tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52143927164487003232024-03-08T03:04:18.710-08:00PeQUODP<small><sup>e</sup></small>QUOD is an online travel journal across digital design and architecture --- held by Vincenzo Reale | since 2010Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5214392716448700323.post-44709292439694456902010-11-15T19:55:00.000-08:002015-10-01T02:14:30.409-07:00( Iso )_Communication THESIS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31C7-uLYI/AAAAAAAAAz4/xOtC29qV_jI/s800/000.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31C7-uLYI/AAAAAAAAAz4/xOtC29qV_jI/s800/000.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
“(Iso)Communication, tensional integrities and intensive connections through a peripheral park of Bologna" is the title of my composition project at Bologna University, in which themes such as tensegrity, form-finding, material and structural properties of complex systems, parameterization of physical behaviours, interaction of surfaces and components with external force fields, rapid prototyping techniques were discussed, in the search of elegance through a perpetual dialectics of complexity and refinement.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31D42_HqI/AAAAAAAAAz8/u9GsyipOWx0/s800/001.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31D42_HqI/AAAAAAAAAz8/u9GsyipOWx0/s800/001.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
I have to say that all this work was made possible thanks to the help of outstanding and high profile people I had the fortune to meet. My thesis supervisors prof.<a href="http://ale2x72.blogspot.com/">Alessio Erioli</a>, who introduced me to the contemporary techniques of designing and gave me an incredible amount of hints and suggestion, and <a href="http://www.ldvc.net/">Ludovico Lombardi</a> who also helped me with his precious advice. All the undergraduates I share opinions and thoughts with (you can see many of them in the right link columns) and my classmates <a href="http://alessandrozompa.altervista.org/">Alessandro Zomparelli</a> and Mario Da Deppo for their incredible assistance. I think that a lot of very very interesting works (I don’t know if mine is so interesting) came from that ambient and these people and I believe is a very honourable matter in an Italian university which is almost completely forgotten by politics and lacks of almost everything these days. Hope these things will change someday..<br />
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Anyway, the entire thesis process took me about a year so, even tensegrity is becoming a common topic nowadays, when I started to think about it was not so common in architectural thesis.<br />
I would not publish the entire thesis text here for space reason, but I am providing a file on Issuu with the <a href="http://issuu.com/revink/docs/tesi_-_isocomunicazione_issuu">printed part in Italian</a> (less but different images in it). I will translate it completely when I will have some time or requests. I have to say that I would like to have a real publication but I have no clues about it, so if you have any suggestion I will appreciate and be thankful. <br />
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[You can find more pictures about my thesis both on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/revink/sets/">Flickr </a>and <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Revink/Iso_CommunicationTHESIS#">Picasa</a>.]<br />
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[Scripts may be not optimized but I tested them all before publish the post, and they do work. So you can try them and let me know what you think about]<br />
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This is the thesis abstract:<br />
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“ISO: a combining form meaning “equal,” used in the formation of compound words: isochromatic; [..]<br />
Communication: a process by which information is exchanged through a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviour [..] the various methods of sending information between people and places. <br />
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You may recognize how the lack or failure of "communication", intended as an exchange of information and data in complex systems, is a potential cause of the paralysis, stagnation or necrosis of the systems themselves.<br />
The definition of hyper connected systems, where, each time a channel is prevented, others become automatically activated and competitive, or where different channels operate simultaneously, even in non-critical situations, enables them to provide not only optimal performances (albeit potentially less effective than a single “ad hoc” solution) but also adaptable and dynamic responses to other external stimuli, and leads to more globally efficient solutions.<br />
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The Park (“Parco dei pini”) in Pontelungo (a suburb of Bologna) shows a chronic lack of communication between the parts that make up the system. Several critical issues come from this lack (degradation, abandonment, social dangerousness, etc. ...). The goal then becomes to define a sustainable and highly connected system that weaves the different parts of the site and develops their potential, ending critical situations and creating a series of dynamic interactions that lead to positive mutations.<br />
The hyper-connection is translated in breaking down visible / invisible barriers which create discontinuities in the area, in developing landmarks, shelters and crossing paths where these are lacking, but also in the definition of a hyper-connected constructive system, where the efforts to which the structure is locally subjected are distributed globally across the whole architectonical organism making it flexible and resistant to the changing of external conditions.”<br />
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The definition of the project starts from the needs expressed by Iceberg Notice, involving the Pontelungo’s area on the outskirts of Bologna. The notice points out how the PSC (Structural City Plan) has selected a number of central places particularly relevant to ensure and enhance the liveability of Bologna at the scale of neighborhood.<br />
Pontelungo and its park were recognized as an area with potentialities to be developed in order to achieve a better level of life for its inhabitants and for the whole city as well. <br />
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The area is about six kilometres from the inner city of Bologna and it is connected to it trough a main thoroughfare (via Emilia) and well served with public transport (buses). In front of its park there is a little station of a local train line. <br />
The park is not viewed by the neighborhood as a place for aggregation but it is lived as a scar in the city fabric because it has been abandoned and it is considered dangerous, always almost completely desert, as photo analysis can depict. <br />
It is divided in two parts. The upper part is not accessible for the inhabitants because of artesian aquifers managed by a private company. It has been planned to be re-open in about ten years. <br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOHNwcyB3xI/AAAAAAAAA94/CwhQtY0Byxw/s800/001.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOHNwcyB3xI/AAAAAAAAA94/CwhQtY0Byxw/s640/001.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31FKWXTZI/AAAAAAAAA0A/xO3Fq8ZCWno/s800/002.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31FKWXTZI/AAAAAAAAA0A/xO3Fq8ZCWno/s800/002.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
The lower part is the only walkable, and inside there is a very small theatre. <br />
The whole park lacks of organization, there are no landmarks and no possibilities to have an orientation inside it, to recognize the paths, the entrances. This causes an overwhelming feeling of abandonment. <br />
All around there are many residential buildings, a school, a supermarket, a distillery, a post office and a police station, that is services and a living social fabric rich of potentialities. <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31Fir_68I/AAAAAAAAA0E/ktzum3mVKPE/s800/003.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31Fir_68I/AAAAAAAAA0E/ktzum3mVKPE/s800/003.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31GJBXHJI/AAAAAAAAA0I/AGDUFjzTmZ4/s800/003b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN31GJBXHJI/AAAAAAAAA0I/AGDUFjzTmZ4/s800/003b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
I tried to simulate the flows of people and the power of attraction of the different activities with a magnetic/electric paradigm, considering two situation. The first, external, where the activities were negative attractors and the entrances to the park were the positive ones, and a second, internal, where the entrances were negative and the theatre was the positive attractor. And then, overlapping the results, you can see how the magnetic fields created by these configurations depict two different non-interacting situation, due to the peripheral position of the park’s entrances and the lack of internal activities. <br />
This very useful script is not mine but comes from the mcneel site, you can find it <a href="http://wiki.mcneel.com/labs/electricfieldsimulation">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34L82EkiI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/qXFHjMaufsQ/s800/004.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34L82EkiI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/qXFHjMaufsQ/s640/004.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34M2bE1MI/AAAAAAAAA0U/O87U0JrL3YE/s800/005.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34M2bE1MI/AAAAAAAAA0U/O87U0JrL3YE/s800/005.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Later on I made a 3d model of the entire area (ground, buildings and tree, detailed cad maps of them where provided by the municipality) and started some solar analysis. I considered different solar condition: the two equinoxes and the solstices. As you can see, even if there are a lot of trees they are not well distributed, creating very closed areas and scattered clearings, irradiated by the sun. <br />
As output I collected shading values in specific points and solar radiation as a surface of values, which covers the whole area. A good software to do this kind of analysis is Ecotect ® (you can find a product trial <a href="http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13140016">here</a>) which, as I will say later, has also the possibility to work in cooperation with rhino, either with rhinoscript or other plugins.<br />
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To reduce the loss of time spent in repetitive operations you can write very simple scripts to let the program do the work. This is a script that copies and places a selected object, as a block with a selected base point, in new positions defined by a point cloud: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaZmYzYzE4YTMtMTIzOS00ZmU1LWIzMzktNjJkZDZlNzBjNGMw&export=download&authkey=CKr4lPsI&hl=en">blocks positioning. rvb</a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34NnMWa-I/AAAAAAAAA0Y/QGURxY-StIc/s800/006.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34NnMWa-I/AAAAAAAAA0Y/QGURxY-StIc/s800/006.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34OGYbT0I/AAAAAAAAA0c/sh3p53BM04c/s800/007.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34OGYbT0I/AAAAAAAAA0c/sh3p53BM04c/s800/007.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34Opn3vOI/AAAAAAAAA0g/ppYebN-evpg/s800/008.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN34Opn3vOI/AAAAAAAAA0g/ppYebN-evpg/s800/008.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Finally I managed to define a trees representation that would have given an image and be a map of the site arboreal conditions through different periods of the year. <br />
I had a map of trees, but it was only a bunch of points. So, and here scripting came in help again, I decided to draw line within trees respecting proximity rules (enough close - draw a line, too distant - do noting). Modifying the threshold I defined a map visualization of the growing vegetation, and the clearings as well, during different times in a year (seasons). This is the scripting files: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaMzZhZTdmYWYtYjhjYy00YmIzLWI0YjYtMWQwMmZiODEyNGU5&export=download&authkey=CIiX9vAK&hl=en">proximity lines.rvb</a> <br />
