now, I don't have numbers but I know for a fact that I have personally
"converted" some 275 students to the knowledge of rapid prototyping. Of those
students, 20 have built models. Of those 20 probably 5 wish to be involved
any chance they get. There are at least 7-10 schools that have some similar
involvement at this point. It might be fair to say that each year these 7
schools produce 5 students who will be regular (when they can afford it) rp
users. Thats only 35 per year. But its probably up significantly from the
year before and as news spread up again each year for several years here.
These are users developed from education. There are others who have heard
about it, saw it on tv, read about it in a magazine, etc.,.
There is no way that any one of these sculptors will buy a machine of their
own at current prices. SMall chance that a consortium would be made, lets
face it, its easier to run a bureau than a coop, at least you're rewarded
financially for running a bureau. So other than the odd millionaire sculptor,
or the San Francisco Artists Technology and Rapid Prototyping Commune,
probably most of the sales in these sectors will be to schools. $35-65K is an
enormous cost for an art school which run typical yearly budgets of not more
than $1 million dollars. The sculpture department in any school has somewhere
between 35-85 students. Conversely, there are grants, gifts to the school,
other type things that can support this kind of endeavor.
The other option is developing artists as customers for bureaus. This is very
do-able but still constrained. The major constraint is the cost of the model.
In my case most of the models made for me have been from the Largesse of a
company looking for an interesting project that could also promote the
company OR from arts organizations with funding available for individual
artists. Keep in mind that many of the models from the concept modelers must
be further processed (couple of exceptions here) at even more cost. For a
single work to be cast in bronze (made from one of the low end machines)
could cost from $3-5K easily. That means they must sell for $15-25K (5x's the
cost of manufacture). When was the last time that anyone on this list bought
a sculpture for $25000? or even for $15000. Or when was the last time any one
on this list bought a sculpture period.
Yet, there is something of a market for art "objects" in the $1-5 K(keep in
mind, when was the last time you spent this much on an object). So, if we
work backwards, the models from bureaus or kinkos(whoever does the work) has
to work back from between $1-5K. THats $200 to $1000 cost of manufacture for
a coffee table sized object. (This figure would have to include any
downstream processes like molding, lost wax casting etc.,.). This $200-1000
dollar cost does not include the artist's time. (What can I say, artists
aren't the best business people, they don't realize that they're constantly
losing money).
Conclusion
In these two scenarios two conclusions can be drawn. There is a place in arts
education for RP machines. Some schools have managed to create this milieu
and we will see more of it to be sure. The second is that as the tech becomes
more and more affordable, more people will venture out into the process. Of
course the only other limiting factor is CAD. Good Luck Steve!!!
Promotion
Probably the most important thing that could take place is to get the
technology into peoples hands right now. This is valueable promotion. One
excited 20 year old sculptor will tell eveyone he or she knows about this
stuff. He or she will also grow towards the use of this technology and with
enough desire will create economies around the technology to support their
use of it.
Who knows, maybe the economy for the arts will also grow somewhat as a result
of this technology. I can attest it has for me.
The Gig is getting peoples hands on it. They love it, they want it, they need
it. I know I do.
I won't die until I see a fabber, 3d printer, or whatever in every pot!! I
refuse to go until it happens.
In closing let me say that I cannot wait for the chance to have my fabber
humming away next to me while I design projects. I would print day in and day
out, small tests, large tests, scale models, sectioned pieces for reassembly,
scanned objects which have been subtlely altered. Oh my god I haven't even
begun to scratch the surface of what I can do with this technology. I have
probably made as many if not more models than any sculptor on the planet.
Just wait until a lot of artists get a hold of this stuff. They will use it
in ways that it was never intended. You will be amazed. The day is coming....
The future of this technology is the future of art. The future of art is
the future of this technology.
best, Michael Rees.
Marshall Burns wrote:
> >Digital Sculpture http://www.bathsheba.com
>
> Hey, folks, you've got to check out this gal's Web site! It's an art
> gallery, a fabber tutorial, and a Christmas catalog all wrapped into one.
> This is the future of manufacturing that I've been writing about for all
> these years. Adding her to Steve the jeweler, Michael Rees, and Stewart
> Dickson, art just may be fastest growing fabber application.
>
> Best regards,
> Marshall Burns
>
> Marshall@Ennex.com
> Ennex Corporation, Los Angeles, USA, (310) 824-8700
> www.Ennex.com
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
-- michael rees effective immediately suite Number 301 www.michaelrees.com 1015 Washington Ave 314 494 7393 St. Louis Mo 63101 msr@michaelrees.comFor more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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