CADCAM software adds extra dimension to art

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Nov 23, 2006

British sculptor Alastair Mackie used Camtek's PEPS SolidCut five-axis CADCAM software to produce his latest work entitled "Bipolar".

British sculptor Alastair Mackie used the 3D laser cutting capability of Lairdside Laser Engineering Centre's Prima Laserdyne machine and Camtek's PEPS SolidCut five-axis CADCAM software to produce his latest work entitled "Bipolar".

The work comprises a genuine US Marine's helmet into which has been cut an Islamic style fretwork pattern.

The piece was exhibited at the Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles in Mackie's solo show entitled "Sticks and Stones" between 13th October and 11th November, and six more pieces will be cut as a limited edition.

Not surprisingly the laser cutting of the item was not a simple engineering project.

Martin Sharp, Lairdside Laser Engineering Centre's Manager explains: "The whole project required considerable effort from Alastair, a leading CADCAM software company and ourselves".

"It's often the case that when an artist attempts to introduce a high-tech engineering process into his work, what often appears as a relatively simple process becomes problematic as the bounds of the technology are pushed".

The concept was straightforward - take a 3D scan of the helmet, superimpose the fretwork pattern and then cut it.

However the steps leading to the programming of the 3D laser cutting machine are not so straightforward.

A scan of the helmet was simple to procure.

However the overlay of the pattern was by no means simple as Mackie recalls: "It took several weeks to find someone who could do this and produce an electronic model of the sculpture".

"Then I was able to look at my piece in 3D - but only on a computer screen".

When Lairdside Laser Engineering Centre received the imaging file it was also able to look at its image.

But it was unable to generate the necessary CNC programming code to control the laser cutting machine.

Camtek, supplier of the PEPS CADCAM software stepped in to help.

Camtek worked on the actual computer model of the sculpture to ensure that the computer data were able to be processed by PEPS.

Terry Antrobus, Director of sales at Camtek UK comments: "The designer used 3D Studio Max to generate the initial images of the piece".

"DXF was the CAD format that could be provided from it".

"The DXF data, however, yielded in excess of 20,000 3D lines, which did not have a sense of 3D orientation and were of little use for generating a five-axis laser toolpath".

"What we were really after was a surface model of the component, but were told that this could not be provided from the imaging package".

"Working with Lairdside, an IGES file was provided which generated nearly 7000 'wire bodies' forming a 3D facetted mesh representation of the helmet".

"Being presented with this kind of data - thousands of unrelated 3D facets, with no sense of connectivity - can be a nightmare for or part-programmer needing to get a job out the door, or for any CADCAM salesman trying to sell his wares for that matter".

"But generating usable data proved to be so very easy with SolidCut Laser - we were able to create usable data very quickly and automatically by generating 3D solid entities from the triangulated facets and to join them together to create a single contiguous solid model suitable for machining".

"Applying the toolpath was equally easy".

"Our Autocut function generated a complex five-axis laserpath including lead-in and lead-outs for all of the trims - nearly 750 individual cuts - within seconds".

Once this was done, the PEPS SolidCut system supplied by Camtek to the Lairdside Laser Engineering Centre readily produced the optimised NC code required to drive the machine.

"The cutting of the helmet was then relatively straightforward", says Martin Sharp.

"We used the automatic 3D fixture design function integrated within PEPS SolidCut Laser to generate a nest of interlocking plates to support the helmet during cutting".

"SolidCut Laser even nested and profiled these 2D plates for us".

The piece was completed with only hours before Mackie flew to Los Angeles for the exhibition.

"I was overjoyed when the helmet arrived by courier the afternoon before my flight".

"To hold in my hands what I'd only seen on a computer screen was thrilling".

The sculpture was well received by its Los Angeles audience.

Six copies are going to be manufactured as limited editions.

"All the hard work has been done", says Sharp.

"Hopefully cutting the six helmets will be quite simple and routine".