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______________________________final status update (part 2).following are snapshots of the parameters and constraints used to control the movement of the sma/fabric wall.1. with the extreme conditions of the fabric surface in plan drawn, i divided up the two splines into 20 points (representing 20 sma elements). i then drew lines from point to point in order to provide a movement guide for the vertical sma. i then placed a point on each line, controlled by the rendering ratio, so that the movement of each point along the line would be in line with the movement of the walls. the ratio parameter also accounts for the difference in length of movement of the 20 points, offerering a smooth transition.
2. from the points along the guide lines, i vertically projected a series of additional points to use as passing points for the vertical splines. these are controlled by a new user length parameter to allow for easy adapting later. the current heights are based on typical seating dimensions, as the sma fabric wall is envisioned as being a furniture element. a major factor in the design of this particular sma/fabric zone, is its flipping from interior to exterior. in the winter mode, the seat on the fabric is internal to the house (close to the heat of the hearth) while in the summer condition, the seat flips, orienting itself externally, in the shaded outdoor space. to allow for this, i created guides (similar to step 1) at the height of the seat and placed the spline passing point again controlled by the rendering ratio. therefore, the seat is able to flip from interior to exterior with the changing seasons. this will be shown in the final animation.
3. i created the vertical splines by using the projected points from step 2 as reference points. i was having issues with the control of the bowing out of the spline, as i was using to few reference points. to fix this, i discovered that i could connect a spline to an existing straight line, in addition to the points. this allowed for the spline to have a much more rigid condition at the top, and a more flowing and soft shape at the base, where the seating is. 
4. i created the fabric by running a multi-section surface along the 20 vertical splines that i created. there were some issues of "cusping" occurring, so i had to make adjustments with the guides, as well as creating multiple multi-section surfaces at the severely twisting points, mainly at the point of the hearth.
5. with all of the points relating to the rendering ratio, precise location and movement is easily adjusted by changing the rendering position parameter.
______________________________final status update.i was able to get the vertical splines (which represent the sma's) working to move the fabric how i want it. creating a shifting indoor/outdoor seating condition in the crack portion of the house. below are two .gifs that show the motion and flipping of the seat.
i am gearing up for the final presentation on wednesday, so this is all the posting for now. i plan to have an overall roundup of the sketches and parameters i used in dp to create the motion i wanted, as well as having a few sheet drawings (utililizing the drafting component of dp) and finally a fully rendered animation (which is in progress through exporting .igs files into rhino) showing the shifting walls and sma/fabric condition. the ultimate goal is to continue to work on the dp model for the other fabric portions as well, to have a complete animation for the thesis review at the end of the month.view large for animations (there is a slight delay at the beginning). also, there is a flickr link in case the animations aren't working.
flickr: elevation.
flickr: axon.
______________________________status update 3.unfortunately, production this week has been greatly hampered by the penultimate thesis review (on friday). in the interest of high production in short time, i reverted back to working primarily in rhino to lock down the "extreme" conditions. i've been working mostly in the summer cracked condition, with the winter hopefully to be finished for the review.
my method throughout this project has been to design in rhino, and basically prove if my idea works or doesn't work in digital project, while also using it to determine what happens in the intermediate zones between the closed winter wall position and the cracked summer position.
for the review i have been focusing on more realistic fabric conditions (that were determined through using digital project in week 2), while also placing the locations of the sma wires within the fabric zone. my aim for the final is to build the fabric surface in dp, controlled from the previously created splines, and to place the vertically running smas onto this fabric zone, constrained to their actual points on the spline. i would also like to utilize a length constraint to keep the length of the smas consistent during motion. this will allow for an accurate understanding of the movement of the fabric walls, as well as (hopefully) create an interesting and informative animation.
progress on the fabric zones and smas can be seen below....
______________________________ status update 2. attempting to solve the issues from last week of the walls not rotating exactly as desired, i began to add in more guide restraints for the motions of the walls. however it quickly became apparent that the issue wasn't a digital project issue, but instead it was a fundamental flaw in my design. simply, there were too many "cracks" in the walls based on my hinge points that allowed a portion to more or less float free. i then updated the design to remove one of the breaks, combining two separate wall panels into one, which resulted in a much smoother rotation and will also really help the fabric setup to come. so thanks digital project for that!
updated design: four separate wall pieces have now become three.
preparing for an animation: talking with karl, it seemed that the best way to create an animation is to export an .igs file to rhino, render, move the digital project model a little, repeat. i am therefore trying to make this process a little easier by creating a sketch with points at intervals to use as guide points on where to move the walls so that the motion is fluid.
first attempt with fabric motion: i've been looking at setting up the base of where the fabric structure meets the floor, in order to create parameters to control its movements based upon certain design criteria. the images below show the same restraints in the summer and winter condition of the fabric.
beginnings of a second attempt with fabric motion: though the first attempt seems to make some nice results, i am also interested on creating more control in the final shape of the fabric in the extreme winter and summer conditions. to do this i projected the extreme wall positions into a new sketch, which i then isolated the points in order to keep them in place while still allowing the walls to move as desired. i then created a restrained sketch of how i want the fabric to look in each condition. by doing this i now have the extreme shapes determined and i plan to create tracking lines between the two for another spline to rotate along as i update the positions of the walls.
