Playing around with this a bit more by manually bending a TIN. Tedious but definitely doable.

But then, of course, it is really easy, if a bit less precisely controlled, with FFD.

bending the line.skp

having fun with ffd.skp

Quick attempt at the general idea using a TIN beam as a starting point.

stick 1 template 2.skp

Todd,

Thanks for the great report. Much appreciated!

Fred

Added some screening panels last night. The screens soften the floor edges and echo the original driving shape.

Jon, Thanks for the comment! I'm definitely looking forward to Whaat's new mapping tool... along with anything else he creates.

Finally found a texture I can live with - for a while at least - so back to work on the modeling.

Thanks all for the feedback. Very helpful! Chris, I tried that stone material but it gives a little too rough and rustic a feel for where I'm aiming. My initial vision for this house had the blobs having a rich brown-bronze finish like that on many of Moore's sculptures. I found some nice Moore sculpture images on Flickr this morning, one of which had a good area for a texture lift. The first image below doesn't use a texture but is about the color I'm aiming for. The next three use the borrowed Moore texture. This is getting pretty close to what I want.

DC,

Looking good! Hope you continue along this line.

F

You'd think I would have progressed more in 40 years.

HFM and igor,

Thanks very much for the feedback. Agreed about the impracticality. Just letting my imagination play here.

I'm struggling to find a good texture for the "blobs". I've gone through most of the SketchUp options without finding anything that looks right to me. I'll keep looking.

A couple of new image exports with different textures.

Fred

Henry that is. While learning how to use SdS and FFD I've thought about various building ideas. The one that really seemed to resonate was wrapping a house around and through a LARGE Henry Moore style abstract sculpture. I'm not quite finished with the model but feel that it is in a reasonable state to share and perhaps get some feedback.

... and how do you suppose most people reacted when they first saw pictures of this ...

or this...

or this... from Belgium

Chris, I'm not saying Featherstone's building is of the caliber of these works, but I give her credit for trying something different.

Fred

I think you guys are piling on a bit here and being just a tad harsh. The house is a perfectly valid design within a certain genre of organic architecture. At least the architect is experimenting with a new approach. God knows, the world does not need yet another Miesian box. If the house were taken on it's own, without the ridiculous price skewing our reactions, I think we would all be more open to the design ideas she is exploring.

Fred

Yeah, the more you look at it, it just doesn't look at all like a Fred Bartels design.

Chris,

The belly of the beast provides an example of how it's possible to make some interesting use of SketchUp's poor texture projecting. The distorted texture gives the bottom a weathered/patched gritty look that adds weight to the composition. If I had to provide a backstory for the image I'd say it's a 50 year old Zaha Hadid structure that has been down on its luck but is still loved and cared for by its owners of modest means. It reminds me of the sort of feeling that George Lucas was evoking with the battered Millenium Falcon.

Fred

@unknownuser said:

Inhabitants and visitors to the property can be entertained by the glass-sided badger set installed in the garden...

@unknownuser said:

...lumber is then clad with timber shingles with a camouflage pattern burnt into them.

Glass-sided badger sets and burnt in camouflage patterns. That's what my designs have been missing! I'm off to the land of big fat unearned commissions!

Fred

Chris, Nice work. I like where these seem to be heading. Zaha watch out indeed. Fred

Pilou,

I think Niki de Saint Phalle would have really liked SketchUp and LOVED SdS and FFD.

There are some interesting videos of her garden in Tuscany here.

I just read through her Wikipedia page. She was quite the character.

Thanks for pointing her out!

Fred

Tom,

I made a quick video tutorial which should make this all crystal clear.

It is fairly large and will take a few moments to download.

It is located here.

Fred

This one turned out looking quite glassy. Kinda cool. Some of you in Holland may recognize the place in the image that I used for the texture.

@unknownuser said:

must be a pc thing?

Jeff, It is Option on the Mac. This was also a new one for me. Thanks Gaieus! Fred