field of depth

Ethan I. Bennett | METATOOL | Columbia GSAPP | