The handcrafted quality, 3D technology, and the future of BJD

Anyone who's tried to make anything pretty on 3D program technology will tell you it's not easy. It's a whole different kind of artistry but the same care and devotion goes into it. The fact of the matter is that it would save little time and money in this craft, allow more room for machine and human error alike, and involve different sorts of work. The usual process goes design, sculpt, cast. With 3D programs it would go design, model in 3D, 'print', modify the head if necessary to have proper mechanisms, cast. It simply doesn't seem like an easy solution, even though I do think 3D modelling technology is something quite interesting with many uses, since the current way of sculpting a BJD has been developed and streamlined.

 

I think 3d generated dolls and sculptures should fall under a different genre of doll type. Not much different from how we differentiate abjd to fashion doll.

Proper use of computer and 3d imaging is also a skill. Even with handcrafted dolls you can see differences in sculpt quality. Using 3d to create a face can take as little or as long as the artist wants to spend on it, so it's not a good thing to prejudge that because it is 3d made it won't be as good.

I can see how 3d imaging can be improperly used for creating copies. I once created a 3d character by a using a commercially available base figure and adding commercially available morphs from another 3d artist combined with my own modifications (done legally since I paid for both) I got an email from the original artist asking me where he could buy the character I was using for my artwork since it was so unusual and he got an extreme chuckle when he didn't recognize that the character was partially made from his.

It is indeed more difficult to create symmetry by hand sculpting since with 3d you can work on just half the face then mirror the other side. After that you can modify one side slightly just so it's not perfectly symmetrical to give a hand sculpted feel.

One thing I find about 3d is it lends itself to mass market more. The equipment has high startup costs if you want to create a doll company but replication and creating of new doll masters to make molds from is rather easy.

Though for a singular 3 artist to have doll heads created in this way is quite expensive since the services that create 3d sculptures from 3d file are quite expensive then you still have to find a separate molding company.

 

Any tool can be used for ill -- phones, cars, computers, even one's bare hands. No technique or tool is automatically more moral than another. It's all about how you use it.

Can 3D programs be used to copy? Yes. So can your hands. Is it easier to copy with a 3D program? That depends on your skill set -- it's certainly not as simple as many people think it is. However, one can get a more accurate copy through the process, which I think is what scares many people.

I don't think that should be held against 3D designs or designers, though, any more than we hold hand-sculptors responsible for the proliferation of hand-sculpted bootlegs. It is not the process that is at fault -- it is the people behind the process.

3D technology, to me, is simply another technique through which artists can demonstrate their design skills. Sculpture requires a different skill set than painting, and sketching requires a different skill set than sewing. But all are still visual arts. 3D is simply the newest member on this list.

(That said, I should point out that I probably have a bias in this -- I used to love creating art with my hands, but I've been unable to do so for almost a decade now. Computers, though, I can use.)

 

I don't mind companies using new technology as long as their designs are original. The dolls themselves are still made by hand; molds have to be made for each piece, the seams have to be sanded, the eyes cut open, the doll has to be strung, the face painted, etc. I think of new technology as enhancing the artist's skills, rather than replacing them and I am not so concerned with the artist's process as I am for the finished product.

There will always be scammers who use whatever tools are available to make money from other people's ideas, so the doll community will just have to be alert and vigilant to avoid these products.

 

My father used to work with rapid prototyping and the 3D imaging and machining of aircraft parts. It was pretty cutting-edge and experimental at the time, and I remember being fascinated by how the process worked. A 3D model was built in the computer program, then the model was recreated in a vat of unsolidified plastic. A laser would solidify the plastic layer-by-layer based on the computer model. My dad brought home figures (I believe my parents still have a plastic dragon figure) they'd made to learn the process, and the detail was pretty amazing.

Would I buy a doll made the same way, as long as the artist designed the doll in the computer program him/herself? Why not? I love handcrafted art, but I don't have any issues with a different technique. It would likely give a different aesthetic feel, and that look may appeal to some but not to others. I don't think it will destroy the handcrafted BJD industry, since the artistry of hand-sculpting is something valued by many current collectors. I just think it might open up a new branch of the industry that some may like, and some may not. Personally, the very idea fascinates me. I've toyed with sculpting a doll, but my fingers are considerably clumsier than they used to be. Like Lizzard, I've pretty much stopped doing artwork by hand anymore, so the thought of being able to create a doll via computer imaging is intriguing.

