Attractor Point with Range

I received a request recently about using an attractor point in DP.  This was a famous early Grasshopper example so I figured I could do a simple version using DP.  The tutorial also includes a powercopied rule to set the range of the attractor point allowing for greater or lesser impact of the point on the circle radii.

Here is the text for a rule that gets powercopied with the geometry:

if buildgeo\radius_inner > radius_max 

{buildgeo\radius_float = radius_max }
else if buildgeo\radius_inner < radius_min 

{buildgeo\radius_float = radius_min }

else {buildgeo\radius_float = buildgeo\radius_inner }

Here is the file if anyone wants to work through the example (file here).  Click on the image below to start the video.

Radical Botanical by David Sokol

The Shadow Pavilion was published in the January issue of Interior Design Magazine.

FAB Lab at Michigan officially opens

Short article in the local paper about the FAB Lab open house.  (I hope the robot doesn't crash into the foam mold, obviously placed for the photo!)

The FAB Lab opening was also the topic of a recent local radio interview on the Lucy Ann Lance Business Insider – 1290 WLBY, Ann Arbor, MI.  Click here to listen to the January 20th interview.

Rules & Powercopies

Here is a DP tutorial that includes powercopies and rules.  Instead of creating a range of powercopies with a uniform variation, I model it as lumber with specific sizes.  The rule then allows for specific shapes to be placed depending on the context of the framework.  The rule is also dynamic so as the context changes the rule is able to update the geometry.

Here is the simple text required to make the rule.  Both "depth" and "joist_length" are linked parameters.


if joist_length <= 110in
{depth=5.5in}

else if
joist_length >110in and joist_length<145in
{depth=7.25in}

else if
joist_length >145in and joist_length<185in
{depth=9.25in}

else if
joist_length >185in and joist_length<225in
{depth=11.25in}

else if
joist_length >=225in
{depth=.75in}

Blogs, RSS Feeds, and Pipes

Short video that covers the creation of blogs, the role of RSS feeds, and the aggregation of RSS feeds.  For the past year I have been requiring my students to document their work and use a personal blog site to comment on their work and synthesize different types of peripheral studio information.  As our studio format has moved to two days a week, the blog gives me a chance to see what my students are up to in the days between studios and gives me an easy ways to comment.  The RSS feed keeps me up to date by notifying me when something is added to one of their blogs.

Click the RSS icon to start the streaming 13 minute video.

ParaMod Seminar - Tutorial001

This semester the ParaMod seminar will be addressing the role of precedent and our ability to build on and manipulate existing rules and work.  Tutorial001 asks the students to model the plan of an existing project, uncover the rules, and produce 5 variations.

The student work blogs will be aggregated in the widget in the bottom right.

The following tutorial gives my quick approach to such a problem.  The tutorial models Borromini's San Carlo and UN Studio's Ponte Parodi project.  Click the image to start the streaming video.

Research Through Making Exhibit

Sorry for the holiday delay in posting.  Once reviews were done I needed a break.  We have been working on the exhibit of the first group of Research Through Making projects.  The exhibit will be on display starting on January 15th.  I have been working with Chris Johnson to animate a few of the material studies that were developed at the beginning of the project.  In all there should be 5 interactive prototypes.  Still working on the drawings and repairing some of the models.  I'll post some images once the exhibit is installed.

The interactive pieces are an array of LEDs with a PIR motion sensor controlled by Arduino boards.  We tried various code options but in the end recycled the code developed by John Marshall on the FIRE project.  The laser cut paper models are investigations of various aggregation strategies for a structural system.


Shadow Pavilion paper studies from Karl Daubmann on Vimeo.

Shadow Pavilion prototype from Karl Daubmann on Vimeo.

Snow Cones

We had some snow last week.  I rushed over to the botanical gardens to check out the pavilion and was pleasantly surprised to find snow shadows, or maybe the opposite of shadows, focused piles of snow corresponding to each cone.  Now I am waiting for a good ice storm to see if we get icicles for each cone.

Next iteration of the folding panel

After trying a few options for the folding screen, here is one that uses the corner (or a fold in the surface) to open.  I was hoping for a more dramatic range from closed to open but the range is based on the range of the individual module.

I was a bit lazy with the animation, only a few versions to show the range of motion.  The panel as rendered is 7 feet high by 9 feet wide.

The next project with John and Cezanne

John, Cezanne, and I have been working / talking about the next project since this past summer.  While we are still in the early stages, or at least my part of it is in early stages, I had a break through with the assembly modeling component in DP.  The installation will be at a museum in Japan and we are trying to work with a repeated interactive module and origami.  Below is a simple animation of the repeated parts as they fold.  The top left corner is fixed, and as a result as the parts change, it impacts all the connected modules.

Below are a few of the parts simply arranged that also rolls the surface into a cylinder.

To some, this might seem redundant.

Labeling a stack of plywood, "PLY".  The joke is that that is the name of the office.  The driver did not appreciate that I asked him to step aside so I could take a picture.

 

Hydrophobic Surface Mapping

I have been working on a new knowledge pattern project that maps the flow over a surface.  The bigger project is to develop a new form of tiling that incorporates performance into the patterning and surface subdivision.  In the first series below, you can see the various steps to the flow pattern (the original surface, the first knowledge pattern that creates a set of isocurves, and then the lines of flow based on the difference between vertical and the surface normal at that intersection.

