About Me

Hello! My name is Grant, and I’m the creator behind Making Mountains. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve always had a deep connection to the mountains and the great outdoors. Whether skiing deep powder, hiking forested trails, or simply admiring the rugged peaks, I’ve always found inspiration in nature’s grandeur.

By day, I work as a data scientist and machine learning engineer, but my true passion lies in using my skills to bring wonder into the world through creation. Making Mountains began as a personal project, blending my love of technology, creativity, and the outdoors but quickly turned into something bigger when I realized how much joy these creations brought to the people around me.

There’s nothing quite like seeing someone’s face light up as they hold a 3D-printed piece of their favorite mountain—a sentimental place filled with memories. From tracing a beloved climbing route to marveling at the contours of a familiar peak, these tangible mementos spark stories, nostalgia, and connection. My goal is to share that experience with you, bringing the beauty of the mountains into your hands and homes.

I haven't found anything that can bring me back to a place quite like these mountains. The detail and feel is exquisite. They are made to order so if you want one made custom, just send me an email or DM to inquire about a particular region!

Follow me on instagram, check out my online store or send me an email with any inquiries. Thank you for stopping by!

Quality

When I first started this project, I explored available tools for 3D printing topographical models, but I was very underwhelmed. Nothing was able to achieve the level of detail and quality that I was looking for. I decided to pursue idea of developing my own set of software and processes, and although it has been a long and difficult journey, I am extremely proud of what I have achieved.

I believe that my process has higher detail and quality than any other available on the market. Just compare my intricate, faithful reproduction of every cravase and river to the coarse layer lines, tool paths, and facets that plague traditional 3D printing and CNC methods. Trust me, the closer you look the more impressed you will be!

Mountain Making Technology

This section is for my fellow nerds... I have spent the last 5 years developing and perfecting the software and processes I use to make these mountains. I use USGS 5-meter elevation data to 3D print a negative mold of the mountain. I have tried a lot of materials, but so far, pouring the mountains out of plaster has given me the best detail and quality feel. After the plaster sets, the mountain is demolded, dried, and touched up by hand. Simple enough? Like all good engineering projects, the devil is in the detail.

The software is the result of a massive body of work. The motivation behind the software is to maintain the full 5-meter level of detail of the source data. When I tried other tools to do this, they either noticeably downsampled the data or slowed to a crawl when the detail was increased. Even my own attempt of generating a 3D model and slicing it in a standard slicer was taking hours.

I realized that to achieve my goals for this project, I would have to write my own slicer from scratch. The first main hurdle was reverse engineering the proprietary file format used by my resin 3D printer. After that, I developed an algorith for turning elevation data into machine code efficiently. Finally I created a user interface to be able to select regions to print, adjust settings, and layout prints on the print bed. There are too many pieces to this software to describe here. Developing it requrired everything from parallel algorithms to computer graphics. In other words, a ton of fun!