Henry Moore, Recumbent Figure (1938)
Technical Information
The work illustrated is reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation
View the model
Tate has produced this Shockwave 3D model of the Henry Moore's Recumbent Figure in conjunction with the interactive production company Juniperblue, who have carefully reconstructed the sculpture using an innovative mixture of CAD and digital-imaging techniques.
Fig 1
Using photographic reference shots, solid blocks are positioned to give the designer a feel for the work in all three dimensions.
Fig 2
Now the designer is able to start tracing points around the outline of the object.
Fig 3
The designer continues to build the basic form carefully following the subtleties and nuances of the artist's work; areas such as the crook of the knee require particular attention.
Fig 4
Although the model appears to be fairly blocky, a complex mesh smoothing is applied which smoothes the edges and provides him with an accurate point of reference whilst modelling a much more basic shape.
Fig 5
As the form takes shape, additional attention is paid to the detail areas such as the eyes; each point is painstakingly pushed and pulled into shape.
Fig 6
The modelling is now complete and the number of points is mathematically increased to provide a careful balance between perfect smoothness and the lowest possible file size.
Fig 7
Before applying the texture maps, the object is split up into three separate segments – this will enables the designer to accurately follow the form of the actual sculpture which in itself is constructed from three blocks of green Horton stone.
Fig 8
Using a series of 72 photographs, the textures are scanned and sampled and a complex texture map is created; this map is applied to the model in layers.
Fig 9
The final model is then imported into a bespoke interface which allows users to interact and explore the work; this application is compressed as a Shockwave 3D file for use on the Tate website.