Atul Singla
Architectural Association School of Architecture
Emergent Technologies and Design 2004-2005
18 March 2005
GENR8 – USER DEFINED SEEDS AND BREEDING FORMS
After exploring this surface generating software it became evident that conceptually, it is
a very powerful tool providing lateral answers instead of a single linear solution. It is an
idea in parallel design difficult for human mind.
The degree of control a human can have on genr8 is of course suggested by the
environment and the use of fitness values in evolution. This project deals with the
possibility of applying a user defined seed (a curve or shape made in Maya by user) as a
starting point for generation therefore providing extended control from the beginning.
The notion of breeding two forms and getting a resultant hybrid is another feature in
genr8 which was explored in this project. This was tested by saving the genome of a
certain generated cube and applying it to further generate a spiral. The resultant spiral had
the characteristics of the cube.
.
User defined arcs, lines and circles (the small ones on left)
of various curvatures are used to generate surfaces
with different characteristics
The same experiments are conducted on 3d shapes like spirals.
Note the way genr8 closed an open ended curve to make a surface.
A close ended 3d form was chosen to understand the way
in which genr8 chooses to generate surfaces.
Note the way the surface tends to flow towards a centre point in the cube. The bottom left shows the
surface unfolded
The same is observed for any arbitrary shape form.
The surfaces tend to coalesce into the centre point of the form.
The idea…..
The plan…..
The chosen ones…
the process….
Plan 2….
And finally the result….