Nervous System was commissioned by Disseny Hub Barcelona to create one of a kind jewelry pieces for Laboratory of Fabrication, an exhibition highlighting the possibilities of rapid prototyping. Using computational design tools we wrote for our cell cycle line, designers at DHUB created 14 unique bracelets and rings. This unprecedented form of collaboration demonstrates some of the new potential afforded by computational design and digital fabrication. The pieces were printed by Shapeways using SLS nylon. The pieces and software will be on exhibit at DHUB in Barcelona from June 15, 2010 until February 27, 2011. Images of the pieces and a video of the applet below.
Jesse is teaching a class this spring with the support of sprout. It essentially covers the topics of interest to us at Nervous System: taking computational models of natural systems and adapting them for design work. It is somewhat technically focused and is geared towards designers with some familiarity with programming/science or those with a science/programming background who want to learn and be creative. If you are in the Boston area, take it! Also, each session is made to be stand-alone (or in conjunction with one other week), so if you just want to attend one topic of interest you can. Each week will center around one simulation technique (and some additional geometry generating material), and we will work through and play with one or more example systems.
We just completed our first computational design meeting/session/thing, and I will tentatively say it was a success. I think we are still feeling around for what the focus of these worksessions is going to be, but so far things are progressing. We had about half a dozen people show up, with a majority either MIT or sprout affiliated. The event managed to self-select well with people seeming to have a genuine interest in doing work rather than a hesitant curiosity. There was a lot of introduction of “who are you” or “what is going on here”, which I would like to get away from but I understand that it is necessary for starting something.
We will be meeting again next week on Tuesday and Thursday. We may change the 6pm-9pm time since most people did not show up until 7pm. I will ask people who come next Tuesday if they have a preferred time.
The idea of building something collaboratively seemed to appeal, so that is a direction we may go. I would also like to bring in more computation focused people, since I feel that was a bit lacking. We are contacting some exciting people, which I will publicize if they are actually coming. We may also invite guests to give a talk for an hour or so, and then stay after to exchange ideas/do work for an hour or two.
If you are interested, please come to next session, or if you cannot just spread the word. Also, I think there will be a Processing study group going on at the same time on Tuesdays, so if you are a beginner and would prefer to focus on learning you can come and go to that.
Where are all the computational designers in the US? Every time I find a new, interesting artist in the field, they are almost always in Europe. Are people in the US really doing less algorithmic work, or are students playing with this stuff more inclined to get a job at some large corporation instead of pursuing their own independent projects?In the spirit of finding out, we will be hosting open worksessions in computational design at sprout in Boston. This will be a place people can come with projects or ideas they are working to share, collaborate, learn, debug, discuss, and refine. We welcome people from a wide range disciplines and abilities. This is a very open-ended endeavor, and I would be happy to see a variety of activities to emerge: impromptu talks, lessons, collaborations, open tools and libraries, shows. We will let you know how the event evolves and please come and help shape it if you have a passion for design and computation.when: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6pm-9pm starting Sept 17where: sprout 339R Summer St Somerville, MA 02144 (near Davis Sq just past the Rosebud diner, building is in the back at the end of the driveway)
We got back from ICFF a week ago, and we’ve been really busy following up since then. It was a lot of fun, and our new line had a very good reception. The new pieces will be available online soon and at several stores including A+R in LA and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. We also have them at the Brooklyn Renegade craft fair on June 6+7.Thanks to everyone we met and talked to especially Grace from design*sponge, Lloyd from treehugger, Katherine from readymade, and William from metropolis. It was also great to see JB from blueoculus again, who I exhibited with at A+ in the NYIGF last February, and delightful to exhibit next to Jean Pelle.
Above are a couple quick renders of the first output of a reworked applet for making our new rings. I essentially rewrote most of it. The old version was based on a rigid hexagonal grid structure while the new one allows for any arbitrary network. Specifically I’ve implemented subdivision of the cells which you can see in the image on the left. This ended up being more difficult than I had thought. There are still many things to do, but the hardest is over and we should have designs ordered for ICFF by next week. Stay tuned for updates and perhaps help Jessica and I resolve disputes over which rings we like the best.
I have been experimenting with adding subdivision to the radiolaria applet. It requires a fundamental restructuring of the code to allow for arbitrary and dynamic connections. Right now the process is one way: you can click to divide a cell, but you cannot undo the operation. If I make it reversible, we may be adding this functionality to the online application. Regardless, we will be using this on the new rings and cuffs that we are 3D printing.
We are working on a number of new projects right now, so I am going to start regularly posting about them and their progress. The posts will be in no particular order. Some of the things will probably get no further than the state I first post them, and some will become products.I am working on a little script to turn 2D black and white images into a smooth 3D surfaces. The basic constraints are the surface should be thicker as the 2D shapes get thicker, and it should be smooth everywhere.
