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Scan Fab: The Application of Reality Computing Technology in Design Gabriel Kaprielian, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Introduction 1:1 scale evokes a sense of materiality and structure, rooted firmly in the physical world. Yet, the design pro-‐ cess to realize full-‐scale work is increasingly completed in a digital workspace, apart from the laws of physics, constraints of scale, or materiality. In the architecture studio, students are spending a disproportionate amount of time developing their designs on the com-‐ puter. Physical models are more often being fabricated as the end result of a digital design process. In this case, the hand is tasked with solely assembling pieces togeth-‐ er, rather than developing a spatial awareness gained in the mind and body relationship of designing though physical modeling. Moreover, students are designing increasingly complicated forms through digital model-‐ ing, but are restricted within the form generative tools of the software rather than exploring structure, materi-‐ al, and spatial awareness. There has been a fine dance in contemporary architec-‐ tural education balancing curriculum between digital and analog approaches to design; often siding more heavily on the analog or traditional approach in begin-‐ ning design education. Many programs have integrated a combination of digital and analog design methodolo-‐ st nd gies into 1 and 2 year studios. However, these two modes of design are often still seen as separate, repre-‐ senting a duality in the process of architectural design. This points to a chasm that divides digital and physical design workflows in the architecture studio. Digital fab-‐ rication, both additive and subtractive production pro-‐ cesses, has been the common answer to this divide. Yet until recently, it has served as a one-‐way bridge, leading only from digital to physical production.
With recent advancements in Reality Computing tech-‐ nology, the boundaries between the physical and the digital have blurred, creating new potential workflow methodologies. Antoine Picon spoke of this hybridiza-‐ tion between ordinary and digital space being made possible through the development of sophisticated in-‐ 1 terfaces. The application of Reality Computing technol-‐ ogy in design is just such an interface that serves to “capture information about the physical world, manipu-‐ late and analyze the information digitally, and actualize the result back into the physical world,” creating a work-‐ flow that serves to bridge between the real and the 2 virtual.
Fig. 1 Scan Fab Lamp by Adrian Tsou
Gabriel Kaprielian
Fig. 2 Scan Fab Lamp Process Boards: 3D scan of clay model with 123D Catch; digital m esh manipulation with M eshmixer; cut file preparation with 123D M ake.
In order to illustrate a demonstrated application of Real-‐ ity Computing in design, I will use the Scan Fab Lamp nd project, completed by my 2 year architecture students at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. In this project, each student hand modeled a unique form, which was digitized, modified, and fabri-‐ cated to create a functional lamp. I will describe what we learned from the Scan Fab process, including the potential uses and current limitations, specifically in its application to beginning design. To contextualize the implications of Reality Computing in beginning design education, I will attempt to elabo-‐ rate on the discourse regarding computer-‐based design in the classroom and how the Scan Fab technique can assist in bridging the digital and physical divide. I will draw from the phenomenological arguments for a more haptic centered design process made by Juhani Pallas-‐ maa, while posing a counterargument from Antoine Picon that advocates for an evolution of architectural design and production, as a result of the computer and digitization.
The Thinking Hand The prominent role given to the computer in the design process has found a number of critics, including archi-‐ tect and theorist Juhani Pallasmaa, who has written extensively on the bias towards vision and the suppres-‐ sion of other senses in contemporary architecture. This occularcentrism, as Pallasmaa describes it, is a result of computer-‐based design that “flattens” our “multi-‐ sensory” perception by reducing the creative process to 3 “a passive visual manipulation.” A digitally produced work leaves out the “thinking hand,” which serves the role of connecting the mind and body in the process of design. This connection is essential in beginning design as students formulate a bodily awareness in spatial terms. Pallasmaa continues by stating: “The computer creates a distance between the maker and the object, whereas drawing by hand as well as model-‐making put the designer 4 into a haptic contact with the object or space.” With the Scan Fab Lamp project, students began the design process with sculpting form out of clay. By
Scan Fab
Fig. 3 Selection of Scan Fab Lamps; (top left and clockwise) Katherine Moore, Sophia Liu, Austin Kahn, Mark Luzi, Rachel Recksiedler, Juliet Luty, Jeffrey Baucom, Simone M iller, Tyler Kirkpatrick, Xian Chris Li.
hand sculpting the form, students were able to use their intuitive design sense without the limitations of form generation through digital modeling software. This al-‐ lowed students to create form complexity beyond their current skill levels. Rather than spending their time try-‐ ing to master the software functions to create form, they were able to focus on the relationship between the mass of the clay object and the pressure applied with their hands and fingers to shape it. Pallasmaa would describe this process of making as bodily identification, which incorporates multi-‐sensorial qualities in the design workflow relating directly to the way that we perceive the world around us. To touch and feel form with one’s hands relays information to the brain in a different way than digital modeling on the computer. This haptic modeling process translates a sense of volume displaced by the shape of the object through the tendons, muscles, and nerves into the hand. “The hands are the sculptor’s eyes; but they are 5 also organs for thought…”
Drawing heavily from Richard Sennet’s writing on the importance of a hand and brain connection in both learning and making, Pallasmaa develops a thesis around the “thinking hand,” which he describes as hav-‐ 6 ing its “own intentionality, knowledge and skills.” He places the hand as central to the role in the evolution of human skills, intelligence, and architectural production. Richard Sennett goes on to describe scientific studies that show how the use of the hand affects the way we 7 think and learn. The hand and mind connection, how-‐ ever, does not preclude the use of tools, which the computer can certainly be described as. Tools are traditionally thought of as having a relation-‐ ship as an intermediary between the body and the phys-‐ ical object that is being shaped. With the computer, we still have a hand and mind connection, but the object has been dematerialized in virtual space. It is precisely the goal of the Scan Fab process to make a physical connection with the object of design before it is digit-‐ ized and disembodied. While the hand continues to modify the digitized facsimile of the object, it can still recall its shape and gravity through tactile memory in the senses.
Gabriel Kaprielian
Between the Real and the Virtual Architect and historian Antoine Picon presents a coun-‐ terargument to the perceived “threat” of digital design to the field of architecture. Published over a decade ago, Picon’s essay, “Architecture and the Virtual: To-‐ wards a New Materiality,” has a certain prophetic tone. While describing the lack of concern for materiality found in many digital works of architecture at the time, he hints to the evolving nature of digital design in “re-‐ shaping, rather than an estrangement from, physical 8 experience and materiality.” Picon alludes to the con-‐ tinuing development of digital interfaces, which may eventually bridge the gap between physical and digital modeling. Picon concedes that the “computer breaks with the 9 immediacy of the human gesture.” He describes a “thickness” inherent in digital design software that is not found in an analog and physical method of design. This thickness has to do, in part, with the biases of soft-‐ ware towards certain operations. I would add that in beginning design this thickness could be associated with designs conceived primarily on the computer rather than in physical space. The hands, in this case, respond only to orders by the eyes and the mind and are not allowed to think on their own. Therefore, a deeper un-‐ derstanding of the spatial and tectonic qualities of the design is lost as this resides more intuitively within the purview of the hands. For the Scan Fab Lamp project, I had students hand model forms out of clay for the quality of plasticity often attributed with advanced surface modeling in digital design. Picon also draws a parallel between clay model-‐ ing and the power of digital tools in the computer to model surface deformations and flows. He refers to early research conducted by MIT’s Media Lab that sought to integrate clay modeling with digital modeling, likely an early precursor to the Reality Computing tools available today. He also talks about the Media Lab’s investigations into digital gloves and tactile screens all aimed at combining physical and digital modeling. Technology has progressed considerably since Picon’s 2004 essay was written and now this hybridization of the virtual and real through Reality Computing is readily 10 available in app form for your smart phone. Utilizing
these new technologies, the Scan Fab Lamp project seeks to explore the territory between analog and digi-‐ tal design workflow, combining haptic hand modeling with digital manipulation and fabrication, extending the realm of our senses through software interfaces.
