Poster Text

My Initial Concept: My geometry was based around the formation and rule sets associated with Cumulonimbus clouds. The initial concept must firstly require a breakdown of how clouds are formed and which characteristics of each cloud form determine its type. The one cloud type that had a very straight forward formation was that of the Cumulonimbus cloud. Clouds contain their own shape grammars, in order to create uniquely formed Cumulonimbus Clouds there are certain rules that need to be followed. On further observation of the cloud form I was able to produce my own simple rule set which I believed to be the basis of which it is formed. The width & height of the cloud is relevant to each other, it seemed to be at a ratio of 1:1 and the centre of the cloud is pinched almost at a ratio of 1:2 of the clouds height or width.Width=HeightCentre = Width or Height / 0.5. To create a cloud shape in Grasshopper rather than just spheres, there are several ways of going about to do this. One option is simply dropping points onto the surface of the spheres at random points and create spheres which make the clouds pop at different areas forming iterations of the clouds. The way clouds create unique shapes which are unlimited to our imagination is through the way the light hits different points of the shape also the more dense the part of the clouds is creates a shadow and the areas of less density the lighter the cloud seems.Clouds don't only give the illusion of shapes due to its form it is also by the way the light hits it and the areas of density. If you were to analyse a swarm or flock they also form shapes by its density and shadows formed. The Obstacles Faced: When it came to converting my ideas into a geometric form on Grasshopper I faced a lot of challengers. I watched many tutorials but was still unable to find one that was even closely similar to my concept so I decided to focus more the surface texture of a cloud rather than the cloud as an entire form. As I researched further into the cloud form I began to observe the surface texture and decided its form more resembled a wave formation, so I converted this into my grasshopper geometry. I created different wave formations to symbolise the surface of a cloud and its different densities. All my iterations vary slightly to produce wave like forms with different density and thickness in certain areas as clouds do. The uniquely dispersed density of cloud particles is what forms different shapes. This concept also related to swarms. Swarm behavour can be seen in everyday life and is a feild of science highly researched. In this instance I am not refering to Biological swarming of animals or marine life but there are certain behavioural characteristics that can be taken into context when researching the surface behavour of a cloud. In every swarm there is a centralised area of the agents in the swarm which are highly densed together with the density dispersing further out of the swarm. Much like cloud behavour as there are particularlly dense areas of the cloud which appear darker and as the density lessens more light shown through the cloud creating this appearance. The iterations are intended to show the uniquely dispersed density of clouds and the key concept of how cloud form shapes in the sky.All iterations were made by slight adjustments of the formula used sin(((x-a)^2+(y-b)^2)^.5) - where (a,b) is the location of the waves' centre. Adjusting numbers created larger or smaller waves as well as changing the position and direction of wave centers. To create the wave interface you have to add one wave on top of the other, then evaluate the elevation of all base waves for a set of points using rectangular grids, then add the z-components together to make a new surface. References: www.grasshopper3d.com, www.tedngai.net/grasshopper, www.youtube.com With use of: Daniel Piker & David Rutteen blog posts & interfaces posted on the website www.grasshopper3d.com.