Human Heart in 3D
I’ve always been quite fascinated with the Human Heart. It’s just one of those things we don’t give enough credit to. We all have one and it essentially powers our entire body. It’s also hard to miss when you see one on display. If you look at it closely, a certain part of the human heart actually resembles the Valentine’s heart shape.
The heart as it appears in Blender.
When you start to look at it in more detail, you start to see what resembles the chambers of an engine. This intricate and yet spectacular instrument manages to pump blood throughout the body for an entire lifetime and some of the best hearts never miss a beat.
I decided I wanted to 3D print a heart. When looking online there are millions of images, thousands of 3D models, but I didn’t want to merely print any heart. I wanted to leave a signature, truly produce an original heart. My search began with identifying artwork out there that I van use as a model. At the same time, I wanted to deconstruct the heart, make its appears rigid as though it was imperfectly chopped away from stone. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I am just enamored by geometric designs, rigid planes, and pointed edges. I would have to deconstruct the heart in a modeling program I own called Blender. In Blender I could apply a number of modifiers. One of my personal flavorites is called the “decimation modifier.” Once I have successfully achieved the image I prefered, I then have to check the model to make sure there are no manfifold faces or edges. When I say it’s been and continues to be trial and error to fully understand and successfully eliminate manifold edges from each design. Essentially manifolds are not a 3D printer’s friend. Manifold edges form when modifying vertices, planes, and points on a 3D model. Occasionally, when deleting one of these, it may inadvertently create a 2 dimensional object that is missing a width. When that occurs, a printer cannot print something that has no mass. A conflict arrises and this can create pockets of nothingness in a print. The prints I produce are formed by gravity. As a result. one cannot print on nothing without adequate support. This is why we use programs to identify and correct manifolds. Here’s a simple example: Can you print a Cube with only 5 faces? If we looked at a 5-faced cube, we might not notice anything wrong. a 5-faced cub broken down would appear as 5 squares that contain length and height, but no width. Because of this it cannot be printed because until the 6th face is added. The 6th face creates the width.
Once I have ensured there are no manifold edges remaining, then I can get to work in customizing the heart. For this particular project I decided I wanted to print words with “heart” in them. One by one, I add the words, rotating, modifying, thickening, resizing, and repositioning them. In some cases I have to apply these techniques to each letter individually. I also have to make sure no manifold edges are created as well. Once I have established my virtual sculpture, I then have to determine how I will print it, in how many pieces, and the orientation. The whole process is pretty elaborate as I also have to create pegs, dowels, and other joining pieces to assemble the heart. Ultimately, it can be a long and tiresome process, but when it’s complete, I’ll have an opportunity to marvel in its greatness or choose to make a better version next time.
