nullthing

This MEL script allows you to select a folder of frames and creates a Blend Shape based on the displacement of those frames. For rendering purposes you can always animate a texture, but we have been working on a couple of projects that require us to adjust a field of objects based on an intensity mapping. By using actual displaced geometry we are able to drive a field of parametric objects based on the height of specific points on the surface. The above animation is a simple displacement of a video. The image below shows an image of a ceiling system based on the height delta of the red,blue, and green surface.

Source:displace.mel

I used .attachMovie to create a sort of nested movie. There is a simple rotation procedure with a little randomness that rotates each new attached movie.

Grass always looks nice. I guess the next step would be to animate the individual strands or make them interactive. That may be heavy on the processor, at least with flash. Some type of user generated wind or turbulence would be especially nice…

Source:weeds.fla

Check out the *.swf >>>

I wrote this script for demonstration purposes a while ago. I wanted to show the ability to adjust certain aspects of an architectural system in real time. The input is a one degree nurbs surface. The script offsets the curves to create columns and then extends tubes to the control points of the surface. The “stickines” adjusts the straightness of the columns. As the columns become straighter some control points are farther from the wall, so the script adjusts the radius of the extension members, making them larger to span the greater distance. The model has a parametric spider detail. The script only changes the detail based on the edge condition. The clip has the ability to adjust based on curvature, but the script doesn’t adjust for that yet. If you want to populate your surface with the clip, you will have to import it into the *.mb file included in the download. Hopefully the video above explains the interface a little better. There are also some screen caps if you “read more.”

Source:cwall.mel + curtain-wall.mb

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We are working on a new project for an artist and I needed to make a simple MEL script to duplicate an object and place it on all the cv’s of a topographic surface. The image above shows the script with a scalar operation based on the y delta of the duplicated object. The script is pretty simple, but it could come in handy. I have uploaded the original script and the one with the scalar operation. You could probably get some pretty interesting results with multiple y delta operations and an image map.

Source:copy-to-cv.mel + copy-to-cv-scale.mel

Visualizing[DATA] arch 523

This semester I will be teaching a course at Pratt called Visualizing[DATA]. The students will build simple interactive Flash models and record them over time. They will then harvest the field data from Flash and use it to build a model in Maya made of parametric tiles that will adjust to surface fluctuations. The main issues in the course will be transferring raw data between different software packages and express everything visually. Students will not be allowed to show code in their presentations. They will have to represent the process through visual diagrams so that a person that doesn’t speak “geek” will be able to understand the method an output. I will post a link to the website soon. There will also be some interesting MEL tools developed for the class that I will post later…..

Independent Study arch 698

I am involved in an experiment next semester. I am advising an independent study based on research I did at Columbia with Jeffrey Taras and Ken Tracy of 4pli. The idea now is that we will curate the end of the year show for the GAUD. We will using a variation of the system I worked on @ Columbia. The system takes a polygonal surface and generates all of the tooling for adjacency labels and the corresponding joints that articulate the angles between the panels. Last semester we modified it so it can be fabricated using a laser cutter. We will use this system to build the 3dimensional elements of the show. We will also be developing the graphics and hopefully publishing a documentary site. Like I said it is an experiment, the schedule for the gallery space is packed @ Pratt so we may just end up working on the system itself. Regardless we will build something interesting and I will post some of the final code and tool paths at the end of the semester.

Special Thanks to: Jason McGee and Troy Zezula for help last semester with the prototypes.

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Nullthing “teaser” site….

This script was developed for a project we did with Studio D&B. Studio D&B asked us to create and mill a pattern for the interior of How Sweet It Is, a bakery on the Lower East Side. The client wanted a free form vine pattern. By creating a primitive model for the vine and scripting an interface to control different attributes we were able to control the density of leaves and curvature of the vines. We then CNC milled the pattern at different depths to increase the 3-dimensionality of the surface.

To use the script you have to open the *.mb file that has the “primitive” vine and the leave model (you can replace the leave with something else like your favorite teapot, as long as you add the attributes “size”,”bend”,”rot”). The best way to change out the leaf model is to delete the gemeotry and place your new gemeotry in the group “leaf.”

The order of selection is 1. a curve for the vines to follow 1. the group “stem” 3. the group “leaf.” If you don’t want any leaves you still need to select it and then just leave the number of leaves at 1.

Source: Vine.mel + Vine_base.mb

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SOFTlab just finished the gallery site for the GAUD @ Pratt (Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design). There was a big rush to get all of the content in before the holidays for next year’s enrollment. We were able to get most of it in there.

The main idea behind the site is to show the most important parts of the school: work, faculty, and events. The navigation for the site was meant to be as flat as possible. You can see the titles of all the content for one year. The site also shows a 1 degree cross relationship between the different types of content(the events don’t have any real links to the other content yet). By using some of the same logic of the proximity experiments posted earlier, there is a visual and interactive cue to these relationships. When you click on a bar of content the site acts as a horizontal stack(like a library) and pulls out all other relative content for viewing. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Link: http://gaud.pratt.edu/

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Here is another flash file that uses proximity interaction. A movie of an extruded square is played from a frame based on the distance of the mouse to the movie.

Source: 3Dgrid.fla

Check out the *.swf >>>

This is a MEL script to generate different variations of a table designed at SOFTlab. The interface allows for changes in the width, length and height of the table. You can also adjust the number of “funnels” and the max radius. The script generates the position of the funnels randomly. There is no physics behind it, so you will have to use your inner structural engineer.

Source:table.mel

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I have been meaning to do this for a while, to create a striated displacement map. This would be impossible to do manually, the editor just isn’t big enough(you could manually enter each position…maybe). The script generates a ramp with randomly colored stripes. The number of stripes is defined by you. It is simple, but I can see it being used in an interesting way, I will leave it to your imagination… I also see it getting nasty…

Script: rampRandStirpes.mel

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