autonomatic_team_drummond masterton

Drummond Masterton

project_Star Tessellation

The defining aesthetic aspect of many objects created by designer makers using RP and CNC milling is a triangulated effect. This triangulation is achieved by saving objects as Stereolithography or STL files, although this triangulation can be effectively removed by decreasing the size of the triangles to an almost microscopic level.

Recently more designer makers have been using the production method of RP and exploiting the triangles that are a result of the STL file format used. There are a large number of cases where these triangles are talked up by the maker as a positive thing, a happy accident; I believe that this is mainly afterthought and a counter to critics concerns over issues of control of the process. In the future such work that fails to have a true rationale for using these triangular patterns will seem tired, as the aesthetic is a direct result of the process and can be easily simulated by other makers, resulting in a plethora of objects with few distinguishing features.

This enforced triangulation prompted an investigation of how to remove the triangle, I started by researching the principles behind the STL format and discovered that although all surfaces are ultimately triangulated only those with curvature reveal this idiosyncrasy.

This led to the exploration of different types of tiling with the knowledge that there had already been a significant amount of work conducted in this area by mathematicians and by craftsmen as visible in the geometric patterns in Islamic design 1.

Instead of designing an object in CAD from a series of particular tools and then saving the result as a STL file. I decided to initially build a series of flat surfaces which were constructed using a range of semi-regular plane tessellations and infinite tessellations 2. My initial test was constructed in 3D Studio MAX using a combination of hexagons and triangles. I then altered this surfaces point by point until I had described a 3D form, in this case a simple bowl. The process was extremely time consuming however the result achieved a level of complexity that would have been difficult to model using just a series of existing operations. The object had incredibly sharp geometric features, that although had escaped the use of software defined meshes, still had an identifiable mathematical aesthetic.

Through the process of CNC milling I was able to output these forms in aluminium and Perspex and this enabled me to evaluate the surfaces under a variety of lighting conditions and more importantly with my hands.

This technique has enabled me to develop a range of work that builds from the ground up and allows me to choose a method that rather than being arbitrarily applied can be designed and controlled. As mentioned before this process is extraordinarily time consuming but it has value embedded as it can achieve a level of uniqueness that comes from the maker rather than the software.

1 AD magazine, Islam +Architecture, VOL 74 n6., Wiley Academic 2004.

2 http:/web.ukonline.co.uk/polyhedra/tessellations/tessel.htm

projects

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Surface Patterning :> :> :> :> :>
Star Tessellation :> :> :> :> :>
Test Pieces :> :> :> :> :> :> :> :>
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Terraincup :> :> :> :> :> :> :> :>
Cycleau-Cornwall :> :> :> :> :>
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