fredag den 6. november 2009

A Digital Fairytale

A Digital Fairytale


Once upon a time there was a group of six young students. These students were sent on a quest by the three noble knights of parametric design Mads, Esben and Jeffrey. The quest was to come up with a phenomenon that should inspire them into making a parametric design in a piece of cardboard. It was going to be a long and demanding task, and therefore the six students went back home to think about what they should do.


The next morning our six brave students felt ready to take on the assignment. They began to think: “What would be a great phenomenon?”. They went out to visit the Wiseman named google. They asked him: “What would be a great phenomenon?”. He grumbled about his answer for a bit and then gave them a bunch of opportunities. Our six brave students finally chose: “A drop in water”


They were so pleased with this choice, that they immediately started builiding models. Everyone started to build what they thought was the most interesting about a drop in water. Afterwards they sat together to agree on which parameters should be used to succeed in there quest. The parameters were:


  1. The size of the drop
  2. The numbers of drops
  3. And the velocity of these.


They were so confused about what they should do about these parameters. “How should these parameters be transformed in to a great design?”


Luckily the three noble Knights introduced them to an old friend of them. The mighty Grasshopper. He lived far far away, so the young students just send him an e-mail. In return he gave them a plug-in they could use together with their friend Rhinoceros.


With their new given powers they took on the quest with great enthusiasm. So they tweaked and twisted their parameters and suddenly they saw the light. It wasn’t the drop itself that was interesting but the waves caused by the drop.


Grasshopper helped the six students to make a beautiful grid of small circles. But this wasn’t enough. They needed a parameter to decide the size of the small circles. They turned to their phenomenon and saw the evolving rings from the centre of the splash.


“Could these rings be used in a parametric design?”

Grasshopper responded

“Almost everything is possible?”.


The students then made three bigger rings from the centre of the grid. These rings should decide the diameter of the smaller rings. The closer to a big circle the smaller diameter of the small circles.


The students then experimented with ellipsis and different centres to make the result more dynamic. They now stood back and observed their work. It reminded them of the waves caused by the drop.


They were satisfied and showed their work to the three knights. The three knights then presented them to their last friend, the laser cutter. The laser cutter was supposed to help them finish their quest, but he was very critical. The knights particular warned the students, that he might not like the small circles. But the students were not afraid and they made friends with the laser cutter and here you see the final result.


Everyone was pleased about the final result, had a cup of tea and lived happily ever after.

The End


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