2009 Research Summary

Generation of Ribbed Surface Sculptures and Models

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Carlo H. Séquin and James Hamlin

Inspired by Charles Perry's "ribbed" tubular sculptures, we are building an emulation/generator program for sculptures in that style. The program will make it possible to emulate some of the existing Perry sculptures, but will also be able to create a much larger family of shapes in the same style. The research issues studied concern the formulation of a proper generating paradigm, specifying a useful set of parameters, and creating an easy-to-learn user interface that needs no accompanying manual.

Figure 1: Modified Perry sculpture using a {2,3} torus knot rather than the original {3,2} torus knot. The main rail forming the knot is spanned by 200 "ribs."