So I was recently learning about remix culture and decided to give it a try myself! What exactly is remix culture? Well it is this fantastic process of multiple people combining various ideas to create something new and interesting! It had been happening for a very long time and is seen everywhere. It can be anything from literally meshing two object together to having multiple people modify a program! It directly involves people with the media that they surround themselves with and allows them to personalize and create their own meanings from juxtaposing different ideas/ objects with their own unique symbols. Here are a few remix concepts to both give you an idea of what it can be, as well as explore what new meanings can be found from various 3D models being thrown together.
CONCEPT GENERATION
Concept 1: The Drat
So you may be wondering why on earth would you ever combine these two items? The truth is I love both cats and dragons, but I also wanted to show how using a cat as a basis for something can make anything seem adorable! I mean, imagine flying cats. How great would that be?
Resources:
Cat (standing up) by: Scintilla
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:102957
Dragon by: TheRat
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4096
Concept 2: The Devolution of the Bird
I have always been fascinated at how such small adorable creatures like birds could be evolved from dinosaurs. It truly is an amazing process! I decided to combine the past and the present with this abomination and show how despite the differences it still comes together fairly well, showing that despite the massive change the roots are still there. I also added skeletal parts to show how our knowledge of all this came from fossils. Plus, who doesn't like cool skeleton parts?
Resources:
AB Bird by: xxAnnelise
T-Rex Sliced for Printing 2X Larger by: MacGyver
The Real Tyrannosaurus Skeleton by: Stargatedalek
BodyParts3D Lumbar Vertebrae by: Cbonsig
100% Eagle by: Andypop
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:164348Concept 3: Goddess of Death
Recently a potential commissioner expressed an interest in me designing an angel for him. That started the ball rolling in the direction of alternate angels as well as various gods and goddesses. I've always loved the idea of the idea of a halo being secured by horns or a helmet. I have also loved the concept of multiple wings on a character/creature, it adds the feeling of power and strength. The skull and armor without a body is to represent the idea of death. The skull from a human and the armour to show a more ghostly form is held by the goddess. Often these gods are portrayed as being more gentle or beautiful, but I always thought that if these character were responsible for the afterlife that they would resemble what death was.
Human Skulls with 5 shoots to keep pencil, pen or knife by Fergonsi
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1598160/apps/#apps
Lady Sif Armor by: 3DPVDB
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1733743
Bushbuck Horns by: P3ddp
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1139112
Wings by MatthewKrebs
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:651316
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1598160/apps/#apps
Lady Sif Armor by: 3DPVDB
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1733743
Bushbuck Horns by: P3ddp
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1139112
Wings by MatthewKrebs
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:651316
Concept 4: Silvrae
You could argue that monsters are a remix of existing animals. Many monsters are in fact culminations of different animal parts all mashed together to make something new! This is why I included my original character Silvrae. The picture is an old reference I'm made for her in 2014 (Which I really must update) for the purpose of contrasting her with the 3D remix. I wanted to try and recreate her in 3D format by remixing other creatures to show the process of monster creation
(If you wish to see a more recent picture of her here is one I did in 2015 ->http://www.deviantart.com/art/Silvrae-s-Lookout-540780372)
Resources:
Silvrae Reference Picture by Olivia Carr (Me)
Link: http://pteradragon.deviantart.com/art/Silvrae-479109422
Snake (serpent) around big cross by Toliajo
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1781930
Leaf variation by Rhuff
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:99149
Glad-Octopus by Glad3Dprintable
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:522008
Saint Seya, Shaina snake tiara by LordM
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:270746
Concept 5: Adorable Impending Doom
All creatures are similar in that they work on primal instinct and not pure malevolence. Just think about the larger cousins of our furry friends! I bet that if the Xenomorphs from Alien were about the size of a cat they would play with boxes and run around like little maniacs just like other pets do. There is something very appealing about a predator being fun-sized.
Resources:
Xenomorph Pretorian by Stryker123
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1646592Multipurpose Cat Ears-Necomimi edition by Teamtestbot
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1085104
Birdhouse, Homeless birdhouse by Robertrop
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:108871
Concept 6: Logic and Emotion
I created this remix to represent how its important to keep both your heart and mind, or your emotion and logic, balanced. It can be very easy to let yourself become consumed by one or the other, but by using the seesaw I tried to show how its important to weigh them both when going through life.
Resources:
Heart by Kbirand
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1147751
Seesaw by TerryBP
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1223493
Steve Brain by St_Hilton
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:706875/#files
Meet Caterus, the long lost cousin of Cerberus who does not get any love. I really like the idea of a reverse Cerberus with a cat instead of a dog. I also figured that if Cerberus guarded the afterlife they should have some skulls! It would be far creepier.
Resources:
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1732935
Leopard by YahooJAPAN
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:182228
Concept 8: Multitasking Waiter
I have created the ultimate waiter! The only problem is this little guy seems to have forgotten his uniform at home. Shameful. I thought it would be funny to combine pancake plates with a this guy and imagine him going around a breakfast place like Denny's or Cora's serving up food. It would be a lot faster since more dishes could be carried at once, but also a lot scarier. Also teaching giant centipedes to serve people would probably cost more than just hiring more waiters. This remix seems to be a more efficient, but also more expensive, alternative.
Resources:
Parametric Pancakes by Kdloney
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:232372
Centipede by YahooJAPAN
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:182096
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:232372
Centipede by YahooJAPAN
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:182096
Concept 9: Has Science Gone Too Far? (The answer is yes)
I thought I would use a bird, a bat, and a plane to combine different methods of flight. We humans are not capable of flight without the assistance of planes, and soon cars (Terrafugia). So I combined the natural with the man-made to create an amalgamate of flight. I also remixed this to show how different things can be while still maintaining the same ability.
Resources:
Fighter Jet by Nestor_d
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:70853
Zbrush Bat by Kralzar
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:227040
Chocobo (Fixed) + pedistal by Thelastreturn
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1789814
Concept 10: Close Connections
My brother being a musician has taught me a bit about the music world. I love the interconnectedness of technology and more physical objects. Take for instance music, there is mustic generated by instruments and music entirely created on the computer. But then there is also music that combines both entirely! Digital and traditional music are more connected than many think and I think its a wonderful thing. They rely on each other, just as these two objects are both leaning on one another, as well as being connected by the headphone cord.
Resources:
Trumpet by Bballgth
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:554576
Headphones by Brianferrara
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:873542
Snake (serpent) around big cross by Toliajo
Link: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1781930
All of the resources above are from users on Thingiverse. Any references are attributed to the individual's Thingiverse account. I combined them in a program called Tinkercad! It is a really easy to use and free program to get out any 3D ideas you want to generate!
