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My new President dollar is ... Unbelievable !!!
dcarr
Posts: 9,071 ✭✭✭✭✭
dcarr
Posts: 9,071 ✭✭✭✭✭
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I didn't know the Mint was already churning out coins for future Presidents.
Obscurum per obscurius
<< <i>Wow, that's pretty cool. How do you do that, with 3-D software? Photoshop? >>
It is a real die-struck coin. I did the sculpting digitally using software I wrote and then used a computer-controlled milling machine to make the dies.
The specifices are:
Brass, 27mm diameter, 12.6 grams, smooth edge.
Proof-like mintage: 20 (and that is final).
Satin-finish mintage: to be determined.
<< <i>How do I get one of those ? >>
President Carr
The obverse looks like "Plastic Man"
Proud recipient of two "You Suck" awards
<< <i>Thats scary...kinda resembles "DB Cooper"
... or the Unabomber without a hood
I guess I look like DB Cooper and "Plastic Man" then.
<< <i>
<< <i>Wow, that's pretty cool. How do you do that, with 3-D software? Photoshop? >>
It is a real die-struck coin. I did the sculpting digitally using software I wrote and then used a computer-controlled milling machine to make the dies.
The specifices are:
Brass, 27mm diameter, 12.6 grams, smooth edge.
Proof-like mintage: 20 (and that is final).
Satin-finish mintage: to be determined. >>
Software you wrote? Holy sh!t!
No, wait. If the design is electronic and can go directly to dies, no master hub is required and the 1867 vintage transfer machine could be retired.
Plastic Man
Proud recipient of two "You Suck" awards
<< <i>So in other words, 97% of the labor and time involved in the mint getting from concept to master hub could be completed by you and your software?
No, wait. If the design is electronic and can go directly to dies, no master hub is required and the 1867 vintage transfer machine could be retired. >>
To answer your questions, here are a few excepts from a letter that I recently sent to Congress:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
I would like to offer some ideas on improving the US Mint's design process. As you may know, the current US Mint design process involves the following steps:
1. The coin’s subject matter is decided upon. In the case of Statehood Quarters, the subject matter is usually suggested by the state in question.
2. Artists prepare drawings. The artists include the US Mint’s own staff, along with others from the Mint’s “Artistic Infusion Program” (AIP). To get into the AIP, artists must go through a rigorous application procedure and only a very limited few are chosen, based upon a rather mysterious selection process run by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). All AIP applicants must complete a design exercise as part of their application process. All proposed coin designs generated by Mint staff, AIP applicants, and accepted AIP artists are prepared in the form of traditional pencil drawings.
3. The proposed designs are reviewed by various groups including the Citizen’s Coin Advisory Committee (CCAC) and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). Revisions are enacted as desired.
4. The approved designs are sculpted by hand in 3D by US Mint staff using clay and plaster, and then mechanically reduced to make dies.
This process is lacking in the following ways:
1. Artists who are adept at working in advanced media other than traditional pencil & paper are at a disadvantage when applying for the AIP or when producing proposed designs.
2. The CCAC and CFA review pencil sketches, not finished coins. The problem here is that there can be losses in translation occurring when transitioning a design from an approved pencil sketch to a sculpted coin. Once a drawing is approved, no review body sees the final sculpture or coins until they are released in bulk to the public (and by then, of course, it is way too late to make adjustments).
3. Since only permanent US Mint staff can sculpt coin designs, they often must sculpt designs that were created by someone else from the AIP. As a sculptor myself, I can say that no artist really wants to sculpt someone else’s artwork. In fact, an artist may be less likely to put their full effort and abilities into such a task. No two artists ever carry the same vision as to how a finished product should look.
For several years, I’ve been working with a technology that could help the US Mint. I wrote my own digital-sculpting and design software which I use to design and manufacture coins and medals for private interests. The software is called “VS3D”. Using this software, the design process typically involves scanning drawings and/or photographs, performing digital sculpting over the scans, and then using a Computer Numeric Control (CNC) automatic milling/engraving machine to cut 3D models, dies, and hubs directly. The advantages of such an approach are immense:
1.A digitally-sculpted model allows for revisions and modifications with much greater ease and accuracy than a traditional clay/plaster sculpture.
