Large Assignment 5: Tiling – Jyrus Cadman

Part 1: 2D Tiles

Base Escher-like Tile

  • My design was inspired by my two cats and one dog, aiming to create a single tile pattern that fits seamlessly. The challenge was ensuring that the same vectors used for all four sides of the tile would align. Instead of just drawing curves, I focused on adding details like eyes and ears to represent their features while maintaining the seamless flow. Resulting in a repeating pattern that highlights their eyes/ears. Challenges faces was with these much curves finding the distance and array in Grasshopper was my coding challenge.

Regular Tiling

  • The hexagonal tiling was straightforward to implement using the polygon hexagonal function. I used sliders for the X and Y units to control the number of hexagons in both directions. By adjusting these sliders, I could define the grid size and ensure the tiles would fit seamlessly across the plane.

Part 2: 3D Printed Tiles

  • For this 3D print, the challenged choice was altering the Z-axis by adding angled cuts to the edges of the cat and dog tile. This gave the tile a detailed edge that would show when the tiles are connected. The tricky part here was getting the angle right and making sure the cuts were solid, then using Boolean Difference to subtract the cuts from the edges. After that, the real challenge was getting the pieces to fit together. In Rhino, everything looked seamless, but when it came to printing, I had to offset the pieces slightly to ensure they would fit. Also, adding some extra Z-axis detail like the cats’ and dogs’ eyes and ears, so each tile would have bodily details.

Part 3: Surface Morph

  • For this part, I continued using the HexGrid component from Part 1, but this time, I shifted the focus towards creating a facade with an offset hexagonal pattern. Instead of solid hexagon tiles, I wanted to create voids within each hexagon, creating equal spacing between them. The challenge came when trying to bake the surface morphing technique, as I had to complete the geometry/outputs from two different components to work with the selected surfaces and bounding box. Despite the difficulties, I tweaked my original hexagon code and adjusted it to offset the tiles, which provided the concept to achieve the desired voided pattern while maintaining the seamless the grid.

6 thoughts on “Large Assignment 5: Tiling – Jyrus Cadman

  1. Hi Jyrus,
    Your design first design is really interesting. How exactly did you create them? DId you use more than 2 curves to make them? The surface morph is also interesting and clean. I was not able to have a clean morph with my hexagon, but seeing yours gives me hope that I can do mine correctly. Awsome designs.

    1. Hi Alan,

      Thanks! I used a process similar to what was presented in class and on the slides. The a curve was pretty simple and straightforward to create. And in a way, so was the b curve since it had vertices for the cat’s ears, all I had to do was guide the curve using the interpolating point function in Rhino.

  2. Hey Jyrus! I really loved your tiling shapes. They are very unique and unlike any of the other posts I have seen so far. I agree that they came out super clean and solid looking. Your print quality is immaculate. I appreciate you explaining how you got part 3 (surface morph) designed. I think that part of your project was very impressive and I liked how you explained how you mixed the different design techniques to create it.

    1. Hey Wayne,

      Thanks! I think a lot of other prints were just as unique as mine, if not more unique. It’s interesting seeing how CS majors can get creative with this class. And as far as the print quality, there was room for improvement. I had issues with a proper offset so the tile could fit together nicely.

  3. Hi Jyrus, each of your models are really interesting! Like Alan, I’m curious as to how you ended up generating the curves in Grasshopper for the dog and cats form. I’m also curious if you’d be able to print the surface morph; it’s such a neat design.

    1. Hi Sachi,

      Thanks! Like I told Alan, I used a process similar to what was presented on the slides. Both the a and b curves were pretty simple to form with the interpolate points function in Rhino. Also, I think it would be practical to print the surface morph. I’m guessing all I would have to do is increase the thickness so there’s a good base for printing it along the z-axis. I might actually try that!

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