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Automating simple tasks can give you very nice feedbacks not only in 3d modelling. And they can be even better if you run the script and then make some post production exporting the data to a 2d graphic vector software (Adobe Illustrator is the most famous one, but you can also find open source and free software such as <a href="http://inkscape.org/">Inkscape </a>).<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EB1AGOLI/AAAAAAAAA0s/9VeIHnFdtLg/s800/009.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EB1AGOLI/AAAAAAAAA0s/9VeIHnFdtLg/s800/009.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EDE9DEnI/AAAAAAAAA0w/LjOM9gOCdsU/s800/010.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EDE9DEnI/AAAAAAAAA0w/LjOM9gOCdsU/s800/010.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Then I had to use these collected data. Firstly I designed simple line to connect the entrances (current and future ones) and some points of interest inside the park (nice views, children spaces, clearings, theatre entrance, park entrance, train station, etc..). <br />
Then I wrote a script to design a pavilion’s profile, with a minimum and a maximum section assigned (width but also height) and link it to the points of interest proximity AND the irradiation values (taken from the testing surface). <br />
Also the main profile line was forced to modify its path in search of the most irradiated areas. This way I could have a path growing while crossing the clearings and the most crowded places, and reducing itself while approaching the thicker trees areas.<br />
With a strong changing of thresholds values I reached different results, similar to the line interaction between trees.<br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EDpHYonI/AAAAAAAAA00/A2U1MXHv-Vs/s800/010b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EDpHYonI/AAAAAAAAA00/A2U1MXHv-Vs/s640/010b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EEaib6PI/AAAAAAAAA04/MQYD7Ayn7BQ/s800/011.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EEaib6PI/AAAAAAAAA04/MQYD7Ayn7BQ/s640/011.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
At that point I added another rule: if the pavilion section encounters single trees on its way it should lower and move to let the tree outside the pavilion, and if it was close to an interesting view its border should rise to point out to it or, when both the border were sufficiently close, to create a passage. Different rules of interaction (written as equation with distance as unknown value) gave different results.<br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EE6P7b7I/AAAAAAAAA08/PsFeQpvdJ7k/s800/012.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4EE6P7b7I/AAAAAAAAA08/PsFeQpvdJ7k/s800/012.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4FcVXOrkI/AAAAAAAAA1E/M3ZNHOp2-xY/s800/013b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4FcVXOrkI/AAAAAAAAA1E/M3ZNHOp2-xY/s640/013b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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This script raise a line in its part nearest with one or more points: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaNTZmMGEwMmItMjFiNS00MzhlLWE1Y2EtODRiMDYxODc2ODg0&export=download&authkey=CPePtPkC&hl=en">raise borders.rvb</a> <br />
And this one makes sections through planar borders and modifies them with their proximity to attractors (trees) and repellers (points of interest): <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaOWJjZDU1ODEtNTQzZi00MTQ5LWJmMDUtYzJkYjIwZTE2ODRm&export=download&authkey=CLPa8dYC&hl=en">designing pavilion.rvb</a> <br />
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Here some samples.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4FczoRKaI/AAAAAAAAA1I/waqKjvxPARo/s800/014.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4FczoRKaI/AAAAAAAAA1I/waqKjvxPARo/s640/014.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4Fdzt35eI/AAAAAAAAA1M/mMdUYoUHs8o/s800/015b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4Fdzt35eI/AAAAAAAAA1M/mMdUYoUHs8o/s640/015b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Then I interpolated results trying to design a coherent spatial system in which determined activities take place within new paths and connections. I also tried to link the spatial organization with the possible park’s users: the neighbourhood inhabitants, people from other parts of the city who come to the theatre and, once inside the system, magnetized by other activities and, finally, school children which live the park as a collection of entertainments and opportunities.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4Fe0BR6yI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/1vPx4Jf6OxE/s800/016b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4Fe0BR6yI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/1vPx4Jf6OxE/s640/016b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4FgtFl-oI/AAAAAAAAA1U/1To_b9BgR5E/s800/017.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4FgtFl-oI/AAAAAAAAA1U/1To_b9BgR5E/s800/017.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IEkfkt6I/AAAAAAAAA1g/P65zVMeZ5nQ/s800/018.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IEkfkt6I/AAAAAAAAA1g/P65zVMeZ5nQ/s640/018.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Here some pieces of pavilion.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IFZJrpWI/AAAAAAAAA1k/xu5R9_-OCro/s800/018b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IFZJrpWI/AAAAAAAAA1k/xu5R9_-OCro/s640/018b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IGbuSgQI/AAAAAAAAA1o/H5l0CElXGU8/s800/019b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IGbuSgQI/AAAAAAAAA1o/H5l0CElXGU8/s640/019b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IG8BsWvI/AAAAAAAAA1s/_M3tyRrbsBk/s800/020b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IG8BsWvI/AAAAAAAAA1s/_M3tyRrbsBk/s800/020b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
The hyper connections of paths suggests me the idea of an interlaced structural system, and this led me to deepen my knowledge about “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity">tensegrity</a>”<br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IHevW9II/AAAAAAAAA1w/jA-HwHla7gs/s800/023.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TN4IHevW9II/AAAAAAAAA1w/jA-HwHla7gs/s640/023.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Trying to be short (for more links see the bibliography)<br />
There are many definitions adopted for the term "tensional integrity" or "tensegrity".<br />
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One of the first statement defined tensegrity as a structural principle relying on the use of isolated compressed elements connected by a continuous network of stretched components. We can say that it is actually a physical mechanism rather than a type of structure. The term, with this meaning, was coined by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller">Richard Buckminster Fuller</a> in 1955, even though in the same years David Georges Emmerich and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Snelson">Kenneth D. Snelson</a> formulated the same concept. While the first two tried to systematize the subject and define the strict mathematical properties of such systems, the latter was entrusted to a more empirical approach, with which he created a series of "floating " sculptures (an incredible example <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23128100@N00/2095528315/">here</a>. <br />
The term derives from the union of the two words "tension" and "integrity" and means that the integrity of this class of structures depends on the balance between tensions diffuse on them. <br />
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All structures in the universe are subjected to the interaction of forces of tension and compression. Cutting, bending, twisting are nothing but the combination of these basic forces. We usually consider buildings as structures that rely primarily on compression for their stability: the brick wall is the classic example. It stands thanks to compression ("continuous compression), given by gravity, which moves from one brick to another from the top to the ground. The lower the brick is the more compressed it is, supporting the weight of the bricks over it (there is not an optimal distribution of load on different components). No one asks how much a brick wall, or a building, weights. The weight is rarely a consideration in structures which work with continuous compression (even if we take weight into account in special cases, for example to determine stresses under dynamic conditions, such as under an earthquake). <br />
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A tensegrity system works in a completely different way. <br />
I found a very interesting this example which is really clarifying: to understand the behaviour of this kind of systems we have to look at two very different buildings : the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument">Washington Memorial</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(tower)">Skylon</a>. <br />
The first, the obelisk erected in the U.S. capital to commemorate George Washington, consists of a series of marble blocks stacked one on another. It stands because of its weight, working in continuous compression, just as the brick wall .<br />
The second was a sculpture erected during the Festival of Britain near London's South Bank in 1951. Before the festival there had been a competition for the construction of a vertical structure, and architects Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya had drawn the “Skylon”, which was selected as the best proposal and eventually constructed. It was sixty meters high, a tapered shape of aluminium, suspended by three wires nearly invisible and it seemed to float at seven meters above the ground.<br />
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The feeling of ephemeral stability that it conveyed came from its particular configuration of stable equilibrium, in which the aluminium fuse 'weighted', tightening the cables which sustained it from the bottom and, simultaneously, continuously, compressed it from the top. In this way the element is fully compressed and isolated while the cables are completely stretched and continuous.<br />
This kind of systems has many advantages, among others, adaptability to stresses and sudden return to previous equilibrium configurations once stresses decrease, independence from gravity for their stability (they are stable even in absence of gravity), redistribution of local efforts at a global level, etc. ..<br />
While in everyday buildings the constructive system of the Washington Memorial is prevalent, if we analyze how bodies of living beings are actually "built”, in a realm where evolution fixed very strict limits to the weight (that involves an agility decrease and eventually a limitation of survival possibilities), we can see that “continuous compression” is not the winning choice.<br />
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We can find plenty of biological tensegrity‘s examples in biological world: in the mast of a plant (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frei_Otto">Frei Otto</a> did some very interesting experiments about it, you can see some of its models remade by students <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonhefel/sets/72157603611599880/">here</a>, work and pictures by Jonh Efel, I thank him to let me use them) with compressed segments and tense tracheids; in the neck of an Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus) , with a length of about ten meters, made of compressed vertebrae and tense muscles; in the neck of a mammal like a horse or the in human vertebral column, as I will explain.<br />
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Our vertebral column, when we are standing, runs into the direction of gravity, while in the other quadruped mammals the two directions are perpendicular, showing a different set of issues to be solved differently, but almost by the exact same set of muscles and bones of our relatives.<br />
Looking at the front of a human vertebral column we realize it is a bad candidate to carry the weight of the whole body: it is composed of spongy bone interspersed with elastic compressible discs. The posterior section of the spine, the neural arch, consists of more solid bone bristling with spinous, transverse, and articular processes ("process" in anatomy means a protrusion or bony outgrowth, such as the human vertebrae’s ones). Is it perhaps more reliable? <br />
