Rebecca Yip Student ID: 641155
Group 3 Semester 1/2013 Â
DRAGONFLY WINGS IDEATION
IDEATION: CHOSEN PATTERN
The dragonfly wing is a natural construction of a complex patterning process, which is developed from responding to force flows and material organization. The wing achieves efficient structural performance through the nonlinear variation of pattern, corrugations and varied material properties throughout the structure. The seemingly random variation in the natural pattern of the wings actually allows rigidity and flexibility along the span of the wings to allow the wings to be used for flight. The various shapes carry the responsibility of determining the amount of stiffness or flexibility in that area of the wing. Chosen pattern: Dragonfly wings
Here, balance is achieved by distributing the shapes in a way that each side of the polygon is connected to another shape.
The gradual change in shading of the lines from dark to light indicates the movement in which the pattern was being formed, starting from the center shape before branching out.
SYMMETRY
MOVEMENT
BALANCE
IDEATION: DEVELOPMENT
By using regular polygons as the shape that creates the pattern instead of irregular shapes, each shape is symmetrical, thus achieving symmetry in the pattern.
Recipe 1. Draw a 3-6 sided polygon. 2. On each side of the original shape, repeat step 1, including the side of the original shape into the new polygon.
This recipe provides the basis of how the natural pattern would be incorporated into the design of my lantern.
IDEATION: EXPLORING FORMS
Making the paper models inspired different concepts and designs for my lantern. The most evident contribution is the emphasis of incorporating patterns on the lantern’s surface. Furthermore, some similarities between the paper model and my final lantern can be seen in its shape.
IDEATION: RELATION TO BODY
When making the clay model, it evoked thoughts of how then lantern should be held, and the direction of light from the lantern to be achieved.
Here, I drew inspiration from the holding of candlelight. I want the light from my paper lantern to have the same effect of holding a candle in both palms, allowing light to illuminate everything else from my hands. Â
DRAGONFLY WINGS DESIGN
DESIGN: DIGITALIZE
Although my design was fairly simple, I found the digitalizing of my model very challenging due to the lack of experience in using the Rhino software. Having to familiarize myself with using the software took up a vast amount of time. However, there were still limitations in designing my lantern because of my scarce knowledge in using the tools available. Here I used the loft tool to make the basic shape of my model.
After spending some time on rhino I explored different forms of my design. It took me awhile to find a way to customize my surface panels, but eventually I managed to do it by using these two custom panels, completely transforming the forms.
DESIGN: PROTOTYPING
PROS -‐ I gained a better understanding of how the tabs would appear after they are all attached. -‐ Vertical tabbing preferred over horizontal. -‐ Tabs served as the rib and structure of the model.
Being new to the process of using the card cutter and assembling the pieces together, I extracted only a small fragment of my model for my prototype.
CONS -‐ Some tabs were too small, so they were hard to manipulate around. -‐ The cut out patterns seemed too identical and repetitive.
PROS -‐ Having patches of untouched surface makes the design more aesthetically pleasing, as it creates a more random approach. -‐ Using both black and ivory card allows a better perspective on the effect the different colours give.
This prototype was made more for the purpose of altering the surface cut outs to be more organic and comparing them to the previous prototype.
CONS -‐ This model was not refined so that it would be able to stand alone, as it was used to explore the surface cut outs, therefore it was not solid and was very unstable.
DESIGN: PROTOTYPING
Because the cut lines were too miniscule, the paper was caught when using the card cutter. After altering my unrolled surface by eliminating the cut lines where it last caught, the cutting process went more smoothly. Here I decided to make a prototype to see if I could make the small components making up one of my designs because of its intricacy.
PROS -Ââ€? This prototype helped me to see the limits of intensity the card cutter can cut, which contributed to designing my final model.
DESIGN: LIGHTING PRECEDENTS
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4 2 1.
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The lighting effect I want to achieve can be seen in these four pictures.
