Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
in a corner of a virtual “room,” next to a virtual “window” in a computer simula-
tion. The software would calculate feedback on the level of light available next
to the virtual window would steer the design into a particular shape.
If you were to place the lampshade in a different virtual room next to
another light ixture, the lampshade's design would evolve into a new shape.
By applying computer simulated environmental cues to the design process,
reactive blueprints specify the product not by describing a desired shape, but
by letting it form in response to data.
One lampshade design could lead to many other custom designs, each
adapted to its particular use, but each a lampshade nonetheless, like individual
trees in a forest. If you had this reactive lampshade blueprint, you could gener-
ate a different lampshade design for each room in your house, provided that
you could accurately simulate the lighting conditions in your house in your
design software.
Printers that think
Taking the idea of dynamical blueprints even further, design feedback could be
fed directly into the printer—not from a computer simulation, but from reality.
Imagine a 3D printer that would know what it needs to print and adapts to
the conditions of the print. Most 3D printers are “blind” in that they execute
their instructions and don't look to see if the instructions yielded the target
object. Such systems are called
open loop
.
Daniel Cohen at Cornell explored the idea of 3D printers that keep an eye
on their output. Daniel created a closed loop printer, one that “watches” the
outcome of its printing and adjusts dynamically in response to various situ-
ations. For example, a printer prints with some oozing material that doesn't
quite hold its shape, such as wax on a hot day. As the wax object prints, some
melting areas might sag a bit more than expected. An open loop printer just
keeps printing, resulting in a malformed object.
To correct problems like this, Daniel added an optical scanner to the 3D
printer head. The optical scanner, in essence, watched exactly how things
were printed. Daniel's closed loop printer, thanks to its scanner, could detect
printing problems such as this sagging effect.
Just detection, however, was only the irst step. By creating software that
could read the output from the optical scanner, the 3D printer was responsive
to changes in its environment. By keeping track of printing outputs, adapting
the design to correct them, and adjusting its printing process in real time, you
could argue that this particular 3D printer was “learning”.
