Metallic Hedgehog
Conceptual Design / C# Programming (2019)
Metallic Hedgehog is a collaborative piece with designers Erin Hunt and Katarina Richter-Lunn, produced as part of SCI 6338: Introduction to Computational Design. The initial inspiration for the piece came from the motion of ferrofluids, and how ferrous particles within liquid move in response to magnetic fields. Our team’s goal was to model the behavior of this remarkable substance within Grasshopper, using custom-built C# script components to produce a dynamic and aesthetic experience.
Ferrofluid interacting with magnets
Initial concept sketches for modeling ferrofluid-like behavior
Process
To create motion inspired by ferrofluid behavior, we needed to first develop logic for an attractor within C#/Grasshopper. My main contribution to this project was developing the programming logic for this attraction behavior, starting with an individual attractor point, in both point fields and 3D objects. We experimented with different ways off defining how the attractor would influence an array of points, and then transitioned to manipulating 3D volumes.
To manipulate 3d objects, we subdivided the volumes and and translated their midpoints to a new location based on the attractors. We then extruded a surface to the new point. In this way, the parent object could be considered a volumetric space composed of a collection of point objects, which when manipulated affect the shape of the overall volume.
Still of point clouds with attractors (black)
Still of metallic volume pulled by attractors
Final Grasshopper definition (custom C# components indicated with red label)
Final Piece
The final piece, named Metallic Hedgehog due to its appearance, combines a bounding box with moving attractors along its facades, and multiple, manipulable objects to produce ferrofluid-inspired behavior. We created multiple renderings to demonstrate the flexibility and dynamism of the programmatic system we had developed, some of which can be seen below.
