SU models of George Hart's geometric sculptures

Arc

Thank you Pilou and guzman.
I have played Topmod all day, it's very cool stuff, and I rendered in hypershot.

guzman tierno

Cool stuff, Arc

after seeing your drawings I decided I'm gonna have to give TopMod another try,
thanks for sharing.

guzman.

guzman tierno

If there is anybody interested in modelling geometric sculptures, I wrote I brief tutorial that illustrates one of the possible methods to obtain this kind of models.

First. Choose a somewhat symmetrical polihedron as a basis for your model.
For instance: Platonic, Archimedean and Catalan Solids they all work fine.
They're quite easy to draw but you may of course download them from the 3DWH.
(Interestingly engough all those solids can be modelled without ever having to type in any measures for sides or angles! Sketchup is so powerful).

In this brief tutorial I'm going to choose the Truncated Icosahedron, that is:
the soccer ball:

Second. Choose two or more edges of your polyhedron. It is easier for the subsequent steps if the edges you choose are coplanar (that is, there is a plane that contains them all) but you can also choose non-coplanar edges.
In this example I'm going to choose the edges shown in the image:

Three. Create something that connects the edges you've choosen.
If you want a nice result, it is better to draw something symmetrical. In this example, we have to connect three edges, so I've drawn a component with three-fold simmetry.

Four. Copy the component that connects the edges in all possible positions,
until you've covered every edge of the polyhedron.
You may now want to modify the connecting component to avoid collisions.
Then erase the polyhedron and just keep the connecting components (skp file attached):

cagework_2.skp

bubbalove

I took a shot at rendering the pencils in Kerky... I think it turned out ok.

pencil render.jpg

guzman tierno

Awesome, that's great, I love it

When I first saw it, I thought it was the image in Hart's site,
your rendering is really really similar to the original image,
Really nice work. The colors in particular are just perfect.

the only thing that may be improved is the model of the pencils I made
(the edges are too sharp).

guzman tierno

How to draw an icosahedron without ever typing in any measures.

I know only a few people may be interested in this issue, but I think it's fun when you try.
It is actually way easier than it might look.
So here's a brief tutorial.

1 - Draw a "golden ratio" rectangle, SU will show a tooltip when the rectangle you're are drawing is a golden-ratio rectangle. (I will not discuss here the definition of golden-ratio rectangles and why they are so important, just use them).
Select the whole rectangle and make it a group.

2 - Select the group and make a rotated copy of it by rotating it around its center by 90°:

3 - Select the second rectangle and make a rotated copy of it by rotating it around the line shown in the image by 90°:

4 - Select again the second rectangle and rotate it (no copy) around the line shown in the image by 90°:

You should end up with three equal rectangles orthogonal to each other.

5 - You're done. Just connect the vertices of the rectangles to form triangles:

(you may also wanto to erase the rectangles and other internal faces)

Gaieus

Taff Goch has plenty of extremely cool tutorials about such shapes.

guzman tierno

You're right Gaieus,
I know TaffGoch tutorials, they're actually a must.

I thought however that a step-by-step description could be useful in this thread concerning geometric constructions and sculptures.

(But you're right, they're problably off topic in the gallery, I wont post any more)

thanks.

guzman tierno

Here's the last one I made (so far):

It is inspired (in the sense that is has the same structure, rhombic triacontahedron) to:
George Hart's 12-Part Puzzle

.

mill 3.skp

Gaieus

I didn't mean you shouldn't post whatever you like in connection with this thread (although admittedly such a tut would be nice in the respective department as well )

And of course I only mentioned Taff here because - well, true, his works are a must

guzman tierno

TaffGoch also has many cool models related to George Hart's sculptures like this one:

guzman tierno

An idea for the holidays.

Cut 30 pieces like this:

Then have fun sliding them toghether to obtain this:

Precise instructions and ready-to-print templates: here and here

Of course, you can also obtain similar results using sketchup

I also built one with colored thick paper and it is actually fun.

triacontaedro2.skp

Gaieus

Ehm... By sliding them together do I obtain that beautiful lady as well?

guzman tierno

@gaieus said:

Ehm... By sliding them together do I obtain that beautiful lady as well?

Actual results may vary according to use:

Gaieus

Okay, I stop spamming your topic now.

Keep up the happy modeling!

guzman tierno

No problem, that was fun ...

thanks for your comments.

plot-paris

what a cool thread. have to read through all of it at some point. great modeling, guys!

pilou

I have made in the past a little tut video for TopMod (sorry in French but very easy to understand
(maybe you must wait 15 second for download)
Unzip and launch inside your favorite navigator

guzman tierno

Thanks plot-paris for your comment,
et merci Pilou pour le tutorial, c'est très bien fait !

guzman.

guzman tierno

@tim said:

You might enjoy making models of some of Bathsheba's work too -http://www.bathsheba.com.

Here's a model inspired to [url=http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/metatrino/:3dwc88vc]Bathsheba's Metatrino[/url:3dwc88vc] (I didnt model many details but it has the same structure: the cube and its dual, the octahedron)

If anyone wants to try, the [url=http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/metatron/:3dwc88vc]Metatron[/url:3dwc88vc] could be fun.

metatrino2.skp