Jun 23, 2015 | By Simon
For many parents, one of the most important artifacts for documenting their child’s childhood has consistently been their child’s artwork - whether it comes in the form of a clay sculpture for the table, a watercolor painting for the fridge or even a more complex painting that is worthy of being framed.
But as we move into an era that allows content creators to get even more creative with the ways that they document and share their work, could it be possible to use these options to help preserve a child’s artwork in new ways that leverage these new 3D technologies including 3D printing?
For design engineer Juan Ángel Medina of Jaen, Spain, leveraging modern additive manufacturing technologies to make it easy for parents to create custom 3D prints of their child’s artwork has since become a full-time job and he is now launching a new platform to make this process easier called Moyupi.
“During the last period of his Mechanical Engineering Degree, Juan Ángel Medina travelled to Germany and specialized in 3D Design,” says the Moyupi Kickstarter page.
“There, he lived together with a charming family and a bond of friendship tied him to their children, who loved drawing any kind of monster. That experience made Juan realize it could be so much fun to use his knowledge of the 3D world to turn these little monster drawings into life. And this is how Moyupi was born.”
According to the platform’s Kickstarter page, a ‘Moyupi’ is a creature that comes straight from the imagination of a child; it is the only toy in the world that they can design fully and with absolutely no creative limitations. Whether the design starts off as a robot and ends up as a princess or morphs into a multiple-headed zombie giraffe creature, the goal of the platform is to encourage kids to let their creative muscle take over and design their ultimate toy.
Once a toy design has been finalized, the picture can be uploaded directly through the web platform to 3D modeled for 3D printing while a large majority of the money collected will be used to help support a number of childhood organizations.
To create a custom Moyupi, a dedicated designer transforms an uploaded drawing into a 3D model model through digital sculpting software such as ZBrush. Once the model has been detailed and finalized, it is then sent over to a high resolution 3D printer to be fabricated out of non-toxic and durable plastic. Once the 3D print has been finalized, the Moyupi goes through a final finishing process where it is sanded and primed before being hand painted and varnished.
Once dry, the final Moyupi is an exact replica of the child’s original ‘monster’ design in three-dimensional form.
Currently, Medina is joined by five other individuals who are hoping to bring the Moyupi to life through the Kickstarter campaign with a goal of just over $11,000 and over a month left to go in the campaign. Those who pledge a minimum of $34 towards the campaign can get a custom Moyupi character of their own or pick from one of the pre-made designs.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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