BLOOMING SCULPTURE

An interesting story of one who is drawn to the life-like Blooming Sculpture, made several simulation, and finally realized it in many attempts.

Simulation Model_One Model_Two Bonus

V1  |  3 Simulation

  • Date:   2021 JAN
  • SoftWare:   Rhino; Grasshopper in Rhino
  • HardWare:   My little laptop
  • Description:   From the process from "Wow", to the most important first step: "Wow it is actually achievable".

Background

        Ever since I happenly found the videos of "Never-Ending Bloom" series years ago, I was so spellbond by this living sculpture that I always thought it was unattainable. One day, when watching the video of SciFri about John Edmark and his work YouTube Link, I noticed that he uses the Rhinoceros 3D as one of the modelling tool. Emm, why not give it a try, after all I was quite comfident of rebuilding this model in Rhino.

Research

        The research starts from the golden angle; the static phyllotaxis sequence; then to the rotation angle of each step.

The math of Phyllotaxis: One of the phyllotaxis rules is shown at the right, these sets of points could remain in their phyllotaxy even after distorted, projected, over even curled up into a sphere.

Golden Angle and Rotation: One interesting thing is, while the the golden angle of generating points is 137.5°, the best angle of each is 129.9° instead. Slightly increasing or decreasing this rotation will cause the model to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise as it grows.

V2  |   Model_One

  • Date:   2021 Mar
  • SoftWare:   Rhino; Arduino IDE
  • HardWare:   3525 moto; Radiator; Copper Gear; Resin Print; Arduino Nano
  • Description:   The first attempt of using gear to decelerate, ended up with one video and one motor damaged by overheating.

Research

        The research starts from the golden angle; the static phyllotaxis sequence; then to the rotation angle of each step.

Stable Turntable: This turntable should be working very smoothly at around 550rpm, with no tilt, or shake. So I choose a bearing with a diameter of 150mm, and a resin print gear on top of it, resulting in giant noise and too much friction for that tiny 3525 motor.

Bad 3D Print: Obviously, the complexity of the model should fit the print quality.

Good 3D Print: 3D printing something nice requires a little skill, and a lot of luck.

V3  |   Model_Two

  • Date:   2021 April
  • SoftWare:   Rhino; Arduino IDE
  • HardWare:   3650 moto; Radiator; Copper Gear; Resin Print; Arduino Nano
  • Description:   For the second attempt, I chose a powerful moto with its shaft connected to the turntable directly.

Research

        After solving the overheating of the motor and the noise of the turntable, I tried to add one more dimension to the bloom.

Motor and axis: The complete version of moving: strong axis connection; powerful motor with radiator; pwm moto speed controller; with pwm light controller to help people seeing the bloom with the naked eye.

One more dimension: Get out of the surface-based blooming effect, as the fishes jumped out of the surging ocean.

App.  |   Bonus

  • Date:   2021 May
  • SoftWare:   Rhino
  • HardWare:   150mm Bearing; Resin Print
  • Description:   Remember the 150mm bearing used in V1? I made it into a bracelet.

Research

        The bracelets can help workers relieve work pressure and maintain their physical and mental health. What's more, this bearing is so silky smoothy.

Psychological needs: Fill the silky smooth when you are going into a meeting room.

Psychological power: Just feel the beads slip through your hand one by one, and feel this magical comfort.