August 3, 2015 | By Simon

Since the earliest days of 3D printing - outside of its use for rapid prototyping in the product design process - one of the core communities that have made use of the ability to create custom models and figurines have been those involved with creating dioramas.  Whether the purpose for creating figurines for a role playing game, a model train build or quite simply just a historical scene, the ability to create and manufacture custom models has been one of the greatest capabilities of desktop 3D printing.

More recently, Cyprus-based 3D printer manufacturer Ilios 3D demonstrated that the craft of creating models, buildings and other items with a 3D printer for a diorama is just as strong as ever after recently helping create a large diorama of the entire Cyprus island, taken from medieval times of Richard the Lion Heart and his bride Verengaria.

The diorama, which was unveiled to the public on July 23rd, is a part of the Historical Atlas - Medieval Cyprus Exposition in Cyprus that aims to help both preserve the island’s heritage as well as communicate the history of the island to visitors.  

In total, the extensive project took four people six months and included both 3D printed models as well as handmade landscapes, trees, animals and other details.  Of all of the components that make up the diorama, 70% were 3D printed using the company’s own 3D printers including 15 of the large buildings as well as people, animals and many of the mechanical parts that were used to create the moving assemblies.     

To create the 3D models, the Historical Atlas team used a pool of reference images to accurately and painstakingly replicate buildings, objects and people from scratch.  The process of modeling all of the pieces took almost three months.

As for actually printing the parts, the design team turned to both the company’s SpotHT and SpotGP materials depending on the level of detail needed.       

“The smallest building consists of 2 blocks 22 x 12 x 18cm where the largest building took up to 20 blocks of the same size and is larger than 1m in length and 30cm in height,” explains Demetris Zavorotnitsienko of Ilios.   

“It took almost 4 months to print all these since there were changes made to the models and each building took lots and lots of resin to get done. Don’t even know how much material, stopped counting after 1 month J The 3D printers were working 24/7 just to make it in time. We were not the only 3D printing firm to be commissioned on the project since some buildings with simpler form were printed by others with other 3D printer techniques like FDM where no detail was needed.”

Once all of the models had been printed, the used acetone to clean up mild imperfections and left them in the sun for a couple of hours to cure.  From here, the models were ready to be painted by hand by expert artists.  

According to Zavorotnitsienko, the most difficult part of the project was accurately replicating through 3D modeling and printing the architectural details of the buildings -  including the arches, inner rooms and small decorations.  Among other reasons, the level of detail to the overall project was of paramount importance and had to be just like the actual design while representing the same details that were left on the ruins which can be seen by visitors of the site today.

The final 3D printed diorama is currently open to the public and anybody who might be making plans to visit Cyprus in the near future. Tickets cost €8 for children and €14 for adults and It's open 12 hours a day from 8am to 8pm.

“This was a very large effort which was made by many organizations, people and specialties in Cyprus,” added Zavorotnitsienko.    

“We are always open to new ideas and are eager to help out."

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Applications

 

 

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