Amanda Avery OBDF blog

  I am thinking about cutting on acrylic plastic. I want this piece to be a part of a project in my other class related to utopia and cybernetics. I was thinking about how machines and AI would visualize their bodies for this project. I think they would build their bodies using parameters to morph their bodies depending on what task they were attempting to perform. I felt that this project works well with this project. I would also like to add a 3D printed 'Head Piece" to the top of the arm structure once I have finalized how the arms will sit and nest together.

  Here is my animated gif! It was a lot of fun playing around with sliders to create variation within the different layers of the gif. Below is a picture of my workflow I know that I was meant to upload a high-res image of the workflow through the Grasshopper menu; however, every time I attempted to export this way, grasshopper would only recognize the upper half of the workflow and spit out an image that looked like the one below. I could not find a solution to this problem, so I looked for insight into how to fix this issue.  Here are some closer shots so the text and nodes can be read. Definition Animation Here are the gifs for the definition of the animation. In animation #2, there is some weird light flickering where the frames are rendered darker than the rest. I wasn't sure what was causing this problem and even tried deleting and replacing lights to fix it, but it did not solve the problem. Here is the workflow for this definition: As mentioned above, I had the same pr...

Here is my first definition! Using Grasshopper was reasonably straightforward, and I had no technical issues while following through with the tutorials. However, Grasshopper reminds me a lot of using Houdini. While I had no technical issues this time, one problem I have run into with Houdini is remembering all the different nodes, their behaviours and when they can be used. This is something that will come with time. However, right now, it feels overwhelming.  

Here are the original concepts for the 3D chess pieces. Again, I chose to do hats. One of the significant changes between the initial concept and the execution was that the ideas for the bishop hat and the rook changed to a baseball cap and a bowler hat. Next, onto the 3D models. Much of the modelling for these were fairly straightforward, as some of the hats are pretty simple shapes. However, much of the struggle came from filling holes in the models and offsetting the surfaces to give the object some depth. To fix these problems, I thought it would be fun to take some of these models into Maya and see how the different software could work together. I often found that Maya could smooth out some of the corners and hard edges I had in Rhino.                                                              ...

 Castle - The Winter Palace Surface Design Study - Hot Air Balloons  Reverse Engineered Object - Flashlight 3D Printed Chess Set

  Idea #1 - Insects Pawn - Ladybug Knight-Dung Beetle Bishop - Praying Mantis Rook - Snail Queen - Bee King - Monarch Butterfly While this option has obvious complications, such as the detail required to accurately model the objects and how sturdy the chess pieces would be once printed, I feel that I can model all of these assets. If done correctly, I believe this concept could be a lot of fun to model and print. Idea #2 - Hats Pawn - Toque Knight - Cowboy Hat Bishop - Pope Hat Rook - Morion Helmet Queen - Princess Costume Hat King - Top Hat These pieces are fun and playful. However, I feel they do not present too much of a challenge, as many of these shapes are quite simplistic. However, I do think they would make a cute final product. Idea #3 - Boats Pawn - Dingy Knight - Tugboat Rook - Canoe Bishop - Steamboat Queen - Yacht King- Clipper Ship These pieces may need to be simplified compared to the design because I am unsure how much detail the 3D printer can replicate. I also bel...

 This project has given me an appreciation for mechanical objects and their complexity. Even an object as small as this flashlight has many little parts that make it up, all of which needed to be thought through and planned out to accurately model the object in Rhino. Before this point, much of the 3D Modelling I had used was polymesh, which meant a lot of organic shapes and less of the hard surface modelling we were doing in this project. Overall, I think the project was highly enjoyable, I learned a lot about modelling with NURBS curves, and it is always satisfying to see your model rendered in the end project.