Forgive me if this turns into an essay. Or maybe just some rambling. I guess I had a few motives for posting the question.
I’ve worked for several years as a model maker both within consulting firms and in stand alone prototyping shops. I’ve done the CNC machined, highly detailed cosmetic models. But its the quick form studies made from rough 2-D drawings out of 10lb foam and styrene-shaped by hand with some manual machining that is more fascinating to me. That collaboration and negotiation between sculpting, machining, making and designing is where the epiphanies happen for me. I see this process of working directly with the form and materials an important creative process much like a good set of exploration sketches. Both are important when appropriate to the scope of the project. Just a different medium and set of problem solving skills.
I see the creative process like a equalateral traingle with Art, Design and Craft at the 3 points-a sort of 3-way continuum. Depending on the nature of the project, the creative process necessary to solve the problem may be weighted toward one or two points of the triangle. For example the craft of model making is servant to the needs of the design process. Pure exploration with no design constraints would place the work closer to art on the continuum.
When I was in school, there was no access to CNC or rapid prototyping technologies. I’m now teaching a design studio part-time at a school that has invested in a 3D printer. I’ve occasionally had students enamored with the technology and simply wanting to go straight to CAD and click “OK†to print a part without any sort of iterative process either in sketches or form studies.