3D Digital Revival of the Shan Hai Jing: Transforming Traditional Clay Sculptures to 3D Prints

Today, at the intersection of technology and art, the treasure of Chinese traditional culture, Shan Hai Jing, is being reborn in a brand new way. Independent artist, Mr. Lu Renjie, with the combined support of ScanTech and Unionfab, is utilizing modern 3D scanning and 3D printing techniques to bring the fantastical world from this ancient text to life.

I. Master’s Handcrafted Clay Sculptures: The Inspirational Source of Shan Hai Jing

Lu Renjie, an artist deeply versed in traditional Chinese culture, brings a unique artistic perspective to his work by integrating mythical creatures, deities, plants, and geographical elements from Shan Hai Jing.

Utilizing various artistic expressions such as oil painting, ceramics, sculpture, and installation art, he has created the series ‘Lu Renjie’s World of Shan Hai Jing’.

These works not only showcase Mr. Lu’s profound understanding of traditional culture but also provide a rich source of material for subsequent 3D scanning and 3D printing.

II. KSCAN-Magic Laser 3D Scanner: Precisely Capturing Artistic Details

To preserve his clay sculptures for posterity, Mr. Lu Renjie chose the KSCAN-Magic professional 3D scanner from ScanTech. This scanner boasts the following features:

1. High Precision: The KSCAN-Magic device offers a scanning accuracy of up to 0.020 mm and an ultra-high resolution of 0.01 mm, which can precisely capture the details of the clay sculptures, ensuring a 1:1 reproduction of the manual art.

2. Fast Scanning: With a wide Field of View (FoV) of 1440 mm × 860 mm, the scanning process is quick and efficient, significantly reducing the project cycle.

3. Easy to Operate: The KSCAN-Magic is user-friendly, making it convenient for professional teams to collect three-dimensional data.

Through the KSCAN-Magic 3D scanner, Lu Renjie’s clay sculptures have been transformed into digital three-dimensional models, laying the foundation for subsequent 3D printing.

III. 3D Printing: Efficiently Recreating Artistic Forms

After the 3D scanning is complete, the next step is 3D printing. Mr. Lu Renjie collaborated with Unionfab, utilizing an industrial-grade SLA 3D printer for the task. The advantage of 3D printing lies in its ability to quickly and accurately replicate complex structures, while also offering a variety of material options to ensure artistic quality and the realization of creative ideas.

The 3D printed artworks, after coloring and detail processing, not only enhance aesthetic appeal and depth but also enrich the expressiveness, bringing the fantastical world of Shan Hai Jing to life. Below are some of the finished 3D printed products:

From the master’s handcrafted clay sculptures to the scanning with KSCAN-Magic handheld 3D scanner of ScanTech, and then to the 3D printing and post-processing (coloring) by Unionfab, Mr. Lu Renjie has successfully combined traditional art with modern technology to create a vividly fantastical Shan Hai Jing world. This process not only demonstrates the wide application of 3D scanning and 3D printing technologies in the art field but also provides new insights for the inheritance and innovation of Chinese traditional culture. In the fusion of technology and art, we experience the digital rebirth of the fantastical world of Shan Hai Jing and the vibrant vitality of traditional culture in modern society.

As 3D scanning and 3D printing technologies continue to evolve, their applications in the art sector will become even more widespread. In the future, we can look forward to more artists utilizing these technologies to create imaginative works that breathe new life into traditional culture.