Foam Modelling

Foam modelling is used by designers, inventors, architects and design companies around the world to test, develop, refine, test, develop, improve, refine, test etc. design ideas before modelling in 3D CAD or deciding on the final form. Companies such as Apple and Dyson, and most architecture companies use foam models to communicate and test ideas.  

What you will do

On blank rectangular blocks of blue Styrofoam you need to sketch out the parts of your chosen design idea to make a test model. You will need seperate pieces for the base, the neck, the head and the lantern. Sketching on blue foam is extremely difficult to be accurate and so we would recommend creating paper templates first. Ideally, you will create a paper template for each part of your design.

You should always find the centre of the block of foam as this will help you add a vertical and horizontal centre line, which will help place your template.

You will then need to cut your block to the overall 'outline' shape that you have sketched. Your teacher will then cut your block into three (front, middle, back) layers so that you can work on each layer separately and give you the room for the to be 'housed'. You may wish to use the to sketch around to ensure that you leave enough room for it to be 'housed' in your design.

Once you have completed your model you will need to photograph it from a number of angles and upload and publish these on your website. You will also need to use the photographs within Procreate so ensure that you are able to share your photographs with an iPad.

Step by Step process