Part-1: 2D Tile
I decided to tile a hexagon, following the same process we used with the square tile. I started with two vectors at a 120-degree angle but couldn’t figure out how to move those lines to the remaining sides. My next step was to add another line/vector at a 120-degree angle, which clarified my understanding of tiling with three lines. After figuring out the order for moving the lines, I was able to tile a hexagonal plane.
During the process, I noticed that my indexs for the lines and vectors didn’t match up, so I quickly realized they had to align. Another issue I encountered was that my lines for the hexagon and Escher didn’t match. I spent quite a while trying to fix this, starting by analyzing how my lines and curves were set up to see if I could rearrange them. After rearranging them, the issue persisted. I asked the professor for some advice, which helped me continue troubleshooting. Eventually, I experimented with the order of creating the lines, and that finally resolved the issue.
Part-2: 3D Printed 3D Tiles
I think this is where I struggled the most. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to extrude in the z-direction. I wanted to try lofting using Grasshopper functions, but I’m still not very familiar with them. So, I wrote some code to scale the same tile smaller, raise it to a certain z-axis, and loft the two together. Other attempts included lofting the tile with a circle, but the result didn’t work as expected. I think I spent too much time experimenting and refining the first part, which left me with less time for this second part.
Part-3: Surface Morph
For this last part, I didn’t struggle with morphing my tiles to a surface. At first, I thought it was strange that they didn’t cover the entire surface, I tried different shapes but they all had the same structure. I concluded that this morphing is due to the way I organized my tiles. As I looked at it more, I started to like my morphed tiles they create a ring-like structure with one side thicker than the other.
Hi Alan,
I like you Escher tile in the Part1 section, what inspires you to desigin this shape? Because this shape looks very much like a flying elf in Digimon or some anime when I was a child. Interesting！
Hi Qinghong,
I was trying to design a bird and I wish I can go back and use that design instead of my current one for the 3D tile. I can definitely see the Digimon design, thank you.
Hi Alan,
The design for your Escher tile reminds me of a Christmas tree, but maybe that’s due to the coloring of your tiles. Your surface morph looks like a vortex which makes it look interesting. The coloring you scheme you used is awesome!
Hey Alan , I really like the hexagon design and escher-esque tile designs. I also think that the 3d printed tiles you made look extremely cool as well and very organic looking. I also thought the way your tiles morphed to the surface is extremely cool as well.
Great work.
Ian
Hi Ian,
Thank you Ian, my initial idea for the 3D tile was to create some sort of leaves in the hexagon but I think I made it too complicated and wasn’t able to work out.