The intricacy of the design is splayed out in the shadows. The main lighting effect I want from my lantern is for the surface cut outs on my design to be transferred onto the walls in its shadows. 2. The Hyphae lamps’ shadows are overlapped and layered, giving some shadows more depth than others. From this, I want my design to have some form of layering so the shadows have different dimensions and magnitude. 3,4. Stuart Haygart’s chandeliers using remnant glass pieces and also Villa Tosca Design’s Long Leaves ceiling lamp seem to give the effect of something inside the lamp that is lit up and encased. I want to transfer this particular idea onto my paper lantern.
DRAGONFLY WINGS FABRICATION
FABRICATION: FULL-SCALE PROTOTYPE
This design option involves having two black and one white light capsule within the lantern. The idea I had for this was to be able to reach in the lantern and grasp the light capsule. Also, the capsules within would contribute to the layering effect of the shadows. As these capsules were not fixed in place and free to move around, the shadow effects would be different each time it is moved. PROS - This full-scale prototyping allowed me to see the life scale proportion of the lantern to my body. CONS - The capsules seemed really random and out of place. Although the idea was for them to be loose and unconnected, when the design was constructed, it did not seem like the best idea.
FABRICATION: ADAPTION TO DESIGN
After the full-scale prototype, I decided on eliminating the loose light capsules within the lantern. To counter the loss of layering in the design, I decided on customizing my panels with two layers. Placing the surface with the larger surface cut outs on the inside allows more light from within to escape through the holes to the outer surface.
FABRICATION: UNROLLING
BLACK CARD
IVORY CARD
FABRICATION: FABRICATION PROCESS
FABRICATION: FINAL MODEL
Using the ivory card for the inner layer of the lantern and the black card for the outer was a crucial part of the design. As white reflects light while black traps light, it gives the illusion that the inner layer is suspended within the mass of delicate strands. Also, the tabs in the lantern, while being the structure element, also restricts the light source from overtaking the whole lantern completely, which I find gives the lantern more complexity.
DRAGONFLY WINGS REFLECTION
REFLECTION
When Virtual Environments first started, I was very overwhelmed. I found the time frame to complete everything from learning to use a new software to physically creating a model really challenging, especially while getting used to university life and all the subjects. I spent module one and two confused and lost as I was not entirely sure on how we were meant to complete our tasks. However, the moment we hit the fabricating stage in module three, things began to become clear to me. Being able to test the designs and concepts physically really allowed me to have more passion for my ideas, and it was then that I started to really generate ideas to what I was passionate about rather than solely meeting the design brief of making a lantern. Having my passion for the subject surface halfway through the subject was a shame, as looking back to the first two modules, I knew that there were much more things I could have accomplished. The opportunity to become used to using the card cutter and Rhino was a real perk of the subject, as these skills would really help with model making in the future. Although there were many technical difficulties that occurred during the course of these twelve weeks which led to many restrictions, I felt that this prepared us with better skill in overcoming these difficulties and improved critical thinking in finding alternative solutions in limited time, crucial to the real world.
I was quite please with the end form and design of my paper lantern. Though the quality of execution could have been improved tremendously. Not knowing I was able to adjust the force settings on the card cutter, I did not recut my unrolled surfaces for my ivory card, which were only scored rather than cut. Therefore, I had to individually carve out a lot of the holes in my design with a penknife. As my skill in using a penknife were never that good, it was in no comparison to the precise and clean cut of the card cutter. Being able to physically hold the paper lantern of my design after such a long process and having a lantern parade to show the product of our hard work, I find, was the best and most rewarding part of this subject. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Virtual Environments, as it exposed me to many new experience and skills in the design world, also increasing my confidence in my own abilities and ideas.
REFERENCE
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20111119-‐5-‐stunning-‐3d-‐printed-‐lamps.html http://mocoloco.com/archives/013049.php http://homeklondike.com/2011/03/17/ceiling-‐lights-‐long-‐leaves-‐by-‐villa-‐tosca-‐design/