Final Mask Photoshoot: Reeds.

This location was not one that I planned to shoot in, as we first came across it when walking to The Vines park for the planned photos. I thought that the colours and textures provided by this environment were very unique compared to the other places I had a planned, (a park and the cathedral.) It was a lot of fun shooting here, and it broadened the opportunities of locations for future projects too.
As much as I like this image, because of the sewn up and hand made look of the mask, I'm aware that it could be coming across too 'scarecrow' so for that reason I believe that the other locations were better choices in terms of characterisation.

Final Mask Photoshoot: Cathedral

The cathedral location provided the kind of washed out, pastel colours that I'd concentrated on using within my concept art pieces throughout this project. For this reason, I feel that it suited the character quite well and that it felt like the two concepts of character and setting could have easily been a part of the same world.
In all of the edits uploaded I've subtly Photoshopped the fingers to be slightly longer in order to create more spindly, bird-like characteristics.

Final Mask Photoshoot: Trees.

My two favourite edits taken from the park location of the photo shoot we did with the mask. I really like the angles these photos where taken at and how this teamed with the framing accentuate the twisted pose.
I felt that a warmer cast suited these photos and the location of the park better than how cold they previously looked pre-edit.

Final Mask Showcase Video

Final Mask Showcase Video from Lily Greenhalgh on Vimeo.


This is a short music video I made in order to show the mask from all angles, in use and in character. The editing, filming and mask making was done by me. The clothes belong to the model, but we discussed beforehand the kind of look I wanted to achieve.
I chose this song (Boy Meets Evil instrumental by BTS) as it's an instrumental and acts as subtle background music; It sounds hopeful and uplifting but also quite sinister in places therefore suiting my interpretation of the play quite well.
In terms of editing I simply experimented with cutting and the speed of the clips. I feel that these effects not only add diversity to the video, but also show a creepy side to the character too.

Final Mask Photoshoot: Close ups.

Photos taken during the final mask photoshoot: I wanted to get a few pictures that focused on the distressing and detailing of the mask, e.g. the 'dirt and drool' around the beak, the distressed belt at the back and the feather detailing.

Mask Progression: Final mask, dying and distressing.

1) The final mask pieces cut out. The piece to the left has been untouched, but the piece on the right has been sanded and textured using P120 wet and dry sandpaper. 

2) The stained and textured jaw panel pinned to the to side pieces of the mask. I figured out with earlier prototypes that this is the best order in which to assemble the mask. 

3) Jaw and side panels hand stitched together. Center seam pinned into place. 

4) Samples for the leather belt strap that will go round the back of the head. 

5) Gluing the leather head strap into place after measuring and texturing. 

6) A selection of tea and coffee I plan on using to texture the end of the beak; I want it to look like theres food, rot and dirt where the mask has been used so much and become a part of the character.

7) Feather distressing samples: made using black acrylic paint and water.

Pigment Casting.

I experimented with a few different coloured pigments during the casting process of making these faces. The first column shows the three different characters with no pigment. The second shows Yool and Ty with pink pigments, (although Yools turned out too pale so I re-cast this one afterwards.) The owl is cast with a bronze powder rubbed into the mould before resin is poured in; bronze powder was within the resin as well to ensure the colour transferred all the way through the cast. The final column shows some random colour experimentation that I thought would suit the characters; Yool as a gentle pastel blue, Ty with stronger golds and khakis and the owl as a pale yellow. To achieve the pastel colours I had to be really precise with how much pigment I put in, as it was really easy to add too much and for the colours to come out too strong!

Box Making.

I asked Billy to help me out in making a box with some shelves within it in order to display my maquette face casts. I wanted to put effort into displaying these professionally, as learning how to do this was one of the points of focus I had in the last run of this project. After drawing up a simple blueprint for measurements, cutting the pieces and beginning to assemble them, I realised that we forgot to take into consideration the extra 5mm that the sides of the box added. Because of this, I stuck together what I could and will have to re-cut some new side pieces asap. I plan on simply painting the box a matt colour once it's assembled, as I want it to look smart but not detract from the casts themselves.  

