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Models and Prototyping

This post is a celebration of building models and prototypes by hand. Each of these projects involve a substantial amount of work in 3D CAD, but physical prototyping was essential. Physical modeling is especially important with figurative work that involves texture.


This is a tiny kinetic model of an artpiece that involves human-driven motion, complex moving light effects, and sounds. We used a waterjet to cut the delicate steel lacework and I found a tiny gauge chain to make accurate kinetic components, using a laser cutting to cut gear teeth.





Kinetic sculptures involving simultaneous reflection and transmission are difficult to simulate accurately, but lots of fun to explore with kinetic models.




With these models, I was able to see how the wind moved the dichroic material manipulating the light.


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© 2025 JOSEPH O'CONNELL

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