GRID DISTORTION

infinity

Thanks for your replies.

I didn't explain what I would like todo well enough.

I would like a grid, say 50 x 25 made up of rectangles rather than squares.
If you imagine the grids lines to be made of elastic. When a tennis ball is pushed into the centre of the grid the lines making up the grid would be distorted and give an optical illusion that they are falling towards a hole made by the ball.

I hope this better explains what I mean.

Thanks

jeff hammond

@infinity said:

I hope this better explains what I mean.

not really but i'll take a guess anyway

this?

it's flat...

infinity

Thanks.

Thats exactly what I want todo but I would make it a little more dramatic!

Can you tell me how todo this please.

Thanks again

jeff hammond

@infinity said:

Thanks.

Thats exactly what I want todo but I would make it a little more dramatic!

Can you tell me how todo this please.

Thanks again

i did that in rhino with its paneling tools.. to do it in sketchup, i think the best way would be to use thomthom's Vertex Tools plugin..

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29636

Screen Shot 2013-02-02 at 12.36.01 AM.png

pretty fast/easy:
make a single rectangle with each edge divided into 5... array .. vertex tools soft select circle.. vertex tools scale via gizmo..

you could also get some stuff like this out of fredo's CurviLoft plugin.. less simple but still doable..

gilles

Sandbox?

#sandbox.png

Dave R

If I understand your request correctly, and I may not since it isn't yet 4 am and I haven't had my coffee, you are after a 2D grid that only looks 3D. Is that right?

pilou

Huhu

That I has never understood is why as soon as the first post there is not an image of what is wished!

A text can't say precise thing, there is ever interpretation!

With an image no problem, simple , speedy, perfect!

Bravo Gilles that is the absolute solution!

Even it's 2D gride wished just take an image of your sreen as texture!

infinity

Thanks again for your posts.

Yes Dave R I am wanting to achieve a 3D effect but have it in a 2D form. I want to cut the lines on a CNC router, so it will be on a piece of plywood hanging on a wall.

I will download thomthoms plugin and see how I go.

Another thing I would like to do with it is to cut out the individual sections and use them as tiles in a courtyard to give a very interesting effect on a scale of 10m x 5m.

Once I have this thing worked out I am happy to post the finished product including the dxf cut files.

Gaieus

You could use TT's "UV Toolkit" plugin to first apply the material to a set of facets in a grid, second "remember UV" then modify (distort) the grid finally "restore UV" with the plugin.

Though this tutorial is not about the same thing as it's about 3D, it would work exactly the same way:
http://sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials/36-intermediate/26-texturing-an-arch-2

Dave R

I'm thinking Didier's Projection tools might be the ticket. I did something similar to what I think you want here.

In this case I drew a simple funnel shape with no faces.

Then I set a large rectangle below the funnel and tiled at an angle. I projected the edges of the funnel onto the rectangle.

Of course you want a bunch of rectangles to start with so you might use the Sandbox tools or Artisan or Vertex Tools to distort a regular grid as desired. Then project the edges onto the angled face.

Gaieus

That's a nice one, Dave! (with SU Pro, you could even export a 2D vector graphic of it)

Then of course, there's always the option to do it "simply" in 3D and export a 2D image of the view only...

Dave R

I was assuming he wants some sort of vector output since he's going to CNC. Otherwise I would have suggested a simple 2D export. I suppose the PNG could be run through some other application to get vector lines.

TIG

After making the 3d 'black-hole' you need to project it [drape?] onto a flat surface.
This can then form the basis of the CNC data.
Since the OP seemed to want to cut alternate quads just a little to expose a different material then somehow he needs to pushpull then slightly down...
This is going to be the time consuming bit... unless someone writes a one-liner to pushpull alternate faces by -1mm and also alternate doing that in each 'row', so for any four sharing a vertex 0 and 2 are processed... [sdmitch??]

jeff hammond

...

this is the kind of stuff he's after.. grid distortions using point attractors and whatnot.. lots of this type of stuff going on these days..

gilles

@unknownuser said:

...

this is the kind of stuff he's after.. grid distortions using point attractors and whatnot.. lots of this type of stuff going on these days..

[attachment=2:30vh17hx]1.jpg[/attachment:30vh17hx]

[attachment=1:30vh17hx]2.jpg[/attachment:30vh17hx]

[attachment=0:30vh17hx]3.jpg[/attachment:30vh17hx]

Vasarely died 1997 march 15, not really these days. Hihi

jeff hammond

@gilles said:

Vasarely died 1997 march 15, not really these days. Hihi

right.. but there are innovators then followers .. but i think he's more/less the grandfather of the movement.

the top (more recent) picture is a computer model which then went to cnc to be laser cut.. all them brooklyn kids with rhino and cnc machines have this stuff going on

also the software processing:
http://processing.org

i've seen people doing this kind of stuff in flash too..

jeff hammond

[edit] the guy who made this video (and the plywood grid i posted earlier) ..

Marius Watz

Explore Marius Watz’s 7,533 photos on Flickr!

Flickr (www.flickr.com)

go get lost in that photostream for a few hours.. good stuff..

Gaieus

@gilles said:

...Vasarely died 1997 march 15, not really these days. Hihi

Ah well, here is a great cult of him as he was born in my town (as Győző Vásárhelyi - "Győző" literally means "Victor" and the last name "Vasarely" is just a bastardization of his original surname as "vásárhely" means "marketplace") and he has a quite big exhibition here.

infinity

Here is a picture of what I would like to do as well as the piece of art work.

So do you think that thomthoms vertex tool plugin will achieve this.

I was thinking that I could export it as a 2D dxf file to my CAM software.

jeff hammond

@infinity said:

Here is a picture of what I would like to do as well as the piece of art work.

So do you think that thomthoms vertex tool plugin will achieve this.

I was thinking that I could export it as a 2D dxf file to my CAM software.

weird.. i can't really figure out if that thing is perspective dependent or not.. but i'm leaning towards it is..
(as in, you have to stand at the same vantage point as the photo was shot from in order to get the full effect)

if that's the case, i don't really know what you should do.. besides experiment..

do a few smaller scale tests comprising of forming a grid then moving vertices around manually using the move tool (with nothing selected, click the move tool on one of the grid intersections and move it around)..
figure out what needs to happen first.. then you'll be able to figure out if vertex tools is the right tool..

(or hey.. generally a helpful bunch around here.. maybe someone will figure it out for you )
personally, i'm about to switch back to work mode so i don't have the time/energy right now...