imprinting
In improvisational 3D printing (or, imprinting), the designer embodies and performs the long-durational repetition of the 3D printer. Through this embodied making, the designer can overcome the determinacy of standard 3D printing workflows, for example: there is no digital modeling, there is no “slicing” software, and there is no singular G-Code file. Instead, the designer improvises the form of the 3D printed thing by drawing and tracing each contour of their design on a sheet of tracing paper. The tracing paper is on top of a graphics tablet that communicates to the 3D printer through the custom-made “Tracer” software. Each time that the designer lifts their hand from the paper, the 3D printer precisely reproduces their imperfect trace. Once the machine prints a trace, it moves to the next vertical layer and awaits the next input.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b361659446dab12f50ccccbc75b79c43184432b1adc85efce5ffef2a23f09b32/Zach-Cohen---Imprinting-1.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e92711131cab25b9b77d3ea0d22fba6eccaf9e1f9e82088c99d2d9ac3413ba3f/Zach-Cohen---Imprinting-5.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dbf882780513786e3f2c3119c1793bd658d7b822a1ec1508f49338cb93ddb150/Zach-Cohen---Imprinting-6.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3d9512ef9a6e8b8477329ef887454720bcb6aab3df289474dd191e4aab4c905b/SQUARE.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e16edc7a55e8d938d51885a5e61415b45fa394225e9620331346a7479572474a/TRIPOD.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a8e14d55535a25e6bb2bf434e2ce75fc43a247cc198d43e8237d061ec60c6ad9/LEGS.jpg)