Hayt Caps - Ideation

[hayt]

Hi All,

I'd like to introduce myself to the community, have been a lurker here for a few months and feeling inspired to give Artisan Keykaps a shot.

My background / current profession is in Industrial Design, so I wanted to apply my methods to producing a geometric elephant keycap design. My main goal was to retain the current form factor of the keycap by reducing the elephant's face down to a few geometric surfaces. This seems to make sense for me to maintain the overall mechanical aesthetic of these beautiful keyboards, will still having an interesting and organic symbol.

So I decided to go with Solidworks for 'sculpting' my design. This gif illustrates my thought process and steps taken to get to the final step:


With some render + texture:


Playing with colors - what do you think?


3D print to check out how the details translate. I think a resin cast will do a better job with the fine details.


How it looks on my FC660C



Really really appreciate any and all types of critical feedback. I haven't yet pulled the trigger on purchasing materials and supplies for casting, but have been spending a lot of time designing the molds for pouring the silicone.

Thanks All!

Sincerely,
Haytorious

[Jeu]

Nice design! I would be interested in one of these for sure. Good luck with the resin casting and looking forward to the results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Epic]

The renders look really cool. I like it. It's hard to see the details in your 3d print because of the beige color. I had this trouble when I was working with white resin. You can try printing it in a darker color in the future to really see all the details/shadows.

I am playing with 3d printing too, but had some trouble getting the stems to print correctly so I had to do a 'transplant'. How did your stems turn out?

[suicidal_orange]

That is one menacing looking elephant, I like it!

[hayt]

The renders look really cool. I like it. It's hard to see the details in your 3d print because of the beige color. I had this trouble when I was working with white resin. You can try printing it in a darker color in the future to really see all the details/shadows.

I am playing with 3d printing too, but had some trouble getting the stems to print correctly so I had to do a 'transplant'. How did your stems turn out?

Thanks! Here is a pic of the stem, I'm fortunate to have access to an Objet 3D printer with 1/10,000 resolution so the stems actually turned out pretty well. I do need to reduce the thickness of the walls though.

[hayt]

Trying my hand at some sculpting today. This is really hard. I call it Radioactive Bob, any thoughts? Should I continue or scrap it and start over

[hayt]

Haven't posted in here for a while! Figured I'd share a keycap doodle I did recently. I've been very inspired lately by Hipsterpunks' Killed By Kaps, and wanted to contribute my own take on a horror theme keycap, scream cap.

[clappingcactus]

ooo these are cool. The elephant is awesome and perfect as is.

The horror cap is amazing especially if you have a series that covers the eyes and mouth as a Three Wise Monkeys reference.

The radioactive bob though is a little weird. Like I appreciate weird but there's no context for the pores or thick eyebrows etc. It'll end up being a weird novelty rather than a hit.

[hayt]

ooo these are cool. The elephant is awesome and perfect as is.

The horror cap is amazing especially if you have a series that covers the eyes and mouth as a Three Wise Monkeys reference.

The radioactive bob though is a little weird. Like I appreciate weird but there's no context for the pores or thick eyebrows etc. It'll end up being a weird novelty rather than a hit.

Thanks for your feedback! Just looked up Three Wise Monkeys, great reference! I'll definitely take that into consideration for future iterations.

Radioactive bob is more of an exercise in sculpting practice. Totally agreed that it's a bit weird with no clear direction or context.

The 'scream cap' cap feels like a better direction, the tough part now will be to see if I can pull off something even close to resembling this in clay

[clappingcactus]

Can't wait to see it! I'm now subscribed. 

By the way, if you're looking for more animal form inspiration, it's a little unknown, but one of my favourite games (reboots) of the past few years is Chaos Reborn. The artists for the game simplified a ton of animal forms into basic geometric shapes (like you did with the elephant).

[hayt]

Can't wait to see it! I'm now subscribed. 

By the way, if you're looking for more animal form inspiration, it's a little unknown, but one of my favourite games (reboots) of the past few years is Chaos Reborn. The artists for the game simplified a ton of animal forms into basic geometric shapes (like you did with the elephant).

Thanks for the words and reference, really dig it!

Trying to do a bit of sculpting, so far I've failed in getting the expression I'm after of him being dragged to hell, eyes in shock. Looks like he's trying to cover a cough or sneeze 

[clappingcactus]

Well horror is all in the eyes, no?

Have you considered the structure of the first sculpt (i.e. defined horizontal eyebrow line) but with vertically oval fully opened eyes (or an extremely narrow top eyelid)?

[hayt]

Boards shipped: 0/20

Group buy form: TBD

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CAKE60_R1


A lightweight gasket-mount plexiglass keyboard


Design direction

Plexiglass material
High clarity and brightness
Improved scratch resistance vs polycarbonate

Every board is hand polished, dyed and sand blasted

Unikorn style gasket mount with 70 A o-ring

Sculpted underside highlights the PCB

Lightweight, weighs the same as an HHKB

Unique sound signature

Square bumpons as an homage to OEM vintage boards

CAKE logo is inspired by the wedge shape of the 60% keyboard form factor

Fixed 7U layout

8° typing angle





Group buy details

Choose your own PANTONE® C swatch

PANTONE® Formula Guide Coated Library



Choose any PANTONE® you want, as long as it ends with a C


Kit includes

Custom PANTONE® keyboard case
Silver anodized aluminum plate
Custom Hiney WKL H60 PCB with fixed 7U, optional split backspace, split right shift, stepped caps lock, VIA compatible
Square bumpons in black or white
70 A shore hardness silicone o-ring


Add-ons

Color-matched PANTONE® wrist-rest (with bumpons)
FR4 half plate



Layout compatibility


Hiney WKL H60


Silver anodized aluminum plate


FR4 half plate






























Photo credit: Alexotos


Photo credit: Alexotos


Lead time

4-6 months from the time of invoice


Quantity

20 boards


Pricing

$400 for base kit includes custom PANTONE® keyboard case, H60 WKL PCB, silver aluminum plate, bumpons, o-ring

$85 for PANTONE® color-matched wrist-rest (with bumpons)
$35 per FR4 half plate

$45 per extra Hiney WKL H60 PCB
$45 per extra silver anodized aluminum plate
$5 per extra o-ring


Shipping

Invoiced separately


Build streams

Previous group buys

Artisan Case v3 coming soon™

Artisan Case v2.5

Artisan Case v2

Artisan Case v1


Thank you to

Elaine and Yuk Tsi for providing permission and design advice on the Unikorn mounting system
Hiney for custom PCB design
Pwade for rendering and color support
Alexotos and Taeha for the build streams and exposure
GX gang


Thanks for your interest!

Hayt