ARLO CALTABIANO & YASHASWINI APTE Concept:-
Our 3D Print Brick pattern is inspired from the structure of a honey comb. However, the rigid hexagonal shape and the uniformity of the honeycombs have been modified integrating it with other polygonal shapes. These modules are varied in size and intensity to resemble a spider’s web. The idea was to read the voids as much as the solids akin to the Zaha Hadid’s ‘Mesa Table’ which was one of the case studies undertaken. To achieve a more organic form and to avoid rigidity, the surfaces have been gently curved.
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- final derived brick pattern
- Procedure for 3D Modelling:-
Step 1: A single line polygonal pattern was drawn out which formed the basis of our 3D modelling. This was done by marking random points on the opened up surfaces of the brick. Using ‘Voronoi diagram’ a pattern was drawn out. This pattern was modified and redrawn to achieve the required density required to balance out the solids and voids & to realise the spider web-like effect.
- positive surface negative surface
Step 2: We started with ‘Pipe’. The 3d was drawn out using this and the next step was to join the overlapping surfaces. The larger polygonal surfaces were joined using ‘Boolean union’, the smaller ones did not get joined with this method. These intersecting surfaces would be a problem for the 3d printing & to maintain a honeycomb like section, we decided on a different approach. Reference image :http://gizmodo.com/5031877/honeycomb-skyscraper-has-no-internal-structure-attracts-giant-killer-wasps
Step 3: Polygons were drawn along the pattern & off-setted. The negative spaces were then extruded using ‘extrude curve’. After which the rectangular face of one surface was extruded using ‘extrude curve’. The negative spaces of the extruded solid were then deleted using ‘Boolean difference’ creating the solid and voids. This was done for each face of the brick.
Step 4: In this step the surfaces have been gently curved to achieve an organic appearance. The surfaces thus obtained above were exploded using ‘Explode’ and then using ‘Rebuild’ the surfaces were modified along the control points.
Step 5: After using ‘Rebuild’, each surface was grouped together. Using ‘c-plane’ the surfaces were rotated to form the outer surfaces of the brick.
Step 6: The cylinder was made using ‘Tube’, this was exploded and converted into a mesh. To convert it into a solid the mesh was off-setted and using ‘Loft’ the inner and outer surfaces were joined.
Step 7: Boolean union did not work due to the thickness of the polysurfaces. To solve this the external surfaces were extracted using ‘Extractsurface’. this surface was copied out separately and meshed. the meshed surfaces was moved out and separated from the nurbs surface. The entire brick was joined together using ‘Join’ and then the mesh was off-setted to the required thickness. This created some naked edges when checked. We then decided to work on the cylinders separately. The surfaces without the cylinders were offsetted using ‘Off-set mesh’ and the previously done cylinder was exploded and then rebuilt. The surface of the cylinder was then curved along the control points, meshed, off-setted and then joined to the rest of the block.
Step 8: A check was undertaken to locate the naked edges, once we had confirmed there were no naked edges the file was converted to a .stl file for 3d printing.
cleaning & sealing of the printed brick
