3D Printing & Imaging Science
Math Monday: Color 3D Printing

By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn
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By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics

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Color 3D printing allows one to make beautiful objects that are pretty much impossible to fabricate by any other technique. Here is a 9-inch diameter sculpture I designed and built on a 3D Systems Zprinter 450. The underlying geometry is based on one of the well-known stellations of the icosahedron, but I modified it, punctured it, and colored it to suit my taste.

If you are lucky enough to have access to a color 3D printer, you can make a copy for yourself using the data file available here. Below is a closeup shot of another example in this series, which emphasizes curves and gradations of color. You can see the rest of it and a series of related 3D printed color forms see here.

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By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn