1. Eliminate the barriers of sculpture process
 The sculpture profession has always been known for its craftsmanship and complexity of the process. The general sculpture design and production process includes: drawing sketches, sculpting skeletons, making clay sculptures, turning into gypsum or silicone molds, making glass steel, stainless steel, casting Copper and other materials, surface effect treatment, etc., different materials, different sizes and different requirements of sculpture production steps are different, the process is complex and professional. Stone carvings and wood carvings must be sculpted and polished little by little by sculptors. It is completely a traditional craft work. Producers need years of training and experience, and slight mistakes will be difficult to make up. The application of 3D printing technology in sculpture production can skip the flow and barriers of traditional craftsmanship, design a three-dimensional model of the sculpture in a computer, and then print the sculpture directly through a 3D printer. It is now possible to print out materials such as plastic, ceramics, metal, gypsum, and wood. With the advancement of technology and popularization, various materials may be printed in the future. 3D printing will allow sculptures to bid farewell to the era of hand-made and enter the era of digital design and manufacturing.
2. The birth of digital sculpture
The definition of sculpture in the context of 3D printing technology is a brand-new concept, which can be defined as a digital sculpture: using 3D scanning or 3D design software to generate a computer 3D data model, and printing a 3D printer to make a physical sculpture. 3D digital sculpture realizes the complete process of converting from physical to virtual data, and then from virtual data to real objects, so that any conversion between virtual and real can be realized. This is a subversive change to traditional sculpture. It has made a good conversion and link between the traditional sculpture's touchability and the virtual three-dimensional sculpture model's visual untouchability. Traditional sculpture has transformed from a purely hand-crafted work to a high-tech work that can be completely operated by computer mouse and keyboard. Although it is only a change in the design and production methods, technology and art have always been entangled. The beginning of the tremendous change in technology often manifests in new bottles and old wine, using new technical means to achieve or improve existing art forms . However, with the continuous application of new technologies, the characteristics of new technology materials will continue to emerge, thus forming new forms of artistic expression. New technologies provide soil and nutrients for new art forms. As new art expressions continue to mature, new art schools or categories are born.
3. Deconstruct the value of traditional sculpture
(1) The dissolution of the meaning of monuments: Most traditional sculptures are endowed with monumental meaning, which is to commemorate a special event, special achievement, special person, or to explain religious teachings for people to worship, or as a memorial Building accessories. For example, there are common monuments of people ’s heroes, statues of celebrities, and statues of bodhisattvas in various temples. Ordinary individuals as society generally do not build sculptures for themselves. One is because the process of making sculptures is complicated and expensive, and there are scarce personnel with production techniques. The other is that they are prohibitive because of the monumental significance of sculptures. The establishment of a sculpture for Jack Ma, a well-established entrepreneur in Hangzhou, has caused widespread controversy in society. The focus of the debate is that Ma Yun ’s achievements have not yet been finalized. It is too early to set up a statue. However, the popularization of 3D printing digital sculpture technology will remove the complex technical threshold for personal sculpture production. With the promotion of commercialization, entertainment, personalization and many other factors, personal sculpture is being popularized in the form of a sculpture photo studio. People will take photos like Make your own personal sculpture as easy and convenient. In the foreseeable future, everyone can make their own statues, and many can be made continuously. Although individuals do not necessarily have the intention of monumentalization when making their own sculptures, the popularity of personal sculptures will undoubtedly impact The monumental significance of the sculpture. Reason 1: The popularization of personal sculptures and personal statues everywhere will bring the aesthetic fatigue of sculptures. Reason 2: The popularization of personal sculptures and entertainment will reduce the significance of monuments based on rarity and sublimeness.
(2) The disappearance of the craftsmanship of sculpture: sculpture has a history of thousands of years and belongs to a very traditional ancient and modern art. Although it has undergone thousands of years of transformation and a variety of styles, the production process of sculpture has no essential changes , Stone sculptures need to be sculpted and polished by hand by sculptor, metal sculptures need to be hand-made mud drafts and then re-casting, glass fiber reinforced plastic works also need to be hand-made mud drafts and then re-molding, sculpture design and production is still a pure manual labor, the past technological progress It has not brought about a big change in the sculpture making process. However, the development of 3D printing technology has to rewrite this situation. 3D printing digital sculpture technology will realize complete computer operation, the design will be completed in the computer, and the production will be completed by the 3D printer, which can completely deviate from the traditional sculpture manual production process and achieve full Computerized operation. The traditional craftsmanship of sculpture will face a subversive challenge. The traditional sculpture language is produced by the artist's manual labor and materials. The language of digital sculpture will be deeply imprinted with the imprint of a computer and a 3D printer. The language of digital sculpture The new material characteristics will give the sculpture language and form new aesthetic characteristics. The important feature of this aesthetic characteristic is the loss of craftsmanship. This may be the biggest change and challenge in the history of sculpture development over thousands of years. Sculpture production will no longer be a work of art but a work of computer technology.
4. Generate digital sculpture language
As a long-standing independent art category, sculpture has formed its own unique language system in the thousands of years of history, mainly composed of language in form, volume, space, material, color and other aspects. 3D printed sculptures can produce complex morphological and structural works that cannot be completed by the traditional mold-turning process due to the update of the process technology, from fine hair to multi-layer nested structure works, which can expand the shape, volume and space of the sculpture The expression of language. As 3D printing technology uses new materials and superimposed molding processes, the types of materials are becoming more and more abundant with the development of the entire 3D printing industry, and the method of material synthesis has also changed. The beauty of the material and the material itself reflect Language features have been greatly enriched and expanded, and many features are unique to 3D printing. In terms of color language, the traditional method of coloring sculptures is mainly spray coloring on the outside, and the coloring method of 3D printing can be direct printing of color materials. After the surface is polished, the color is truly and naturally presented from the inside out. 3D printed sculpture in shape