The Making of 3D Statue Bust for the Retirement Party of Professor DPSTG Attanayaka
It's been my pleasure to boost up the honoring event organized to mark the retirement of esteemed professor Thilak Attanayaka from his role as the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture & Plantation Management, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. Kudos to Shamil malli for concieving the idea to organize an event of appreciation in the first place. It's very nice to know you have been on the track with the countdown timer.
Professor Attanayaka brought the light to the Department of Biotechnology by developing it to be what it is today. Everybody who was connected to him has this special and unique foot print of human touch left deeply engraved into them. The event and the participant headcount clearly expressed how grateful students are even after decades of his service. He was a true professional who knew what his role was and why he was there for. He worked and dedicated tirelessly to build a quality, knowledgeable labor force for the country clearly knowing why the universities were established for. His support and guidance was not limited to the internal academic period of a student but meant to extend throughout his life.
This video highlights the making of the statue bust of the professor, which was presented to him in the event. Thanks should go to professor for coming all the way down to Gampaha letting me take high-res closeup pics of him. Those images were used to grab all the facial features to be digitally sculpted onto the 3D model in ZBrush. The model was created in three parts to be assembled into one object later so that the scaling down of the whole model to match the printing area could be avoided and the expected size could be preserved. Bust and head were printed at 0.12mm layer height to better express the sculpted details. The base was printed at 0.2mm layer height which of course has given out somewhat unsatisfactory look on the letters on its sides although they are still looking good and readable. Infill was kept at 8-10%. Entire mode was printed in PLA+ which is a bit more heat-stable than conventional PLA (Poly Lactic Acid). Printing went on 24/7 parallelly on three printers up to 3 days. Later the model was assembled and enclosed in a transparent acrylic cage and it looked way way better that way !!!
I expressed my hearfelt gratitude with all the contributions I made in many ways for a better event of appraisal organized in the name of this wonderful soul I met in my lifetime and I do trust he deserves the best. Thank you Shamil malli for letting me know and all the people who contributed their level best to make it a success! While inviting the professor to stay connected with the community who loves and admires him, I wish him the best retirement episode someone can have, filled with love, laughter and productive times !!!