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Digital Tools for Rochester Artists

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I am attempting to raise the necessary funds to equip a digital technology lab for Rochester area artists. The lab will be made available to local artists by appointment for a minimal hourly fee ($15-25/hr) to cover my consulting/trainging time and facility overhead.  I explain more fully in the Updates.

The tools I am seeking to place in the lab, include a 3D Scanner, (which I've already purchased), a 3D Resin Printer (the most expensive tool), a CNC router, and an AxiDraw V3, Pen Plotter. Any additional funds raised would go to purchase other digital tools requested by artists using the facility.

Rochester is a technology town, but I realize most artists don't have access to, or even knowledge of these new tools for the purpose of creating art. My goal is to expose anyone interested in exploring these new technologies, and instruct them as to how to use them in their own work.

I've been on the bleeding edge of technology for nearly 40 years, purchasing  a computerized enlarger for my darkroom in 1982.  In 1984, I became one of the very first digital artists when I purchased my Macintosh 128K.

I began drawing with just MacPaint at first. A year later, I added a rudimentary scanner to my ImageWriter printer and began scanning my photographs into MacPaint and editing them. I foresaw the possibilities the future of digital photography held.

That same year, I became one of the original members of Kodak's new Electronic Photography Division. The computer as an imaging platform wasn't really on Kodak's radar at the time. The PC was just four years old and the Mac two. However, I didn't believe that analog video was the answer Kodak was seeking. 

I used my Mac, and my new desktop publishing tools, to begin to wage an information blitz, trying to convince others in the group, that the computer, not the television, was where photography was headed.

I think I was eventually somewhat successful, but a few years had passed.

During the years 1989-1990, I would design the first three digital software products Kodak shipped, author a key patent on the digital camera (thumbnail images), and draft the first digital product strategy for the group.

While at the Maine Photo Workshop's Photo Congress in 1989, I suggested the creation of a digital facility in Rockport Maine to a Professional Photo
colleague, and was later hired by  PPD as the first digital imaging instructor.

I established the first digital imaging training facilities both at Center of Creative Imaging (in Camden) and at the Marketing Education Center in Henrietta, and taught many Kodak employees (and customers) about digital photography for a good part of the 1990's.

For that reason, I feel I am well qualified to manage a digital facility such as this and continue to do what I did at Kodak for many years, but for local artists instead.

These 3D tools will offer many opportunities to explore new methods of creating art. Sculptures or parts for sculptures and installations, as well as parts for jewelry making, are just a few things I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure we will find more applications with input from artists who use the resources.

My studio/lab is already equipped with flat bed and film scanners, a medium format Epson printer, video slider w/motion control and tracking (for 3D capture, video and timelapse), and a wide range of imaging and graphics software.

My wife says I can't keep buying these expensive toys. The artwork supplies for my medium are already some of the most expensive for any medium. 

I'm a 3D lenticular artist. I create scenes in a virtual 3D studio, using 3D programs such as Poser and Strata Design 3D CX. The scenes are rendered with multiple stereo views which are then combined into one image and printed. The print is then aligned and laminated to a lenticular lens sheet. This creates a 3D viewable print or transparency that does NOT require any special glasses to view.

As I said, it's a very expensive medium to work in, and I really need to buy supplies, not new equipment. However, I really would like to bring this technology to the studio, and make it available for the members of my art group and Rochester area artists.

So again, if you can contribute even just $5 dollars to the cause, it will go a long way towards makng creating a resource for the very talented artists of Rochester.

I would be happy to instruct anyone interested in learning the secrets of lenticular imaging, or 3D scene creation.

Learn more about me at http://www.peterjsucy.com

Organizer

Peter J. Sucy
Organizer
Hilton, NY

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