The next iteration of the surface meshing algorithm from the previous post is surface remeshing. Surface meshing is the process of taking an existing mesh and generating a new mesh of the same surface. This can be useful in many scenarios — for example, we’re using a 3D modeling program to design a surface that we want to use in a simulation. Unfortunately, the mesh that the modeling software creates isn’t designed for simulation. It might have very big triangles, triangles with distorted shapes, way too many triangles, or other problems. You know, triangle problems. Surface meshing allows us to generate a new surface of roughly the same shape but with a uniform density of points and consistent elements.
The procedure is fairly straight forward:
Begin with an existing mesh.
Generate evenly spaced points on that surface. We do this by generating random points on the surface and discarding any that lie within a certain distance of a point that has already been added. We accelerate this process with a simple spatial partitioning data structure.
Run the Ball Pivot Algorithm on that set of points. The points have no connection to the original surface once they are generated.
You can play with an initial implementation here. Warning: this is very buggy and likely to crash, generate meshes with holes, or create fairly ugly meshes, depending on the settings.
A while ago there was a pretty great XKCD which gave semi-technical descriptions of the Saturn V rocket using only the 1,000 (or “ten hundred”) most commonly written English words: Up-Goer Five
see the rest at xkcd.com
Jessica and Nathan challenged me to describe what we do at Nervous System using a similarly restricted vocabulary. I feel like I’ve had some practice lately trying to tell people what, exactly, we do here. They don’t realize that asking me about my new job is a trap… twenty minutes later their eyes are glazing over as I keep trying to make them understand how exciting generative design is. So this was good for me. You know, keeping it simple:
The name of our business is “THE BODY PARTS THAT WORK TOGETHER TO LET YOU THINK AND CONTROL EVERYTHING ELSE IN YOUR BODY.”
We use numbers and computers to make computer-world things that look like things you can find in the real world. We make things for your body, your house and your mind. Some of the things we make are quite small, and some are bigger than your head!
The things we make in the computer world would be very hard to draw or form with your hands — at the very least, it would take you a long time. But computers are faster than people, so we ask them to grow things for us. Our numbers tell them how to grow the things, and we make them grow within the lines we set.
Once the computer-world things are ready, we ask our business friends (and not-so-friends, sometimes) to turn the computer-world things into real-world things. We buy the real-world things from our business friends, and then other people buy them from us for more money. Some people buy our things in a real store, other people buy them at our computer-world store on the world-wide-computer-street. People from all over the world buy our fun things, so we keep making more.
If you want to make sure I didn’t cheat, or if you maybe just want to write something of your own using only the “ten hundred most used words,” here’s a link to The Up-Goer Five Text Editor by Theo Sanderson.
We’re getting ready to shoot our new catalog this season, and we are searching for interesting faces to model all of our collections. The photo shoot will take place in our studio in Somerville, MA on July 26, 27, and 28th. Not every model has to be available for all three days. The photos will be used in our wholesale catalog for stores, and some of the photos may be published on our website. No previous modelling experience is necessary! We’re looking for fresh, interesting faces, with lots of expression. Models will receive lunch on days they are here, as well as some jewelry pieces for their time. To participate, please email a portrait of yourself against a white background to hello@n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com, with “Model” as the subject of the email.
We were overwhelmed by how quickly our first round of Generative Jigsaw Puzzles sold out. Since then, we’ve been working on puzzles non-stop in the studio, and we now have more of the Radial Series available for sale, and we still have a few of the MaCabism Series left. All puzzles are ready to ship in two weeks or less.
We’ve also taken new photographs of one of our most popular items, the Full Moon Series. We have a wide assortment of Steel Full Moons, and Gold Full Moons. Each piece is one of a kind — some are light and airy, others are dense and compact. More one of a kind pieces, like our Coral Series, will be available soon.
This weekend, we will be in Brooklyn for the Renegade Craft Fair, showcasing our best-sellers as well as pieces from our new collection. Stop by the booth and say hello!
We’re still photographing our new lighting pieces from ICFF to prepare them for the website, but you can see some more images of the pieces we are working on below.
We are exhibiting our new collection, Hyphae, as well as 7 new additions to our cell cycle line, lamps, ceramics, and all of our older collections of jewelry.
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