Fast Cast casting with Silicone moulds.

This shows the surviving sculpt after been removed from the silicone mould. Resin has been poured into the mould which was cleaned out beforehand.  

Shows the desk area while casting the faces; Essential items where a set of scales, two part resin, pots and stirrers, silicone mould, newspaper to protect the table surface. 

Sculpture Casting.

Once the faces where sculpted out completely and smoothed down, I built small walls around them in MDF to form the walls for the mould. 

I used a simple 1:10 platsil silicone, poured over the sculpts after mixing up and dispersing the air bubbles. The silicone was poured into one empty corner of the mould, held from a height in order to help make sure there where no air bubbles too. I also glued the walls down so they were easily removable afterwards; I wanted to make sure that the silicone mould could be pulled off the top of the sculpt once it had set, in case the mould didn't turn out correct the first time. This way I would have a second chance at getting the mould correct in case it did go wrong, (preparing for the worst case scenario, as my time management would have been strained if I had to resculpt any of these character faces.) 

Character face sculpting progress.

 As I'm looking into stop motion puppets and maquettes, I've decided that one part of my making aspect of this project will be focused on character designs, concept art and realising these figures in 3D. Although I know that hand sculpting and casting faces is no longer a widely used method in industry; as 3D printing is now much more efficient in terms of cost, time and accuracy of detailing. I'd still like to practise this method as it's good to understand the past methods used and how we've progressed. For a prototyping project I feel that this method is also appropriate.

I have a small amount of experience with sculpting and casting, so wanted to use this project to practice these skills. I would definitely like to look in 3D printing, but that would require using software I've never even learnt the basics to and in terms of my time management I'm not sure this would fit in with the schedule at this point in the project.

To begin sculpting I had to decide on what materials and style it is I wanted to use and create. I decided on chavant to use to sculpt the faces in, as its quite easy to use and smooth out if you know the right techniques! Chavant is oil based so doesn't air dry,  meaning I can work on the sculpts, leave and come back later without them drying out or cracking. Another advantage to this oil based clay is that once you've cast it, you can reuse it (as it wont have dried) so its quite cost effective and lasts a while.  A lot of detail can also be picked up with chavant, making it suitable for any size sculpts! 

I decided on working with a flat surface, as I want the face to be interchangeable possibly with the use of magnets on the back of them. As someone who doesn't have an awful lot of sculpting experience, working on a flat surface was also easier for me at this point. 

I now realise that working in 3D could gave been a lot more beneficial but I have learnt from this! Seeing the heads as 3D, being able to see every angle of them while I was sculpting would have helped a lot with proportions. 

The style I decided on was quite flat and usually based on one base shape per character, e.g. circles for Yool, Triangles for Ty. The sticky out ears, wide eyes and shape based forms were all design choices. 

Colour Charts

Character colour palettes: The largest circles show the colours most prominent in the character designs, and vice versa. 

Colour Chart: Shows the variation of colours from light to dark/ All colours used within the character designs. 

Rhino Video Examples.

Rhino Star from Lily Greenhalgh on Vimeo.


Rhino Twist from Lily Greenhalgh on Vimeo.


video-1481319157 from Lily Greenhalgh on Vimeo


video-1481319150 from Lily Greenhalgh on Vimeo.

Mask Prototyping (6)

I've begin experimenting with the eyes and their shape. I'd possibly like to make then appear slightly more droopy and sullen; This could be done with the model/ actor wearing dark makeup underneath, but also perhaps changing the shape of the circles that surround the eye holes?
On the right of the mask, I've pinned (and now sewn) a simple circle around the eye hole. I trimmed this down from the size of the rings in the foam mask prototype, as previously they were far too wide.
My next steps will be to experiment with the eye shape a little more, then focus on weathering and wearing samples of the fabrics I'll be using. After that I can move onto the final mask! I would like to get all experiments and prototypes done by Wednesday, in time for the presentations on Friday.

