by wefalck » Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:28 am
The Old Masters did grind their pigments, but mainly not because the choose to do so (actually the chore of the apprentice painters), but rather they could't just walk into a shop to get paints of sufficient quality.
We can't mine our own metals, drill oil wells to get the crude oil for our plastics or rear our own pigs for the bristles for our brushes. Somewhere up the value chain we have to stop and all artists and artisans at all time did and obtained their materials and tools from specialised trades.
3D-printing is an additive manufacturing techniques, while turning, milling or etching would be substractive techniques. I think the 'line' is, where the skills of an individual craftsman comes into play. In 3D-printing or CNC-machining the computer controls the movement of the tools, no skills needed. However, the skills come into play, when it is about designing the files that control these tools or designing the masks for photo-etching. Here the interpretation of the modeller and his CAD-skills plus his knowledge of machine behaviour are the key to success.
Whether you have the files printed at a commercial printer or on your own 3D-printer, whether you have your own CNC-mill or your own etchning set-up is pretty irrelevant, as these are purely mechanical processes. The decision, whether to farm it out or do this mechanical step yourself depends on practicalities, your financial resources, and also the desired quality - many 'consumer' systems simply cannot deliver the same quality as large commercial ones.
The Old Masters did grind their pigments, but mainly not because the choose to do so (actually the chore of the apprentice painters), but rather they could't just walk into a shop to get paints of sufficient quality.
We can't mine our own metals, drill oil wells to get the crude oil for our plastics or rear our own pigs for the bristles for our brushes. Somewhere up the value chain we have to stop and all artists and artisans at all time did and obtained their materials and tools from specialised trades.
3D-printing is an additive manufacturing techniques, while turning, milling or etching would be substractive techniques. I think the 'line' is, where the skills of an individual craftsman comes into play. In 3D-printing or CNC-machining the computer controls the movement of the tools, no skills needed. However, the skills come into play, when it is about designing the files that control these tools or designing the masks for photo-etching. Here the interpretation of the modeller and his CAD-skills plus his knowledge of machine behaviour are the key to success.
Whether you have the files printed at a commercial printer or on your own 3D-printer, whether you have your own CNC-mill or your own etchning set-up is pretty irrelevant, as these are purely mechanical processes. The decision, whether to farm it out or do this mechanical step yourself depends on practicalities, your financial resources, and also the desired quality - many 'consumer' systems simply cannot deliver the same quality as large commercial ones.