Core Balance Stool

Design Goal: Create a stool that forces the user to balance and engage the core muscles.

Structural Goal: The stools seat or top is larger than the bottom. The stool will be created with a laser cutter out of 1/4 plywood. Cushion top will be sculpted, vacuum molded, and a super soft silicone rubber material used for the final pillow.

Result: The balance stool is made out of 142 slices of 1/4” plywood laminated together layer by layer. Bottom of stool is filled with 30lbs of lead shot to achieve the balance point. The look of the stool was sanded but the layered topology was kept intact for appearance. Overall it’s super heavy but comfortable to sit in for hours.

Core Balance Stool - (click to enlarge or scroll)

Core Balance Stool. 30” tall made out of 142 slice of 1/4” plywood.

Nested Slices to maximize material.

Post laser cut sanding.

Designed in Rhino3D and sliced with Fusion360 Slicer.

Core Balance Stool - Scale model test.

Glue-up of all layers in sections.

All laminated layers in final clamping.

Core Balance Stool - First fully assembled test.

Vacuum formed mold from 3D printed model for top cushion.

Final super soft top cushion.

Final Core Balance Stool with Cushion.

Disney Tree Of Life - Projection Show (click to enlarge or scroll)

Disney Tree of Life projection show at the Animal Kingdom

Tree of Life during the day. Dozens of carved animals make up the trunk.

First test 3D printed block from LiDAR scan.

Starting to look like the base of the 3D printed tree.

More 3D printed blocks. The blue tree at the top is a small version of the tree that I used as my map for assembly.

Two layers assembled. The best glue to use on PLA plastic is this thick acrylic solvent - SCIGRIP Weld-On #16.

More layers of the trunk. Each block needed to be sanded on the connection sides for tighter fit.

The tree is hollow so engineering supports were needed to support the back of the model.

Fully assembled trunk.

Close up of model details. All seams are filled later.

I’ve tried resins and other materials to smooth 3D prints. The best is the one part Bondo Glazing Spot Putty.

Base paint.

More base painting.

The model of the tree was painted similar to the real tree so the light projections would be more accurate.

Final tree with branches added. It looks small in this image but in person its a big model.

First test projection animations.

Mapping digital 3D texture maps live on 3D printed model.

First projection test on 3D printed model of the tree of life.

Disney Tree of Life

The massive Tree of Life is the center of Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida. It stands 145ft tall and features hand-carved animals that populate its decorative trunk. At Mousetrappe in Burbank CA, the goal was to bring the carved animals to life at night with projection mapping. I 3D printed a 5ft model of the tree in 148 parts for projection and animation testing. The 3D printer used was an old MakerBot Replicator 2 that I gutted, added precision moving parts, and improved firmware. This single little printer ran 18-20 hours a day for a month to print the 60” x 36” x 36” model of the tree.

I also worked as the animation Technical Director and rigged over 25 hero characters in Maya. The live show featured several fully animated stories, ambient effects, and my favorite brings the animals to life with animated projections that match the carvings perfectly. The show has been playing nightly since 2016.

Real-Time facial animatronics demo

This project was for the AT&T SHAPE:Technology & Entertainment Expo at Warner Brothers Studio. It featured a real-time facial tracking system to allow users to act in-front of a camera and have the robot mimic the facial expressions. The robots were designed in Maya and printed in resin on an SLS 3D printer. The inner skull and mechanical components were laser cut out of MDF and acrylic. The heads contain 14 servos each and are controlled using a Pololu Maestro board.

Face Tracking Robot - (click to enlarge or scroll)

Final animatronic head with rusty paint.

Checking jaw servo fit in skull cage.

One of the things I like about patinas is watching the rust and colors grow.

Laser cut MDF skull that holds the servos, mechanisms, electronics, and lights.

Exploring different eye mechanics.

Looked into using OLED screens and acrylic lenses for eyes.

Design work on eye mech.

Robot eye mech test.

Robot skin was printed in parts on a resin SLS 3D Printer.

Assembled 3D printed resin parts. Tip: Use the same UV resin and a UV flashlight to fill and attach resin parts.

Automotive Filler Primer works well to smooth 3D prints.

Modern Masters makes a great set of metal paints and patinas.

Laser cut MDF and acrylic necks and bases.

Craig Caton and I made three full size and fully working animatronic heads in about 4-5 weeks.

Animatronic head tracking a persons face in real-time.

A different project that I didn’t design but 3D printed and built. The machine is a Rubiks Cube solving robot with a fine patina finish.

Mixed Media Projects - (click to enlarge or scroll)

Classic Space Invader printed using a custom UV plate on a really heavy printing press.

Verticle mobiles look simple but when parts are not symmetrical balance is tricky.

Prototype vCam shoulder rig for Virtual Production. In the process of designing new lower cost rigs.

“Sad Robot” sculpture created in Rhino 3D and 3D printed. Finished in a copper patina.

Cement Space Invader created using a 3D printed mold.

Acrylic mobile 6” by 7ft.

A yoga studio mobile.

Laser sliceform air plant vase before sanding.

Sliceform baltic birch vase.

Happy air plants.

Twisted torus sliceform air plant sculpture.

A Zbrush doodle, sliced, laser cut, and assembled.

Sliced Bear sculpture.

Exploring what to do with lots and lots of extra laser cut bits.

Lamps sculpture printed on ZCorp powder printer and fused with resin.

“The Onion” is a 3D printed sculpture that can be posed as all of the 20+ inner rings rotate.

