#utexasaustin

[earshot-25]

I can always count on my nephews coming to Austin to check on us. #nephews #wyandonboyz #utexasaustin https://www.instagram.com/p/CiGXBUJODmMEQaLaLeTZv8FpdYYJTQyzXANYNg0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[wakingthequetz]

The Column

The head and wings will be mounted on a plywood column with simplified Mayan glyphs etched into the surface. Here are Austin’s initial models of the columns dimensions and scale. The head will be mounted on the disc and the wings will emerge from a slot in the sides of the column. The disc base for the head will be what pivots to move the head. 

[wakingthequetz]

Wing Prototyping

One of the actions we want our Quetzalcoatl to have is an opening of his wings. After many considerations like space availability and fragility, we are looking at wings that work like folding Chinese fans. Here are our cardboard mock-ups to test, compliments of Austin!

[wakingthequetz]

Modeling the Head

This is Annie, reporting from team head!

My job was to model the head of the Quetzalcoatl. There were many ways to go about this, but there were a few considerations to weight. First: the things we are creating are supposed to be low-poly, or have very simplified faces and contours. This helps with ease of assembly and also keeps a unified aesthetic. 

We have learned several ways to generate low-poly models. One is putting a model into Meshmixer and reducing the number of tris of the form. The second is starting with an already low-poly model (either made yourself or downloaded from the internet). From there we can either use the programs Slicer (for Fusion) or Pepakura to “unfold” the models to make them printable, 2D objects. In my experience of this class, I have found the best way to produce specific and well-designed results is to model a low-poly form yourself and use Pepakura to do the unfolding. Pepakura, unlike Slicer, can create quad+ faces while Slicer can only make tris. 

Starting from this point, I went into Fusion360 to start modeling the low-poly Quetzalcoatl head. This was what I was aiming for....

....And this is where I ended up!

Here are a few process screen caps of the modeling process. For context, when I started this class, I could barely model a cube with a hole in it, so I feel really proud of what I’ve been able to learn and accomplish in this class!

I started with the general shape of the head, and from there it was a process of extruding forms off the head, and chamfer-ing faces to create less boxy edges. You can also see that I was only modeling half of the head - this is to ensure a symmetrical head! When I was happy with the form, I mirror-copied the head to itself to create two perfectly mirrored halves.