Objectives
- Design a parametric system for generating 2D/3D patterns suitable for laser cutting or vinyl cutting.
- Fabricate instances of your design using a laser cutter and/or vinyl cutter.
For this week’s project, I chose to work off of a cool tutorial I found on Generative Landscapes. The algorithm’s underlying purpose is simply to connect a collection of random points within a space, with this particular one employing a “meander network, i.e. a network where a single line connects all points without crossing over itself, and with frequent and unpredictable shifts in direction, unlike the spiral which similarly connects all points with one line, but using a consistent rotational direction.” (link).
The final result comes out as a squiggly line that reminds me a lot of Keith Haring’s work.
I really like this particular algorithm because it makes a seemingly complex process fairly simple, and creates relative order out of chaos.
Here is what is actually happening behind the scenes:
1. Make a shape, in this case, a rectangle
2. Fill the shape with random points
3. Determine the average distance between all the points.
4. Starting from a defined point at the bottom, find the nearest 3 points
5. Figure out which point has the largest Y value
6. Draw a line from the initial point to the point nearest point with the lowest y value
7. Repeat until all the points are connected
8. Turn the line segments into one continuous line
9. Smooth the joins so it all flows together
From here, I baked out a few different variations of the line and moved them into illustrator, where I applied various stroke weights and prepared them for cutting.