As a side note, I'm not happy with the stitching down the center nose seam here; I want the sewing to look messy and un-uniform but this isn't the look I'm going for. It could be the white thread that's putting me off, but it's definitely something I'm going to change. 

Mask Prototyping (5)

After cutting out the pieces, I began hand sewing them together. However, I soon realised that this fabric requires more consideration than the craft foam did. Instead of sewing the panels together in whatever order I picked them up, I figured out that I should first sew the underneath chin layer to the inside of the cheek pieces, then the middle nose seam, then lastly the forehead section to finish off. This makes handling the material and creating a good shape a lot easier. Above shows how the panels didn't match up and became lop-sided if I didn't consider the order of the steps needed. The second image shows this mistake rectified. 

Pictured here is the current 'Second mask prototype'. I used very rough looking hand stitching, as I want it too look as if Epops himself used his rugged stumps to assemble this mask, therefore the stitching would be messy and uneven. I also used a variety of colour in the thread I used, as I wanted to see which I preferred most next the base tanned tone of the mask. Currently I prefer the black thread as it stands out a little more, and I plan on weathering all fabrics used in making this mask, including the thread. 

Mask Prototyping (4)

Previously the foam prototype allowed me to see the construction, pattern and how the mask would hold itself together. Now I've seen this in 3D and have made some adjustments I can move onto the next prototype.

For this I'm using the kind of fabric that I'll make the final mask out of so I can see how well this material supports itself. I bought an old fake leather suitcase to strip down for this fabric; this gives me unique material that already slightly battered and was also a way of staying within my project budget! The fact that it's fake leather also means that it's much, much easier to work with than real leather would be; it's also softer so more comfortable for the wearer, cheaper and more readily available.

After stripping the suitcase of its panels, I began cutting out the mask pattern. The adjustments seen here are curved jaw/ cheek corner shapes instead of sharper ones, as I prefer this shape.

Mask Prototyping (3)

Final craft foam prototype; from trying it on I was able to see the size of the masks beak and eyeholes and check the proportioning's. The beak was actually a lot larger than I thought it would be and the mask fit quite well over all. However, it was a little tight in places due to the new bottom jaw panel so I fixed this by resizing this piece but slitting it open a few centimeters. This lets me know that in my next prototype I will have to add in these extra centimeters to the pattern piece.
I also wrote notes onto this prototype itself, such as lines around the eyes and notes around the chin indicating the fact that the sizes must be changed.

Mask Prototyping (2)

From left to right:

1) The finished base mask without a chin/ jaw piece. The circles around the eyes have now been affixed, and the entire pattern was used to create this.

2) Trying on the mask to check the fit. At this point, there was no fastenings so I had to hold it on.

3) Upon trying on the mask and realising that there was no bottom to it to completely encase the face, I decided to create a pattern piece to fit this. I did this using the curves from the mask to create the right shape, then experimented with the length and breadth of it.

4) This was then stuck together using PVA glue and clamps, then left overnight.

Mask Prototyping.

Having designed a mask to tie into the narrative of the Hoopoe character, I've begun to prototype and draft up patterns for this piece of prop costume. Going with the plague doctor design, I first plan to prototype until I get the right size, fit and shape that I'd like to achieve.
Firstly, I took my pattern and cut it out to size. I then used two pieces of A4 craft foam as a base material to experiment with, as it is sturdy enough to stand up and hold a shape but soft enough to mould, move and be able to stick into place.
I pinned the pattern to the craft foam so it wouldnt move around, and used it as a stencil. I then cut the pieces out, but had to experiment a little with the best method of sticking them together. This ended up being with pins to hold the pieces in place. then PVA glue left over night to dry.

