Escher For Real: 3D Printing M.C. Escher’s Drawings

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What makes M.C. Escher’s drawings so fascinating? The fact that they’re incredibly realistic drawings of impossible structures, right? Apparently, they’re not as impossible as they seem. Researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology are working on designing and building 3D structures of M.C. Escher’s drawings, bringing to life what is, technically, impossible.

Prof. Gershon Elber is working on Escher For Real, a fascinating endeavor to model and recreate the drawings of M.C. Escher in 3D. He had previously crafted a few of the simpler creations, such as the Penrose Triangle and the Necker Cube, but the more complex drawings obviously needed more than foam and a really sharp knife to construct.

For structures like the Belvedere and Relativity, the research team developed Gulrit, a CAD application that is able to design impossible 3D objects. I’m guessing you know what’s next. Using their 3D models, they sculpted M.C. Escher’s creations into plasticky reality.

I have to say, M.C. Escher art looks just as awesome when they’re possible.

(Escher For Real via Hack A Day)

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