Chris Venable and Kristine Dickson: Week 14-15 Pepakura Chess Piece - "Queen"

For our Pepakura, we decided to make the chess Queen. Chris designed and modeled it in 3ds Max first. I handled unfolding and laying it out in Pepakura and Illustrator, before pulling it into Rhino. 

Ghosted:

Keyshot:

In Keyshot, I gave the Queen the Granite stone material. I increased the scale of the texture so that it repeated more often and the veins in the stone were finer. I darkened the overall color by blending in a charcoal black with the texture. Overall, I really liked how glossy it turned out. Chris gave the model a nice, sharp silhouette so the reflective material gave it a faceted look.

Chris Venable - Waffle Lamp

While fleshing out the design of my lamp I began browsing through the project history provided on Blackboard. I found that I really liked the more elongated look of some of the designs and thought that I would incorporate this same aesthetic into mine.

My lamp began life in 3Ds Max, I am quite familiar with Max and wanted to take advantage of the spline editing features available in the program. After creating a silhouette I used the Lathe modifier to rotate the object around an axis, this created the polygonal geometry displayed below.

While designing the lamp I really wanted to play with the idea of sharp vs subtle curves while incorporating heavy tapering. The ends of the lamp feature a soft, gradual curvature while the center is dominated by a sharp peak.

My lamp is created used .24in MDF, I really like the character that the laser adds to this material.

Chris Venable: Week 10 Waffles

For this project I really wanted use the waffle structure to create a simple representational piece. Since it is finally getting cooler here in Dallas and the clocks have change, I decided to create a simple Oak leaf.

I am really attracted to this shape because it is both simple and recognizable. I began my process by finding reference online. I specifically chose a White Oak leaf because I felt that the roundness of the edges would contrast nicely with the vacancy that waffle structures create along the structure's exterior. 

Here is an image of the original model created in 3Ds Max. The silhouette of the model was created using spline object, which were then converted into polygons for optimization and further control. After finalizing a flat version of the model, deformations were used to further shape the structure.

 I then brought the model into Rhino with the intention of creating contours, ribs, and layouts. However, I ran into some problems in this area. When running the Cutmyribs script I kept getting errors that halted the running of the script. I took a screenshot posted below. 

I went back over the tutorial videos many times to try and find the problem, but kept running into the same issue. I even tried flipping the X and Y selections, and while that seemed to let the script run longer it would always eventually halt.

I did do ahead and get some rendering of my structure, but I was not able to complete the layout at this time. If anyone can help, I would really appreciate it. I'm really not sure what could be causing the issues.

Here are my renders

Again, if anyone ran into similar issues, or thinks they may have a solution I would greatly appreciate your assistance. Thanks!

---EDIT---

While in class I re-ran the CutMyRibs script with fewer curves and had success, as a result my structure has changed. New renders and content below.

Rhino

 Architectural Context

Original Photo by Tim Griffith

Edit - 12/14
Pictures.

Chris Venable: Slots

My module designs for this project were heavily influenced by traditional native textiles. Below is an example from the Arizona State Museum website created by Marian Nez, a Navajo artist that still utilizes traditional processes to create her designs.

Often when viewing these types of patterns the audience will begin to discover representations of animals or people that were not originally intended by the artist. I feel that this translates well into a project like Slots where we are working with abstract shapes in an attempt to create more representational art.

Below are the modules that I created. I did not work off of a specific "Root" module, but instead I constrained myself with a heavy diagonal/geometric style. I also added a couple of extra pieces to help fill in the margins of my sheet.

My material for this project will be .16"  plywood.

Edit - 12/15
Pictures.