Main Character Final Design: Yool costume sheet

'Yool' Shortened from 'Euelpides'.
His best friend since childhood is Ty. Although Ty is more dominant and confident than Yool, he never envies him of this, he instead has a a lot of pride and faith in his companion. He knows him well enough to know when he's going to lay down one of his famous speeches, and often beams or remains quietly smiling in awe of his friends skills in speech. Although quieter, Yool is no pushover and has the same steely determination as Ty, making them an ambitious and formidable team. Yool is more sensitive to other people than Ty is, often thinking quite rationally and logically and considering how others may feel. Because of this he's usually the first to check if someone is okay. Compared to Ty, Yool is quite level headed, Ty being the one who often gets carried away with passionate speeches and grand plans; sometimes he has to bring him back down to earth.

I chose pastel blues and lilacs to match Yools sweet and gentle nature. This way his design contrasts to Ty's, as one part of my design plans for them was making sure they were obviously different from one another, as the original script doesn't define the two too differently. In fact, the character of Euelpides ends up drifting into the background and not being mentioned a lot towards the end of the initial script. I wanted to avoid these kind of plot holes and have a consistent story rather than conveniently have characters disappear half way through the production.

Similar to the long coat I chose for Ty, Yool wears a large poncho to add to his 'cute' vibes and a neck scarf to hide the maquettes neck joint. I've also drawn him with his bird cage and spotted carry-sack from the opening scene of the film. Both main characters wear simple boots that would be designed to withstand long distance walking. Yool also wears gloves to protection against the elements, whereas Ty has very long sleeves and heavy cuffs.

Main Character Final Design: Ty costume sheet

'Ty' Shortened from 'Pisthetairus'.
His closest relationship is with Yool, his childhood best friend; they were companions when they lived in Athens together and both decided to leave in search of a life of freedom, devoid of responsibility. Together they plan everything, but Ty is usually the spokesman and the leader of the duo.

In contrast to Yool's design, I chose khaki's and more earthy tones to suit Ty's calm, collected and more mature personality. Earth is also the star sign most linked to determination and ambition within the Zodiac signs, linking to Ancient Greek beliefs that Astronomy was the first science. However, I made sure that the colour scheme still matched the pastel aesthetic that I've used to design throughout this project.
Overall, Ty is extremely smart and charismatic, but uses these traits in order to manipulate people sometimes. He is very quick witted and thinks on his feet, which often gets himself and Yool out of sticky situations, and has avoided many a confrontation because of these skills. His downfall is the fact that he perhaps begins to take advantage of people and not even realise it, sometimes putting strains on his and Yools relationship.

The choice of shape and costume came about quite naturally. In cartoons, the main characters are often the most simple in design as these will be the figures drawn the most frequently, therefore should not be over complicated or difficult to redraw and intricately model with every new frame. I went for a cute beret with a bird feather in the band for Ty, as I thought a slightly military styled outfit would suit his strategic and precise mind. The feather also relates to the anthropomorphic and animal themes of the film. Having a long coat also helps in the production of the stop motion puppet as it would mask a lot of the figure, meaning a smaller overall project concentrated on one character.
A high necked coat was decided specifically, as within stop motion puppetry it's a lot easier to conceal maquette than it is to try and making a complex, working neck joint. For this reason I've covered the necks on both my characters.

I chose to draw this costume and expression sheet out in a digital format as I felt that the aesthetic and character design suited that media better than paints and pencil. However, for the darker more twisted character of Epops that holds a lot of character within the sketched out marks themselves I'll be hand drawing the designs.

Editing Tutorial Screenshot Examples.

Slo Mo

Key Frames

Optical Flow

Multicam

Caricature Doodles

After researching caricatures and focusing on Donald Trump as a hint of real world influence, I doodled out some expressions and styles for the Hoopoe: One more realistic with his beak wide open in an interrupting and baffled shout, the other simplistic line art of the whole figure. These were fun and quick to do, and let me explore the character a little further through this expressionistic art form.

