4.1 Nurbz Are Not For Noobz

Some experimentations with the Nurbz Cross Sections tool. After creating a cross section, I used the Nurbz tool to create the shape and then had some fun from there. The first is a simple water vessel placed in a scene of its own. The second is a strawberry I created and placed in the scene from the Rarebit Fiend and Metal Cheese bit from earlier. It is entitled The Strawberry Fiend.

Basically, these forms began life as a series of lines. Rather than just drawing a couple of random lines, I chose to create one and then rotate it to create something that looked like a 3D object. After that, I selected all of the objects before applying the Cross Sections tool. Once I had the cross sections, I selected the circles that were created and applied the Nurbz tool to create the solid planes. After that, I decided to have some fun (ie, add water and leaves, respectively).

(Okay, so somebody else claimed the Nurbz tool, but I needed it to actually do something with the cross sections. Sorry to whoever claimed it!)

3.2 Inspiration Pieces

Peacocks: The Oregon Zoo's majestic vermin and the inspiration for my luminaire.

(images from www.albanyhill.com and gallery.hd.org, respectively)

3.2 The Peacock

The Peacock is a luminare of many faces. It can cast sharp shadows or emit a simple glow; it can illuminate a place of work or stand on its own as a piece of functional art. In this way, the Peacock can enhance the ambiance of any restaurant, bar, or private home.
Though simple in form, it is a piece that attracts attention by the same elegance and poise of the majestic creature it was inspired by. The tail of feathers, so to speak, sweeps out from the body of the luminare to illuminate the area below and celebrate the area above.

3.1 lightfixture.ohone

One light fixture. Three different ways.

2.2 Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend (or the Metal Cheese Lamp)

Light is power and reflections tell us stories; shadows speak to our darker nature and colours emote. Light and its variants make up our world and without them we would be lost. Here, there is still light but there is also an odd softness to it all. It is as if stepping into a strange dream where worlds continue beyond solid surfaces and everything has a smooth quality to it rather than the harsh edge generally created by light. In this particular image, shadows create the scene and colours set the mood. Though the main fixture is reflected in the smooth surface of the backdrop, those reflections are secondary to the way the light is reflected and how it seems to go on beyond the surface of the mirror. This world is limited, that much is clear, but that does not mean it has to be bound.

("Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend" is borrowed from a comic strip of the same name that is written and drawn by Winsor McCay)

2.1 YOU MUST ALWAYS HAVE A SECRET PLAN

For this image, I was inspired by the message that is projected onto the backdrop: YOU MUST ALWAYS HAVE A SECRET PLAN. I found it on an electrical (?) box in Finland and thought it brilliant. Anyway, what I wanted to create was the feeling of isolation that comes with having a secret plan. This isolation, however, is not the lonely sort for one can have a secret plan while being around others. Still, I wanted only one figure that could be read as an actor while everything else in the scene is read as set. The glossy pieces are not only to reflect and refract the light, they are also there to literally show the inner reflection one must have while creating this secret plan.

1.2 Sketchy SketchUp Shadows are Sketch

There is a certain exoticness to layers upon layers of rounded arches. Perhaps this comes from the halls of arches seen in many Islamic temples or from the masonry screens seen in the same part of the world. Whatever it is, I wanted to explore the use of this form in my project by first creating a model out of layered arches and then casting shadows to evoke the special nature of my chosen form. Through experimenting with the time of day and the orientation of the camera, I was actually surprised by the number of new forms I could create from the single model I built. There are towers, there are piles of arches; everything can be jumbled together and everything can be separated clearly. This is what I wanted to achieve with this project: to create one form that in turn could create many, many different forms.

1.1 Lights, Camera…

These are the images I was unable to bring into class due to my studio site visit to Victoria, BC. My inspiration came from the arches of Islamic Temples and, specifically, Cordobas La Mezquita. The image of this temple is shown here with my shadows.

I suppose that when I was choosing the different shadows to use I thought about how the harsh light of the Islamic world would fall upon the abstraction I created. In the middle of the day the statue would be most clearly read through it's shadow while during the extreme parts of the day—dawn and dusk—the shadow would be elongated and elegant.

These images were created in SketchUp, hence the rather static and rather uninteresting shadow. I do not currently have FormZ installed on my computer which would have given me the ability to cast a much more interesting and varied set of shadows.