______________________________ status update. so far, i have been able to model the moveable solid wall portions, fairly close to the desired motion constraints. there are some movement parameters that i am not sure of how to control (like when a wall must stop rotating or an extreme of rotation) but the restraints that i have been able to put into play have the walls moving as desired.
step 1: i exported the pre-existing plan (in the cracked form) as an .igs file in order to create the base plan to draw from.
step 2: from the base plan, i projected points into a new sketch for the outline of the core's floor, as well as a new sketch for the locations of the walls. i then isolated the projected points from the cad background to allow the walls to float.
step 3: in order to control the movement of the walls, a few restraints were put into play by creating a new sketch consisting of guides for the walls to rotate and slide on.
step 4: in preparation of the ceiling portion of the walls, i again projected and isolated the previously drawn points from the cad file, and drew guide lines to their respective points along the walls. i also gave some dimensions to the walls in order for them to maintain their shapes upon movement.
step 5: using the height parameters i created for the height of the walls and the pitch of the ceiling, i projected the points to planes controlled by the height parameters.
step 6: with the projected ceiling points i drew a polyline between the three corner points to create their outlines. i then made a plane for each ceiling orientation and offset a second one controlled in distance by a created 'ceiling thickness' function. i then extruded the polyline as a 'pad' which created the solid. finally, i created a 'pad' for each wall segment in the same part body set, and extruded it 'up to last' which automatically booleans the wall and ceiling pads into a single solid.
the height parameters i created allow for easy adaption of the wall height and pitch height.
step 7: wall movements. there are some parameters and restraints that still needed to be created/figured out in order to avoid the over rotation of a few of the wall pieces, but the general control of sliding the first wall to initiate the motion is happening, which is encouraging.
(if this video doesn't work, i have also loaded it on my flickr page here....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdmandeville/4440022090/ )
______________________________
from the project brief.......//Intent//
Apply and extend what you have learned about Digital Project through its application.
Option1 - Continue with a case study and modify it.
Option2 - Use this final project for your studio project (or a past studio project).
//Tasks//
Your project must develop each week.______________________________proposal.i intend to utilize the option 2 scheme, in order to develop the final project in conjunction with my thesis work, which was a goal of mine for choosing paramod during the final semester. my thesis revolves around the design of a house, responsive to environmental conditions, mainly heat, wind and light, and how this informs the internal comfort of the space (think reyner banham and philippe rahm).
the house is a modern reinterpretation of a dogtrot house, sited in a northern climate, such as michigan, where the extremes of summer warmth and winter cold are experienced fully. the house is responsive to these extreme conditions by taking on two forms that inform the interior space and adapt it to a varied living condition from summer to winter.
the winter form is a solid, compressed, and secure form, that closes off the opening of the dogtrot space, creating a smaller living space condensed around the hearth which leads to greater ease of heating, as well as presenting the return of domesticity focused around the hearth.
the summer form presents a "cracked" open form, that breaks the solid shell of the winterized condition, allowing for distilled light, cooling breezes, and a much greater volume of space, contrasting the tight and compact winter condition. the summer form also opens the dogtrot breezeway to the air allowing for additional cooling and separation of the active living zone with the sleeping quarters.
the fabric skins in the joint and "cracked" zones is where i envision digital project presenting itself. these fabric zones allow for a very controlled shape condition through the utilization of shape memory alloys (sma). sma's are a metal that have two chemical phases, hot and cold, allowing severe and extreme distortion of the metal's shape, yet maintaining the ability to return to its original shape upon heating (whether through temperature or electrical current). these fabric zones, laced with sma's, offer the potential in design to be surfaces that can change based upon external heat conditions, or a desire to open up to allow light and winds through.
my hope for digital project, is to create realistic situations of these sma fabric walls and how i can control openings and shapes. one option is for the skin to be a sort of scale like membrane, that opens up the scales as the sma's move. i think digital project could be utilized in this scenario to script openings within the scales that are more open at certain locations, or less open in others.
