BID Lab Opening, May 14, 2004

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BID Lab Opening, May 14, 2004
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BID Lab Opening, May 14, 2004

• Design, Technology, and the Human Experience
  (the positive side)

Carlo H. Séquin Computer Science Division
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Technical Designs
CCD Camera, Bell Labs, 1973 Soda Hall,
Berkeley, 1994
RISC chip, Berkeley, 1981 Octa-Gear,
Berkeley, 2000
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Aesthetic Designs

• What is the role of the computer in
• aesthetic optimization,
• the creative process ?

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Collaboration with Brent Collins
Hyperbolic Hexagon II
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Brent Collins Stacked Saddles
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Scherks 2nd Minimal Surface
Normal biped saddles
Generalization to higher-order saddles(monkey
saddle)
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Hyperbolic Hexagon by B. Collins

• 6 saddles in a ring
• 6 holes passing through symmetry plane at 45º
• wound up 6-story
  Scherk tower
• Discussion What if
• we added more stories ?
• or introduced a twist before closing the ring ?

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Closing the Loop
straight or twisted
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Brent Collins Prototyping Process
Mockup for the "Saddle Trefoil"
Armature for the "Hyperbolic Heptagon"
Time-consuming ! (1-3 weeks)
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Sculpture Generator I, GUI
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V-art
VirtualGlassScherkTowerwith MonkeySaddles(R
adiance 40 hours) Jane Yen
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Collins Fabrication Process
Wood master patternfor sculpture
Layered laminated main shape
Example Vox Solis
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Slices through Minimal Trefoil
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10
23
30
45
5
20
27
35
2
15
25
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Profiled Slice through Heptoroid

• One thick slicethru sculpture,from which Brent
  can cut boards and assemble a rough shape.
• Traces represent top and bottom,as well as cuts
  at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4of one board.

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Emergence of the Heptoroid (1)
Assembly of the precut boards
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Emergence of the Heptoroid (2)
Forming a continuous smooth edge
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Emergence of the Heptoroid (3)
Smoothing the whole surface
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The Finished Heptoroid

• at Fermi Lab Art Gallery (1998).

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Various Scherk-Collins Sculptures
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Rapid Prototyping by FDM
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Hyper-Sculpture Family of 12 Trefoils
W2
W1
B1 B2 B3
B4
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Cohesion

• SIGGRAPH2003 Art Gallery

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Snow-Sculpture, 12 Feet Tall
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International Snow-Sculpting Championships
Breckenridge, Colorado, January 2003
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Whirled White Web
Silver Medal Winner, Breckenridge 2003
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Whirled White Web

• The Design Component
• Find a shape that has some aesthetic qualities
  as an abstract sculpture.
• The shape should (roughly) fit the given snow
  block dimensions 10 ? 10 ? 12 feet tall.
• The shape must be strong enough to hold up as a
  snow sculpture.
• The sculpture has to be constructible by a team
  of five during a 4-day period.
• Also need a good title and a good story

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The Role of the Computer (1)

• Exploring different possibilities.

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The Role of the Computer (2)

• Fine-tuning the most promising design

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The Role of the Computer (3)

• Making a detailed 3D model

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The Role of the Computer (4)

• Preparing construction drawings

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Plenty of manual steps too

• Making templates from computer prints,
  (magnified with the classical grid method)

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Day 1
Removing lots of snow
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(No Transcript)
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Day 2 Making a Torus
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Day 3, pm Flanges, Holes
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Day 4 Geometry Refinement
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Day 5, am Surface Refinement
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House Cleaning
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Whirled White Web
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Conclusions (1)

• The computer plays an important rolealso for
  Esthetic Engineering.
• Virtual Prototyping can save time and can tackle
  sculptures of a complexitythat manual techniques
  could not conquer.

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Conclusions (2)

• The computer is not only a great visualization
  and prototyping tool,
• It also is a generator for new ideas and
• an amplifier for an artists inspiration.

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Inspiration Brent Collins Pax Mundi
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UI for Viae Globi Shapes
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Many Related Sculptures May Emerge
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Discussion Topic

• What can we do in BIDto help bridge the gap
  betweenArt and Engineering ?