Scan Fab Lamp nd
The Scan Fab Lamp project was completed by 2 year students in my Architectural Design studio course, dur-‐ ing the spring quarter of 2015. This project was con-‐ ceived of as a warm-‐up exercise that would both inspire the students and illustrate an alternative design work-‐ flow, which allowed them to digitize their conceptual handmade physical models. This is a similar process to that made famous by Frank Gehry’s office, where the computer is seen not as a “medium of conception, but as a medium of translation” by digitizing physical mod-‐ 11 els. Beginning first with sculpting clay form by hand, stu-‐ dents used the concepts of Reality Computing to Cap-‐ ture (3D scan clay models), Compute (manipulate digital models), and Create (digitally fabricate models as a lamp). For the Scan Fab Lamp project we used Au-‐ todesk’s 123D software for the Reality Computing work-‐ flow. While there is other software available, this choice was made based on its ease of use, consistent results, and availability as a free download.
Fig. 4 Scan Fab Lamp by Emre Keskintepe
Scan Fab The project steps are as follows: Sculpt The first step in the process began with the sculpting of a clay form by hand. This allowed for a tactile three-‐ dimensional modeling experience that is unencumbered by digital modeling software. Beginning students were able to intuitively create form complexity with their hands that is beyond their current digital modeling skill level for any given software. The process of hand sculpt-‐ ing clay engages the “thinking hand,” or as Juhani Pal-‐ lasmaa might say, tapping into knowledge that “resides 12 directly in the senses and muscles.” Capture Using Autodesk’s 123D Catch software, which utilizes the Reality Capture technology of photogrammetry, students created 3D scans of their clay models. This process involved taking a series of photographs with a camera or on a smartphone application of the software, translating the physical form into a digital mesh facsimi-‐ le. The capture technology is key to what Picon referred to as the “interface” to hybridize the real and the virtu-‐ al. In this case, the 3D scan is the disembodied clay sculpture and represents the first transformation in the Reality Computing process. Results vary depending on
Fig. 5 Shadows cast by a student lamp, Benny Lin.
Fig. 6 Clay model; digitized model (Meshmixer); digital fabrication model (123D Make)
shape of the sculpted form and precision of the scan-‐ ning process. Artifacts and imperfections are unavoida-‐ ble, presenting either a challenge or an opportunity for further alterations. Compute The next step involved the manipulation of the digital mesh. Using Autodesk’s Meshmixer software, students cleaned up the scanned mesh geometry and digitally edited the form with a variety of techniques to prepare it for fabrication. The mesh editing software allowed for a virtual sculpting process using a series of brushes to push and pull the mesh surface. Brush parameters can vary by size, strength, and type to refine the mesh to more accurately depict the hand-‐sculpted form or to further transform its shape. Create The ultimate goal of this project was to create a lamp; therefore, the relationship between the lamp structure, lighting fixture, and bulb was paramount. Using Auto-‐ desk’s 123D Make software, students chose a variety of methods to “slice” their digitized clay model into inter-‐ locking pieces for digital fabrication. Students needed to consider lamp orientation and design pendant mounting before creating cut files. Re-‐materialization through digital fabrication represents a metamorphosis from the virtual environment back into the physical. Different means of digital production offer the potential to edit the virtual object in order to create a radical change in re-‐embodied physical form. We chose to use interlocking surfaces with a laser cut plywood material for the lamps to keep costs down. Students adjusted the slice direction and count with consideration of desired lamp form and lighting quality.
