Santiago's Documentation Blog

What I have decided to work on for my final project is a set of flowers. It is mostly common knowledge that roses have thorns, and they are not the only example of a plant with self defense. Nevertheless, we consider flowers to be beautiful. So, to juxtapose this, the data I wish to embed into these flowers are venomous snakebite data. I personally love snakes; I see beauty in their evolution and design as well as in their danger. However, I am in the minority when it comes to this, so displaying data about snakes on something that is more universally loved may help in understanding snakes to be more than what they are feared for. You might say that using bite data is not exactly the best way to do this since that is exactly what everyone fears. I think, however, that it suits the flower concept perfectly. You shouldn’t manhandle flowers or you ruin them. You also shouldn’t touch them if they are dangerous. But they are still beautiful when observed from a distance, regardless of if they are dangerous or not. Snakes to me are very similar. You would never see me handling a cobra, but I still admire their nature. If we looked at snakes the way we looked at flowers with thorns, then maybe we would see a lighter more gracious side to them.

The exercise was pretty easy to follow and we learned another method to making textured surfaces via grasshopper. By using the circle packing function, we can add to an otherwise boring texture.

Following along with the video was mostly easy. The guys in these videos can be a little fast, though. They run through these tutorials as if they are teaching people who are already proficient and completely familiar with the software. Besides that minor thing, it was a useful tutorial.

I can see how this can be applied to a data-displaying object. Imagine different data being represented by different textures, for example. Using this function, you can great gradual and minute changes in surface that are different than if you were to use something like the other functions we have worked with so far in the course. 

This has given me a new angle with which to look at my potential project. As an artist, I am a huge fan of applying texture to augment a piece. With this, I can create something that integrates data through texture.

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Exercise 3 was actually the easiest to follow because the guy in the video seems to know how to teach. The other guy skips over details and it’s hard to follow him. 

More importantly, the “vases” that I iterated were based on the third assignment. I wanted to make a hybrid of 2 and 3, but for some reason there were errors that I don’t know how to fix in 2.

Nevertheless, my iterations were different based on both the external and internal shapes.

The first and third focused on manipulated the sin wave that defined the outer edge

The differences are subtle, but I’ve learned that it’s the little differences that can really pop once printed.

The second iteration was more interesting. By shortening the height and manipulating the parabola that manipulated the center, I was able to achieve a very different iteration.

I simplified the outside to accentuate the interior. The result was a very different shape with the same graphs.

After coming about two weeks late to the class, I was presented with a chance for a project that reflected something about me. It didn’t take long for me to land of a specific topic

The Task

The mission was to gather data about some facet of my life to then be able to visualize in a three-dimensional object. I landed on my hair. More specifically, how it looked. I shower every morning and had noticed that it looks and feels different depending on how I wash it. I wanted to get to the bottom of how to make it look its best, so the decision was easy.

Data Collection

The first question I asked myself was what data I was going to collect that could be useful. I don’t have any scientific equipment to work with so I decided on 4 qualitative metrics: hair volume, frizziness, itchiness (on my scalp), and scent. These would each be measured on a scale from one to ten, with ten being the most of that category.

Over the next two weeks I monitored my washing procedure during my two showers a day (one in the morning and one at night). I realized quickly that I did one of four things each time: washed with shampoo and conditioner, washed with just shampoo, rinsed with just water, or nothing at all. I didn’t follow any particular pattern, which in hindsight would’ve been a good idea. However, I cleaned my hair based on how I had felt the previous day, and I was still able to get a comprehensive list of qualitative data. 

Predictions

The results are more or less what I had expected. I went into the project with a vague sense of what was better for my hair based on things various people had told me, and I had also made some superficial observations myself over time.

I initially believed that my hair would look best without washing at all since this allows the natural hair oils to vitalize my hair and scalp without any disturbance.

I use conditioner on and off at times because I’m never really sure if I see any benefit to using it. When it came to predicting what results it would give, these were the ones I honestly looked the most forward to.

Concerning the other two washing methods, I assumed they would be lower down in terms of favorability. For the majority of my life I shampoo’d my hair just about every day until a couple of my friends told me I was destroying my hair. I’m not sure if I noticed any remarkable difference when I switched tactics, so this project gave me a golden opportunity to visualize exactly what it was that was changing and to what extent.

Results

The results turned out largely as expected. My hair looked its best when left on its own for about a day. However, more than a day and my head would start to get itchy. It didn’t exactly smell great after a few days either, which makes sense.

Using shampoo and conditioner came in close second. While volume on average was lower than days where I did nothing to my hair, the level of frizziness was the lowest. In addition, my hair smelled best on those days. 

Washing with only shampoo turned out to be the most favorable in terms of itchiness, as it scored lowest out of the four methods. I think I can attribute this to the fact that conditioner can causes dry skin on your scalp, and the removal of it from the process made it a non factor in terms of itchiness

Using just water to rinse my hair gave me the most average data out of all of the methods, with no metric standing out in particular.

Overall, the best methods to use were using shampoo with conditioner or doing nothing at all to my hair. They generated similar results, with the former being less voluminous but feeling healthier and the latter looking the best in terms of volume while sacrificing in terms of frizz and scent compared to the former. 

The Hairbrush

The object that I chose to display my data in the end was a hairbrush. The “bristles” would show the four metrics, while the stalks they stood on would determine with washing method I used.

When it came to modeling the actual object, I took heavy inspiration from the toothbrush tutorial that we looked at in our class. The initial shape is similar: a tool you hold in your hand. As such, the handle was more or less the same but bigger. The part that was a little more challenging was the brush part of the hairbrush. 

I had some issues when printing the object. The first iteration came out almost perfect with the only real issue being how small it was. The biggest issues came when I wanted to print the larger version. I wanted it to be smooth and comfortable in the hand, so I went for a low nozzle height. I failed maybe 4 times before the plastic didn’t tear itself apart. Even then, the bottom of the handle still came out a little frayed.

I painted each metric to correspond to a color and the end product looked pretty funky but also fun.

Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed this project and it game a chance to express myself in an unconventional way, and it gave me the chance to visualize an issue that I have been trying to solve. For future projects, I think the newfound knowledge in the fine-tuning and troubleshooting of the 3D printers will probably come in handy the most so that the next thing I make is a step forward in terms of my ability.

I am pretty new to the whole 3D modeling scene. However, I am aware of the almost limitless possibilities that come with the technology. I’ve seen printed cars, complex tools, and even food. 

However, I never thought past the end product. And even when I was exposed to 3d printing in college, I still only saw it as a means to an end in its most basic form. At this point in time, though I can see it in a new light.

By designing a process vs an object, you create an environment in which we as human beings cannot feasibly operate in or on. Creating millions of small calculations, permutations, or other seemingly simple tasks is not the best use of our minds or our time. But by creating a roadmap for a computer to follow and letting it take care of the fine tuning, we extend our potential beyond the humanely possible. 

The shift in how we can design things is monumental, and its implications are astounding. As said in the video, our entire world we create for ourselves could look very different in the near future.

What’s funny is that as I am writing this, I already have experience with this entire concept. A few years ago as the final project for Interaction Lab, I created a visualization. On the screen were three shapes. Exactly what form they took was dictated by an algorithm, whose variables were manipulated by a user with a physical controller. Shapes created were different each time and even a different sound was emitted when the shapes changed.

While that was a simple example of the topic, remembering it has given me a better understanding of where this kind of thinking can lead in the future