Voronoi

One of the most interesting developments in Computer Aided Design is the Voronoi Diagram. 30 or 40 points can be placed on the ground plane, and the Voronoi program will figure out an optimal encasement of those points. In other words, a cell is drawn around each point and they fight for their space. Voronoi diagrams are everywhere in nature from a turtle's shell to a giraffe's coat.


* all drawings done in-house.

The red dots are a series of points that I randomly placed on the ground. What is interesting is that I can move those points and the Voronoi solution will update itself. Architects are using this tool for planning roads and bridges.

This also means that a super strong and lightweight structure can be made from the solution.

A related tool is the Voronax tool which takes the Voronoi cell and turns it into a circular "bubble" shape. This creates an even stronger structure. The program can look at many different solutions quickly over any kind of surface.

Using the same program, you can create shapes that get pulled by an attractor. In this case it is the curve in the center. This set of louvers would catch the light in a most interesting way.

A few tests with the latest Swage tool that twists a profile along a curve. Great for cables and robes and can be animated easily.

New options have been added to the SubD tools in FormZ. It creates very accurate meshes that can be printed or imported into an Engineering program. These SubD tools create very unique designs quickly.