The Springy Thingy (S-T) project introduces time and force into a 3d sketching environment, allowing a designer to intuitively sketch in 3d to create elaborate networks of spring-connected particles. These may then be globally manipulated, the designer negotiating with/in a force-based ‘environment', continually re-calibrating its tendency towards equilibrium.
The project started off with intension of creating a computational tool that could behave like a pencil - capturing all the nuances of speed and movement of the hand which affects the quality of a sketch. Jimmy Shen went on to generate his MArch studio project using S-T tool and managed to 3d print his sketch using a Z-Corp printer. The comprehensiveness of the system - from a simple sketch to physical model in quick time – was impressive and triggered our interest for further development.
[Materiality ]
The notion of local forces amongst adjacent partciles, constantly calibrating the global form gives SpringyThingy a sense of materiality. It behaves likes an elastic string - would get stretched when pulled and would find its way back to a balanced formal condition when the forces are released.
[Performance | Embodied Nature of S-T]
The quality of the lines in a sketch document performative parameters such as speed and pressure of the hand movements. Similary SpringyThingy documents the nuances of the mouse action by varying the size, weights, stiffness of its constituent particle-springs. Further, the use of forces to direct the path of surface generation is again driven by movements of the hand - in a later phase (Noisy Thingy) the user moves a wand in space to draw the surface in space - the focus shifts from what is drawn (object) to how it is drawn (process) - drawing becomes more than just a cognitive engagement on a flat plane but an embodied performance in three dimensional space.
[Re]Active Space
SpringyThingy continuously interacts with the physics of the space and continually recalibrates its form much like a water color stroke which goes through continuous transformations based on the physics of the canvas surface.
SpringyThingy was coded in Processing and used Simon Greenwald's particle-spring system as its physics engine. A dxf writer was used to output the geometry to a standard 3d format ready to be used by 3d- modeling programs. The modeling in the first Springy Thingy edition allowed rapid intuitive sketching, albeit limited by the interface of the mouse; and the initial ‘sketch' iterations were able to be 3D-printed immediately as the particles were programmed to intersect with their neighbors, thereby giving continuity of 3d material as fluid lines in space.(image above).
[Production] Jimmy Shen's D-Haus using Springy Thingy
"Startling in their formal sophistication and virtually unimaginable within extant CAD environments; yet they are nonetheless imbued with physical property from the outset, and with potential to be subjected to developmental property. Physics, and not merely geometry, then becomes implicated within the design environment – a form/force potency." - Mark Goulthorpe, MIT
[Craft]
Unlike exsisting modeling tools, SpringyThingy was never intended to give the designer complete control - the deployed sketch would interact with the physics imbued environment and "be what it wants to be"- trying to reach its equilbrium state under the constraints. A novice user finds it difficult to draw 'target' three dimensional forms - however like a craft, the cause-effect mapping could be learnt. Jimmy over time mastered this and created a (caligraphy like) notation system for himself to document his form-making process in SpringyThingy. He could repeatedly produce the same complex form at will.
[Anticipation and Play]
The dimension of time, lack of complete control and dynamic nature of SpringyThingy keeps the user constantly anticipating the immediate futures of the state of the form. However the complexity of form-force interactions renders the transformation not so obvious - making it difficult to accurately anticipate the continuous transformations. It is in these deviations between the form and the anticipation of it that SpringyThingy becomes playful and engaging.