Parametric Design Precedents

So I have decided on the format I will be presenting my work in at the end of this assignment. I have decided that I will be creating a 3D object, most likely being produced by one of the 3D printers in Massey's FabLab. I have always been fascinated in fluid forms as I feel that they evoke a lot more emotion within the viewer than something that isn't fluid. Therefore with this in mind, I have decided to try and structure this assignment around the idea of designing compositions that are have very fluid forms and thus would create a very interesting and beautiful 3D object.

I have begun to look at precedent work that I feel focuses in on the fluidity of the parametric forms to create very stunning designs. At this stage in my precedent work, I have mostly focused on architectural based designs due to a lack of time, however in the next following days I will expand on this and begin to look at furniture and other potential three dimensional applications for my designs.

Harbin Cultural Center:

Heydar Aliyev Center:

Soumaya Museum:

Colour Scheme Experimentations

By adapting the HColorPool variable colours in the setup section of the code, one can change what colours are outputted into my remixed form. This post is simply showing the colour scheme experimentations that I have done to try and create a potential mood or aesthetic:

Pale Blues using the hex codes of:
#FFFFFF, #F2F6FA, #E4EDF5, #D7E3F0, #CADAEB, #BCD1E6, #AFC8E0, #A2BFDB
However I feel that these shades of pale blue are too similar and thus they sort of blend into one another..

Shades of purple using the hex codes of:

#FFFFFF, #593D75, #7C3C70, #603B74, #6B3872, #835689, #A07FA5, #B48AAC

Fluro Test to try and make it 'pop' on the canvas:

#DEFF00, #FF4200, #00D2FF, #FF00A8

Black and White using the hex codes:

#000000, #191919, #333333, #4D4D4D, #666666, #808080, #999999, #B2B2B2, #CCCCCC, #E6E6E6, #FFFFFF

Remixing Processing Precedent:

As I stated in my previous post, I wanted to remix the oscillating precedent I found as I felt that there was real potential in the forms. However the way that the design was placed on the canvas and the way other variables were affecting the design, the forms are emphasised as well as they could be. 

Below is my process in remixing this precedent and in doing so, creating something that is a lot more interesting to look at. I felt that the most interesting part of the precedent were the start and ends of the oscillating design - where they taper out. Therefore this is what drove my remix, I wanted to create more emphasis on the tapering of the form. Please keep in mind that there was a lot of testing of different values in between each of these major steps:

So to start off my remix I have firstly changed the thickness and rounding of each of the lines individual lines. These values were originally 3 and 4 respectively. This created a very blocky shape that just in mind personal opinion needed space between each line in order to help to starting focusing more attention on the oscillation. The values are now 2 and 10 respectively.  

Next step was to translate the shape in order to focus the view point on the tapering of the form. As I stated above, I found that it was the most interesting an graceful part of the design and therefore needed more emphasis on it. Hence, I have changed the start position on the x-axis from 0 to width/5. Subsequently this means that the design starts well off the canvas with the tapering finishing about one fifth from the left hand side of the canvas. The negative space on the left hand side of the tapered form means that the viewers eye will not continue to flow off the other side of the canvas as the shape oscillates. 

Just another screenshot of oscillating in action once I had changed the code to make it start of the right hand side of the canvas.

Next step, I liked how the remix was looking before, however I felt that if I sped up the frequency of the oscillating, it would create a 'whip' sort of look at the end of the design. Therefore to achieve this I increased the frequency from 0.5 to 2 respectively. 

By increasing the frequency, the form began to be very hectic due to the fact that the range was from -200,200 so it was continuously stretching and shrinking to meet those values. Therefore to help create a sense of order again, I decreased the value to -100,100 and thus focusing the design through the canvas' middle horizontal third so it is firstly easier for the viewer to watch, but secondly so it is a lot more aesthetically pleasing.

Another screenshot following decreasing the range of oscillation. 

There are three sets of variables to operate the oscillation. Along the x and y-axis like the ones I was manipulating in the above screenshots, there is oscillation for rotation and one for height. I have not decided to touch height as I had it the way I wanted to look in that regard, however I wanted to emphasise the rotation of the form. Therefore in increased the range of the rotation from -180,180 to -360,360. In doing so it really finished off this remix how I had wanted. It is a lot more interesting than before with emphasis on what I feel are the most effective parts of the form..