2.Realistic renderings of a digital sculpture can be circulated for review and/or marketing. Once approved, the digital sculpture can be output in physical form via CNC. Because the original approved rendering and the final die surface are both generated digitally from the SAME source data, the final coin is GUARANTEED to look EXACTLY like the approved rendering. This eliminates all losses in translation.
Below is a comparison of the traditional "clay & plaster" technique vs. my digital process:
Published US Mint design for Washington President dollar. This is a pencil drawing manipulated (tinted) in a “Paint” program. It was reviewed in this form by various committees (CCAC, CFA, etc.) and approved for production:
Photograph of actual US Mint Washington President dollar. Note facial deviations from original approved design above. The changes result from sculpting the portrait above by hand, using clay and plaster:
Computer-generated rendering of digital sculpture by Daniel Carr, generated prior to medallion production and prior to the release of any US Mint images:
Photograph of actual die-struck 27mm medallion generated via CNC from the digital sculpture shown above. Detail sharpness improvable with better die cutting bits. But note that the basic surface contours of the actual medallion exactly match the original digital rendering:
If you can get your letter into the hands of the members of Congress that care about coins, and show them the mint video of how coins are produced, you may get somewhere.
<< <i>Hmmm ...
I guess I look like DB Cooper and "Plastic Man" then. >>
Are you Doobie Keebler?
<< <i>Cool. The Mint will be 100% against it because hundreds of jobs are at risk. Also, the congressman from the state that produces the plaster usend in the mold will also oppose it.
If you can get your letter into the hands of the members of Congress that care about coins, and show them the mint video of how coins are produced, you may get somewhere. >>
Thanks, I should add that my technique does NOT replace the skill of a sculptor and designer. You still have to have the same basic skills as a traditional sculptor to do a lot of this. Instead of pushing clay around with my fingers, I push digital clay around with my mouse.
Here is who I wrote to:
Rep. Frank Lucas (Ohio) - He is a coin collector of sorts, and he had an opinion piece published in Coin World a while back.
Rep. Mike Castle (Delaware) - He sponsored the President Dollar and Sacagawea dollar programs.
Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) - An advocate of the Gold Standard, among other things - ranking member of the House committee with oversight responsibility for the US Mint.
Sen. Wayne Allard (Coorado) - My Senator - on the Senate committee that has jurisdiction over the US Mint.
US Mint Director Edmund C. Moy.
<< <i>
<< <i>Thats scary...kinda resembles "DB Cooper"
... or the Unabomber without a hood
My older brother made small bombs for fun when I was a kid growing up in a rural area. That was how we had fun. No harm done. Not politically correct these days, of course.
<< <i>Kind of reminds me of this guy!!!
I do spend a lot of time on the computer ?
Joe
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
<< <i>
<< <i>Hmmm ...
I guess I look like DB Cooper and "Plastic Man" then. >>
Are you Doobie Keebler? >>
No, I'm DC Cooper. I mean DB Carr. No, $#@% I mean D Carr.
Of course, he's more gaunt and has that creepy Steven-Tyler-of-Aerosmith look in some pictures.
Must just be the shades.
I guess what I'm saying is, you look like a rock star.
(Yeah, that's it... good save, LordM.)
<< <i>... or the Unabomber without a hood
Not even close, unibomber wore aviator style sunglasses and Prez Carr clearly has on wayfarers. Get your shades straight man! Geeze...
<< <i>Looks OK. What is on the rim?? >>
Nothing (smooth edge). I don't have an edge-lettering machine (yet).
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Hmmm ...
I guess I look like DB Cooper and "Plastic Man" then. >>
Are you Doobie Keebler? >>
No, I'm DC Cooper. I mean DB Carr. No, $#@% I mean D Carr. >>