Research

I took a look at my shape grammar project and sought a piece that I believed would well translate into a 3D model. I examined the one I turned in and realized that I could play on its natural movement, and adding depth to it could enforce the point. 

Exercise

One exercise I practiced was building a cube out of bristol to understand how the scoring and folding works with the material. Another exercise was practicing different illustration styles by drawing out a house.

 

Iterations

I began by sketching out different ideas to see how my piece would translate to 3D. From the start, I knew that I wanted there to be a slant with the pieces, so they had a continual direction based on where the shape was facing. I was looking for a way to showcase the motion of the piece, while concurrently reflecting its rhythm. I finally decided to elevate my 2D piece but then angle the triangles down to have a feel of running downhill before stopping and coming back up.

 

Process

I first decided how high I wanted the triangular prisms to be. Next, I started the most challenging part of the process: figuring out how to make a slanted triangular prism. I began the process by finding the best way to make a triangular prism first and then figuring out how to modify the direction.

I realized that I would need to make the top triangle an isosceles triangle instead of an equilateral so it would slant. I then decided I wanted the tops of the triangle to slant at a 30-degree angle and then determined how long I need the two sides of the isosceles by finding how long at 30-degrees would be to the corner of one side to the other side. Here is the scrap paper I used to figure it out.

Next, I started to look into how I would need to modify it so I could achieve a slant. I realized that I would need to make the top triangle an isosceles triangle instead of an equilateral. I then decided I wanted the tops of the triangle to slant at a 30°.

For each triangle, I decided I would take its width and then determine how high I would want it to be and build this template out of it. To find the length I took a protractor and found 30 degrees, and then made a line where it intersects with the original box line.

After determining how to make the equilateral triangles slanted, I moved on to doing the same for the right triangles. The process has relatively similar steps, except I wanted these triangles to slant upwards, so I had to flip the angles on the template. Finding out the length on the slanted right triangle was tricky because I had to make sure it would still line up with the right angle.

After I figured out how to build the right triangular prisms the rest of the project fell into place. I designed an 8-by-8-inch platform and glued all the pieces on it to provide a stable base.

Overall, this was a challenging project. I do not excel at crafts and it is something I worked hard at to improve. I very much want to keep working on this process, because I have so much room for improvement. I enjoyed the template-making process and appreciated the need and ability to problem-solve and find a way for tubes’ design to work.

 

Link to Portfolio