The Olf Man Stepped and Swept the Assailant Off His Feet

Welcome to a new stage, I'll be your host.

So as we move into the main final stage of the semester the Studio was broken into groups and I teamed up with Kobi, Neil, and Hooman. The first project was to do some sort of motion tracking using Adobe Flash or some other animation program. After seeing how the rest of my group was leaning as far as subject matter I changed my focus from doing a hand openign and closeing, to Parkour.

For those of you who do not know what Parkour is, it is basically an attempt to cross an urban terrain as fast as possible by any means using only your body. So running up walls, jumping ledges, and throwing yourself off of high buildings is the name of the game. I found a cool video on videojug.com and took a segment into flash and animated it. Here is the original video (sorry if there is an ad at the beginning)

Parkour: Parkour: Dash Vault

And here is what came out of it.

Not too shabby for my first Flash. I would like to get better at it but that will come when I actually have free time.

We also had ot do an Onion skin of the motion, which was quite easy once the video was done. An Onion Skin is jsut shadow of the frames in a video over laid on top of them to show a progress of motion through time. In Flash all you have to do is push a button and get this.

And that was the end of this part of the project. My fellow group members should have their work up now or sometime before the semester is over so I recommend checking our their blogs and see the cool stuff they did. Anyway, I have one more project to get down before I am all caught up with what has been going on. But it was another group project and the majority of the final images I do not have in my posession. So until next time, friends. Peace!

-T.Bunch

We Serve Drinks and Broken Dreams but No Edibles

Alright, not too sure what the deal was... but moving on. Sweet.

So here is a glimpse into my sketchbook as I began the process of designing the bench and its uses. Bask in the glory of the sketchbook.

So from this I cam up with the general shape of my bench and the seating positions that I wanted to have. And it was back to Rhino!

This is such a awkward view to build in, but then again it gets the job done.

But once it gets spread out, it starts to make sense.

And after a quick loft.

Then I exported the model into FormZ for some material and texture.

The reason I went with concrete comes from the thought that these could be mass produced and sold as a substitute for regular park benches. If I had more time with the project I would have investigated a way for all the different elements of the model above so that each piece would be able to fit with the others in a variety of positions. That way a theme park or outdoor mall could order 20 of each one then position them differently at each location. That way they would be similar but not duplicates of each other. And if they were made out of concrete then they could be cast out of the same material that they are resting on so it would look like the ground just pulsated upward to form seating then would seamlessly drop back into the ground.

I also put them into The Grand Central Station to show context.

So after all the digital work was done, it was time to build the model using the same process as the previous project. Producing this....

And that actually brings us to the end of this portion of our little journey. Next time we will look into a new project and a little bit of group work. Peace!

-T.Bunch

He Replied in Terms as if He Talked About Me, Not To Me

Welcome back. I've missed you. Did you miss me?

So this is the start of a new project. There was not suppose to be much link between the last project and this one, but I couldn't just stop what I was working on. So I tried to use the same language of curves and multiple use spaces that exist near each other and apply it to another project that had difference restrictions. The main restriction is that this project actually had to have a function.
I had never designed a piece of furniture before so that seemed like a good project. And of course, lots of architects and designers are famous for their chairs so I went with that idea but quickly realized I wanted more space to work with... so I went with a bench.

Alright, I was going to start posting images but for some reason my windows explorer isn't working and that worm that is said to go off today is freaking me out, so I'm going to reboot and see if that solves the issue. If I'm back in a few minutes that things worked out alright.

-T.Bunch

He Knows Nothin' but Hard Work and Scrappin' By

Yeah, back again with more business. Alright, so if it wasn't clear from the images I was working with the concept of interweaving paths. Just the thought of all those layers of human interaction; looking up and seeing people walking somewhere and then looking down and seeing other people heading somewhere else, all the while giving the people on the other layers the same look of "where the heck are those guys going?" I don't know, it is just cool to me.

So after doing all that we had to take an aspect of those projects and make a physical model. Well, two of them actually. I got a little caught up in one of them so the other was more of an after thought (and that thought was "Crap, I need two models"). So for the main one I know I started working in Rhino. Check it.

I honestly started in this view.

Then I did this.

Then I did this.

Then I freaked out and went back to this.

Then I did this (Yes there is a difference).

Then I did this.

Then I did this. I left the lines on to show the curves better.

Then I did this (This is the interface showing three views and a perspective. What it is showing is that I broke up the model into straight sections that I will build with later).

Then I took those sections into AutoCad and laid them out flat.

Then, using the Laser Cutter, I cut the shapes out of a piece of chip board.

And after a few hours of assembly, I got this.

Sick? Yeah, I enjoy it. Thanks to all those who like it. It is nice to have others like your work. A good confidence boost and all that. Anyway, here is the other model I came up with. More an exploration in defining space.

So that is actually it for my "Paths" project. Next post we will be entering new territory. So tune in again, in about an hour or so. I need to get my car, then I might go for a run. Yeah, I haven't had any physical exercise in a few weeks and now I am part of an indoor soccer team and I need to get my butt moving again. Peace!

-T.Bunch

Long time no see

Ok even though I haven't updated, doesn't mean I haven't been doing things. And I hope to have this all cleared away before the night is through. It might take a few posts but by the time it is through you shall know my glory. Or something like that.... Moving on.

So when I last left you I was goign to show you what the next step of the Haptic Models was, so here you go. Check it.

I'm sorry, did I just blow you mind? Don't worry, the only cure for too much awesome is more awesome and I've got that coming in the next post. See you in a few minutes. Peace!

-T.Bunch

PS. Made with Rhino. Rendered in FormZ if I remember correctly.