Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Supervisory Meeting

w/ Mike Waller, Yanna Vogiazou

Talked about:

1) Nets, foldouts, geometic polyhedra as primitve forms.

MW: What has this got to do with Toolkits? Another PhD?
- Well no its not just Toolkits - its more like 'Tools, Toolkits and their makers'. -- and exactly what they make with it; Art, Design, Craft, Music, Textiles, Engineering... etc.
- Also my  practice would be what  end up making.
 I mentioned Fab Labs - its a studio/process/concept/tools/ethos combine - that would be the end or start of the big project - the '**** LAB' (dont like the word lab tho.)

So how to...
2D Software - Vellum, Techsoft2D
Exporting in .dxf or ??? for CAD/CAM
(check with Richard


2) Protoyping 
- Generators
Cargo Cult Designs paper mentioned by Yanna, thanks
- its an interesting read. It does point up lot of question for me.
I think in the end that personally I had previously never just protoypes as part of process, just try and make the thing through experimentation and iteration.
Largely I guess that is cos they are oneoff artefacts rather than models to be replicated in small or mass production.


3) WIKIs
Yes I want to use a wiki software -
this is a wiki.
so it this a
I will make a prototype :P 

Next meeting: 29 Nov 14:00


PROCESS BRIEF

Still building up momentum for my 'making' brief.....slowly.
will I make any presents before christmas?
I've become attached to the idea of cutting card and making shapes or forms.

I had first imagined a simple box shape, but looking into 2D Nets and cut-outs I thought about other shapes.
Yes, you can get books and CDs of these shapes, open Abobeshop and print out, or convert to DXF and send to cutter....but how about
Thinking programming wise I want to see how about setting up a generative library that calculates the shapes and exports them.

I'm reminded by Mr Fuller that these shapes are geometric, as used in Dymaxion Maps c.1930

A recent version transcribed to a net




After looking around I find some examples from the wonderful world of Mathematica.




Well, I don't want to look too much into geometric formulas but it is there.


Reminder to myself - I want to create the forms in software and then output directly. I've been interested in cutting machines, as they are the next step above printing or drawing machines.
Printers and plotters have been around for a long time. 
Although this is an experiment, and start from a naiive exploratory stand-point, it could lead into something that relates to my main topic - tools and toolkits -
in that sense being a demonstration of it.

Managing the toolkits and the ways to use them - and identifying the tools and how they can be used.

It comes from the development of the toolkit : basically ver. 0.001 is the process for the inards or engine of an object/artefact/craft
   ver.0.002 could be the process for making the engine/boards and the surface - as proposed in how to fold
 a lot later ver 0.010 a whole toolshop set-up including machines, their use, software, hardware and the glue in between - e.g FabLab - the whole process