modeling Archives ⋆ X-Reality: University of Michigan XR

July 18, 2013August 25, 2020

Floor Plans to Future Plans: 3D Modeling Cabins

Initial floor plan provided by Professor Nathan Niemi

Nathan Niemi—associate professor for Earth & Environmental Science— approached the 3D lab with a series of floor-plans he had designed in Adobe Illustrator. Nathan and his colleagues (who research neotectonics and structural geology) are working on cabins to be built at their field station in Teton County, Wyoming. The current cabins at their field station are small, and new cabins would provide the opportunity for more student researchers to work the area. Nathan’s group wanted to show alumni and possible donors the plans for the cabins so they can pledge financial support to the project. Nathan was curious about how he could translate his floor plans into a more complete model of the architecture.

Working with Nathan and his colleagues, the Duderstadt Center was able to take his floor plans and create splines (lines used in 3D modeling) in 3D Studio Max. Using these splines, accurate 3D models of the cabins were created to scale. These models were then shown to several people in Nathan’s group, at which point Teton County noticed the slope of the cabin’s roof would not meet building codes for snow load in that region. By viewing their models in 3D, the group was able to revise and review their plans to accommodate these restrictions. These plans are currently being shown to investors and others interested in the project.

May 21, 2013August 26, 2020

Hybrid Force-Active Structures and Visualization

Tom Bessai demonstrates using a Microscribe

Tom Bessai is a Canadian architect currently teaching at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning. This past year Tom has been on sabbatical working with Sean Alquist to research hybrid force-active structures—or structures that work under the force of tension. Much like a bungee cord, these structures have two forms: slack and taught. Sean and Tom have been researching material options and constraints for these structures, experimenting with rope, mesh, nylon, and elastic in various forms.

While these structures borrow from techniques seen in gridshell structures, they are entirely new in that they actuate material as well as the geometry of their design. These structures are first designed in computer-aided design (CAD) software and then are physically built. After building the scale models, Tom uses a Microscribe to plot the vertices of the model in 3D space. These points then appear in Rhino, creating a CAD model based off of the actual, physical structure. Tom can then compare his built model to his simulated model. Comparing the measurements of both structures identifies the relationship between the tension of the structure and the material used. By taking these measurements, the properties of the material can be more specifically defined, allowing for larger and smaller structures to be more accurately designed.

These structures are not only complex and beautiful; Tom imagines they could have a practical application as well. Hybrid force-active structures could be used to control architectural acoustics, create intimate or open environments, or define interior and exterior spaces.

June 20, 2012November 3, 2020

A Ferry called “Wahoo”

A passenger ferry was designed by a student team from the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Schools, for both their final project and the Puget Sound. The vessel, named Wahoo, is 57 meters long, 18 meters wide, and seats 350 passengers with a top speed of 45 knots. The students modeled the ferry in Rhinoceros and worked with the Duderstadt Center to print the model in plaster for presentation purposes. They also exported VRML for visualization in the MIDEN, allowing them to explore the ferry. Although Wahoo is much larger than the MIDEN, the students were able to see it in immersive stereo at full scale, allowing them to directly observe and evaluate sizes and clearances.

The engine room was an especially detailed design. The students obtained the real marine engine model from MTU Detroit Diesel (in STP format) and placed three instances of it in their vessel.

June 2, 2011September 30, 2020

Pisidian Antioch

From January 13 to February 24, 2006 at the Duderstadt center on the University of Michigan north campus, the Kelsey Museum mounted an exhibition on the Roman site of Antioch of Pisidia in Asia Minor (Turkey)—a Hellenistic city refounded by Augustus in 25 BC as a Roman colony. Located along a strategic overland artery between Syria and the western coast of Asia Minor, Pisidian Antioch served Rome’s military needs but also presented a striking symbol, from the Roman perspective, of the benefits that Roman civilization provided to local populations. The city is best known to the modern world as a destination on the first missionary journey of St. Paul and Barnabas in the 1st century AD, recounted in the Book of Acts.

Held at the Duderstadt Center Gallery on North Campus, the exhibition featured a physical model created with a University of Michigan Duderstadt Center’s Rapid Prototyping servces. Digital reconstructions of the buildings and topography, which were created with the help of internal staff working with talented students associated with the project, were displayed using the Virtual Reality MIDEN which conveyed a sense of the original monumentality of the site and the character of its setting.