An update on the global typography. I’ve filled in the western hemisphere, and extruded each country in respect to their population per sq. mile. Because the extrusions are essentially cone shaped, I’m actually extruding by the square root of the population per sq. mile. This also emphasizes the differences between most countries while making the sharp peaks not quite as harsh.

The result of printing…
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I’d like to share a work in progress. I’ve been tossing around ideas of what to do with our 3D printer, what might be interesting and engaging. I eventually arrived at this concept.

Each country is represented in their own language, the type creating the shape of the country, each done by hand. I hope that the hand-craft aesthetic of the type is an interesting juxtaposition with the process and material. Each country will be extruded outward a different distance, to correspond to some data set, such as population. Perhaps a series of these could account for multiple data sets.

This post is just to show the proof of concept. I’m working on a piece of software to generate the files to send to the 3D printer. Read on for how I’m doing this.

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I’m taking a class with Karen Moyer on Mapping and Diagramming, presenting and communicating information both seen and unseen.

This brief assignment was to create an aid to a friend visiting from out of town. He can get to your house, but you need to get him to meet you outside of class, when you are finished.

My compatriot, Mike Levy, and myself just successfully had the first of our seasonal radio show: “The Weird & The Beard”. This is a time-lapse of our show, 2 hours compressed into 2 minutes.

Be sure to tune in Thursdays at Midnight. 88.3FM for Pittsburgh listeners or wrct.org for the rest of the world, where we have mp3 and ogg streams.

I’m happy to say that there is now a web-ready version of Roku.

I won’t be releasing a downloadable version because I feel this is representative enough of the gameplay.

Click the screen to go play Roku! It is a rather large file (15MB), be patient for the download.

Roku has a simple game metric chosen to link together the virtual and physical game play: Cellular Automata.

Roku is made from an arbitrary number of cells arranged into a hexagonal grid, like a honeycomb. The concept of Cellular Automata is reflected in Roku by each cell recognizing and affecting only it’s direct neighbors. This allows the game play to be very simple yet unique.

While this version has only two games Warm and Cool, other games could be created from this same base mechanic. For example the introduction screen is actually Conway’s Game of Life implemented in hexagonal space.

Physically, Roku exhibits strong Modular Design by using identical physical cells. It would be possible to build a Roku game board of any shape and size which allows for unique physical implementations while enabling mass-production.

Roku Warm is much like the game Lights Out. Pressing a cell will cause all of its neighbors to toggle between up and down. If a neighbor cell was up, it moves down and vice versa. Pressing the same cell a second time would return the board to it’s previous state.

To win the level, all cells must end up in the down position.

Roku Cool is about making clusters of the same color. Pressing a cell causes the colors of it’s neighbor cells to rotate. Pressing again would cause a second rotation. Six consecutive presses would return the board to it’s original state.

Make clusters of a common color to eliminate them from the board and buy you more time. Top out the time-bar to win the level.

Roku uses Cellular Automata and Modular Design techniques within a Game Design method. The result is pretty interesting in terms of a physical-virtual game crossover, expandable systems and furniture design.

Hopefully, the result is just fun!

This final semester I’m taking a course called Experimental Form: exploring form through mountains of sketches and ideation and a handful of creations. Half sculpture, half product design; the idea of this course is to create beautiful, personal objects of function.

I’m spinning the class by incorporating as many programmatic elements as possible: parametric form, force-directed layouts, mathematical constructs, and data-driven form. I think there is a powerful opportunity there to create unique and interesting things. In mass-produced situations, these objects could be individually and personally unique.

Our first project was a quick one: a day to generate a concept and a day to build and photograph a model. The concept was a fruit platter generated by a circle-packing program built around the constraints of the platter.

Click the image to play with the template generator: press space-bar to randomly generate circles, click empty space to make a new circle, drag around existing circles. Click hold & press ‘z’ to delete.

From this program I export PDF files which are sent to a laser cutter, therefore each platter is unique. Ideally this product would be made from CNC milled porcelain.

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Our New Years party was complete with contextual beat-sensitive dance lighting. Dance along the wall and you’re spotlit with a dynamic colorful burst of light. The light bursts along with the beat of the music.

The countdown used BubbleType, a project I worked on earlier in the semester. Dynamic motion typography based on a particle system. This let the countdown itself be set in motion by the beat of the music.

For our countdown we played a portion of the DFA Remix of Gorillaz’ Dare. The 120BPM lined up nicely with the countdown.

I hope everyone had a fantastic evening, and best wishes for the new year! May 2008 be the best year yet.

The semester is finally wrapping up, with the last two weeks spending more nights awake than asleep. Final presentations went very well. The only project that isn’t finished is Roku, which is slated for release at the end of January.

Flirtastic! wowed everyone and was a flag finish. We have a mostly working vertical prototype, the result of a 5 day power session. It’s quite slick, jump around a bit. Make sure to try recording your own answer to our heroine’s question. Latest flash player & webcam required.