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Different models have been defined to approximate the behaviour of our vertebral column, although it can be said that establishing a complete mechanism is a really complex task.<br />
Anyway, even with approximations, we can consider vertebrae as compressed segments with the processes (protuberances), called neural arches, throughout. The strings or cables (muscles and tendons) are attached to these segments so that vertebrae do not touch each others. <br />
Some parts of an upper segment’s process fall under the superior processes of the closest lower segment, otherwise the structure would be outside the laws of physics, rather than simply seeming to be (and working in a similar Skylon manner). <br />
The edges of the processes are attached from segment to segment: increasing the tension makes the structure becomes shorter and the compressed segments closer to each others, while releasing it makes the segments distance (there is not a continuity of compression).<br />
The spinous and transverse processes of the vertebrae provide a number of holds for the attachment of muscles that surround the column. These muscles form three different patterns:<br />
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a) muscles intertransversarii: moving from one transverse process to another, one segment at a time, from top to bottom of the vertebral column.<br />
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b) the muscles interspinous: running from a spinous process to another, one segment at a time.<br />
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Both these two sets run parallel to the spine.<br />
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c) the rotatores muscles: running from the spinous process of a vertebra to the two transverse processes of the lower one. The short rotatores cover only a segment, while the long ones cover two segments, from the spinous process of a vertebra to the transverses of a one two segments below.<br />
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The outer layers of muscles (such as the multifidus muscle, the semipinalis and erector spinae muscles) repeat this pattern in a similar manner, covering more and more segments, till the longest ones that run along all the column.<br />
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The vertebrae are in this way interconnected and thanks to rotatores muscles create that mechanism that we have previously examined: like the Skylon each vertebra weights on ligaments anchored to the previous one but is simultaneously compressed by ligaments anchored to the next one. So we have a series of floating, compressed elements held together by a continuous web of tense members.<br />
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The definition of components started from the morphology’s analysis of the human vertebrae: how they modify themselves from the sacrum to the first cervical and how they remain similar to each others. Modifications arise due to different position and different roles that every different vertebra sustains. <br />
For example the change their sectional inertia depending from their position, or their change of scale (the higher vertebrae are smaller, weight less, and less compact). <br />
There are also similarity like the constant presence of processes, as I have already said, the attachments for muscles and tendons. We can find similarity not only in the morphology of the singular vertebra but also in the spatial relationship between one of them and another (the upper spinous process and the processes below for example). <br />
I tried to simplify as possible the rules of interaction to have the simplest model. To begin with I designed the component as a tubular element with four pieces, fitting inside a tetrahedron. The variations were the inertia of the component (e.g. how much the two “wings” moved from the starting position) and the relative position between one component and another (distance, angle). With a simple repetition and linear links between the elements, I defined a first kind of structure, growing in parallel lines with a constant law (linked to the proximity to a point) throughout a path. <br />
Here is the script: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaOWM0Njg0NzEtZjA1Yi00M2YyLTk5YzctN2E3NzBjZmJhZWY1&export=download&authkey=CKvz19sC&hl=en">component 000 along curve.rvb</a> <br />
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To test the coherence of this kind of behaviour a physical model was defined. Its morphology resembles these just described: tetrahedrical with an internal part almost compressed (I have to point out that even in this kind of components there are bending and curling effects between different parts) and a continuous wire. The model was designed with rhinoceros trying to have simplest bi-dimensional pieces. Because I do not own a laser cutter it was cut in wood manually with the help of a carpenter, and later sprayed with white paint. The two dimensional layers crossed creates a sort of three dimensional tetrahedron. The wire is plastic fishing line. Depending on the tension of the wire the column lifts, bends, changes its curvature and can even become almost horizontal. <br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOEYysdR3tI/AAAAAAAAA3E/TTQm4H-QK9I/s800/037b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOEYysdR3tI/AAAAAAAAA3E/TTQm4H-QK9I/s800/037b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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After the physical test a more complex component, still tetrahedrical, was develop and its spreading was conceived not only in a linear way but also in space to create an enclosing surface. Different values for relative positions, angles, distances and also scale created different effects. <br />
This is the single element: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaY2Q2M2Y4NDktY2E1Yy00Y2Q2LWJhNWUtNWRlNGEyYjhkNDRj&export=download&authkey=COClocUK&hl=en">series 001.rvb</a><br />
And this is the spreading: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaYmQyZTVkZmItOWIwNi00MjY3LWIyYWQtNGE5YjUyOGYyMzRi&export=download&authkey=COGKs5cH&hl=en">series 001 spreading.rvb</a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOEYx89RD8I/AAAAAAAAA3A/GhxPfRyOxGM/s800/037.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOEYx89RD8I/AAAAAAAAA3A/GhxPfRyOxGM/s800/037.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
The next step was to develop tense components as surfaces and not as wires. To achieve this results the lines connecting a piece to another were substituted by membranes. And the membranes were shaped to reduce their impact both on material amount and porosity of the structure.<br />
You can see it here: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaMjhmMjVlNmEtMTc5NS00MTU1LWI0OGUtZDc0Y2VlMDQxMjFl&export=download&authkey=CMX6mooC&hl=en">series 002.rvb</a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFqCvAhjfI/AAAAAAAAA4s/7bfreBW6RE0/s800/038.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFqCvAhjfI/AAAAAAAAA4s/7bfreBW6RE0/s800/038.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFqDRmtnrI/AAAAAAAAA4w/yamVyz3irb8/s800/039.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFqDRmtnrI/AAAAAAAAA4w/yamVyz3irb8/s800/039.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Another innovation was to link porosity to the constructive system. <br />
These very useful scripts written by atelier nGai were implemented to let rhinoscript interact with ecotect: <a href="http://www.tedngai.net/experiments/ecotect-mesh-2.html">first</a>, <a href="http://www.tedngai.net/experiments/ecotect-mesh.html">second</a>. <br />
Nowadays there are other programs (like <a href="http://utos.blogspot.com/2010/05/geco.html">geco</a>) which allow you to combine ecotect with rhinoceros or with its plugins (in the case of geco with grasshopper), but doing it with rhinoscript code was anyway useful. <br />
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I had to provide a mesh surface, as obj or dwg, and to export it from rhino to ecotect. In ecotect I run solar analysis on the surface and follow the instructions from atelier ngai to save the results in an excel file. <br />
Finally I let rhino read the document and import the values of solar incidence for every component. <br />
It was also important to set a threshold of values for porosity, and link the maximum dimension of apertures to the maximum value of the solar incidence from analysis and the same for the minimum one. <br />
The porosity attribute was implemented directly on the component, like panels fitted on it, creating a structure with different degrees of permeability.<br />
Here two examples of panels with different degrees of porosity.<br />
The first one with simple lofted holes: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaMWZlMjczMjAtNmE5My00NTYyLWJjYmUtMjFjZDcyYWEyMzll&export=download&authkey=COTaz_gF&hl=en">porosity experiment 001.rvb</a> <br />
The second one with simple surfaces thought to be re-meshed, and also nice graphs of attributes: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaMmZjMWNlYTMtNjRiMy00ZjJjLWE1MWYtYmNiNmEyMWIwYzA5&export=download&authkey=CMmh5LUH&hl=en">porosity experiment 002.rvb</a> <br />
And the link between structural element and panel : <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaMTZkNmZjNzctMjJhOC00Y2M4LWJlYzQtMjNlZmUxMDI0ZDM4&export=download&authkey=CKWliqgI&hl=en">series 003.rvb</a><br />
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[N.B. about scripting techniques: while I firstly make components inside a tetrahedron later I preferred to fit them inside boxes, because it was easier to spread a surface with them. The secret is to define the corners of the boxes and, using vectors, let surfaces always fall inside it. To do so you have to subdivide the main box with planes defined with vector operations. For example take a box with base face’s corners named A-B-C-D. Top face’s corners are E-F-G-H. To define a plane in the mid of the box every corner of this plane is the subtraction of the lower vector from the upper vector divided by two and then added again to the lower vector. To find the first corner is something like: (E – A ) scaled by ½ and + A. I think it is one of the most important things I learnt about scripting, if you understand it you can define exactly any lines or point (from the plane you have defined) and draw a component always inside the borders of a box.]<br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFqDg4GFEI/AAAAAAAAA40/BA0-6Eu3Pgw/s800/039bb.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFqDg4GFEI/AAAAAAAAA40/BA0-6Eu3Pgw/s800/039bb.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFroPRHraI/AAAAAAAAA48/JyD8th1RRng/s800/040.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFroPRHraI/AAAAAAAAA48/JyD8th1RRng/s800/040.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
The last step was to modify a little the component, trying to make it more “elegant”. <br />
So I simplified the element trying to incorporate in it the panel modulation and the porosity, weaving the structural part and the exterior surface together in a coherent system. <br />
This kind of component was firstly applied on a planar surface and then on a curved one. The effect resembled in some way biological world’s shapes, but the interesting thing about it was that this resemblance was not mimetic but “came out” from itself, being the rules underneath it similar to the ones underneath biological organisms.<br />
Last element: <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaYTUwMjFkM2QtNzEyMC00YzkxLTllM2ItYWIzMjBkOWM4OWNk&export=download&authkey=CIbXyCk&hl=en">series 004.rvb</a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFrolqpjiI/AAAAAAAAA5A/hEGHFHwSadA/s800/041.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFrolqpjiI/AAAAAAAAA5A/hEGHFHwSadA/s800/041.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFrpOrMwEI/AAAAAAAAA5E/zSoNMQLmwXE/s800/042.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFrpOrMwEI/AAAAAAAAA5E/zSoNMQLmwXE/s800/042.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFrp8wI3QI/AAAAAAAAA5I/LhYNBntupiU/s800/043.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFrp8wI3QI/AAAAAAAAA5I/LhYNBntupiU/s800/043.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFtzcqBXFI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/QSva24Amz7Q/s800/045.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFtzcqBXFI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/QSva24Amz7Q/s800/045.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFt0GdyQsI/AAAAAAAAA5U/VlE-oyGVhsE/s800/046.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFt0GdyQsI/AAAAAAAAA5U/VlE-oyGVhsE/s800/046.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
