The Bay Area Maker Faire featured an electrifying 3D printed ensemble by Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht. The designer worked with the band ArcAttack to design a dress to specifically work with the band’s unique method of music created by Tesla coils. Wipprecht explains the challenge was to create an iconic design that would hold up to the power of high-voltage, low-current, high-frequency, alternating-current electricity.
To make the actual Faraday-cage-style outfit, Wipprecht used all of the Autodesk 3D design tools available at her Autodesk residency in San Francisco. With a scan of her body, she and the 123D team at Autodesk used Maya to create individual panels over the scan. 123D Make was then utilized to transform the individual panels into a flat 2D sheet, making small modifications in AutoCAD. The 2D layout was consequently cut out of a sheet of metal at Autodesk’s Pier 9 workshop. Finally, Wipprecht’s shoulder pieces were modeled in Maya and 3D printed on an Objet500 Connex 3D printer.
Once the ensemble was complete, Wipprecht and ArcAttack showed it off to big audiences at the 9th Annual Bay Area Maker Faire. The designer says that, on stage, she developed an “intuitive understanding” of free-flowing electricity, as she was basically surrounded by close to a million volts.
And, as if being electrocuted once wasn’t enough, Wipprecht says that this dress is only the beginning. She would like to see the outfit less bulky, lighter, and more wearable.
