Natasha Maloney
Lyrical object:
Briteonyx
Abstract architecture at University of Houston.
In the distance the main a structure is distorted in the fog. It appears as an ominous solid structure. Parts fixed and solid, others are light, tectonic and translucent. The closer to the object you become the more visible and intense the colorful lights become through the fog. The wind whirls causing the structure to creak. Shimmering in the light. Color and light emanate from the mass. The object appears to be melting like wax of a candle, melting off the structure. The structure feels as if traversing a forest of crystal quarts. The light bounces through the crystals as if echoes. Will the lights ever settle?
Upon approach the darkness of the threshold seems a prelude of suspense for the mystery the space holds. The sense of fluidity causes suspense as the mass itself juts from the surface yet appears to be fluid in form. Amassive cylinder of light hang from a tectonic structure creating a intimidating luminous sense of space. It appears as a room of mirrors causing a different perception at every turn of the viewer. Reflection and distortion. The feeling of noise without sound. Is there ever peace in a busy mind? Is the mind ever silent? Creativity can be a lonely dark place or beaming with life what decides the fate? Or is creativity the life and soul to this haunted place?
Poem
The object is to express the qualities of a creative mind on the edge of going insane and feeling dejected. It can be the brightest place ever or a void of empty darkness. The mind never stops working, always creating thoughts, always reflecting. Every whimsical thought has a bases therefore light within the stone analogy. Colors represent creativity and fun thoughts. The vast empty represents a expression of pain, loneliness or creative block. The waxy/faceted quality of the façade is the tangible lifelike quality of creativity. The fixed singular mass represents loneliness. The intricate faceted skin represents the immense variety of qualities which creates the personality of a person. It is interwoven into the form and extrudes out like a person trying to express themselves. The lights underneath create activity and life surrounding the object. The object appears to be fixed onto this light because people strive for acceptance of others yet not the object does not fit ‘comfortably’ because the person feels miss-understood and alone even when they are surrounded by others. As a artist can feel misunderstood. This all ties into the idea of connectivity. Technology interconnects people better than ever before yet, it can make people be and feel isolated even when in a room of people. The physical making of the object is about the merging of the two different materials like a person trying to fit in to society.
Description
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Summary of Entire Development Process
Initially the idea was to have the mass made of a silicon then pierce the mass with the 3d printed skin at the time the silicon was solid enough to maintain form yet mutant enough to heal around the skin. The making process would be all about the timing and merging of 2 different materials like the concept. Silicon was chosen because of the skin like quality of the material making the mass appear and feel more human. 3d printing was determined due to the delicacy of the skin system. After testing the timing there was a narrow window of 8 hour and 20 min proved to be difficult but possible. The silicon would have to be cut (because the silicon was hardening from the exterior then inward) The skin be placed in between then more silicon be added to heal. It created a mess.
The initial method of forming the silicon was to create a negative mold then fill it with silicon. The complexity of the mass form did not allow for this. The mass was simplified then due to the scale it was recommended to 3d print the mass with a solid plane for the skin. Then to pour silicon over the print to create a negative mold. Meanwhile 3d print a complex skin. After the new mold is created pour the mass material in and merge the complex 3d print into the mold filled with silicon. This process was never completed because of complications 3d printing and it was found to be more efficient to 3dprint.
The third method developed was to 3d print 2 colors and the same time making the mass one color and the skin another. If 2 colors were not achievable then one main color would be printed, and the skin would be painted. or the skin would be printed separately and then glued on the exterior. The 2-color printing was successful. Though the desired level of thinness of the skin was not.
The main difficulty of the project was achieving printability of the skin system. There was a total of 2 visits to the print shop and eight visits to the print shop before the skin was printable.
The programs used were Maya, 3ds Max, Mesh mixer and Cura. Maya was used to create the initial forms of the mass and skin. The mass was developed by manipulating the vertices using the soft selection tool and smooth transform on a cylinder to make it appear to be melting.
The skin was developed by lofting curves to create a plan. The lofted curve was transformed poking and beveling the mesh once. The mesh was then manipulated to create the form. If polygons needed to be reduced it was done in Maya using the cleanup tool or in Rhino using the Mesh repair tool. Rhino was found to be superior. Both the mass and skin were exported from Maya to 3ds Max as a obj. In 3ds max the vertices were welded, and a shell transform was applied to create thickness. After thickness was achieved the file was exported as an obj and uploaded to meshmixer to check and correct errors then the file was imported into Cura to test printability. The object was printed from Cura in a Ultimaker 3 printer using 0.4mm filament PLA.
Logos and Concepts
The idea of Briteonyx is from the merging of two words, two concepts to create a central idea. The concept of merging two contrasting ideas of light and dark; mass and void, solid and tectonic. Bright is dervived from the idea of the fluid emissive quality of light. Onyx is from the concept of the hard dark stone. The chosen spelling is because of the shape of the letters and the way of pronunciation. The “B” “i”, “t” are the tall letters are then contrasted by the “y” and the downward pronouciation of the “x”. The “on” ties the tall and downward letters together. Br-ite-On-yx.