Gabriel Kaprielian
Reflections While the Scan Fab Lamp project represents a modest exploration of Reality Computing, the application of this technique to architecture has the potential to bridge the gap between analog and digital design, creating a feedback loop between the two processes. The applica-‐ tion to beginning design allows students to start with physical modeling by hand, which can then be digitized and used for a variety of applications in the design pro-‐ cess. Students in my course continued to use the Scan Fab technique as an idea and form generator for the design of architecture in the quarter-‐long studio project. However, expectations of Reality Computing for begin-‐ ning design should be tempered with an understanding of its current limitations. It was our experience that many hand-‐modeled forms are not well suited to the Reality Capture process we used. Forms with holes or voids presented challenges in the digital capture process. These hollow spaces were often filled in by the pre-‐processing software, which interpolated the visual data to create a continuous sur-‐ face. The darkness created by shadows is especially dif-‐ ficult for the photogrammetry process to translate into a digital mesh. It should be remembered that photo-‐ grammetry is made up of a series of photographs, therefore the quality of photos and uniform lighting are essential components to a good digital capture.
The use of photogrammetry as a Reality Capture in its current state is biased toward continuous surface condi-‐ tions. For this reason, I choose clay for sculpting the form to be captured. It is also worth noting that process of Reality Capture involves moving the camera’s posi-‐ tion to take a series of photographs around all sides of the object to be digitized. This means that the object does not move and since it is likely placed on a surface, this part of the object will not be digitized accurately. While I had my students use 123D Make to create digi-‐ tally fabricated parts for their lamps, there are a num-‐ ber of alternative methods for preparing the virtual form for re-‐materialization. This is dependent on whether you choose a subtractive or additive fabrica-‐ tion method. The interlocking slices of 123D Make are ideally suited for ease of cut file output and assembly, but are limited in options, restricting the final form. For this reason, I had my students make two lamps, the second one adding a hand constructed “skin” or shell on top of the inside structure, which created a new quality of lighting. This allowed the students to come full-‐circle and finish the lamp design by hand, with a digitally fab-‐ ricated hybrid form of their initial hand sculpted clay model. Overall, the Scan Fab Lamp project was well received by the students who enjoyed learning new software that was relatively easy to use and which allowed them to integrate physical modeling with a digital fabrication workflow. We spent the first two weeks on this project, but I have done a workshop that produced similar re-‐ sults in one day. The quick learning curve and produc-‐ tion turn around of the Scan Fab process are certainly beneficial to its success and usefulness. I believe that there is an opportunity for further investigation of its use in the Architectural Design studio.
Conclusion
Fig. 7 Students assembling Scan Fab Lamps.
The field of architecture is continually evolving, as are the technology and software that it employs. While ar-‐ chitecture has embraced digital technologies, it still re-‐ mains deeply rooted in tectonics, materiality, and sensorial experience. These are aspects of design best explored physically through the act of making. For this reason, there will always be a place for physical model-‐ ing and hand drawing in both architectural practice and
Scan Fab education. With the advances in Reality Computing technology there appears to be greater opportunity to integrate a physical and digital design workflow, begin-‐ ning first with a haptic-‐based design approach that con-‐ tinues directly into digital modeling. The Scan Fab Lamp project illustrates one approach for the use of Reality Computing in beginning design. As this technology con-‐ tinues to advance, there will likely be many possibly applications in both architectural practice and design education.
Notes
Picon, Antoine. “Architecture and the Virtual: Towards A New Materiality” in PRAXIS 6: New Technolo-‐ gies://New Architectures, 2004. p 114-‐21. 2 Autodesk, https://recap.autodesk.com/reality-‐ 3 Pallasmaa, Juhani. “The Eyes of the Skin,” Wiley-‐ Academy, Great Britain, 2005. p 12. 4 Ibid. p 12. 5 Ibid. p 56. 6 Pallasmaa, Juhani. “The Thinking Hand,” John Wiley and Sons Ltd. Great Britain, 2009. p 12. 7 Sennett, Richard. “The Craftsman,” Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008, p 149. 8 Picon, p 271-‐272. 9 Ibid. p 274. 10 (123D Catch software application of Reality Capture available for OS and Android Smartphone operating systems.) 11 Kolarevic, Branko. “Digital Production” in Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing, Spon Press, New York, 2003. p 47. 12 Pallasmaa, “The Thinking Hand,” p 12. 1
