Austria’s Most Famous Theater Has Incredible 3D Printed Glowing Bust Created of Actor Peter Simonischek

Burgtheater

3D printing is making its way into a variety of different fields. Whether it is the medical field, the automobile industry, or movie prop makers who benefit from the technology, there is no doubt that we will continue to see the use of 3D printing expand as time progresses. The technology is also being put to use in virtually every country around the world to one extent or another, whether it is in the United States, South Africa, China, or Uganda, different countries have been coming up with their own individualized uses for the technology.

Actor Peter Simonischek (image source: Manfred Werner / Tsui)

In Austria, like much of Europe, 3D printing is really beginning to gain some traction among both hobbyists and large manufacturing firms. For one Austrian company, VirtuMake, 3D technology is nothing new.

“VirtuMake is Austria’s first affordable 3D Scanning, 3D Modelling and 3D Printing Service,” Bernhard of VirtuMake tells 3DPrint.com. “We help our customers get high quality 3D data from almost any real world object. Then we modify this data and produce it using a wide range of 3D printing materials like plastics, metal and ceramics. Our customers can purchase Artec 3D Scanners and HDI 3D Scanners directly from us and we help them to learn 3D scanning and 3D data modelling from our experience to get the most out of their investment.”

In Austria there aren’t all that many 3D printing services that can offer what VirtuMake can, so when it comes to finding a 3D printing solution within the country, many companies go right to them. This was certainly the case when the world-famous Burgtheater wanted to create a unique 3D printed bust of one of their well-known actors.

“We got a call from the ‘Burgtheater,’ Austria’s most famous theatre, to build a bust that looks like the main actor of the play ‘Das Konzert’, Mr Peter Simonischek,” Bernhard tells us. “Of course, the deadline was very tight.”

So VirtuMake went to work. They first used an Artec Eva 3D Scanner to scan Peter Simonischek’s head. This took just 2 minutes to complete. They then scanned a Roman bust and merged Simonischek’s head onto it via 3D modeling software. Prior to 3D printing the newly created bust, the inside was hollowed out in order to save on 3D printing materials.

“The Burgtheater wanted to show something special on stage and asked us if it is possible to 3D print a transparent head that could be illuminated,” Bernhard tells us. “Fortunately, i-materialise offers a very capable transparent resin material that met our requirements.”

Once the transparent head and the white bust were 3D printed, they were glued together and ready for display on stage. LED lights were placed inside to provide for a very unique glowing look. As you can see in the photo provided to us by VirtuMake, it came out quite well, looking almost as if it was carved out of ice.

What do you think about VirtuMake’s use of 3D printing and scanning to create this unique one-of-a-kind bust of actor Peter Simonischek? Discuss in the Burgtheater 3D printed bust forum thread on 3DPB.com.