presenting an idea!!!!!!!!!

[Maestroleb]

Hi all,
It is my first post here, so getting started with a question and need help from you.
I am asked to do a sculpture that represents the idea of knowledge. Actually this piece is meant to be gifted to a judge as a present for his birthday. My job is to create only the idea and represent it to the client and then they will excute it.
I already have an idea in mind i'll share it with you when completed but my question is how shall i show the 3d model in sketches? am i supposed to draw the 4 phases of it and show it to them or i can just show a schematic view of the object and leave it later for them to excute. I'm a graphic designer and my drawing skills are good but i haven't worked before on such a subject and thought of sharing it with you. Is it better to use a 3d software to draw it although am not familiar with these softwares but i can still find people to do.
I wanna share my sketches with you later and hope u can answer my questions thanks.................Maestroleb

[GlennT]

It would seem that if others are executing your idea, your client should be able to provide the criteria of what they would need.
Much depends on the form of your idea. If you were to do elevation drawings of each major side, and add a perpective view or two, that would probably be good enough, if it isn't mind-blowingly complex.
My intitial training is as an architect, which I did and still occaisionally do the old-fashioned hand drafting way. If you provide good elevation drawings your perspectives can probably be sketched rather than done mechanically, as they are intended to help others visualize the object, and a hard mechanical drawing may lose the feeling of the piece versus a perspective coming from how you imangine it to look.

Glenn

[Merlion]

I had a similar problem submitting a trophy design proposal. The 3D shape I had in mind is difficult to show even with 4 sketches from four sides. Finally I made a model made partially of plastcene and show 5 photos, four from each side, and one slightly from high up.

This is not because I avoided drawing it. I had been an engineer and am familiar with drawing 3D objects. It is rather that photos with suitable lighting can show complex curved surfaces much better.

Two photos are shown below.

[obseq]

Hi, Maestroleb,

How long do you have to complete the final idea?

If you are pressed for time, you may want to forgo using the 3-D software, (only if you've never used it before).

As you mentioned, however, if you know of anyone who can quickly render your sketches into a modeling program, then go for it. :)

Keep us posted with your progress, and good luck to you!

[BMBourgoyne]

If you want to do it yourself, check out
www.rhino3d.com
and
www.blender.org

Rhino has a free demo that is fully functional for 30 saves. It is better for more precise (NURBS) models that you plan to rapid-prototype or CNC (have physically fabricated with computer-aided methods). Jewelers swear by it.

Blender is completely free and is better for mesh models that will be rendered as stilll images or animations.

Just download the manuals/tutorials, do the first few introductory tutorials, and you'll know enough to get your job done after just a few hours. You'll be amazed.

Look at my website at www.BourgoyneSTUDIO.com to see some of my 3d work.

lood luck,
Brad

[Maestroleb]

Thought of discussing my idea with you. Well i still have to sit with my client on saturday to get briefed properly but from now till then i thought of making some sketches to show. The idea of knowledge and education that describes a judge has to be presented. To my mind i'm thinking of having a book at the base with a quill that is positioned vertically maybe intersecting with it. I don't know am trying to avoid a complex design but the book really might need detailing!!!unless i treat it in an abstract way!!! well i'll work on my sketches and try to post them... again thanks for help and if any suggestions and feedback about my idea please your most welcomed.

[BMBourgoyne]

In my opinion, if you are dealing with abstractions, you have to manifest them with abstractions. Even if you were to use a figure to represent an abstract idea, it is the abstract qualities of the figure (or gesture, or pose) that communicates the idea, not figure in of itself. A fist is not just a hand, it is closed, hard, tight, squared-off, compact, and rigid, which all together equals angry.

Definitely try to think visually, not just book=education, but how is a book visually structured? how does it work? how does it communicate? What does its parts look like? How can you visually take a book apart and re-assemble it? Play with the parts and connect them to something else?
Text in lines on a page = Language = Grid = structure = order
Open pages, turning pages, front/back, beginning/end

These are all visual things or have visual qualities. How can they connected to the larger meanings you want? How can you play with them to emphasize or suggest the larger meanings?

What are historical symbols of education, of order, of justice? What are some cultural symbols? How can they be adapted (not just quoted)? Look around at artists you admire. How do they communicate abstract ideas in their work?

just my take on the problem
cheers