Onion on final wood base. 6” x 14”.

Minimalist clock created from a wine barrel staves and marked using a laser engraver.

Copper wire twisted sculpture on Koa wood from the Big Island.

Geometric laser etching on wood panel.

I really didn’t know if this would work. 3D printed plate on a really heavy printing press.

It worked! A 3D printed resin plate would have details than this ABS version.

“Space Cadet” helmet for my dog Cooper.

Resin 3D printed mandolorian finished in copper.

“GPS Hike”. This is a local hike, Towsley Canyon, that I recorded my GPS hike, converted the data into a 3D model, and then printed my hiking path.

Hologram system for public spaces. I worked on a turn-table that goes inside the pyramid.

I started at Disney Animation in 1995 and shortly after built this comfy reclining desk. Aladar from Dinosaur is on the screen.

Taken in Roswell NM. Nuff said!

Computer Graphics Meets Reality

Mixing high tech tools with the traditional workshop has been my happy place for many years. My shop has many 3D printers that I custom-built, a large laser cutter, CNC router, vacuum former, and a host of woodworking tools. I started down this path when I discovered that the skills of making movies with 3D computer graphics translate well to these new affordable manufacturing machines. This section is a mix of projects from the last few years.

Lighting Design

I started experimenting with lighting design when I discovered addressable RGB LED’s. My career has mainly focused on computer graphics and animation, but when I looked at these new LED’s, they just looked like pixels. Learning about new LED technology set me off on the path of re-discovering electronics and programming hardware. I’ve also traveled down more traditional lighting design avenues as I wanted new and exciting lighting in my own home.

Experimentation in Lighting - (click to enlarge or scroll)

Mid-Century modern pendant light. 14” made out of real cherry veneer wood.

LED Sculpture light pattern.

Future lamp contains a full color led ring including warm white.

Laser cut cherrie veneer Mid-Century Modern pendant.

LED light sculpture with a light-pipe acrylic lens. The panel displays animated GIFs and patterns.

The acrylic lens was created out of several hundred 1.5” acrylic rods fused together in a jig.

Light sculpture with thick acrylic lens.

LED Light Tower in a cement base.

LED Light Tower is similar to the panel but with 6” acrylic light-pipes fused together using a jig.

Light tower pattern.

The light tower is full color.

Light tower sculpture.

Sliceform pendant shade.

Sliceform pendant lamp.

Cement lamp base using a 3D printed mold.

Lamp designed in Maya. Base created using a 3D printed mold and top discs are laser cut out of neon acrylic.

Future lamp design.

Transparent cement experiment.

Cement pucks were made with PVC pipe cap molds, clay base, and clear filament for light-pipes.

Pucks are lighted using a 24 pixel LED ring and adafruit controller.

LED rings are aimed down and the reflected light travels up the clear light pipes.

Transparent Cement Light Pucks

One of those times when a 3D printer is super handy. Christmas light clips for the house.

Clips fit snug but flex to remove.

Christmas lights on house and clips have worked for years.

You really haven’t made it in the world until you really tell people where to go.

A lowes Moravian star with custom brackets to hold RGB LED’s in each star point. The core looks dangerous.

Star with RGB LEDs for each point.

Holiday stars in action.

Laser Light - (click to enlarge or scroll)

A holiday card nested and being cut out of neon acrylic.

Large 20” sign for a friends woodworking shop.

Day of the dead skull laser-etched pumpkin.

Promo tokens for a film/tv project.

Raygun etching for my iphone.

A geometric pattern on wood panel.

Earring designs made out of exotic hardwoods.

Earring designs made out of exotic hardwoods and resin.

One of the first my laser cut projects. I didn’t design this 1-meter 3D puzzle but it was fun to cut and assemble.

Eiffel tower book marks for an event.

Wooden pilot wings for a private pilot.

Wooden and foil holiday cards.

May-the-4th Death Star coasters.

Cherry wood veneer business cards.

Wood veneer is fun because after etching it glows with a little light.

1950’s poodle pins for an event.

1950’s poodle pin.

The two favorite things of a chef, tattoos and knives. I give you a tattoed chef’s knife.

Pretty clear which way to go.

Metal etched sign for a Portland woodshop.

Promo dough scraper for a bakery.

Wooden trivet.

Half-tone etching.

Mini Disney Animation Desk.

Yoga studio sign.

Wedding giveaways on slices of birch.

Baby gift.

I visit the lumber yard a lot. They use this old method of pricing using a lumber stick. I made my own version that works better.

Laser-Pumpkins.

Laser-Pumpkin.

The Laser Cutter - King of the shop

The first high-tech tool that I started exploring was 3D printing. At the time, home printers were expensive, and the print quality was poor. So I began to build printers. As the printers got better, there was still a problem, speed. Super slow to iterate or make changes fast. Then the King of the shop arrived, the sizeable 100w laser cutter. This one machine changed the way I design, think, and wow did projects speed up. The 3D printers are still hard at work, but the workhorse is my big orange laser cutter.

ArtCenter College of Design

In the past few years, I've had the opportunity to teach a few classes at ArtCenter. This class is broken into two 7-week classes called Designing with Technology for designers and artists. The first seven weeks is an overview of programming microcontrollers for creative technology. In the second class, students learn basic circuits, soldering, sensors, and LEDs. The two classes contains many hands-on projects, including a fun, colorful LED wall.

Design with Technology - (click to enlarge or scroll)