Below are a couple of variations as the surface is manipulated.  The next immediate step is to capture the lengths of the lines and possibly vary the line weight to better graphically represent the impact of slope. (click the image for a larger view)

Another iteration. (click for larger view)

Below is an obvious example of water moving across a surface.  The Lotus Leaf surface is "hydrophobic", keeping it clean because of its ability to repel water.

Back from CA

Had a great trip out to CalPoly SLO this past weekend.  The student work that I saw looked very interesting and I also had a chance to see the progress of a design build studio led by Mark Cabrinha.  I was also blown away by reviews outside, could never happen in Michigan.

Obviously had to get some good food along the way.  In and out burger a must at LAX and Sushi Gen an LA favorite.

Lecture on Friday

On Friday November 20th, I'll be lecturing at CAL POLY as part of the Hearst Lectures.  The theme this term is "Integrated Practices".  I will be discussing current work from PLY and recent research interests at U of M.  

 

Knowledge Pattern Tweek

So it was a simple test tonight, maybe just to try it and see if it worked.  I am already plotting the next tutorial that will involve some form of 'intelligence' for the insertion of UDFs.  The simple test tonight was to color the UDF based on the even or odd values of i and j.  Since there is no even or odd, I had to use MOD.  In this case there are if/else statements to change the color.

Future tutorial will create a script that decides which UDF to insert given a certain condition.  At least this is where I am heading.  It will probably just be a simple condition, but way in the future this might be based on curvature or planarity.

Using the previous tutorial you can insert the following text in place of the p1.color line:

if mod(j,2)<1 and mod(i,2)<1
            p1.Color =   "143,188,143"

else if mod(j,2)>0 and mod(i,2)>0
            p1.Color =   "193,205,193"
else

            p1.Color =   "131,139,131"

Knowledge Pattern Tutorial

Here is the first knowledge pattern tutorial.  The tutorial is broken into two parts, the first part steps through the process for the creation of a framework and the second part inserts the surfaces into the framework.

link to PART1 Video Tutorial

link to catscript sample file for part 1

link to PART2 Video Tutorial

link to catscript sample file for part 2

Gearing up for Knowledge Pattern Tutorial

I took some time this past weekend to work through the knowledge pattern process again for myself.  Prior to the workshop I had never even used a UDF, now I am scripting interactions as part of the process.  Look for an initital (provisional) knowledge pattern tutorial very soon.

Given this advancement, I am sure to have to re-work my upcoming graduate seimar to focus on knowledge patterns.  Image of most recent tests where the script counter is driving the color, depth, and aperature.  I am also trying to think up an approach where the script will create geometry that is not based on a surface but based on the previously instantiated part.

Knowledge Pattern - Game Changer

Just got back from a 3 day intensive workshop with Gehry Technologies at the pre-acadia sessions.  It was a session led by Nuri Miller and Neil Meredith and it was focused on knowledge patterns.  Imagine being able to script the insertion of powercopies and change the count or modify the replicated part and have the software re-insert the new part in seconds.  Your wish has been granted, and I know how to do it now.  For anyone that has inserted hundreds of parts 'by hand' before you appreciate this.  For others, I am way off in tech-geek land.  Knowledge pattern tutorials will proliferate paramod.net!

While I appreciated the workshop, I must say that the ACADIA planning leaves much to be desired.  Next time you advertise the workshop in Chicago make note that Evanston is NOT Chicago and is a 1 hour public transportation trek.  Everything was downtown but the Digital Project and EcoTech sessions.  Maybe Rhino bribed the ACADIA planner?  In any case, I would like to get a refund for the 6 hours I spent on a crowded train.  Or if you organize a shuttle bus, maybe it should pick people up at the conference hotel not 4 miles away.  Maybe I should also request a refund for the difference between a hotel in Evanston and the expensive conference hotel I booked in Chicago where I thought the conference was.  I am feeling a bit better, deep breaths.  I was starting to like the seclusion offered by our sequestered location until today when the classroom above us was also being used by a different conference group that was demo-ing hammer drills into the concrete slab.  I'll stop now for fear of coming off like an international cry-baby.  I just don't understand the thinking.  Every participant had their own laptops so it was not that the software was only available outside the city limits.

I met a bunch of great people all using the same tools in different ways, clamoring to share stories and approaches.  I sat next to an old friend (Mark Weston) so that was fun too.  It was fun to watch Mark drive the instructors crazy with his desires to make his parts use random numbers and pull in information from the stock market to produce curves.  AEC Industry software meets Mr. Wizard!  Not to mention his own special brand of names for variables and files.

Here are a couple of images from the part I was working on today.  The color is produced by the script that color codes the panels based on location and aperature depth.

Shape Shifters

How does JJ Abrams do it? 

In the most recent episode of Fringe (Momentum Deferred), Agent Dunham to Agent Broyles "I am not worried because if a shape shifting assassin from another universe wanted me dead, then I would be".

This comes across like a totally believable condition, not worthy of even pausing.

This is relevant because shape shifters are very cool.

Future of Design

Friday and Saturday (Oct 9-10) we are hosting an amazing line-up of theorists, designers, architects, educators to discuss the future of design.  It will be at Rackham Auditorium (seats 1000) so be sure to be in Ann Arbor this weekend.  It is a free event and open to the public.

Here is a link to the details: Future of Design