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Not long ago, MOISÉS OJEDA
shared his work for the annual Fallas Festival
in Valencia, Spain. The immediate question that sprang to mind was, HOW? How does he go about translating sculptures
from the computer to a larger-than-life format?
Moises was happy to speak with us about this and we're sure you'll find it an interesting exploration of one of the
more unique ways in which ZBrush finds its way into the real world. Enjoy!
Monumentos falleros are large sculptures that are displayed over a period of several days in the streets of Valencia, Spain as well as in many other towns throughout the province. They are burned on March 19 as part of the Fallas festival. These monuments, which are grouped into categories according to size and budget, compete with each other for official awards.
Historically, fallas were built using traditional sculpture techniques such as clay modeling, in which molds were created and then filled with papier-mâché. However, in recent decades the use of expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) has become increasingly widespread. This lightweight material makes it possible to build much taller monuments. It is also combustible and less of a contaminant than traditional cardboard. Wood and certain metal pieces are still used to create the internal frame.
Falla artists historically used cutting objects to shape the polystyrene directly. But with the introduction of 3D scanners and milling machines, the technique of directly molding the polystyrene has become less necessary. By scanning the scale model (made from clay or Plastilina non-hardening modeling clay), milling machines were used for printing. However, it was sometimes necessary to sand the resulting parts by hand. Especially since certain milling machines only print general shapes.
Recently, thanks to the creation of software applications such as ZBrush, scanners and scale models are no longer needed. Milling machines print directly in 3D from a digital model. The two falla monuments from the top category of the 2016 Fallas can be used as an example. Below are photos of the digital scale models and of the finished monuments.
