Digital design – Drifting to the product
This is an excerpt from the essay on jewelry I’m preparing.
A Canadian student has sent me an expertise request, so I decided to share this section of the essay, where I talk about 3D modeling tools and how they can/can’t affect the design process and the final product.
ShareWhat happens to a product “affected” by technology? The result is not easily predictable as it is not the product itself that is actually technology-driven, it’s the designer.
A skilled goldsmith/jeweler knows exactly all the secrets of traditional (analogic) making tools and all the properties of the materials (metals and gemstones). On his side, a skilled digital designer and maker must know all the secrets of:
- digital 3d modeling
- 3d printing
- digital 3d making
as well as
- analogic (traditional handmade) product finishing
and he must run through the whole design process (from concept to final product) always considering what materials he wants to use in the different phases.
Let’s say that the designer is skilled, meaning he has full knowledge and comprehension of all the tricks of digital fabrication. Let’s concentrate on the 3d modeling phase, where uncontrolled technology can be dangerous.
So for example we have a designer that can use Rhinoceros (or any other 3d modeling tool): the result (the jewel) is not necessarily bad, as a 3d modeling software is just an aid, a digital tool instead of an analogic one. In this case, the problem is how much traditional making experience the designer has got.
As long as the digital designer is skilled enough, being somehow a “digital evolution” of a traditional designer, the product will most probably be an erudite mix of design and technology, which is not bad at all!
But if a) the digital designer is a “novice” in terms of traditional jewelry/goldsmith techniques and materials, and/or b) the designer has no idea of what product he’s going to design, technology can easily become the leading/unique “technique”, thus producing only shapes whose value tends to be the mere value of metals and gemstones.
So it takes a skilled designer/maker to drive the technology.Let’s move along and talk about generative/parametric modeling with Grasshopper, Paracloud GEM, Processing, etc.
Basically it’s just the same: if you’re skilled enough you know exactly where, when and how to use such tools, be it Grasshopper, Processing or whatever.
Take once again Nervous System: they study natural forms, which usually means natural patterns, and patterns usually lead to algorithms. Computer are based on algorithms, so Nervous’ totally technological approach to jewelry (design jewelry of course), made of digital pictures, math studies, processing sketches, 3d printed models and 3d making is more than appropriate.
Another nice (non-jewelry) example: Iris van Herpen’s dresses.
My concerns with this kind of tools arise when designers have the compulsive urge of being generative/parametric.
Recently I have seen a Grasshopper definition with dozens of sliders to control dozens of parameters: I tried to imagine how much time that person has spent on Grasshopper to develop such a definition, probably months of work from draft to refinements. Well, that definition draws a set of 3 surfaces that usually takes *seconds* to model, probably half the time needed by that person to draw few section curves, reference them into Grasshopper and then adjust all the sliders.
Is that definition absolutely necessary? Is it producing an extra value in terms of modeling time or model quality? Does that definition have some commercial value? I don’t think so. This kind of work, in the end, is just a nice exercise.
The fact that you can use Grasshopper to parameterize the model doesn’t necessarily mean you need to parameterize the model, in any case not a simple model or a model that doesn’t need parameterization.The internet is full of renderings of generative/parametric designs, but pictures are one in a million. IMHO, 90% of generative/parametric designs on the internet is pure exercise, a way to improve one’s skills and/or prove one’s skills to someone else, possibly hr managers!
Finally, regarding my work as a teacher (considering only my courses for jewelry), I usually work with university students and goldsmiths.
Students are absolutely prepared to use 3d tools for jewelry, but of course their designs tend to be more technology-driven.
As regards goldsmiths that come to my ARTC for training, I love them! They have the right knowledge and soon after the course they do their best to integrate 3d tools with traditional processes. My work with goldsmiths doesn’t end with the course: I always give free support to people requesting for expertise, especially goldsmiths that have attended my courses. And it’s a work in progress, they always ask for the best way to solve a modeling problem or achieve a result. My blog shows some jewels made by one of these goldsmiths using Rhino: nothing special in the end, the jewels look like handmade jewels… but this is exactly the point!I don’t believe these tools are or can be at all an issue: they’re just tools. A bad product is bad not because of the tool but because of its design.
You can use Grasshopper for your designs and it won’t make them better or worse, just like driving a Ferrari or a Fiat 500 doesn’t make you any safer if you don’t observe the rules of the road.
The rules of the road make you travel safe.
Knowledge and experience (and a bit of good taste) tend to generate good designs, no matter what tools you use.
In: design, fabrication, industrial design, jewelry, prototyping · Tagged with: artc roma, cad/cam, fabrication, fine jewelry, Grasshopper, industrial design, jewellery
Help us keep ART Network free
Hi!
ART Network – RhinoART.info is actually a quite succesfull blog, with thousands of visits from all around the globe.
This blog is maintained by me, and due to personal reasons I’m deciding whether to keep this blog alive or quit it within a month.
I don’t like asking for money and I don’t want to ask for donations, therefore I’ve put on an adsense widget in the right column with some links that may not refer to Rhinoceros and/or McNeel stuff, yet they give some cents for each click you place.
So please, when you visit this blog, just click on the links appearing in the “Adsense” widget in the right column and help me keep this blog alive and free!!!
