Brian Chancellor: Project 1: Sliced Symmetry

Project Description:

This project had a very simple idea behind it.  I wanted to create something both puzzling to look at as well as being very tactile.  I originally had this idea when messing about with this Japanese puzzle called Vortex.

This puzzle struck a very strong chord with me.  At first glance I thought the puzzle to be simple and symmetrical, but the more I handled the puzzle, the more I came to realize that each element was indeed unique.  I took this as my core idea.  From there I drew inspiration from these pieces.  

This piece is standing at the University of Michigan.  It was made by Tony Rosenthal in 1968.  It is 15x15x15 feet and made from CorTen Steel.  This piece also spins.  This gave me the second part for my 3D printed piece titled Sliced Symmetry.

 I have also been spending a lot of time at the Perot Museum this semester.  It helped me decide on keeping my model very cubic.  The building was designed by Thom Maybe.

When I was modeling this first piece, I spent a lot of time and effort to keep each side unique while maintaining the illusion that each side is the same.  I used a lot of grid snapping to keep each point in relation to the others.  I used the multiple view ports in Maya to make sure that when I ghosted the model, I could see the side directly opposite was indeed sliced a different way.  I rendered Sliced Symmetry in Keyshot.  I stuck to one material because I believe if I used a different color on each side, it would lose its unified look.