On a curved surface, every stripe is like an arch.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFt1MBdHDI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/nQZCppG08qc/s800/047.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFt1MBdHDI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/nQZCppG08qc/s800/047.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFt1bDj4bI/AAAAAAAAA5c/VSiljKlpm6A/s800/048.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFt1bDj4bI/AAAAAAAAA5c/VSiljKlpm6A/s800/048.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFt1-uxEKI/AAAAAAAAA5g/AtMc5uR4VbM/s800/049.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFt1-uxEKI/AAAAAAAAA5g/AtMc5uR4VbM/s800/049.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxTr_T92I/AAAAAAAAA5s/WW2ESj7xm9I/s800/050.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxTr_T92I/AAAAAAAAA5s/WW2ESj7xm9I/s800/050.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxUdT70cI/AAAAAAAAA5w/hwjZE3csRj0/s800/050b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxUdT70cI/AAAAAAAAA5w/hwjZE3csRj0/s800/050b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
An experiment to test light diffusion from inside the pavilion.<br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxUzZ9HvI/AAAAAAAAA50/kGMnOoNa6d0/s800/051.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxUzZ9HvI/AAAAAAAAA50/kGMnOoNa6d0/s800/051.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
About "elegance" in designing I will not enter in philosophical topics here but I found very interesting the essay by Patrick Schumacher you can find <a href="http://www.patrikschumacher.com/Texts/Engineering%20Elegance.html">here</a>. Inspiring and helpful not only as a dissertation on the nature of arts and architecture but for the analysis and the definition of an artistic/architectonical process of creation. It deals about what we perceive as “elegant” (but you can use other word to describe a coherent and attractive element, filled with a subtle logic you cannot understand at the first glance but you can feel it immediately), its design that comes out from a long, recursive, studied, process, and the concurrent presence in it of both complexity and simplicity.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxVXxFN3I/AAAAAAAAA54/_srC5tUdYp4/s800/052.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxVXxFN3I/AAAAAAAAA54/_srC5tUdYp4/s800/052.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxWuwG78I/AAAAAAAAA58/sCpNl1_XDQQ/s800/052b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFxWuwG78I/AAAAAAAAA58/sCpNl1_XDQQ/s800/052b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Finally the components was applied to the lower part of the Pontelungo’s pavilion, and linked to the data collected. Another interesting thing was that the surface, now differentiated in porosity degree and surface effects, kept offering multiple and alternative paths and choices for the experience and the crossing of the park (people could walk inside, outside, across, over and under the surface). <br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFyXLf7QlI/AAAAAAAAA6A/Ax19aO8jM34/s800/054.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOFyXLf7QlI/AAAAAAAAA6A/Ax19aO8jM34/s800/054.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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Some photomatches.<br />
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In the end the physical modelling of a real piece of this architecture. This process was very stressing because I had to fought with a very long list of accidents. <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF1OZlISdI/AAAAAAAAA68/FT71Ymw8sIY/s800/067.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF1OZlISdI/AAAAAAAAA68/FT71Ymw8sIY/s800/067.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
The main problem, as I pointed out in the previous post was the NON MANIFOLDS need for a printable model. What usually happens is that in a very complex model you could have made somewhere a mistake you are not able to correct anymore, or you could not find it anywhere. <br />
Secondly it may occurs that when you convert nurbs to meshes the program you are using makes some mistakes or inaccuracy (so I suggest you, if you would like to print your model, to try avoiding nurbs as much as you can). <br />
Now, I found some tricks and I will share them with you, hope if you read this they will be helpful to spare you a lot of time (I lost a very huge amount of time on this!).<br />
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The process is: have your model with nurbs and whatever you want (you should have worked before to have it closed and non-manifold as much as you could). <br />
Always take the model near the origin and set rhino tolerance to mm (small objects). <br />
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[ Apart from non manifold problems you should check that your model has not parts thinner than the minimum tolerance of the printer you will use (look <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/3dprintingminimumwallthicknesstutorial">here </a>for example)<br />
And remember there is a maximum amount of polygons that are printable at one times, I think it is because printing software cannot handle too complex model. You have to think about the possibility to split your model in parts, and I strongly suggest you (I did not do it and it caused other losses of time) to create something like a groove or a joint or an external piece (less elegant) to have the different parts properly fit together. ]<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF2bYk4bqI/AAAAAAAAA7I/QLV3El97JnQ/s800/088b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF2bYk4bqI/AAAAAAAAA7I/QLV3El97JnQ/s800/088b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF2b3nX2UI/AAAAAAAAA7M/TOTuNLbtb7s/s800/088c.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF2b3nX2UI/AAAAAAAAA7M/TOTuNLbtb7s/s800/088c.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Then unify your model the rhino command. Mesh it with the minimum amount of faces without losing details. You have to do some tries, <a href="http://wiki.mcneel.com/rhino/meshsettings">here</a> what the rhino settings means.<br />
Maybe it is not completely correct nut I uncheck all the boxes and let only jagged seams, it is a kind of paradox but lately it worked. <br />
<br />
After doing that there is <a href="http://www.rhino3d.com/4/help/commands/checkrepair-meshes.htm">these group of commands</a> I suggest you to apply iteratively (you can write a macro and let rhino do them for you for a certain number of time, obviously the first, the second, the third, etc and the again the first, the second, hope you had already catch this :) <br />
if the model change its shape do the command manually and evaluate if one of them creates particular problems. <br />
<br />
I have just founded but not yet tried this two plugins that may come into use:<br />
<a href="http://wiki.mcneel.com/labs/meshrepair">first</a> and <a href="http://wiki.mcneel.com/labs/meshstuff">second</a>.<br />
<br />
THEN you have to export the object. Wavefront (.obj) is a good output.<br />
Now open blender and import the object. Click on it with the right button, press “Tab”, press “w” and “remove all doubles”. <br />
There could be still manifolds problem, the bright side is that blender recognizes them better then rhino. <br />
So, deselect all the vertices (press 'a'). Look at the bottom of the 3d window, above the button bar, and click<br />
“Select->Non Manifold”. <br />
Now the vertices counter will tell you how many vertices have this kind of problem. It is not a completely fine solution but I arranged to select groups of points very near to each other and collapse them (right click). If they are really close the geometry would not change, and it is one of the best solution I found. <br />
Otherwise you can try <br />
a) to hit “Ctrl + Alt + Shift + M “(all the non-manifold holes will be selected) then “F” to make faces and select “Auto” from the menu.<br />
b) understand if there is a problem in the parameterization of the model and starting again correcting it in rhino (visualizing the non-manifold elements in blender will help you to find mistakes).<br />
c) try again with different exportation values, sometimes some problems are fixed automatically (but you have to be very lucky).<br />
<br />
If your model is now ok for blender export it (always in .obj format) and import it with <a href="http://www.netfabb.com/basic.php">Netfabb</a> (the basic version of the program is free).<br />
Netfabb has an high quality repair system so if you feel lucky you can avoid the rhino commands part, and the blender one as well, import the .obj from rhino to Netfabb and repairing it directly. If it works yes, you are lucky.<br />
Once imported the object click on it. On the right top there is a “+” sign, click on it and perform some repair until no more invalid pieces are found. Then apply the repair, right clicking on the name of the object in the window. Finally right click on the object name and click on “export as stl”.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF1PRZUJBI/AAAAAAAAA7A/4KNVzppg4nI/s800/088.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF1PRZUJBI/AAAAAAAAA7A/4KNVzppg4nI/s800/088.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
If everything is allright you can send it to your printer. I have already said I used <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/">shapeways</a>, and, except for a little delay in delivery timing, everything was ok and cheaper compared to all the prices I found on the internet. <br />
You have to register and upload your model to their site, if it is printable it will be shown in a gallery with the price depending on the material you will chose for it. But beware that the first control of printability does not take in consideration the minimum thickness of the pieces. So you have to check it manually during the first steps, otherwise they will send you a very nice letter, some day after the order, telling you that your model is not printable at all and you have to fix the problem, and even if they try to help you, it will be another loss of time.<br />
<br />
[to look how it works this is <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/hisdesign?user_id=35026">my gallery</a>. As I left the possibility it you can also buy my model, in this case I didn’t put any extra on it but if you want you can open a sort of shop and sell your creations, and they will get the money via paypal]<br />
<br />
Hope this will need to you, knowing this things would have spare me a lot a problems..<br />
<br />
Anyway here is my beloved model. Firstly the two pieces unassembled.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF2cZ6eLPI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/7YT7EoMg1ns/s800/098b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF2cZ6eLPI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/7YT7EoMg1ns/s800/098b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF2dkM9OVI/AAAAAAAAA7U/fMXp8zFnhNE/s800/099b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF2dkM9OVI/AAAAAAAAA7U/fMXp8zFnhNE/s800/099b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF3k8T3JLI/AAAAAAAAA7g/tOK0F3ncg-w/s800/101b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF3k8T3JLI/AAAAAAAAA7g/tOK0F3ncg-w/s800/101b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF3m9XaxMI/AAAAAAAAA7o/y3GH3ia52AA/s800/102bb.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF3m9XaxMI/AAAAAAAAA7o/y3GH3ia52AA/s800/102bb.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF3ofz-hkI/AAAAAAAAA7s/tGiG1gvmjvY/s800/102bbb.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF3ofz-hkI/AAAAAAAAA7s/tGiG1gvmjvY/s800/102bbb.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF3pUdt_yI/AAAAAAAAA7w/mrZfBViEbbw/s800/103.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF3pUdt_yI/AAAAAAAAA7w/mrZfBViEbbw/s800/103.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF431r6o6I/AAAAAAAAA78/-xT5LC_YAqw/s800/103b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF431r6o6I/AAAAAAAAA78/-xT5LC_YAqw/s800/103b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF45qc-MDI/AAAAAAAAA8A/ad4mOkX2Pps/s800/110b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF45qc-MDI/AAAAAAAAA8A/ad4mOkX2Pps/s800/110b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
