Reverse Engineered Project: Object Selection

 

This project is the process of creating a Rhino model of an exicting object that is both complex and made of multiple parts, with measurements accurate to at least 0.01 whenever possible.

 I selected three objects to consider for this project.

First of which is an Arduino Uno, which has some nice qualities of repeated patterns, a clear shell, and being complex but not too complicated with not a great deal of strange curves or interior pieces.

The second object I'm considering is this 8BitDo SN30pro wireless SNES style game controller. It has some interesting curves and shapes and repeated patterns, while the interior promises to house some interesting circuitry and the underside of the front visible buttons and joysticks.

The third object under consideration is the joystick part of a Wiimote control setup. The object has some fun 3d curvilinear structure, along with the wire and internal electronics.

 Each of these objects I feel could be a compelling object to fully disassemble and recreate in 3d, with more or less interesting outer shells and interior electronics.

But out of all of these I feel that it's the 8BitDo SN30pro wireless SNES style game controller that has the most interesting balance of shapes, patterns, and promise of interesting interior circuitry (soon as I can find a hex key small enough to open it up...)

Fully understanding this shape and how it can be recreated in 3d also promises to offer ideas on how I might in the future be able to design and print my own custom housing for a game controller or similarly interactive art-object.

Blog Post: Surface Design Study: Laser Cut Sample

 This is such a good project and it's shocking how easy it was, I've got so many ideas of different things I can do with this - especially since this can cut paper or cardboard, this is such a great prototyping tool. Already got some ideas for things I could rig up with acrylic cuts and some wiring and an Arduino....

Assignment #5 [05.) 3D MODELS FROM TECHNICAL DRAWINGS]

 

 

Six technical drawings we had to translate to Rhino3d from some very blurry challenge drawings. A great way to force you to experiment and iterate and really think about exactly what it is you're being asked to do, and from there the commands to do it. Fillet is a much more powerful command than I gave it credit for!

More of a challenge in persistence and looking up and applying the right tool, and in reading the technical drawing - pretty straightforward once things started to click. Just gotta be patient and keep remembering what the tools are and how they can be used.

Surface Design Study: Research Design

 

I really took inspiration from some of the brickwork, wooden surfaces, and closeups of textured fabric I documented, as well as a ring of holes in an elevator speaker grille. Combining all these elements along with a seaside ocean  palette led me to creating this surface design.

With a spiral as a base, triangular elements intersect the spiral, alternating colours and intensity as it draws the eye inwards. A single edge of the triangular shapes overlap with the spiral, creating an illusion of  layering and depth as the colours alternate. Below, I experimented with strong linear shapes to create contrast with the curvilinear spiral and triangular shapes - and then at the outer edges beyond all that I emphasized irregular, non-linear shapes, with a sunny sandy beach colour theme.

I initially struggled with remembering the commands, but just looking up the Rhino 3d tutorial website - https://docs.mcneel.com/rhino/7/help/en-us/commands/hatch.htm - and experimenting, learning, figuring out what doesn't work, learning what does, and just continually iterating - well, that's what learning is, isn't it? Learning is as much if not more the process of finding out what doesn't work, until all that remains is what is.

Surface texture, in-progress.

I've scrapped and rebuilt this a couple times, until I realized that doing something with a spiral could be a lot of fun, and lead to some interesting and unexpected results. Gone back and forth with how complex I want the surface texture to be - keeping in mind considerations for readability but also not wanting to appear too plain. Next up is colour, which will be the real test of how I can make this pop.

 

 Just a quick sample of eleven of the 75 surface texture inspiration photos I've been taking over the past two weeks - once you start looking for it, you start noticing details like this absolutely everywhere.