Around the World in 80 Models: Thailand

Hop on board as we continue our journey Around the World in 80 Models! We began our itinerary at Sketchfab headquarters in New York and are working our way through Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America, and North America. To catch up on past destinations, check out the rest of the Around the World in 80 Models series.

This week we head to Thailand, where 3D artist Juan Gonzalez has an amazing Thai guardian statue to show us.

Thailand: Thai Thepphanom

Hi! I’m JuanG3D, Juan Gonzalez from the Canary Islands (Spain). I’ve been doing 3D modeling since 2008, but I discovered photogrammetry just a couple of years ago, when I was in Mexico, with the cool 3D Scanning Thursday contests from Sketchfab.

Firstly I thought that it was a weird way to get a 3D model, but I said “let’s try it”. I joined 3DST#11 and since then, I’ve never stopped doing 3D scans with my camera or mobile.

I started using 123DCatch software from Autodesk, but I tried ReCap 360 as well (with similar results). Although I use the photogrammetry mostly as a hobby, I’ve also scanned with the 3D Systems Sense when I was in a 3D printing shop (but Sense is a pain).

On the Thepphanom model I did for the “Around the World in 80 models” series, each time I went upstairs or downstairs at home, I saw the Thepphanom statue and I thought: “I would love to do a 3D scan of it”. The statue is a brass Thai statuette. My auntie Putchara is from Thailand, so she brought this piece to UK, and there she gave it to my father as a present, many years ago (maybe more than twenty). Indeed, she visited us this year and gave us two little Thepphanom statuettes more! But the time passed by and I never found the time for the 3D scan, until I heard about the “Around the World in 80 models”. So, 11th February, I took the statue and my Samsung mobile and I took 58 photos (yes, I know… maybe it’s too much but I want that every angle of the model appears on the photos), I opened the 123DCatch and I got this cool 3D scan.

The main characteristic is that this 35cms brass statuette weighs a lot, it’s incredibly heavy. It represents a male guardian angel (but usually there are both male and female versions). They are commonly represented kneeling on both knees with hands at the wai position, praying or offering respect. They are considered to be Buddha’s protectors. Read more about Thepphanom here.

To see more of JuanG3D models here on Sketchfab, check out his profile!