And then assembled.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF46hf4HQI/AAAAAAAAA8E/ZthxiZKqvvg/s800/111.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF46hf4HQI/AAAAAAAAA8E/ZthxiZKqvvg/s800/111.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF47uq_DLI/AAAAAAAAA8I/VTmkVFubcXk/s800/114b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF47uq_DLI/AAAAAAAAA8I/VTmkVFubcXk/s800/114b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF48eA5w1I/AAAAAAAAA8M/ql28HymgOsQ/s800/115b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF48eA5w1I/AAAAAAAAA8M/ql28HymgOsQ/s800/115b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF7-Nn4K_I/AAAAAAAAA8Y/bR90OB2mvyc/s800/119b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF7-Nn4K_I/AAAAAAAAA8Y/bR90OB2mvyc/s800/119b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF7-yC-alI/AAAAAAAAA8c/y6JK2R62pBk/s800/121b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF7-yC-alI/AAAAAAAAA8c/y6JK2R62pBk/s800/121b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF8ALmH0BI/AAAAAAAAA8g/EeGnLMXK3G4/s800/122b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF8ALmH0BI/AAAAAAAAA8g/EeGnLMXK3G4/s800/122b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF8BAA5jZI/AAAAAAAAA8k/5n7pRLDjt88/s800/122bb.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF8BAA5jZI/AAAAAAAAA8k/5n7pRLDjt88/s800/122bb.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF8CNzw98I/AAAAAAAAA8o/1LSj2xJaXHI/s800/123b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF8CNzw98I/AAAAAAAAA8o/1LSj2xJaXHI/s800/123b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9U7F1vrI/AAAAAAAAA8w/PAqu_hJcSQY/s800/124b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9U7F1vrI/AAAAAAAAA8w/PAqu_hJcSQY/s800/124b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
I have to say I was very pleased that my model was commented on <a href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/supermodel.html">a page of Bdlg blog</a>. <br />
And I also suggest to visit <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ale2x72/sets/72157624833382750/">my supervisor’s page on flickr</a> where you can find also picture of other student’s models.<br />
<br />
Finally I put the model on a black plexiglass base.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9WO8ef8I/AAAAAAAAA80/3Em81mFUh_U/s800/125b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9WO8ef8I/AAAAAAAAA80/3Em81mFUh_U/s800/125b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9XJNxsfI/AAAAAAAAA84/Ey7mrlK1Pkg/s800/125bb.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9XJNxsfI/AAAAAAAAA84/Ey7mrlK1Pkg/s800/125bb.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9Yb1JReI/AAAAAAAAA88/NV4Nex4czak/s800/125bc.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9Yb1JReI/AAAAAAAAA88/NV4Nex4czak/s800/125bc.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9ZR5ZSsI/AAAAAAAAA9A/la7CMaSrLac/s800/125d.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF9ZR5ZSsI/AAAAAAAAA9A/la7CMaSrLac/s800/125d.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF-BDNBvZI/AAAAAAAAA9I/3pS_a7ySBYQ/s800/126.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF-BDNBvZI/AAAAAAAAA9I/3pS_a7ySBYQ/s800/126.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Finally some lighting experiment.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOH9CneW3zI/AAAAAAAAA-A/tgmqUcAKOck/s800/_126aa.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOH9CneW3zI/AAAAAAAAA-A/tgmqUcAKOck/s800/_126aa.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOH-QkK4hKI/AAAAAAAAA-U/Zng1G_BxeIk/s800/_126a.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOH-QkK4hKI/AAAAAAAAA-U/Zng1G_BxeIk/s800/_126a.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF-DAcw2NI/AAAAAAAAA9U/7y2EHJEeZUw/s800/126b.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TOF-DAcw2NI/AAAAAAAAA9U/7y2EHJEeZUw/s800/126b.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
Here is a short bibliography. (Apart from tensegrity, interesting lectures about contemporary architecture's thoughts and strategies)<br />
<br />
AADRL, Ten, AA publications, 2010 London<br />
BOUMAN Ole, 3d>2d: The Designers Republic’s Adventures in and Out of Architecture, Te Neues Publishing Company, 2001<br />
BURKHARDTR. W., A Practical Guide to Tensegrity Design, Copyright 2004-2008 P.O. Box 426164, Cambridge, MA 02142-0021<br />
BURKHARDT, R.W., A Technology for Designing Tensegrity Domes and Spheres, [on-line], Cambridge (USA) http://www.channel1.com/users/bobwb/prospect/prospect.htm#sec<br />
CAPON Brian, Botanica, Edagricole, Milano, 1999<br />
CHANDANA PAUL, Evolutionary Form Finding of Tensegrity Structures, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Cornell University, Ithaca, 1997<br />
D’ARCY Wentworth Thompson, On Growth and Form, Dover reprint, Mineola, 1992<br />
DELANDA Manuel, War in the Age of Intelligent Machines, Zone Books, New York 1992.<br />
FERRE Albert, Verb Natures: Architectural Boogazine (Actar’s Boogazine); Architecture <br />
Boogazine edition 2007<br />
FULLER R.B. Synergetics, Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., New York, 1975<br />
GOLDFINGER Eliot, Animal Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004<br />
HENSEL Michael, MENGES Achim, Morpho-ecologies, Architectural Association, London, 2006<br />
INGBERG Donald E., Cellular tensegrity: defining new rules of biological design that govern<br />
cytoskeleton, Journal of Cell Science, No.104, pp.613-627, 1993<br />
INGBERG Donald E., Tensegrity I. Cell structure and hierarchical systems biology”. Journal of Cell Science, No.116, pp.1157-1173, 2003<br />
INGBERG Donald E., Tensegrity II. How structural networks influence cellular information processing networks, Journal of Cell Science, No.116, pp.1397 -1408, 2003<br />
JAUREGUI Valentín Gómez, Tensegrity Structures and their Application to Architecture, thesis Submitted to the School of Architecture, Queen’s University, Belfast<br />
JOHNSON Steven, La nuova scienza dei sistemi emergenti, Garzanti, Milano, 2004<br />
KERCKHOVE Derrick de, The Architecture of Intelligence (The Information Technology Revolution in Architecture), Birkhäuser, Basel, 2001<br />
KOLAREVIC Branko, Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing, Taylor & Francis; London, 2005<br />
LEVIN, S.M. “Continuous Tension, Discontinuous Compression. A Mode for Biomechanical Support of the Body”, Bulletin of Structural Integration, Rolf Institute, Bolder. Reperibile anche su http://www.biotensegrity.com<br />
LUTTGE Ulrich, KLUGE manfred, BAUER gabriela, Botanica, Zanichelli, Bologna, 1997<br />
LYNN Gregg Animate Form (Hardcover)Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1999)<br />
MOTRO R., Tensegrity: Structural Systems for the Future, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006<br />
MUNARI Bruno, Design e comunicazione visiva, Laterza, Roma, 2006<br />
MUNARI Bruno, Da cosa nasce cosa. Appunti per una metodologia progettuale, Laterza, Roma, 2006<br />
MYERS T.W., Anatomy Trains, Churchill Livingstone edition, Edinburgh 2001<br />
RAISER Jesse, Atlas of novel tectonics, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2006<br />
RUTTEN David, RhinoScript for Rhinocerous 4.0, Robert McNeel & Associates, 2007<br />
SCHUMACHER Patrik, Arguing for Elegance, published in: Elegance, AD (Architectural Design), January/February 2007<br />
SNELSON, K. (1990) “Letter from Kenneth Snelson” to R.Motro, International Journal of Space Structures, 1990, seperibile anche su http://www.grunch.net/snelson/rmoto.html. <br />
VENTURI Robert, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, Harry N. Abrams, New York 1977<br />
<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity<br />
http://www.childrenshospital.org/research/Site2029/mainpageS2029P23sublevel24.html<br />
http://georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vp.html<br />
http://www.childrenshospital.org/dream/DrmRsch04/mechanical_p.html<br />
http://www.tensegridad.es/<br />
http://www.anatomytrains.com/explore/tensegrity<br />
http://www.comune.bologna.it/comune/psc.php<br />
<br />
Finally, as always, a slideshow with images from the thesis (thanks to <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.myspace.com/marastu">Marastu</a> for the music, Inception soundtrack remix, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marastu/130116953667281">on facebook</a>)<br />
<br />
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Hope this was interesting for you, if you have any question, comment or whatever do not hesitate to contact me.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5214392716448700323.post-53532530318871309642010-10-12T08:54:00.000-07:002010-10-12T10:16:16.707-07:00a_3days SCRIPTING<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_h1uD6qI/AAAAAAAAAYU/xQbK8XmFB1s/s800/COVER.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_h1uD6qI/AAAAAAAAAYU/xQbK8XmFB1s/s800/COVER.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />This post started as an attempt to clearing up some old surface stuffs (rhinoscript codes) I have posted about a year ago in the university's blog <a href="http://dig-t-a.blogspot.com/2009/05/chapter-1-textures.html">Dig.T.A.</a> . <br />My first idea was to have the same surfaces but scripted in a clever way, eventually all of them "printable" (a) but it turns into "I can do this better / I can do some more stuff, yes I can" and I spent some time to make new of them (b). Actually the whole process (considering the render part) took me a week (7-days working) but the scripting part was quite fast (3 days and an half).<br /><br />(a) First digression: to be "printable" by someone who owns a 3d printer and is so nice to print your model (even he is nice because you pay for it) your model must be "non manifolds". You can read the wiki for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifold">"manifold</a>", just to be short it means that every corner of your solid must shared by two and only two meshes (not three for example). And, I forgot to say, you print meshes, not nurbs. So the procedure is: make a script (for example with rhinoscript in rhino), have the model, transform your something model into a mesh faced model, control that the object is non manifold and closed (think of it as a closed envelop you can fill it with some kind of material and the material should not come out it), export the model into .obj or .3ds file, check it again and eventually smooth it for example in <a href="http://www.blender.org/">blender</a>, put it into some software like <a href="http://www.netfabb.com/basic.php">netfabb </a> for the last printing check and eventually last repair, send the <br />model to the nice guy who can print it (I found the guys of <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/things-to-keep-in-mind">shapeways</a>, even if they sent my thesis model with a little delay which lead me to paranoia because of my discussion approaching, are the best in town, for price and quality, but you can send it to whoever you want, for example that guy in Bologna who asked for the same piece ten times shapeways asked me:)<br /><br />(b) Second digression: it is very VERY easy to loose control of what are you doing while you script. To be clear I strongly believe you should understand this basic concept "scripting could free you from the slavery of cad tool's interfaces and limits, but remember not to become slave of scripting". Namely always remember that in everything that involves creativity (I mean EVERYTHING : from cutting your hairs and cooking for friends to drafting, sketching, drawing, writing, architecturing something) what REALLY matter is not the tool you use, it is not how cool is your scissors, pots, sketchbook, laptop etc.. BUT the IDEA that stands underneath what you are doing. And even if the process is a cool process this could lead you to a not so <br />clever/interesting/astonishing output. I could say what matter is an idea that succeeds in becoming a creative/interesting/astonishing OUTPUT. A professor I had the fortune to meet told me, changing an old Italian motto that "in our job we JUDGE the book by its cover". <br />Do you think it is an easy process? It is not. Moreover, while you are drawing you <br />can stop yourself at this point (an astonishing piece of art), but when you come to <br />architecture you should also think if what you are doing actually “works”, and if it “works” in a <br />proper way. So there are a lot more of variables: spaces distribution, building <br />work flow, energy saving, etc. etc. etc.