Design of the Week: Володимир Зеленський

By on March 28th, 2022 in Design, news

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3D Printed bust of Volodymyr Zelenskyy Bust [Source: PrusaPrinters]

This week’s selection is the Volodymyr Zelenskyy Bust by Prusa Research.

Prusa Research uploaded a high resolution 3D model of Ukraine’s besieged President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy continues to lead his country against the Russian invaders from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. His leadership has been inspiring to many around the world.

There is not much information about this particular 3D model. Prusa Research posted only this:

“This is a bust of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in combat gear, who has shown his outstanding leadership skills, resolve and courage during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. #StandWithUkraine”

The 3D model is composed of two parts, the bust and the base. The base is enscribed with:

“президент тут”

Which is Ukrainian for “The President is here”.

The bottom of the base has a further inscription:

“I don’t need a ride, I need ammo!”

This quote is from Zelenskyy himself, answering a question from America, which offered him safe passage out of the war-torn country. Inspiring, indeed.

Detail of a 3D model of Volodymyr Zelenskyy Bust [Source: Fabbaloo]

The resolution on this 3D model is quite incredible. If you zoom in you will see a tremendous amount of physical detail, which in retrospect should not be surprising: the bust section alone is 50MB in size. You may want to decimate the model to a lower resolution before slicing, otherwise your processor will be busy.

The resolution of this 3D model is actually far more than can be reproduced on most FFF devices, so that’s probably a good idea anyway. However, I plan to print this one on a resin 3D printer, which should be able to make good use of the extra details.

The 3D model as supplied is quite large; the bust will take up most or all of the build volume on many desktop 3D printers, so be aware you may have to resize the parts.

Once printed, you need only glue the two parts together to finish the model.

Setting up a 3D print job for the bust of Volodymyr Zelenskyy [Source: Fabbaloo]

I’m not sure how Prusa Research obtained the incredible detail on this model. It appears to be made from a high resolution 3D scan, but how did they get it? Perhaps the company already had a scan of Zelenskyy obtained earlier, or maybe they commissioned a skilled 3D artist to produce one from photographs and video. Or, just maybe, a secret Prusa action team crossed the border and somehow performed the scan.

[UPDATE: Joser Prusa informs us that this model was sculpted by 3D artists at the company:]

Regardless of how it was made, it’s an incredible 3D model, and I encourage you to print it. In blue and yellow.

Via PrusaPrinters

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!

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