 

As a professional artist that uses 3D in the workplace, let me tell you that it isn't easy by any means. I actually have a lot more trouble working in 3D than I do by hand. The process is long, and can be excrutiating, to sculpt a human face or body likeness. I could still do much better and much faster sculpting by hand.

3D modeling and 3D printing is just another tool and method one can use to sculpt. It's a different skillset that results in a similar product.

 

I am starting to use 3D modeling and let me tell you it's not as easy as it seems, and besides it's just another tool. If a company decides to use it it's their decision as long as they aren't using it to copy other molds and changing it a bit to sell them as their own original ideas ^^"

 

Well do you discount a piece of jewelry as not being "hand crafted" if the wax cast was done using a machine. You still have to do most of the process in making the jewelry. So I think it's ok to use a 3d model technology, but it's not really easy to utilize that sort of thing, but as other people said it's just a different media.

 

I like both methods, and don't think one should be any cheaper/more or less valid than the other. I have a friend who goes to an animation college, and she's done both sculpting and computer work. She's been at it for three years now, and it takes days of work (if not weeks, depending on complexity), to create a single model -- and that's for a cartoony one, not one with the level of detail a BJD head would require.

Personally, I'd love to see more artists employing the computer "printed" method. There'd be less chance of things going wrong ("I smushed the nose, need to do it over again!"//"It exploded in the kiln"//"Someone knocked the table and it broke!" --the list goes on), and things could be more smoothly corrected.

On the symmetry issue -- it's only as simple as copying one side of the face if you're lazy. Try that with any picture of a human face, and you'll get something that looks like an alien at best. It takes even more work to get it to look normal.

Note -- I disagree with the earlier comment that they'd have to be a different genre of dolls. As long as they follow the asian aesthetic, why should they be singled out? It'd be like allowing dolls that were sculpted via an additive method, but declaring dolls sculpted by a subtractive method "off-topic".

 

I don't think it matters which method is used--just because someone could use 3-D imaging for the forces of evil, doesn't mean that they will. It also takes skill to use different types of software and don't forget about the basic designs themselves. Both sculpting and using 3-D imaging involve artistry. What will make a doll company successfull, I think, will have less to do with the media used in their making, and more in the success of the overall design--is it functional, aesthetically appealing, etc.

 

I like the idea. I love working in 3D and hope to one day use the prototyping printer to make a doll. It seems like fun.

 

I respect Dollstown's concerns about piracy. Their concerns about digitally created dolls... not so much. Point by point:

If a would-be doll pirate has a 3D scanner, they can scan your doll regardless of whether you designed it in 3D software or sculpted it by hand. But that pirate is far more likely to duplicate your doll the same way you do: with a silicone mold. It's cheaper and easier.

I do (computer) 3D modeling at my day job. If the folks at Dollstown think it's easier to create a 3D model than a sculpted one, it's because they've never done it. The ability to create variants once you have a base model is the real difference...

...and this is a bad thing because? Personally, I like smaller dolls, but most of the sculpts I like are SD-size. I certainly wouldn't mind if they were available in multiple sizes. Wouldn't mind a closed-mouth 43cm Narae variant, either. Though again, I think Dollstown is underestimating the challenges involved in "simple manipulation" of digital models. Some things are easier... a lot of things aren't.

Really, the only legitimate concern I see is a pirate scanning dolls, modding them to be sufficiently different as to be unidentifiable, and printing the result. But 3D scanning and printing equipment is expensive... and modifying a sculpt enough to make it unidentifiable is likely to make it less attractive. Far easier to pirate the old-fashioned way -- make a mold, and sell your casts to people who don't recognize them or don't care that they're pirated.

Finally, even if digital piracy does become a real issue, it would apply equally to hand-sculpted and digitally sculpted dolls. Dollstown's attempt to bias people against digitally sculpted dolls will have no affect on digital piracy per se -- pirates aren't going to advertise their dolls as being digital. If Dollstown creates a standard for all companies to post progress pic of all new dolls, well, that may reduce piracy of whatever kind... but I suspect there will always be people who don't know or don't care.

 

If there are people that are concerned w/ which methodology was implemented in the creation of their doll, perhaps it could be a selling point of "handsculpt-born" vs "3D modelled-born". I'll admit I love peeking in and watching sculpting threads here, I get more excited about those dolls in particular because I could see the works in progress, you feel like you are more familiar w/ the doll on that level. *edit-at least for me I feel more familiar!*

Wouldn't it be a wonderful addition to have a pamphlet-book insert in with your doll showing the creation either way? I think that would be fascinating, especially right from the beginning with concept sketches Like how many people have changed something from the beginning of their concept sketch once they start working with it in a medium? I know I'm guilty of it!

