Assignment IV Layout

Assignment IV - Emergent Form / Garden of Glowing Monoliths

The luminaire from assignment three was transformed into a garden of illuminated monolithic protrusions. Many of the monoliths are transparent, while others remain as solid, opaque objects. Using the powerful lighting capabilities of Form Z, point lights were inserted into each of the tranparent forms, and several cone lights project on to the solids. The perimeter walls of the garden were meant to appear as a type of hedge, while the floor is reminiscent of a natural dirt or sand ground cover.

Ideally, this garden would be open at all hours of the day. In natural daylight, the transparent monoliths would catch the sun and glow, revealing the true color of the material. However during the night hours, artificial lights from within the ‘exhibits’ will illuminate the space, and provide the attraction themselves.

Assignment IV - Preliminary 'Learning/Experimenting'

The two functions investigated were the INTERSECTION and BOOLEAN SPLIT commands.

The intersection tool allows an overlap to emerge, when two objects touch or intersect with each other.

The boolean split commands lets various pieces emerge when objects intersect one another. For example, if two spheres overlap, the boolean tool will allow the converging lens shape created by the overlap to emerge without the original two spheres; or one of the spheres with a cutout in the shape of the lens formed by the other sphere.

Several problems presented themselves during this 'learning process.' First, these two tools are extremely finicky: if the user looks at the computer screen the wrong way, the command will not work and the user will be presented with a rude beep and an error message.

Secondly, the function will not successfully complete an intersection or boolean split on a non-planar shape. The boolean split was attempted on two snake-like forms, in an effort to produce several interesting emerging overlaps, previously hidden by the single mass. This attempt failed, however, because the snake-shapes were apparently non-planar.

Finally, if the user has any apprehension with the functions, or Form Z in general, the program will sense his/her fear and promptly crash without saving or creating a salvageable backup.

Despite the aforementioned serious issues concerning these two operations, they are quite powerful when executed properly and have the potential to yield incredible results.

Intersection

Boolean Split

Boolean Split