<br />And here another strong point of scripting: if you are good enough you can use this <br />kind of digital tools to take count also of a lot of problems (for example energy, <br />exposition, shading problems) in a more complex way than simply thinking about it with a pencil and a sheet of paper.<br />But REMEMBER, (and this should be my last advice): you should not think about doing <br />ONLY a nice-looking building (the one that looks good in the render) as well as you <br />should not think having the most functional building (it doesn't exist one, anyway) and ugly one BUT (I think) you should have in mind that every creative piece of <br />"art" (or piece is good you put your efforts on) is a COHERENT ONE.<br />So about the aspects and the function (old architecture argument), they do not come <br />alone, they are linked each others and I believe we should think they are judge one to the other. So coherent-innovative-beautiful-possible worlds I would like we all will be the architect of.<br /><br />Having said that I took only three days on scripting, so I could not come with a complete architectural project. You have to think about these pieces as glimpses of a process, and also this starting of it is a “false start”, because there is no project idea underneath it. To widen your knowledge about creative process I recommend to you the book “Design and visual communication” by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Munari">Bruno Munari</a>, hope there are English version of it, I only found <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Design-as-Art-ebook/dp/B002RI9E0A/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1286900196&sr=8-13">this</a>.<br /><br />The complete file for surfaces is <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaOGYwMjU4NDgtZGYyYy00YTA4LTk1NWQtNTkzNWExZTdjNDBj&export=download&authkey=COXa3KwK&hl=en">Tesselation01-05.rvb</a><br /><br />Let's do a little explanation of them, in the reference to the script<br /><br />First of all I managed to create a surface editor, so you can choose a surface to “tessellate” or you can insert an equation and its dominion and let the script create the surface itself. Here some example (the equation should be something like z = f (x,y), hope you studied a lot of math)<br />[CREATE SURFACE].<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO3sXdfYxI/AAAAAAAAAUk/T9vgyCydA2U/s800/%286%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO3sXdfYxI/AAAAAAAAAUk/T9vgyCydA2U/s800/%286%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />After this a very simple subdivision and tessellation with squares that approximate the original surface. This is not “printable” at the moment [TESSELATION0x1].<br /><br />Then I decided to transform the surface creating cubes on it with different heights, and the height of each cube should be randomize. The difficult task was now to create the non-manifold closed surfaces because each of the cube should have lateral and non-overlapping faces. I managed to do it this way (first defining the bottom and top surfaces and their points[TESSELATION01], then drawing lateral faces within the points[TESSELATION02]).<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO3slT78II/AAAAAAAAAUo/3ROb7KJy8qs/s800/%287%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO3slT78II/AAAAAAAAAUo/3ROb7KJy8qs/s800/%287%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO3s06ZN8I/AAAAAAAAAUs/VTnpJhqPOi0/s800/%288%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO3s06ZN8I/AAAAAAAAAUs/VTnpJhqPOi0/s800/%288%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The second one is already printable.<br />Then some variation: having holes inside the cubes (and still let the surface be printable) [TESSELATIONx3]and also link the size of the holes to the proximity with one or more attraction points[TESSELATION03]. <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO3tBahzWI/AAAAAAAAAUw/SwGb0HIodiQ/s800/%289%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO3tBahzWI/AAAAAAAAAUw/SwGb0HIodiQ/s800/%289%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLSMCTIl3eI/AAAAAAAAAa4/vSYMyZt1-DE/s800/%2810%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLSMCTIl3eI/AAAAAAAAAa4/vSYMyZt1-DE/s800/%2810%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Another surface with hexagonal holes is [TESSELATION04], while I tried to have something more plastic with a surface covered with hexagonal elements [TESSELATION05], and in the end a simple honeycomb surface [TESSELATION06].<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO9qTEruNI/AAAAAAAAAVM/fRwG0yW5NGE/s800/%2811%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO9qTEruNI/AAAAAAAAAVM/fRwG0yW5NGE/s800/%2811%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO9sfdP7WI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/hqQqMxmjzKM/s800/%2812%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO9sfdP7WI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/hqQqMxmjzKM/s800/%2812%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO9umjYcBI/AAAAAAAAAVU/wzAhUjHMoR8/s800/%2813%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO9umjYcBI/AAAAAAAAAVU/wzAhUjHMoR8/s800/%2813%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO9xVQoY4I/AAAAAAAAAVY/MaMsg0tLb24/s800/%2814%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO9xVQoY4I/AAAAAAAAAVY/MaMsg0tLb24/s800/%2814%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO908UP-zI/AAAAAAAAAVg/CDMV73qKUIY/s800/%2816a%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO908UP-zI/AAAAAAAAAVg/CDMV73qKUIY/s800/%2816a%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Some glimpses of structures with honeycomb tesselation a little smoothed.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO92tjOfBI/AAAAAAAAAVo/BE1-_EMwiUE/s800/%2817%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO92tjOfBI/AAAAAAAAAVo/BE1-_EMwiUE/s800/%2817%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO94RQASuI/AAAAAAAAAVs/Wi3LMfLC960/s800/%2818%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO94RQASuI/AAAAAAAAAVs/Wi3LMfLC960/s800/%2818%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO97C80mFI/AAAAAAAAAVw/rbhefzA0BTE/s800/%2819%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO97C80mFI/AAAAAAAAAVw/rbhefzA0BTE/s800/%2819%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Then while I was working a friends of mine showed me <a href="http://fine-art-prints-store.com/product_info.php?products_id=876">this works</a> of the photographer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Blossfeldt">Karl Blossfeld</a>, made in the early 1900s, and I thought to insert another element to the tessellation, this stem-like element and to make it reactive to the attractive points.<br />So I defined a design for the upper part of the flower with these two section rotating along an axis (changing proportion, angle of rotation, diameter of elements). <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-CuDilFI/AAAAAAAAAV4/g-1Lx0jiQMc/s800/%2820%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-CuDilFI/AAAAAAAAAV4/g-1Lx0jiQMc/s800/%2820%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-E0NiJPI/AAAAAAAAAV8/Ekn-ZEHD6Ik/s800/%2821%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-E0NiJPI/AAAAAAAAAV8/Ekn-ZEHD6Ik/s800/%2821%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-I70pLsI/AAAAAAAAAWE/VxWcH9ddq6A/s800/%2823%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-I70pLsI/AAAAAAAAAWE/VxWcH9ddq6A/s800/%2823%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-LNcAmhI/AAAAAAAAAWI/KDwnDw07o44/s800/%2824%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-LNcAmhI/AAAAAAAAAWI/KDwnDw07o44/s800/%2824%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-NiO5Q5I/AAAAAAAAAWM/tOcehMmPlPk/s800/%2825%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-NiO5Q5I/AAAAAAAAAWM/tOcehMmPlPk/s800/%2825%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I liked the way I did the flower part, it made me think of something like a tower. So I made three simple scripts that made grown a set of these towers along a surface. The first simply put them in a geometrical order (scaling them by position on the surface), the second use link the grow to the distance from attractor points, and the third made generations of tower using the rules of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automata">cellular automata</a> (it is easier than it sounds, only a recursive script where you put some rules for every point/element) and making them bigger the big the “colony” it is. <br /><br />The spreading file is <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaNjgyNzg5NDQtZGRjYy00NzU1LWEwZTgtYmQ4ZjMxOTA2MzYx&export=download&authkey=COKCxeAM&hl=en">cities generation.rvb</a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLSOios2r6I/AAAAAAAAAbE/BWZuCmDIFxg/s800/%2828%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLSOios2r6I/AAAAAAAAAbE/BWZuCmDIFxg/s800/%2828%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-XIippPI/AAAAAAAAAWc/LRfuhburfvM/s800/%2829%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-XIippPI/AAAAAAAAAWc/LRfuhburfvM/s800/%2829%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-dRN6BjI/AAAAAAAAAWk/dK-9iieqVMA/s800/%2830%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-dRN6BjI/AAAAAAAAAWk/dK-9iieqVMA/s800/%2830%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-f364bcI/AAAAAAAAAWo/JG6UsSkIBXA/s800/%2831%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-f364bcI/AAAAAAAAAWo/JG6UsSkIBXA/s800/%2831%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_0baUFwI/AAAAAAAAAY4/EWlIQxogG9k/s800/%2832%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_0baUFwI/AAAAAAAAAY4/EWlIQxogG9k/s800/%2832%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_3SW3fdI/AAAAAAAAAY8/iCrIgAspot8/s800/%2833%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_3SW3fdI/AAAAAAAAAY8/iCrIgAspot8/s800/%2833%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_6XzLrxI/AAAAAAAAAZA/IMZcqF9io8g/s800/%2834%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_6XzLrxI/AAAAAAAAAZA/IMZcqF9io8g/s800/%2834%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-ipE0JWI/AAAAAAAAAWs/6yWPBh9gYGI/s800/%2835%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-ipE0JWI/AAAAAAAAAWs/6yWPBh9gYGI/s800/%2835%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-lKU-jqI/AAAAAAAAAWw/qw1o4NJf0JY/s800/%2836%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-lKU-jqI/AAAAAAAAAWw/qw1o4NJf0JY/s800/%2836%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />It reminded me something like the invisible cities by Italo Calvino, or a scene from Neil Gaiman' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_(Vertigo)">Sandman</a>, when the lord of dreams approaches the gates of hell. Anyway..<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-rRSYBgI/AAAAAAAAAW4/skKH83DciCc/s800/%2838%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-rRSYBgI/AAAAAAAAAW4/skKH83DciCc/s800/%2838%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-vY2sQMI/AAAAAAAAAW8/XjAITwMdlDc/s800/%2839%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-vY2sQMI/AAAAAAAAAW8/XjAITwMdlDc/s800/%2839%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Now the problem of having a surface blooming with those kind of flowers had to be subdivided in steps. Firstly: defining the stem part, that is defining curve (eventually under the influence of some attractors) and the sections for each steps of the curve. The difficult task in this part was to define these sections without loosing their shape. So I defined the relative position of the section points at the start of the curve, and keep it while translating the different sections. I also added the possibility to change the scale of the sections. In the end designing the top part and verify that all the “flower” is close and printable (like an obsession). <br /><br />After all these step I had to insert this code into the previous one, and check if all the variables where ok. That's it!