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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: koutsu on Thu, 25 February 2016, 12:18:32

Title: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: koutsu on Thu, 25 February 2016, 12:18:32

So tackling sculpting keycaps against a few friends, here are my first two attempts (sorry for the bad lighting). Would love to hear what you all think  ;D

(http://i.imgur.com/1MB1Pdo.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/04WMmMV.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/y3z4Hl8.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/SzcOI0f.jpg)

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: FLFisherman on Thu, 25 February 2016, 12:21:03

Chubby cheeks is a great design. I really want to see more of that.  :thumb:

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: koutsu on Thu, 25 February 2016, 12:39:24

Quote from: FLFisherman on Thu, 25 February 2016, 12:21:03

Chubby cheeks is a great design. I really want to see more of that.  :thumb:

Thanks, was going for a 'Fat Buddha' but it kinda took a life of its own  :p Certainly one that Ill try working on, hoping to add more detailed expression on it. ^^

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: dgneo on Thu, 25 February 2016, 12:42:55

Quote from: koutsu on Thu, 25 February 2016, 12:39:24

Quote from: FLFisherman on Thu, 25 February 2016, 12:21:03

Chubby cheeks is a great design. I really want to see more of that.  :thumb:

Thanks, was going for a 'Fat Buddha' but it kinda took a life of its own  :p Certainly one that Ill try working on, hoping to add more detailed expression on it. ^^

Loving the Buddha, looks awesome!

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: Moistgun on Fri, 26 February 2016, 15:41:55

+1 for Buddah

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: koutsu on Fri, 26 February 2016, 17:22:03

Happy to hear Buddha being cheered on. Gonna have to give him a bit more prep (Lost some of his chin to fit better  :'( ) and see when I can take him further.
A few more that I've gotten done in the mean time.

(http://i.imgur.com/icCCnpO.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/pp5DNqH.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/lOhaDSF.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/NWJzKlu.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/NXRo0jX.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/13G19GL.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/kyp9C3M.jpg)

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: TheJonas on Sat, 27 February 2016, 03:41:18

Those are very cute keycaps. I'd say the toaster, beehive, and mouse(?) are my favorite. Since that's 3/4 designs for yesterday, job well done!

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: absyrd on Sat, 27 February 2016, 04:15:03

Too tall!

Maybe try to get creative and more fine-tuned and work them a bit closer to an actual cap profile that people can press?

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: Zorberema on Sat, 27 February 2016, 04:15:34

The new caps are looking way better already; good job! :) I just have a small suggestion. Please make the caps into your sculps instead of placing a sculpt on top of a cap! All of the new ones could be made like that without any problem! Other than that they're looking very nice, keep up the work! :)

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: absyrd on Sat, 27 February 2016, 04:24:34

Quote from: Zorberema on Sat, 27 February 2016, 04:15:34

The new caps are looking way better already; good job! :) I just have a small suggestion. Please make the caps into your sculps instead of placing a sculpt on top of a cap! All of the new ones could be made like that without any problem! Other than that they're looking very nice, keep up the work! :)

Yeah. That is what I was trying to say but couldn't because not coffeed enough.

The buddha face is probably the easiest one to shape down into a cap.

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: eat_the_food on Sat, 27 February 2016, 13:47:25

Quote from: Zorberema on Sat, 27 February 2016, 04:15:34

The new caps are looking way better already; good job! :) I just have a small suggestion. Please make the caps into your sculps instead of placing a sculpt on top of a cap! All of the new ones could be made like that without any problem! Other than that they're looking very nice, keep up the work! :)

This is great advice that will no doubt help you to get a more integrated look. It's very easy to let the scale of the sculpt get away from you and can result is a cap that's a bit too large. One thing that could help is to get a hold of some thick PBT caps and then sand them down to the absolute closest you can get without breaking through the wall. Building on a base  like this should provide a bit more flexibility.

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: koutsu on Mon, 29 February 2016, 10:23:06

Big thanks for the feedback and advice guys. So far been reworking chubby cheeks Buddha and the toaster working them into the caps rather then on top (If I interpenetrated that right). So far things have been working well with them, did sand down my white PBT caps but think I might go back again and see if I can slim the walls down even more to refine things (that or sand down the sculpey once its baked to smooth and clean things)

The toaster still needs a good deal of rework so might skip of for a bit and rework some of the others in the meantime.

(http://i.imgur.com/Fzkeha8.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/LlS0Z2g.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/hNzXEPo.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/bBJBaCp.jpg)

Chubby Cheeks Buddha seems to fit pretty well when set into the keyboard, the headphones seem to be my slight worry at the moment even though they don't interfere Id rather still try and slim them down more.

Again thanks for the feedback, hopefully my next post will have more of my earlier designs cleaned up and reworked into a slimmer profile.  :thumb:

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: bcredbottle on Mon, 29 February 2016, 10:24:57

I like how you're sculpting around the stem rather than on top of the cap. The cap integrates with its surroundings a lot better that way.

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: romevi on Mon, 29 February 2016, 10:56:26

That toaster is pretty adorbs.

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: mikankun on Mon, 29 February 2016, 15:20:08

:D

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: Sneaky Potato on Fri, 04 March 2016, 17:40:09

I like your designs, especially the toaster. If you can get multiple colors into the mold, like toast colors and a metal color for the toaster, it would be a really fun keycap.