 

I do 3d modeling and while it is a wonderful tool, it,s not a easy task to reproduce something in all the details...

Also you would need to made a REAL copy of the modeling and that is:

1) very time consumming
2) Rather expensive, Something the saize of an SD head would be around 300 to 450$ a pop to make a plastic rotoscoped head... and it'S not garrenteed that the software will give you a hollowed out head. So imagine the price for a whole doll. If I wanted to copy a doll I would buy one and make a master to make copies... it would be cheaper.

Even if I say this a 3D modeled boidy wouldn't be less artistic than a hand modeled one. Why... Cause it would still require SKILLS to make one.

 

A very interesting debate thread which I'm going to have to agree with most of the people who already posted. Dollstown's article mostly seems like a kind of paranoia on their part since, as many people already mentioned, the sheer cost of using a 3D scanner and Rapid Prototyping Machine to make a copy of a doll when compared to the easy method for making silicone molds.

Personally, I would love it if a company came up with a 3D designed doll. It might have the potential of revolutionizing the business as once you have a good base and a talented software operator one would be able to create more dolls a year just by tweaking their base. Of course, many of the dolls would end up looking the same, but many dolls by the same sculptor do due to the artist's style.

And as for digital dolls not being able to 'prove' that they aren't carefully tweaked copies of existing handmade dolls I have to say that this wouldn't be true at all. The software operator could show the doll along every step of the way by taking screen shots of his/her progress from the 'spherical lump' stage to the 'it's finally looking like a face!' breakthrough.

 

I think it would be perfectly reasonable to sculpt in digital 3D then use a Rapid Prototyping machine to create a slightly rough version of an original sculpt - at least for heads, hands, feet. Then they could be smoothed and refined by hand and normal molds would be made from that. I think bodies would be tougher because a lot is expected of joints - I don't know if it would be practical to sculpt a ball-joint body digitally. But maybe the basic pieces could be done that way then finished with hand sculpting at the joints and hand smoothing.

Carolyn

 

Cool topic! If you check in the Artist Subforum, Hedrus has actually had a 3d rendered head digitally printed. It's fascinating! I think it's a really cool technology....

That said, I would prefer to buy hand-sculpted dolls... just out of my own preference. I don't think that a 3d-created product is inferior (digital sculpting is hard!), just part of what I love so much about BJD is that they are sculpted by hand. I think that is part of their appeal, and part of why they are so individual. The natural human-introduced flaws that come from working things with your hands... and not being able to click "undo" when you mess up. I love that human hands were directly involved in every step of the process to make my dolls. I would support a company that did all their sculpting by hand... and I would pay more for their product if necessary.

I do think that the 3d technology does create sticky legal issues... and could easily be abused for the purposes of piracy. Let's imagine for a moment that I have purchased a CP boy body. Then I scan it and pull the scan into a program where I can digitally manipulate it.... I elongate the legs and arms by 25%, then I make the waist a little bit thicker. I have these pieces digitally printed, clean them up, make my own molds and cast up a few copies. Is it mine, is it original? Can I legally sell it? I have produced a body that people look at and go "Hey... that's FAMILIAR", but if you were to take side-by-side photos, you'd have to admit that the proportions were off to a degree that they could not have been directly recast. But does that make it original?

It brings up interesting ethical issues. The BJD community in general has a very narrow definition of copying; people only seem to view directly recasting as being copying. Whereas there are really so many shades of gray... "copying" could be anything from sitting down and sculpting directly from another company's sculpt as a reference (similar to a child "drawing" a picture of a favorite anime character by directly recreating, but not tracing, an official pic), to someone modifying an original head and recasting it, to digitally manipulating someone else's work into something that could not be easily traced. If more companies were to start using these digital technologies, I think people would have to reconsider what constitutes copying... It could be really interesting!

 

I think both handmade and digitally designed is fine.

But I think they should make it clear which method they are using to create their dolls.

As said, digital design and production isn't necessarily easier. Just different and less traditional.

So long as the end result is not a bootleg or copy (handmade or otherwise), and the doll is well made and fulfills its purpose... I don't see much of an issue between the two.

Edit: As also mentioned:
I would, however, be inclined to pay more for a hand sculpted doll.