Processing Precedent: hypeframework.org

I have begun to look through precedent work in order to help create a starting point for this new assignment and find something that interests me. I have found this example by Joshua Davis and James Cruz on hypeframework.org which I feel creates beautiful forms and especially if this was to be 3D printed which is my intent it would like amazing. However I feel that by remixing this example by changing the code I can hopefully design something that is a lot more graceful and puts a lot more emphasis on the oscillating forms.

Below is the source code for this Processing design:

I have decided to not printscreen all of the java script code as there is a lot. One must copy all of the javascript into their design in order to make the variables throughout the rest of the code to work.. 

Final - Unity

As I have stated in earlier posts, I have lost all of my Unity work and thus I have only presented the one video I have left from my blog. Due to the fact that I do not even have the original file from the student shared file, I have not been able to refine any of my compositions or even start from scratch due to the fact that I have no where to even start from - there is nothing on the server.. And as much I want to, due to time constraints, I simply have no time to watch tutorials and try and learn this programme from the roots up.. If I had more time or less work in my other papers I would have but I just hope that my iteration work and experiments from earlier programmes would back my claims up that I would have actually done all of the work if I did not have everything possibly that could go wrong, go wrong for me with Unity..

Once again I apologise, but I will not be submitting a final for the programme Unity 3D.

A link to my files are at this address:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zfjzhspcuphz1v5/AAAl1Xnb39Jv63svknZbM9_ca?dl=0

Rendering Finals - Quartz Composer - 'Opaque Wavelength'

For my Quartz final, I wanted to try and take my audio visualiser experiment a bit further in which I could use the stop watch patch to generate the lines at different times to make a shape. I have also added an audio input which codes for the start and end length of each line so the more noise the mic picks up, the longer the lines. Lastly, what I have done to this final is add an opaque parameter to the lines. When the user moves the mouse along the x-axis, the opacity of each line becomes more or less opaque respectively.

Unfortunately due to time constraints and understanding of this programme, I have not been able to take this final as far as I would have liked to, but I am really interested in using this programme so I may look at it for next assignment..

A link to my files are at this address:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zfjzhspcuphz1v5/AAAl1Xnb39Jv63svknZbM9_ca?dl=0

A video of my final composition is as follows:

I have included this second video - not sure why it isn't HD too? Anyway instead of leaving my first video going for like two minutes as time progressed and more and more lines were added, I decided to stop and then come back to it..

My design process to get to the above videos is below:

So I have taken inspiration from my audio visualiser experiment - this is the code from that experiment. Very basic code I know, but the composition conveys the idea I was trying to achieve.

So I have started off by using the exact same code as my previous experiment however I simply changed the form of the line family to something more aesthetic and soft. Unlike my previous experiments I am not going to post all of the tests with changing attraction points and start positions etc, because it will simply take way too long. So these are the parameters that I am using to create this particular form. The only parameters that are not constant are the start and end lengths which are determined by the audio input. 

The next step was to duplicate the line family patch and then change the parameters accordingly so that I could continue to create an aesthetically pleasing form.

Line Family Form Finished:

So I have skipped a few steps in order to try and streamline this annotation process, but I have duplicated the line family and audio input patches another three times in order to create the form below. They all have slight differences in their respective parameters but nothing too major. Again their start and end line lengths are all influenced by the audio input of the mic. To create consistency I have kept each of the line families having a line count of 373. I wanted to clear that up because due to a couple of the line families twisting onto itself, there are sections where there looks like there are a lot more lines than that and it is uneven..

Adding the Stopwatch Patch:

The next step I have done is add two stop watch patches to each line family. I have done this so that they control the line count. Every second more lines are added to slowly reveal the form as time goes on.. Due to the audio input as well, the lines are changing length to help disguise the form for as long as possible. The following images are a time series from the start with only a very low line count through to 1000's of lines - just to reiterate their length are all being influenced by the audio level.

 

Finally, Adding Opacity to Line Families:

What I have done now is add two patches - first the mouse patch which is connected to the input function of the colour transformation patch. As one moves the cursor along the x-axis the line families either become more or less opaque. This is also helping to convey the idea of slowly revealing the form. It is a bit hard to take screenshots due to the fact that they will either be black or with my line families hard to see through to what is already above. Check out the above video to see it in action.