Caricatures and Real World Inspiration.

Developing the narrative for the Hoopoe and his characteristics further, I likened him to a 'certain political figure' after understanding his power hungry attitude. Looking into caricatures helps to understand that central features of someones face which are always heavily exaggerated depending on their personality. For example, here it's often Trumps hair and mouth; his hair being a signature feature that is often poked fun at, and his mouth represents him being an outspoken and loud individual. These kind of traits could be transferable to my own characters, and is a design idea to keep in mind when creating extremes or characters that represent someone or something.

The Hoopoe himself I've written to be quite contradictory in both himself and hopefully how the viewer sees him; I'd like to showcase him as being greedy and selfish and have the viewers become frustrated and shocked at him turning on Yool and Ty after initially befriending them. On the other hand, he's a downtrodden mess that (rightfully) lost his power and human status, so even though he's a horrible creature, you can't help but feel sorry for him too. He's a character easy to make fun of, and although very headstrong and ambitious in his hunt for power, he's still extremely sensitive to comments on his dwindling appearance.

Character Concepts: Sketchbook

After a tutorial of looking through all the work I had so far, both myself and the tutor agreed that although I enjoy creating digital work, I should branch out and create a few of my final pieces using traditional media. The pencil sketches and watercolor had a lot more life and character to them, and the digital painting was making the design look too flat and lifeless.
Because of this, I've decided to draw the final three designs depicting the Hoopoe at the beginning, middle and end of the play by hand. This could be pencil, but I may also experiment with charcoal or paints too! However, if there's a character or scene that I feel would suit digital work better then I will still use Photoshop to complete this.
Below are a few photos I took from my sketchbook, showing a few of my favourite hand drawn drawn concepts, as well some designs for the characters of Euelpides and Pisthetairus; names now shortened to Yool and Ty, to make them easier to remember and pronounce. 

The Hoopoe: Beginning of the film

Developed mask designs for the Hoopoe. He uses this is keep himself from physically falling apart in an attempt to maintain dignity. It eventually does the opposite and just makes him appear more pathetic. 

Beginning and Middle sketches for the Hoopoe.

Developed designs for 'Yool' and 'Ty'. I considered what they may look like before and after eating the root and growing wings. 

Jan Svankmajer: Artist Inspiration.

Czechchoslovak animator extraordinaire, Jan Svankmajer's bizarre films are something he's been creating since the mid-60's. His style and medium of animation usually consist of stop motion, 3D, live action and puppets, but can also often be an eclectic mixture of them all.
The stories he tell can be seen as creepy, eerie or surreal, but I love how a dark imagination and sense of humor can be shown through this medium; using children's toys, or seemingly innocent figures and objects. His animation are nothing short of twisted, each one of them having a distinct macabre vibe to it and an extremely defined aesthetic.

Below I've embedded two of the videos that I feel best represent the particular sense of humor; childish through visual means, but slightly grotesque, definitely showcasing more adult themes. 

'Alice' Seems to be an interpretation of the famous scene from 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll, where the character of Alice drinks from a bottled labelled 'Drink Me.' Upon doing this, she suddenly shoots up and becomes as large as the room she's standing in. 'Alice in Wonderland' already has quite surreal and potentially more mature themes, that have been previously interpreted to be centered around hallucinogenic drug use. The use of a childs doll and a scale set add to the creepy mood, as well as the use of audio; only sound effects and no music.  


'Flora' is a very short animated piece that experiments with themes of decay. This could be interpreted as to having themes on motifs of life and death, starvation, abandonment.
It's been really interesting to find an animator that experiments with the same humor that I've been looking into, as well as makes such innovative and creative designs in how to use stop motion.

EDIT: Unfortunately, during this project some of the videos were taken off of Youtube!

