Quad X

3D Model

Quad X represents an intriguing possible lost output from the historically significant Tran Program. Tran was perhaps the world’s first 3D printing software, developed over the summer of 1967 by the artist Robert Mallary and his programmer son Michael. By converting organic profiles into a series of discrete quadrants (hence the name of the sculptures Quad), the program could create sinuous best-fit curves to match the provided profiles, then output a series of oval slices to be cut out of wood, plastic, or marble and then stacked, smoothed, and polished to form the finished sculpture. Like much of Robert’s work the pieces progressed to increasingly permanent material, often culminating in metal and stone. Michael Mallary has confirmed that this form has all the qualities of a Quad, and while provenance is perfect, documentation has yet to be found confirming its status as such.

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