Thank you!
G
Rhinoceros + Vray – Complete course
ARTC Roma, September-October 2011.
More info (ITA only):
ShareIn: architecture, artc, rendering, rhino, rhinoart · Tagged with: architecture, artc roma, rhino, training
RhinoART.info – LaN satellite
RhinoART.info is proud to be part of the worldwide LaN communiy.
LaN connections
In: artc, design, fabrication, Grasshopper, prototyping, rhino, rhinoart · Tagged with: digital fabrication, LaN
Working with Rhino through an iPad 2 – Maide plugin beta-testing
RhinoART was chosen as beta-tester for a Rhino plugin that allows remote control through an iPad.
Basically the plugin allows to move the pointer, click and double-click, like any other touchpad: but when it comes to double and triple touch to pan/orbit, or display a pop-up menu with a bunch of Rhino commands, this tool reveals it’s potential.
In: rhino, tests and fun · Tagged with: IPad, maide
LaN-FLIGHT USA EAST – Register for free!
LaN FLIGHT‘s 4th edition commences in BOSTON JULY 24 pm… heading south via NEW HAVEN to NEW YORK… finishing Saturday JULY 30th.
More info at: http://www.livearchitecture.net/lanflight.
Interested? Act fast… LaN is allotting RhinoART two free passes!
Register to this event through ART Network – RhinoART.info website: you get free registration!!! Yes you got it right: no registration fee if you register through ART Network – RhinoART.info!!!
Hurry up, offer limited to 2 participants.
In: architecture, arduino, design, external, fabrication, Grasshopper, industrial design, prototyping, rhino · Tagged with: architecture, fabrication, LaN
Point cloud handling – Pointools to Rhino
In this post we’ll see how to extract points from a .pod file (laser scan) and obtain a Rhinoceros point cloud.
You need Pointools plugin to import .pod laser scan data into Rhino. A fully functional evaluation version is available for download.
Once you have Pointools plugin up and running you can start by importing the .pod laser scan data into Rhino with the _ptOpenPOD command.
What you see is a (huge) beautiful point cloud, but Rhino cannot interact directly with those points: I mean you cannot use Rhino tools to work with the imported points, except of course the commands provided by Pointools. Think about the imported cloud as a raster image. Therefore, don’t try to select those points, you’ll get frustrated! 
Our goal is to extract a Rhinoceros point cloud so that we can model using standard Rhino tools (curves, surfaces, …).
The original .pod point cloud probably has lots of useless points you don’t need: you can use the selection tools provided by Pointools to select and delete such points: _ptSelFence and/or _ptSelRect.
Selected points get red, so it’s impossible to say whether a point is selected or not using the standard visualization (see picture above) unless you are selecting only closer points (the cyan-blue area close to the point from where the scene was scanned).
So probably you may want to change the visualization settings by opening the Pointools Controlbox: run _ptShaderOptions and chose “Greyscale” for the “Ramp”. Here’s the result, selected points are fully visible.
Once we’re satisfied with the selection we can use the _ptExtractSel command to create Rhino points based o the selected .pod points. Pay attention to the parameters you can set during the execution of such command: basically you can change the resolution of the Rhino point cloud by editing the values in the command line (MaxPoints, Density, Spacing, etc.).
Now we have a Rhino set of points/point cloud to work with: we can use standard Rhino commands (“Point” toolbar) to handle this point cloud and then create curves as well as NURBS surfaces and/or meshes as we want.
Thanks to Arch. Vittorio Panicaldi for letting me use the .pod file.Share
In: architecture, rhino, tests and fun · Tagged with: pointtools
Basic kangaroo testing
This is a basic test on Kangaroo physics engine for Grasshopper.
The definition creates a grid, takes two sides as anchor points and finally applies a force to the grid. The force direction is defined by its XYZ components: gravity is simulated with X=0, Y=0, Z=value (negative). Force can be edited during simulation.
During the simulation you can also edit the size of the triangles in the main grid, but you cannot edit its Ex/Ey dimensions: in fact if you edit these values you increase/decrease the number of anchor points as well as the amount of points to wich forces are applied, and this is not allowed during physics simulation.
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download: 110707_kangaroo_basic_test.ghx (216.66KB) added: 07/07/2011 clicks: 45 description: |
In: Grasshopper, tests and fun · Tagged with: Grasshopper
WIP – Essay on form, 3D modeling, Jewelry (with capital J)
I am working on this essay because I think something interesting is happening with jewelry design, especially with new parametric/generattive 3d tools.
“Interesting” does not automatically mean “positive”: technology without control leads to a technology-driven design, and generally this is no good.
The point is defining “control”…
ShareIn: design, industrial design, jewelry · Tagged with: cad/cam, fine jewelry, Grasshopper, industrial design, jewellery
Arduino + Grasshopper (Firefly & gHowl) Workshop
Next weekend [21-22 May] I’m going to give a workshop about Arduino + GH in ControlMad (Madrid, Spain).
See you there!!!
Regards,
Jma
ShareIn: architecture, arduino, fabrication, Grasshopper, research, rhino · Tagged with: architecture, arduino, fritzing, generative architecture, gh, gHowl, grashopper, Grasshopper
