Peter Zich
Since I started using computers I've always been interested in computer-based art. I taught myself web design, graphic design and 3D modeling and film editing. I taught myself how to use Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Maya, Google SketchUp, Quartz Composer and Final Cut Pro.Unlike many artists I am an expert in computer-based art. Not only have I taught myself design software, but I've also learned Java, C and Objective-C computer programming languages as well as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP web design languages. For the past 5 years I have been providing the University of Chicago with technical support and recently started providing them with 2D and 3D design.
Below you'll find my physical sculptures I've made as well as screen savers for Mac OS X, photography and my digital art.
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Questions and comments may be directed to pzich@pzich.com. If you would like higher quality copies of these images or videos, please e-mail me and tell me what you will be using them for.
Sculpture
Gold Man Clay with gold and bronze paint finish. Spikes had to be kilned separately and reattached. Foam was used to fill large cracks.
Gold Man Detail A better view of the spikes on the Gold Man's head.
Lantern Cover Tea Candle Lantern Cover was created as a geometric test and a mother's day gift. It consists of 11 rings with gaps to let light through. In addition to the gaps light also shines through the material. It was created in Autodesk Maya and printed using a 3D printer.
Lantern Cover Glow What the Tea Candle Lantern Cover looks like when light shines through it.
Twisted Ball This model was created by twisting a series of circles and rotating them around an axis. It was created in Autodesk Maya and printed using a 3D printer. Because of the flexible properties of the material applying force at the poles causes it to change shape and twist.
Sharp Twist Star Sharp Twist Star started as a diamond-shaped prism and was curved and twisted. It was created in Autodesk Maya and then printed in stainless steel on a 3D printer. The edges come to a very clean, sharp edge.
Sharp Twist Star Top The top view of Sharp Twist Star.
Suspended Pips Die Created in Autodesk Maya 8.5 and then printed on a 3D printer (using selective laser sintering). The material is a light and flexible plastic with a chalky texture.
Self Portrait Created with plaster and cloth. Plaster-coated strips of cloth were applied to my face, allowed to harden, and removed, leaving a concave shape. The sculpture was photographed with lighting from below.
Cardboard Skull Strips of cardboard and plastic gel attached with hot glue.
Misaligned Rings Created in Autodesk Maya 8.5 and then printed in black plastic on a 3D printer. The material is a light but rigid plastic.
Tape Shoe Sheets of masking tape were made. A shoe was then examined and parts of it were cut out of the masking tape sheets. The shoe was then assembled using cardboard and tape.
Dodecahedron Created in Autodesk Maya 8.5 and then printed in black plastic on a 3D printer. The material is a light but rigid plastic.
Striped Sphere Striped sphere was created by attaching rings with various radii to a central core. Model was created in Autodesk Maya and printed with a 3D printer.
Cube Network 1cm x 1cm x 1cm wireframe cubes interlocked with each other. This model was created in Autodesk Maya 8.5 and then printed in plastic with a 3D printer. (I will be taking a better quality picture soon.)
Sierpinski Pyramid This model was created in Autodesk Maya 8.5. This model was printed with a 3D printer.
Screen Savers
Apple Computer Screen Saver
A screen saver I created with Quartz Composer. Random images of Apple computer models fade in and zoom off the sides of the screen.
A screen saver I created with Quartz Composer. Random images of Apple computer models fade in and zoom off the sides of the screen.
Angel Twist Screen Saver
A screen saver I created with Quartz Composer. An image is sliced into strips and applied to a stack of thin rectangular prisms, which are then twisted back and forth.
A screen saver I created with Quartz Composer. An image is sliced into strips and applied to a stack of thin rectangular prisms, which are then twisted back and forth.
Pulse Cloud Screen Saver
A screen saver I created with Quartz Composer. Created using a Particle System with a cycling hue and circular image source.
A screen saver I created with Quartz Composer. Created using a Particle System with a cycling hue and circular image source.
Photography
Giddings Shot at the intersection in front of my house using an infrared camera.
Clouds and Cloud Gate Shot of the Cloud Gate reflecting the clouds in Millennium Park using an infrared camera.
Columns Shot in Millennium Park using an infrared camera.
Reflective People Shot of people and their reflection in the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park using an infrared camera.
White Trees Shot of the trees (which appear white) in Millennium Park using an infrared camera.
Macro Keyboard Command key from an Apple aluminum keyboard. Shot with a Canon 5D MarkII using ƒ/2.5 and a 50mm macro lens. This creates a really shallow depth of field.
"Dedicated" Plaque Detail captured with a macro lens.
43 Room number complete with Braille equivalent. Captured with a macro lens.
Lime Lime on the side of my Pad Thai. Captured with a macro lens.
Yashica•Mat Part of the collection of cameras at the University of Illinois's Journalism Department. Captured with a macro lens.
The Z Key An Apple MacBook Pro's "Z" key. Captured with a macro lens.
Digital Art
Tetris Entropy Fallen Tetris pieces in a 3D environment. Created in Autodesk Maya 8.5 and rendered with cartoon renderer.
Spiky Ball Spiky sphere created in Autodesk Maya 8.5.
Striped Sphere Striped sphere created in Autodesk Maya 8.5. This model was then printed with a 3D printer.
Metal Volume A custom icon I created for my hard drive using a combination of Autodesk Maya 8.5 and Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended.
Homescreen Fall iPhone wallpaper created in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended. Icons rotated and translated to appear that the icons fell into the bottom left corner.
Cube Wall Round Rounded wall of cubes created in Autodesk Maya 8.5 and rendered with ray tracing.
Spikey A rendering of Wolfram's "Spikey", which was used as their original icon for Mathematica. Created in Autodesk Maya 8.5 and rendered with ray tracing.
Fireball An experiment with Maya's fluid effects. Getting them to look just right requires tweaking hundreds of settings.
Glass Rings A rendering of 5 concentric rings with channels cut in them. The scene was modeled, textured and lit from scratch, with the use of ray trace refractions, reflections and shadows, this render at (4200 px by 2400 px) took nearly 36 hours to complete. Created in Autodesk Maya 2010.