Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
In geometric programming it's easy to describe repeated structures and
semi-periodic structures that vary a bit but are mostly the same. Hierarchical
structures composed of smaller substructures can also be described.
For this reason, geometric programming offers a human designer great
eficiency when designing patterns that are complex or made up of many
small parts. For example, imagine if you had to design a suit of chain mail
made of extremely ine mesh by pointing and clicking millions of tiny rings.
In conventional CAD software, this would be an excruciatingly laborious
and time-intensive. task.
If you were using a geometric program, however, this task would be easy.
You would simply write a “recipe” as follows: create one ring of 3 millimeter
diameter and ½ a millimeter thickness. Then, duplicate the ring 1,000 times
in an entangled row. Third, duplicate the row 1,000 times vertically to cre-
ate a cloth. Press “Enter,” and your CAD program would follow the recipe to
produce your fabric.
If the weight or density of the fabric had to be tapered slightly, you could
simply adjust the recipe. This time, you would tell your computer that, as it
duplicates each row, the next row of mesh should be, say, 1 percent smaller
in size than the preceding row. You could specify that after doing this for
2,000 rows, then the size of each tiny mesh link should slowly increase
again, perhaps increasing in size by 0.5 percent. You could even change the
blend of plastics as you go.
Generative design
Generative design takes the idea of a recipe one step further. Instead of a
centralized script, generative design uses a seed shape and a set of rules that
speciies how that shape should develop, or unfold, over time. For example,
to grow a complex, tree-like shape, you would begin with a simple “seed”: a
simple vertical cynlinder attached to a lat base. Next, you would specify one
rule: Attach two more 10 percent smaller cylinders in the shape of the letter
“Y” at every free end of each cylinder. Applying the rules recursively to the
seed would cause the seed cylinder to grow into a large tree-like shape.
