digital artist greg petchkovsky blends real objects with 3D prints by manufacturing the missing wedge of a chipped rocked

australian creative greg petchkovsky has extended his skills beyond screen-based CGI animation to the tangible world of experimental technologyby blending nature with 3D printing. petchkovsky took photos from various angles to map and calculate a divot of a sandstone rock, and used a software program called agisoft photoscan to create a 3D mesh mimicking the contours of the boulder – effectively recreating the missing piece. through using polygon modelling techniques, petchkovsky fabricated the LEGO brick shapes based on actual dimensionsand integrated them inside the volume of the chipped off corner to make it seem as if the block was made from the iconic building blocks. to make the piece fit the stone flawlessly, petchkovsky subtracted the scanned mesh from his 3D model using booleans and printed the part using shapeways.the work is part of a growing community of urban street integrating technology and new processes.

the artist first takes about 29 photos from various angles of the chosen rock

he then imports the 3D mesh into a modeling program and using polygon modelling techniques, builds the LEGO shaped rock

preparing the part

he prints and paints the modelled part

the printed rock blends with the real rock – part of a new movement in urban graffiti integrating technology and art

the final outcome

a video showing the process

via instructables and twisted sifter