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-3VvelAI/AAAAAAAAAXM/r-SXQ3Qzwyk/s800/%2841%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-3VvelAI/AAAAAAAAAXM/r-SXQ3Qzwyk/s800/%2841%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-6SlMHKI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/vmp2mpiQDKg/s800/%2842%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-6SlMHKI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/vmp2mpiQDKg/s800/%2842%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-8r47dyI/AAAAAAAAAXU/htFCrXyuciY/s800/%2843%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-8r47dyI/AAAAAAAAAXU/htFCrXyuciY/s800/%2843%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-_KukSUI/AAAAAAAAAXY/j2l83qbzFcs/s800/%2844%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO-_KukSUI/AAAAAAAAAXY/j2l83qbzFcs/s800/%2844%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_BGf0bOI/AAAAAAAAAXc/FeGr_nbQ6TU/s800/%2845b%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_BGf0bOI/AAAAAAAAAXc/FeGr_nbQ6TU/s800/%2845b%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />You can find all the process in the file <a href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3-YNx46-JjaNTU0ZmM0NTUtNDc2My00OGU4LWIwN2YtYWE0M2M5ZjIzNTk2&export=download&authkey=CJqK3pAJ&hl=en">HoneyBloomingSurface.rvb</a> (I have to apologize because this one is a little messy, didn't have the time to tidy it up, but you can do it if you want to!)<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_GHWbMfI/AAAAAAAAAXk/gv51QQ95SBE/s800/%2848%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_GHWbMfI/AAAAAAAAAXk/gv51QQ95SBE/s800/%2848%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_t5t5vgI/AAAAAAAAAYs/lskh5UNUEUQ/s800/%2847%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_t5t5vgI/AAAAAAAAAYs/lskh5UNUEUQ/s800/%2847%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_xqpXX_I/AAAAAAAAAY0/mGcDGkld73w/s800/%2846%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_xqpXX_I/AAAAAAAAAY0/mGcDGkld73w/s800/%2846%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_JfCw_BI/AAAAAAAAAXo/dxiCk2Jh7Bw/s800/%2849%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_JfCw_BI/AAAAAAAAAXo/dxiCk2Jh7Bw/s800/%2849%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_Tm3ZYEI/AAAAAAAAAX4/FKVQqAYGS7w/s800/%2850b%29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TLO_Tm3ZYEI/AAAAAAAAAX4/FKVQqAYGS7w/s800/%2850b%29.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Nice, isn't it? It is also printable! Maybe I will send it to shapeways and let you see some pics. Anyway I left intentionally open a part of the surface in two pictures to let you see how it works inside.<br /><br />So I taught you another trick: SUBDIVIDE your problems will help you to focus on them. Then later you will have to link all the part, but if you have designed it well it would be easy. And this is another trick: design or sketch the complete list of steps you should have to get the final result before starting anything else. If you come to the script with an almost complete idea of what you are going to do it will be easy to get to it. Even if..<br /><br />1.Another important aspect of digital tools is that you can gets something unexpected, and (sometimes) it could looks a good solution. So you can use scripting also for researching solution. But I recommend you not to rely too much on it. In other words I think when you take this kind of approach you should plan in a very strict way the “rules of the game” and then run the script watching different non-predictable way to solve the problem and the possible variations. I think the process will be more fertile the more you limit/define the random part. Then you can come with very interesting results<br />2.My approach (taking the picture of a flower and putting it inside the script just to look it nice) is obviously just an explanation of a process and in any way I believe this can lead to something interesting in the field of architecture. The main reason you see plenty of people looking at natural system and trying to translate them into architecture with digital tools is because we can recognize that natural systems are COHERENT (!) systems where the function and the ornaments come together to define the form of the structures (the good guys think this way). So I would look to a flower and trying to translate the spacial feelings that the envelope of petals creates and how its forms interact with all the other natural systems and how the petals get stronger and thicker in the regions near the stems. In the end I could have an architecture that completely does not look like a flower but has the same behaviour and the same strong points, as well as the same elegance (the elegance does not come without subtle but omnipresent rules). This is a difference between mimetic architecture and a deeper approach to nature and digital tools.<br /><br />In the end, as you can see, I meshed all the surfaces and put them to <a href="http://www.blender.org/">blender </a>(that is one of the best program in the world, even user-unfriendly, and we should all thank everyone who made it possible and free). So (remembering to put rhino tolerance to a very very low value, small object mm, and always having your work near the origin, trying with the script to use as much as you can “addsurfpoints” command, and not nurbs) mesh the model, export it to obj (the less faces you can get to approximate it the best it is), go to blender, import it, select it with the right button, press “tab”, press “w”, remove all the doubles, and now try with adding a subsurf modifier, then apply it and export the model if you wish to.<br /><br /><br /> <div style="text-align:center;"><object style="background-image:url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/JCAoAKwSyxo/hqdefault.jpg)" width="320" height="266"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JCAoAKwSyxo?fs=1&hl=it_IT"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JCAoAKwSyxo?fs=1&hl=it_IT" width="320" height="266" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br /><br />I hope this was helpful to you, and to the digital-world knowledge. I think it is very important to share our works so everyone of us can have the possibility to grow more and more in a global scenario. Let me know what you think about it, see you, and remember to be creative!<br /><br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5214392716448700323.post-43063057718901222252010-08-31T16:16:00.001-07:002010-09-01T10:41:25.466-07:00Spicole_ a design DRAFT<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CJLzzE7I/AAAAAAAAAN4/pYWW61TkcyA/s800/modelling%2010.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CJLzzE7I/AAAAAAAAAN4/pYWW61TkcyA/s800/modelling%2010.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Now, here we are with this second post that involves a study for a structural system that should have resembled the structural behaviour of the spicules ("spicole" in Italian), structural elements found in most sponges. <br /><br />"They provide structural support and deter predators. Large spicules, visible to the naked eye are referred to as megascleres, while smaller, microscopic ones are termed microscleres." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponge_spicule">wikipedia</a><br /><br />This study remained only a draft and stopped before involving digital modelling and testing tools, but I think that some suggestions from this work were nice and I decided to share it anyway. It was prepared during preliminary studies for my thesis project under the supervision of prof.eng.<a href="http://ale2x72.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">Alessio Erioli</span></a><br /><br />I was fascinating by the spicule's behaviour after reading about on "Growth and Form" by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (I strongly recommend reading this book, you can find it easily, i.e. on Amazon).<br />What is interesting is that spicules are not a primary building material but only the results of cells’ secretion wich becomes, after depositing, structural and envelope a space even when cells who formed it are dead or have been disgregated.<br /><br />I firstly built a conceptual model for a bi-dimensional joint using the form of a base spicule. It divides the space in three sectors with an angle of 120 degrees. <br />I observed that modifying the dimention of the “fibres” connecting different spicules even if the main body could be considered as fixed element the network can develop through different space directions.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2FXyOOSGI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/UBLRrSsPA0g/s800/tavola%2001.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2FXyOOSGI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/UBLRrSsPA0g/s800/tavola%2001.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Then I tried with different base configurations. Cellular disposition influences the way spicules form. The planar disposition of three cells creates a texture with spicules linked in 120 angles one another. In space the disposition of three cells creates tethraedrical spicules. The angle of 109° (called “Maraldi Angle” as D’Arcy Thompson underline) is the same we can found in the bottom of honeycomb cells and is like the top part of a rhombic dodecaedron. The way cells pack in space influences the formation of the spicules. It may happen that, instead of a tetrahedrical packing, cells assemble themselves in a cubic packing. In this case the angle between every “branch” of a spicule will be of 90 degrees. <br />Different configurations define not only different angles but also a different spatial accumulation and disposition. So while in the first case we had only three branches we can also have four, five and also six branches (in the cubic disposition).<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2FYDlaNaI/AAAAAAAAAOU/08-bsFqBiZg/s800/tavola%2002.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2FYDlaNaI/AAAAAAAAAOU/08-bsFqBiZg/s800/tavola%2002.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />As some calcareous taxa were found either loose in, attached to, trapped within or engulfing parts of the meshwork of spicules’ deposits ( Crithionina, Gaudryina, Karreriella, Placopsilina, cf. Tritaxis, Trochammina, Islandiella, Lobatula and Ramulina) I suggested that void spaces that spicules create might be covered with forms or surfaces.<br />I also defined an ipotetical behaviour from an initial condition that could have been later developed in a digital script.<br />So, from an initial number of points in space (00), that might have been positionated with a predefined manner, a L-sistem branching could have started (in the picture is 2-dimensional but it should be in space). After a certain number of generation, if the end of two branches were closer enough they could have linked and stopped the proliferation (or not?). There might have been the influence of one or more attractors in the proliferation direction and lenght.<br />Also the formation of different tipes of spicule forms could have been either random or influenced.<br />When all the branches had formed an almost close network, surfaces could have spread over the structure, and their disposition and form, even their opacity could have been defined through attractors.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2FYR_LeiI/AAAAAAAAAOY/uTd-pzCireE/s800/tavola%2003.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2FYR_LeiI/AAAAAAAAAOY/uTd-pzCireE/s800/tavola%2003.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Then to physical modelling. To reproduce the functioning I went to the ironmongery and I bought a lot of thin pipes of different diameters and a lot of wire. I tried firstly to evaluate the behaviour of the plastic tubes (torsion, compression, traction) and the possibility to create the conceptual base form I had defined previous. Then the links between different base forms.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH1896Kd5rI/AAAAAAAAANE/w6CjFbmJwyQ/s800/tavola%2004.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH1896Kd5rI/AAAAAAAAANE/w6CjFbmJwyQ/s800/tavola%2004.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Starting from singular joints, then linking, then develop more and more articulated structured. Let them growing from the simplest to the most complicated.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2Mx_4Fd1I/AAAAAAAAAPA/iBRe5F0rDUo/s800/modelling%2012.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2Mx_4Fd1I/AAAAAAAAAPA/iBRe5F0rDUo/s800/modelling%2012.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CIT7LHlI/AAAAAAAAANs/IAKfjh0tTME/s800/modelling%2008.