Feb 22, 2018 | By Tess
Desserts are an interesting phenomenon. Often so beautifully created and designed, the sugary morsels have such a fleeting existence—often being devoured within minutes of presentation. Artist Rosalie Yu, who admits to having a sweet tooth herself, is playing with this dynamic in a recent project called “Ritual of Habits.”
In the project, Yu explores her own relationship with sugar (and, in a way, all of our relationships with sugar) by digitally capturing all the sweets and desserts she has eaten, transforming them into a virtual reality experience and a 3D printed installation.
The artist explains: “Over the course of two years, I cataloged images of everything sweet in my diet, turning these sugary confections into digital memories. Sugar is representative of physical and moral decay, but these desserts are preserved through a ritual of photogrammetry so their mindless consumption, an ephemeral pleasure, is captured as a lasting subject of reflection.”
The meticulous project required Yu to carefully photograph each dessert or sweet she consumed using her iPhone—she told The Verge she even had to race an ice cream sandwich to the bathroom to scan it when she was at the movies.
By collecting photos from various angles of each cookie, cake, or macaroon she ate, Yu was able to stitch together a detailed 3D model of each confection using a combination of Agisoft PhotoScan and ZBrush software. Over the course of two years, Yu has accumulated a catalogue of over 200 3D dessert models.
With these 3D models, Yu has created a virtual reality experience that would make Willy Wonka envious. In it, the viewer is immersed in a world of her 3D scanned confections and is able to look at each of them from all angles. In one segment of the VR experience, the viewer even gets up close and personal with a lemon tart.
The second part of “Ritual of Habits” is a real-life installation of the sweets recreated with 3D printing. Each 3D printed confection was created using a Formlabs stereolithography (SLA) printer and is made from a transparent but durable resin material.
On her website, it looks as though Yu has painted some of the 3D printed morsels (including a cookie which looks eerily convincing), though most are left with their milky resin coloring.
On her inspiration behind the project, Yu said: “I’ve been fascinated by the history of Dutch sugar plantations in colonial Taiwan and the decadent representation of sweets in Dutch still-life paintings. Photogrammetry enabled me to reflect on the global history of sugar alongside my own personal history and habits.”
(Images: Rosalie Yu)
For 3D printed desserts and cakes you can actually eat, check out Dinara Kasko's amazing 3D printed geometric cakes.
Posted in 3D Scanning
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