SU models of George Hart's geometric sculptures
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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):
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I took a shot at rendering the pencils in Kerky... I think it turned out ok.
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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). -
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)
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Taff Goch has plenty of extremely cool tutorials about such shapes.
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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.
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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.
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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
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TaffGoch also has many cool models related to George Hart's sculptures like this one:
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Ehm... By sliding them together do I obtain that beautiful lady as well?
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@gaieus said:
Ehm... By sliding them together do I obtain that beautiful lady as well?
Actual results may vary according to use:
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Okay, I stop spamming your topic now.Keep up the happy modeling!
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No problem, that was fun ...
thanks for your comments.
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what a cool thread. have to read through all of it at some point. great modeling, guys!
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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
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Thanks plot-paris for your comment,
et merci Pilou pour le tutorial, c'est très bien fait !guzman.
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@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.
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The more curious is that Bathsheba describe all his works and all his numerous tools and there is not TopMod inside!!!
Some many times lost without it
Quintrino by Bathsheba
Star Ball by Parrotdolphin with TopMod
Ps Your model rocks!
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Nice renderings Pilou, thanks.
Contributions are always wellcome.The command for connecting two faces in TopMod
is actually really useful.
Btw, are you a developper of TopMod?guzman.
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