Final Character Designs: Concept Turnaround

This is my final design for the minor character of 'Prometheus'; Zeus nemesis, and the character that gives the two men a hint on how to beat the king of Gods.
Sly and cunning, I based his design off a quote from the original text "A fox is subtlety itself", tying my theme of anthropomorphism into the design too. I wanted it to look like Prometheus had thrown on a mask and cloak as his disguise for patrolling the city in search of Euelpides and Pisthetairus, steering clear of Zeus' watch from the heavens. Because I wanted it to be obvious that it was a disguise and not an actual animal, I designed a large lumpy hunchback, a mask with boldly contrasting colours so it wouldn't look like it's connected to the rest of the character, and used a silhouette of a person hiding beneath a blanket as inspiration to create his shape.

His cloak will be made from a collection of foraged materials that the character would be able to create or collect himself; leaves, hair, feathers, twigs. How I would want it to appear is a moving, rustling, life of its own, maybe even squirming or morphing slightly, in order to hint Prometheus' immortal powers as a God. (Below the turn around mage I created  a small sheet of certain textures that could be used for the cloak, or that the cloak texture and pattern could shift between.)

Even as a minor character, I wanted to put as much effort and development into Prometheus as I would do a main character, as I feel that the personality and justifications to the design will be better fleshed out this way. By undertaking the full character design process, I was also able to learn more about my environment, and also consider more deeply the making aspects of this assignment. At first, I wanted to create an immovable concept model of this character, about 4 inches tall, as a display model for showcasing the film it would be in. However, through developing these ideas I realised that in retrospect, that idea is quite boring and not really furthering skills or narrative any further. This way I was able to come to much more in depth or challenging ideas.
Overall though, I'm pleased with my design, and think it could be interesting as some kind of large costume piece, rather than a small model!

Confirmed Project Concepts.

At this point in 'The Greeks' project, I've arrived at a few points that I'd like to start developing fully in terms of making. Up to now I've had a few different ideas of the kind of things I'd like to make, e.g. the cast model of the Prometheus character, or a model of the city. However, I've arrived at several making projects that suit my areas of interests a lot better, as well as the experimental nature of this assignment.

OWL MAQUETTE/ MODEL.

- Sculpted and cast box of interchangeable faces. 

- Presents opportunity for experimentation with painting techniques. 

- Experimenting with sculpting and casting processes. 

- Could possibly make a small bust. head and shoulders, with which to display and change them on? With feathers or fabric? 

- Currently contemplating whether to make the whole doll or not. 

- Maybe just explain how I would make the whole doll if I were commissioned/ to a pro standard?

- Make the box, (or get assistance in making this) to display the faces in? Like a 3x3 or 3x2 grid? Decorate with moss and mushrooms.
- Decide on the number of faces, which expressions and also how big this is gonna be. 

SOFT BIRD SCULPTURE.

- 1:1 scale, soft fabric sculpture.

- Floppy, to imitate a real bird, but with a simple wire armature running through it, so it becomes pose-able and gives it a basic skeleton. 

- Sculpted masks instead of faces: The mask styles harness these birds wear when they're flying to keep the city afloat. 

- Use simple or recycled fabrics. Need to consider a pattern and method. What texture should these be?
- Methods of sculpting out the masks and what to cast them in. Different paint jobs, experimenting with weathering and different kinds of paint. Should also consider how to attach the masks to the bodies? (Screw them in from the fabric behind? Magnets?)

PLAGUE DOCTOR MASK. 
- Pattern and fittings.
- Find a model.
- What material would be suitable to use? Vegetable tanned leather? (Mouldable and easily used.)
- Will the material need specialised sewing techniques?
- Prototypes with foam sheets/ paper/ sizing/ pattern and figuring out how it goes together.
- How does it represent the Hoopoe? Story behind it and how to tell that visually.
- Detailing like weathering, feathers, colouring anything metal? Ornaments? Embossing? Any images engraved or pressed into it? Eye holes?
- Make final mask designs. 