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: koutsu on Sun, 06 March 2016, 16:07:51

Ok so I've cleaned up the designs, baked them and cleaned them up again to the point that Ill be moving into casting them in the coming week.

(http://i.imgur.com/g7KVbN9.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Twck7hf.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1K2Bkky.jpg)

While they do take up their little space, they no longer touch/interfere with the other keys or hit the casing of the keyboard when bottoming out.  ;D

With regard to the toaster, I had thought about changing up the type of 'bread' and talked about it with some friends, though it was more in regard to a finishing paintjob with their help. Ill definately give casting the bread type instead once I've given it a few test runs. Maybe not for this iteration but along the lines Ill try and work it so there are slices of bread through a clear toaster casting.  :thumb:

Any way, thanks for the interest, hopefully it wont be too long before I can update you all on some of the casts.

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: Sneaky Potato on Sun, 06 March 2016, 16:24:36

Quote from: koutsu on Sun, 06 March 2016, 16:07:51

Ok so I've cleaned up the designs, baked them and cleaned them up again to the point that Ill be moving into casting them in the coming week.

Show Image

(http://i.imgur.com/g7KVbN9.jpg)

Show Image

(http://i.imgur.com/Twck7hf.jpg)

Show Image

(http://i.imgur.com/1K2Bkky.jpg)

While they do take up their little space, they no longer touch/interfere with the other keys or hit the casing of the keyboard when bottoming out.  ;D

With regard to the toaster, I had thought about changing up the type of 'bread' and talked about it with some friends, though it was more in regard to a finishing paintjob with their help. Ill definately give casting the bread type instead once I've given it a few test runs. Maybe not for this iteration but along the lines Ill try and work it so there are slices of bread through a clear toaster casting.  :thumb:

Any way, thanks for the interest, hopefully it wont be too long before I can update you all on some of the casts.

Looks great! Quick question...what are you using to sculpt? I'm using super sculpey and I'm having a hell of a time getting the surface smoothed out. I use small tools, and do my best to smooth stuff out, but just about any light touch moves clay around (despite it being quite firm) so it's difficult to smooth. Any tips?

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: koutsu on Sun, 06 March 2016, 16:34:23

Quote from: Sneaky Potato on Sun, 06 March 2016, 16:24:36

Quote from: koutsu on Sun, 06 March 2016, 16:07:51

Ok so I've cleaned up the designs, baked them and cleaned them up again to the point that Ill be moving into casting them in the coming week.

Show Image

(http://i.imgur.com/g7KVbN9.jpg)

Show Image

(http://i.imgur.com/Twck7hf.jpg)

Show Image

(http://i.imgur.com/1K2Bkky.jpg)

While they do take up their little space, they no longer touch/interfere with the other keys or hit the casing of the keyboard when bottoming out.  ;D

With regard to the toaster, I had thought about changing up the type of 'bread' and talked about it with some friends, though it was more in regard to a finishing paintjob with their help. Ill definately give casting the bread type instead once I've given it a few test runs. Maybe not for this iteration but along the lines Ill try and work it so there are slices of bread through a clear toaster casting.  :thumb:

Any way, thanks for the interest, hopefully it wont be too long before I can update you all on some of the casts.

Looks great! Quick question...what are you using to sculpt? I'm using super sculpey and I'm having a hell of a time getting the surface smoothed out. I use small tools, and do my best to smooth stuff out, but just about any light touch moves clay around (despite it being quite firm) so it's difficult to smooth. Any tips?

Thanks first of all  :D Im using Super Sculpey too, went for the 'Firm Gray' version of super sculpey along with just a 2 sized dental pick. I know what you mean, even with the firm I find things moving around quite a bit. For the most part just leaving it out in the cold helped out. Left it for about 4-5 days before going back and lightly smoothing things out. But the best solution Id say is to get it as smooth as you can then bake it. After baking got my hands on some 180 grit sand paper and spent time with that smoothing things out. Id say baking and sanding is the best though final option.

Hope that helps out  ;D

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: koutsu on Fri, 15 April 2016, 12:39:08

So an update on how things are going. Finally got to molding and casting the two popular choices. Started off with a mold for both of them to be cast at the same time. For the most part this worked out though found getting rid of the escaping bubbles didn't work out.

(http://i.imgur.com/DdXBUXP.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/J0eG1GI.jpg)

Did work get the stem fully formed during this initial phase and all the detail was worked in, but sadly as mentioned the bubbles were too frequent for me liking. So I ended up making a second mold (for now) of just Chubby Cheeks Buddha and thats been working out better.

(http://i.imgur.com/Grk7lxD.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ajOqDu7.jpg)

Stem and details are fully formed, just need to speed up my pouring as its starts to set just as the bubbles are heading out the sprue. Should finally have the technique down in the next couple of casts and then get back into seeing which colours work as well as making a new mold for the Toaster.

Title: Re: So tried sculpting keycaps
Post by: Moistgun on Fri, 15 April 2016, 14:52:41

I use syringes for all my "pours"
really speeds all things up a bit.

Looks good.
Im sure you realized you can use a lot less silicone to make the molds as well. I wasted a whole lot initially.