Output details

Vela 2011

Vela (2011), designed and fabricated by Walters in collaboration with artist Katie Davies, is a three-dimensional representation of the radio signal emanating from a distant pulsar star in the constellation of Vela, printed in a plaster powder medium by a 3D Zprinter. Inspired by the Futurists’ ‘sound machines’ and Moholy-Nagy’s Telephone paintings, the output continued and extended Walter’s and Davies’s earlier innovative exploration of the transformation of sound to 3D form which began the process of investigating whether it was possible to create a physical manifestation of sound. The research demonstrated for the first time that astrophysical data from a pulsar could be transformed into a 3D printed sculpture. Vela also contributed to research into the creative potential of Rapid Prototyping technology.

The sculpture was generated through a method developed by Davies and Walters which allowed them digitally to plot the pulsar’s radio signal. Novel methods were developed for transforming astrophysical data from a two-dimensional set of graphs, plotting the frequency and intensity of the signal from the pulsar against time. These graphs were compiled into physical three-dimensional printed form. This involved the use of audio processing and visualisation software translated into 3D CAD format, which could then be outputted to a 3D printer. The Zprinter used to produce the sculpture is a set of inkjet heads that print process colours and a binder onto a plaster powder medium, creating objects through a multi-layering print and fusion technique.

Vela (2011) was widely exhibited, including: Mixed Signals: Reinterpreting Sensory Information, Boston CyberArts at Atlantic Wharf, Boston, (February-April 2012) (http://bostoncyberarts.org/category/specialproject/category/atlanticwharf/#586); and Just Press Print, Northern Print Gallery, Newcastle (June-August 2012) (http://www.northernprint.org.uk/news/exhibition-review-just-press-print.html). It was reviewed online in Wired ‘Artists 3D-print radiation beam from spinning star’ (03.04.2012) (http: www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-04/03/vela-3d-printed-pulsar); and in Thirkell, P., ‘An Extra Dimension’, Printmaking Today, vol. 20, no. 1 (Spring 2011).