Interpret History with the use of 3D objects
Subject: History
Aim: The very fact that history is about the past means there are often not the objects available to bring the past to life for students. There are illustrations and 2D documentation but where there is a spatial dynamic to a historical point this is where a 3D printed illustration or an object could be most useful. Objects to be printed may be found on the internet or specially made or commissioned for a particular subject.
Outcome: John F Kennedy Skull – to better understand the arguments behind the skull wound and the spatial relationship of the assassination. A model 3D printed skull was produced to help illustrate the subject of the assassination of John F Kennedy. This was done to explore and illustrate how history is recorded and who writes history. This project was about having a model of the skull wound to set in three dimensional space and be able to consider the investigation into the shooting and the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination.
Age group: All
Estimated time: 120 minutes
Resources: Historic documentation, 3D modelling software, 3D printer.
Instructions:
1. Find somebody who could prepare the required 3D file for printing.
2. The designer engaged then found a generic 3D scull file on Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/) .
3. This .stl file was downloaded and the necessary customisation done in the free to use open source Blender (http://www.blender.org/) 3D Modelling software.
4. Images of the head wound were found as .jpg images and these were imported into Blender as background images.
5. Using these images as a template a solid shape of the missing part of the skull was modelled. A profile of the wound was first created using a path of vertices. This path was converted to a mesh and the mesh extruded to give a solid shape.
6. The solid wound shape was then place on the scull in the correct position and using the Boolean Modifier the wound shape was cut out of the scull.
7. The modified scull was then exported as a .stl file, imported into the slicing software to prepare for printing, sliced and exported as .gcode ready for 3D printing.
8. Print file.
Keywords/tags: – 3D Printing, History, Interpreting history, J F Kennedy assassination.