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CIT7LHlI/AAAAAAAAANs/IAKfjh0tTME/s800/modelling%2008.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CIvidgUI/AAAAAAAAANw/qA6GkD4I5K8/s800/modelling%2009.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CIvidgUI/AAAAAAAAANw/qA6GkD4I5K8/s800/modelling%2009.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CIa1B5hI/AAAAAAAAANo/Z3a8WtWho-Q/s800/modelling%2007.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CIa1B5hI/AAAAAAAAANo/Z3a8WtWho-Q/s800/modelling%2007.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CI8iknMI/AAAAAAAAAN0/5PVEoFVu9O4/s800/modelling%2011.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2CI8iknMI/AAAAAAAAAN0/5PVEoFVu9O4/s800/modelling%2011.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />This was made to gather information and additional cues to develop the system. Finally I tried to catch some glimpses of what a structure of that kind could resembled.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2MyK0JTxI/AAAAAAAAAPE/60XH9uhoOew/s800/modelling%2001.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2MyK0JTxI/AAAAAAAAAPE/60XH9uhoOew/s800/modelling%2001.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2MydPHsNI/AAAAAAAAAPI/b27Xs7O1w9Q/s800/modelling%2002.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2MydPHsNI/AAAAAAAAAPI/b27Xs7O1w9Q/s800/modelling%2002.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2MyiMGMnI/AAAAAAAAAPM/TGOkw4cLs20/s800/modelling%2003.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2MyiMGMnI/AAAAAAAAAPM/TGOkw4cLs20/s800/modelling%2003.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2NDPgrQ3I/AAAAAAAAAPU/RiD8AhKq0_o/s800/modelling%2006.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2NDPgrQ3I/AAAAAAAAAPU/RiD8AhKq0_o/s800/modelling%2006.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2My0FWUbI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/-jKi3Nc_oFg/s800/modelling%2004.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/TH2My0FWUbI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/-jKi3Nc_oFg/s800/modelling%2004.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I know it is an uncompleted work, as I have alredy said, but some ideas and possible developments appeared interesting to me. Here is a collection of photo from the modelling process.<br /><br /><br /> <div style="text-align:center;"><object style="background-image:url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/2tW9BqdB_xk/hqdefault.jpg)" width="320" height="266"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2tW9BqdB_xk?fs=1&hl=it_IT"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2tW9BqdB_xk?fs=1&hl=it_IT" width="320" height="266" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br /><br />Let me know what do you think about it!<br /><br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5214392716448700323.post-37043448940005946072010-05-05T19:14:00.001-07:002010-08-31T17:25:12.839-07:00Steve Reich_Eight Lines_Octet_VIDEO.<br />Let's begin with some music!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxPZe83mII/AAAAAAAAAMs/QjOxE8cJdFg/s800/04%20three%20elements%20b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxPZe83mII/AAAAAAAAAMs/QjOxE8cJdFg/s800/04%20three%20elements%20b.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br />This first post is about the concert performed on 23rd of February at the amazing Teatro Comunale, Bologna.<br /><br />I was asked by <span style="font-style:italic;">Fontana Mix Ensemble (<a href="http://www.fontanamix.it/EXITIME-04/FontanaMIX.html">http://www.fontanamix.it/EXITIME-04/FontanaMIX.html</a>)</span> to create a video to be projected during the play of the Steve Reich's Eight Lines - Octet. <br /><br />That kind of music, with a continuous thus evolving path made me think of a something growing and replicating, equal to itself but at the same time under a constant, subtle changing. So I started thinking and I made some storyboarding.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLHMcguI/AAAAAAAAAKs/mhL9l-Zxh58/s800/01%20storyboard.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLHMcguI/AAAAAAAAAKs/mhL9l-Zxh58/s800/01%20storyboard.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a> <br /><br />The animation was made with 3ds max, utilizing most keyframe and morphing tecniques and some modificators applied like noises to the forms. <br />The noise should in someway connect with the music rhythm, I would like the elments resonated with the music, and I discovered it is possible to tune the modificatore with an audio file, or even a microphone (due to the necessity of render the video I chose the first option, undestanding that the vibration would not be completely tuned with the execution, but I thought after all it wasn't strictly necessary doing it, it was just an influence) <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLQx-UoI/AAAAAAAAAKw/yz8oq5O3is0/s800/02%203ds.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLQx-UoI/AAAAAAAAAKw/yz8oq5O3is0/s800/02%203ds.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br />Here is what it looked like<br /><br /><br /> <div style="text-align:center;"><object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/y4dNsSyFWoo/hqdefault.jpg)" width="320" height="260"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/y4dNsSyFWoo?fs=1&hl=it_IT"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/y4dNsSyFWoo?fs=1&hl=it_IT" width="320" height="260" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br /><br />To make the element proliferate I create a "ghost" copy of the first one, with the same modificators, unhided it at a certain time, fistly overlapped to the former object and then gradually changing it's phasing and detaching from it to create a new independent element. <br /> <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLXR9a9I/AAAAAAAAAK0/sYFpFLixXq8/s800/02%20division%2001.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLXR9a9I/AAAAAAAAAK0/sYFpFLixXq8/s800/02%20division%2001.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLuOLZ_I/AAAAAAAAAK4/PrBtS_dn-ps/s800/02%20division%2002.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLuOLZ_I/AAAAAAAAAK4/PrBtS_dn-ps/s800/02%20division%2002.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLr_oOcI/AAAAAAAAAK8/o6Bsu9NESkI/s800/02%20division%2003.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxBLr_oOcI/AAAAAAAAAK8/o6Bsu9NESkI/s800/02%20division%2003.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxMvAGJj8I/AAAAAAAAALE/Z0SSF7iQyPI/s800/02%20division%2004.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxMvAGJj8I/AAAAAAAAALE/Z0SSF7iQyPI/s800/02%20division%2004.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br />While spreading I introduced a sort of interaction between elements at a particular moment, like a link to develop a new kind of organism before proliferating again.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxMwaJdijI/AAAAAAAAALQ/eZ0f5jbhacI/s800/03%20linking%2003.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxMwaJdijI/AAAAAAAAALQ/eZ0f5jbhacI/s800/03%20linking%2003.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxMwaJdijI/AAAAAAAAALQ/eZ0f5jbhacI/s800/03%20linking%2003.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxMwaJdijI/AAAAAAAAALQ/eZ0f5jbhacI/s800/03%20linking%2003.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxMwAk5QnI/AAAAAAAAALI/jAUd4-bZaks/s800/03%20linking%2001.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxMwAk5QnI/AAAAAAAAALI/jAUd4-bZaks/s800/03%20linking%2001.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br />Then I moved on with some new variation, also in object colors and reflections (everything using keyframe animation)<br /><br />The rendering took a long time (it was a 20 minutes movie, 25 frame for second with a resolution of 1024x768), about 24 hours, and it was made possible thanks to the patience, and the computer, of my iron friend ing. <span style="font-style:italic;">Mario Da Deppo</span>. Also very important technical tips from <span style="font-style:italic;">Alessandro "Zompa" Zomparelli (<a href="http://alessandrozompa.altervista.org/">http://alessandrozompa.altervista.org/</a>)</span><br /><br />Some tries<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object style="background-image:url(http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/wVD4trhMX7s/hqdefault.jpg)" width="320" height="260"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wVD4trhMX7s?fs=1&hl=it_IT"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wVD4trhMX7s?fs=1&hl=it_IT" width="320" height="260" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/Q1_fkAYEctU/hqdefault.jpg)" width="320" height="260"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q1_fkAYEctU?fs=1&hl=it_IT"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q1_fkAYEctU?fs=1&hl=it_IT" width="320" height="260" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br /><br />The video was played while the ensemble, conducted by <span style="font-style:italic;">Yoichi Sugiyama</span>, performed Steve Reich's piece. <br /><br />I was very satisfied about that.<br /><br />The link to the event (in which other various pieces where performed) can be found here <a href="http://www.fontanamix.it/EXITIME-05/IX.html">http://www.fontanamix.it/EXITIME-05/IX.html</a><br /><br />Here are some images of the events. You can see how cool and huge the theater is.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOnSQTwII/AAAAAAAAAMg/t69rZ9O5_PU/s800/04%20preparing.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOnSQTwII/AAAAAAAAAMg/t69rZ9O5_PU/s800/04%20preparing.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br />Some shot during the dress rehearsal<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOngdQXVI/AAAAAAAAAMk/SCOTlFJJChk/s800/04%20starting.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOngdQXVI/AAAAAAAAAMk/SCOTlFJJChk/s800/04%20starting.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxPM_AoGrI/AAAAAAAAAMo/m61UIuVFmZI/s800/04%20three%20elements.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxPM_AoGrI/AAAAAAAAAMo/m61UIuVFmZI/s800/04%20three%20elements.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOmx7hwrI/AAAAAAAAAMU/3diIX2JbWV8/s912/04%201%20element.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOmx7hwrI/AAAAAAAAAMU/3diIX2JbWV8/s912/04%201%20element.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOm65mQRI/AAAAAAAAAMY/X7j4xxd8cOA/s800/04%20five%20elements.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOm65mQRI/AAAAAAAAAMY/X7j4xxd8cOA/s800/04%20five%20elements.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOnB9p-AI/AAAAAAAAAMc/zUTww3_T4OU/s800/04%20last%20element.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_YLv1_pGBEP8/THxOnB9p-AI/AAAAAAAAAMc/zUTww3_T4OU/s800/04%20last%20element.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br /><br />And last but not least two little video excerpts!<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object style="background-image:url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/R5kdxTOPYLc/hqdefault.jpg)" width="320" height="260"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R5kdxTOPYLc?fs=1&hl=it_IT"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R5kdxTOPYLc?fs=1&hl=it_IT" width="320" height="260" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object style="background-image:url(http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/G1DGB8E9FjE/hqdefault.jpg)" width="320" height="260"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/G1DGB8E9FjE?fs=1&hl=it_IT"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/G1DGB8E9FjE?fs=1&hl=it_IT" width="320" height="260" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br /><br />Hope you liked the work, I will enjoy to receive your feedbacks!<br />[you can find this and more videos on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/revinkkk">my youtube channel</a> <br /><br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5214392716448700323.post-39623524361201457822010-05-05T15:16:00.001-07:002010-11-23T05:21:25.318-08:00BERESCITFirst post _ Hello Everyone!<br />
<br />
This is <a href="http://pquod.blogspot.com/">P(e)quod blog</a> run by <a href="http://pquod.blogspot.com/">Vincenzo Reale</a>, owner and founder.<br />
<br />
This blog is under creative commons copirights <br />
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 UnportedUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1