Owl Character Progression.

Wanting to progress my characters so I can begin finalising the designs, I concentrated on creating a small expression sheet for the Owl character I've been working on. Here I focused mainly on experimentation of potential facial features as well as body shape and posture. I've yet to figure out the exact fashion for the Owl, but as the facial expression and features are what I'd like to take forward into a minor sculpting project, this is what I've been making sure to concentrate on. I will of course figure out the Owls personality and role in the bird city as a whole, as I'd like for my designs to have backstory, justification and a sense of three dimensional depth to their characterisations.

I chose three expressions to work on in Photoshop that, between them, showed the most diversity; neutral, shocked and annoyed. I also chose a full body sketch to show the kind of proportions I'm looking at, at the moment.
My next steps from this will be finalising the design, confirming the personality and characterisation, then sketching out a final expression sheet in order to begin sculpting. I think this order is quite important, as I want to have the personality and characterisation fleshed out before I start thinking how this character would expression emotion.

Rhino Continued: Polar Array and Notes.

Another type of Array that can be used is 'Polar Array'; replicas that create small circle. It would be easy to make these orbit something, as the angle and placement is up to you too.

Notes and tips from the class are as follows:

1) Double click a viewpoint title, e.g. 'Perspective' or 'Front' to full screen that viewpoint specifically.

2) When in 'Perspective', Shift+Drag to pan.

3) When placing a new object, type 0,0 in the command bar after it's text command.

4) Holding Shift when placing a line will snap it to horizontal or vertical axis.

5) The command bar will tell you what to do next, e.g. Press enter to confirm etc.

6) The Copy Command: Copies and pastes the same shape infinite times/ as many times as you click.

7) You can use spacebar or right click as well as the enter button to confirm an action.

8) Dragging from right to left creates a 'crossing window' and it selects anything it touches.

9) Dragging from left to right is a selection window and it only selects things it covers completely.

10) Ctrl+A = Select All.

11) Gumball mode: Move, scale and rotate around the axis points, highlighted in green, red, and blue.

12) Pink lined shapes: This means that this form is only a preview, showing you what it might look like without fully rendering it.

13) Shell tool: Selects a face to remove.

14) Extrude Planar Curve: Turns 2D face into a solid 3D shape.

15) Boolean Union: Merges two shapes together to create one.

16) Boolean Difference: Trims shapes that are overlapping one another.

17) Split: Splits up overlapping shapes into separate pieces.

18) Join: Connects two shapes to form a single object.

19) The phrase 'watertight' refers to a modeled object that has no holes, no gaps, and is in an acceptable state to be 3D printed. When checking whether a shape is watertight or not, type 'What' into the command bar, then check for the phrases 'valid polysurface' and 'closed polysurface' to know it's suitable to be printed.

20) Explode: Breaks full objects down into separate components.

21) If you go Solid > Cap Planar Holes, these actions will cap an item and make it complete/ it fills any holes that may be there.

Rhino Continued: Boolean Union, Mirror and Arrays.

(Blogger sometimes doesn't like it if you post too many images into one published post, so I've split the Rhino lesson up into several blog posts instead.)

Using the 'Tube' tool (a right click option from the 'Box'/'Solid Creation' button), I created a new shape, then used the Gumball mode to rotate and move it into place. I then used the 'Boolean Union', merging the two shapes together and thus creating a whole new object. Now if I select any part of this shape, the whole object will be selected rather than a cube and tube separately. 

To replicate the object as a perfect mirrored copy of itself, the 'Mirror' tool was used. This could be useful if you only had time to model one half of an object. 

In order to create a line of numerous replicas of a modeled object, 'Linear Array' is used. You can choose how many copies you'd like to place, as well as their positioning/ angle.

However, the Array doesn't just have to been replicas in a line; it could also be set in a line formation. In these images, the original shape and the Linear Array can also be seen.