algorithm – Matthew Attard

Figure 36: Generative development from a series of eye-drawings to a digital sculpture

Figure 37: A generated digital sculpture

Through 3-dimensional algorithms such as Lofting, I am developing the eye-drawing geometry into sculptural forms. Perhaps, further practice will teach me how to anticipate and control the formal values within these digital sculptures, along with other questions which had been brought up in earlier posts.
An important concept I will mention here, is how the material itself (a digital skin generated along the eye-drawings) influences the development of the form and therefore the mind (and our perception of it). I feel that within developments such as Figures 36 and 37, the crucial material involved is the combination of the Loft algorithm and the eye-drawings themselves, while everything is being developing in the virtual world, away from the material-making of the hands. The dialogue between development and making, is therefore taking place conceptually.

Figure 35: Generative development between the eye-drawings in Figure 34

The eye drawing session in Figure 32 was designed in anticipation of a possible generative development. An eye-drawing can be both exported as such, as a rendered 2-dimensional image, or further developed using computer-aid tools. Technically speaking, the eye-drawing becomes a geometrical polyline sitting in a 3-dimensional space where the perspective viewport is flexible and interchangeable. The view of the eyedrawing/polyline curve can be positioned as needed. One might therefore argue that the eye-drawing acquires sculptural value within 3-dimensional virtual platforms and this is the stage where I feel that my position of an editor is enhanced. The practice within Figure 32 was designed in view of the latter considerations, with the knowledge that the eye-drawing results from different viewpoints can be plotted within the virtual space, with the possibility of further computer-aided development.