CATIA / Digital Project Short Course

The MSMS and MSDT students are gaining some catia exposure this summer.  Here are a few tutorials (and order) to support this introductory work:

Tutorial 001 2D Sketches

Tutorial 002 Surfaces

Tutorial 003 2D constraints and animating a mechanism

Tutorial 004 Solid Modeling

Tutorial 005 Control of Surfaces

MS Digital Technologies

The 2015 MSDT group is in session.  The studio practicum course is investigating solid / void relationships and casting as a foundation for work with the precast industry this year.  All work is digitally designed and digitally fabricated.

click the image to see the individual student work:

Re-configurable Formwork

Building off the theme of a previous post, here is an example of a re-configurable formwork.  All the panels are the same and all the panels are identical.  By changing angles of the fold we are able to pleat or bunch, more and less locally across the surface.  Here we are also able to simulate the range of movement as it's not infinitely flexible.  As you pin the points, the overall assmebly begins to take its own form.

 

Image of physical prototype.

Control of MultiSection Surfaces

With some recent work I re-learned a few aspects of adding further control to splines and multi-section surfaces.  Using additional control surfaces one can specify the tangency at all edges of the multisection surface.  For most applications this is not necessary but when you really need the control, this is an incredibly valuable aspect.

Image of initial model without tangency controlled.

Refined surfaces with tangency controlled.

See video below for the how-to tutorial.

New Years Resolution 2015 - Less Mass Customization, More Smart Manipulation

No teaching this term so there is time to advance some work, thinking, and research.  

It is computationally inexpensive to create mass-customization but when it comes to some fabrication strategies the desire for complete unique parts begins to take its  toll.  Given the ability to control, develop, define, and manage geometric complexity I am developing some work which seeks to use standard parts that are able to produce custom configurations.  I have begun to understand a hierarchy of part to sub-assembly to assembly and the cost / value ratio is not spread equally throughout that system.  Using catia to simulate kinetic movement, parts can be fabricated (or 3D printed in compressed forms), shipped, and then reconfigured or opened.

Here is an animated screenshot of standard parts (with consistent lengths) manipulated by one parameter.  I am studying the joints, rotations, and range of movement.  This represents a framework for the control of more robust manufactured elements.