3D toys from Rastyapino

There is a city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast called Dzerzhinsk. Until 1929, the city was previously a province known as Rastyapino. A studio called Yunyy Skulptor (literally meaning “Young Sculptor”) is located in Dzerzhinsk today. At this studio, children under the guidance of mentor and artistic director Vladimir Kornev create small ceramic sculptures known as Rastyapinskie zabavy (literally meaning “Rastyapinskie toys”) from the word Rastyapino. These toys humorously depict the inhabitants of the city, historical characters, architecture and artefacts from the late 19th to early 20th century, and just funny animals.

Young group of apprentices

Rastyapinskie toys represent the history of Rastyapinsky krai in a cartoon that always elicits a smile in the audience. Rastyapinskie toys are very popular among locals and tourists. Some figurines can even be found in the yards and in the streets of the city – Vladimir discloses.

Rastyapinskie toys

3D printer and 3D scanner from RangeVision Smart recently appeared in the studio. So apart from clay modeling, the children are also now thought modern techniques and fundamentals of production. The children never had such opportunities before. Moreover, production process has become simpler and faster. Let’s tell you a little about how this was done before and how it is done now so that the practical benefits of 3D techniques could become obvious.

Before, for you to make a beautiful clay toy, you needed to mold it from plasticine and then do the clay modeling. So first, the master (usually a child learning at the studio) molds a figurine from plasticine. Next, a plaster mold is made from this plasticine model. The gypsum mold is then filled in with liquid clay (slip). At the end, you get a clay toy ready for further painting. There was always the problem of how to preserve the plasticine model so that you can make further plaster molds for clay is soft and short-lived.

Modeling of figurines from clay

The solution to this problem was to use plastic model printed in a 3D printer. Now you only need to just scan the clay figurine to get its 3D STL model on the computer, and then print on a 3D printer. “RangeVision offered us the lowest-end scanner solution with high detalization. The scanner can capture fine details of a figurine. This RangeVision scanner was an ideal choice for our goals,” – head of the studio shares his impressions.

Next, we’ll describe the process of creating Rastyapinskie souvenirs with the help of the RangeVision Smart 3D scanner.

RangeVision Smart 3D scanner

1. Plasticine figurine is scanned with RangeVision Smart 3D scanner

3D scanning of figurine

2. An accurate 3D model of the figurine appears on the computer. It can be edited in 3D modeling program Blender. This program is popular among 3D and virtual sculptors around the world. “The apprentices also now know how to do it. Blender is an extremely accurate and easy-to-use tool that is more perfect than the usual centuries-old sculptor’s tool – stack. But this software is useless for our goals without the RangeVision Smart 3D scanner, – says Vladimir.

That’s how the model looks like at a computer screen in Blender

3. Once the 3D model acquires its final form after editing, it is sent to the 3D printer to be printed

Printing of 3D model of the figurine

4. The next step is to make a plaster mold. The printed figurine is immersed into a special mixture (it can be purchased at any construction store), which hardens after 10 minutes.

Immersion of printed figurine into plaster

You get this reusable plaster mold.

Plaster mold

5. Now we can make more than a dozen figurines by filling liquid clay into the form.

Pouring slip into plaster mold

The clay figurine is ready:

Model, freed from plaster

6. After roasting it in a furnace, the master begins painting

Clay toy painting

Done!

Finished toys

A new and fast method of creating ceramic miniatures in the studio is now possible thanks to RangeVision Smart 3D scanner, 3D printer and software Blender. You can now create not only single figurines but also a series of toys – this is important for the souvenir business. The apprentice children now also have a great chance to in practice master the modern programs of 3D modeling, animation and printing in a fascinating form. They have even created the first test cartoon.

Due to the fact that the RangeVision Smart 3D scanner gives colored 3D models, the children also moved these miniatures, which were already at the studio, to the world of 3D with its ample creativity opportunities. The high quality of detail and color reproduction made it possible to be able to print an exact copy of a miniature in the 3D printer at the other end of the Earth. Plastic copies of toys began to travel very quickly!

A copy of Rastyapinsky horse was printed on a 3D printer in Lebanon

It turns out that 3D printing and 3D scanning take souvenir production to an entirely new level. Now, replication of models has become fast, accurate and technological in nature. You now have less routine and more creativity. Speaking of creativity, the studio has a small theater where the leading characters are the same rastyapinskie toys, while the main characters are the talented apprentices.

Theatre in the Yunyy Skulptor studio

The Yunyy Skulptor studio expresses her sincere gratitude to the company RangeVision for the tremendous opportunity to engage in creativity in a new high-tech level.

“Without you, we would have remained in the 19th century!”.