My first attempt was rather straight forward. I identified the edges of the shape. Then from the edges I propagate inward making the surface thicker in a linear manner as I go. This creates a very angular shape, so I then apply a function to smooth it out. In this case I simply mapped the Z values of the surface from a line to a circle.The example I chose to test is a Turing reaction diffusion simulation. You can read more about reaction diffusion here, but they are simply the study of a chemical reaction as it moves through space. Reaction diffusion equations are currently used to model many biological patterns. We may do more with them in the future.The resulting surface is pretty rough. Some of that may be helped by making my mesh finer, but ultimately I think I am going to try a different approach. My next step is to try an optimization method that attempts to make a smooth mesh with the edges constrained to a vertical tangent.
We just entered another Ponoko competition with this fan/pendant. It was another jewelry competition, this time with the theme of summer. Working off that theme, we decided to create a pendant that transforms into a fan. A pattern is cut out of the fan which transforms on each layer, creating a moving 3D pattern when the fan is closed. This pattern is in fact a radiolaria pattern, where we have taken snap shots at regular intervals as the pattern morphs. The hexagons of the resulting patterns were divided into triangles.
The outer profile of the blade also transforms slightly creating a topographic surface when the fan is closed and a nautilus shell effect when open. The shadow looks almost like a ferris wheel, and the individual blades remind us of electrical towers. We find all of these images very summery, and I hope other people do as well. Below you can see a detail of the closed fan.
I was watching an interview with Chris Anderson on television where he was talking about the economics of free. Essentially the economics of free is just an extension of the idea of the service economy, which is a strong part of postmodern ideas about production. Instead of focusing on selling products our economy is now centered on selling services. Take bookstores for example. A bookstore used to be a place you could go, and there would be a bunch of books you could buy. It was about selling books as a product. Now with online retailers like Amazon (and soon freely available scanned books), there is no way a bookstore could complete on selling books alone. So bookstores now have to switch to offering something else, offering an environment. Cafes have become a standard figure in major bookstores like Barnes and Nobles. They create a place you want to hang out, a place you can pick up a book and a cup off coffee and sit down for a while. You go to a bookstore for how good the browsing experience is.
The way this comes back to the free economy is that instead of selling a product, you give it away to entice people to use a service. This is the model for many open source software companies. The software itself is free, but what you charge for is technical support, custom extensions, etc. People use the software because it is free, and they buy your service because they have the software. However, for many online business (news, software, etc) the product is free, and the only service they provide is advertising. Google has made their entire fortune this way.
Now of course, I think free software is a great thing and Google is a great thing, but there is an inherint contraction occurring. Free online services both depend on advertising for revenue and render it obsolete. Services like craigslist, yelp, and blogs advertise products in a better and more efficient way than traditional advertising could ever dream. Organized consumer reviews are a way better advertising system than blind (or somethings not so blind) ads. I go on yelp and ask what is the best chinese restaurant near my current location. I can find out if something that looks good is actually a disappointment. I can even get recommendations on what dishes to order. No billboard could do a better job. Blogs spread news and info on new products in a much more efficient manner than buying ad space in a magazine could. Because people now have the ability to express and communicate there opinions so effectively, advertisements are obsolete. It seems like the only people they are good for are large companies with inferior products. As more consumers become techno-savvy, and we come up with better ways of organizing and sharing information this will only become more true.
But what happens to these free services we have come to expect. We will not suddenly start paying for the news again. There are a few options. One option is my analysis is wrong. Adversing remains valuable in some scenarios and can continue to be a source of revenue especially as advertisements become more targeted and effective. Another thing that could happen is that businesses will have to find another source of revenue. Just as the open source projects have support to provide, other businesses will have to find services they can provide. Additionally advertising essentially puts a price tag on attention; however, it is certainly not the value from attention. Business may find other creative ways to monetize attention. Finally, traditional businesses that depend on advertising could break down. In the news, this is already starting to happen. While investigative journalism will always be an important job, the majority of the news is up to the minute breaking news. Professional journalists are not required to report this type of information. Blogs are starting to take the place of newspapers and television in this area. For breaking news you do not need a trained writer or investigator. What you need most is someone familiar with the situation. Why should we pay to send someone to Serbia to report on something they just heard about, when we can just as easily hear from the people who live there? Bloggers often directly benefit from attention independent of any advertising because what they write about directly effects them (or its simply something they want to do anyway).
I am certain that there will be a depreciation of the value of advertising, but how exactly this will play out and how it will effect the free economy will be interesting.
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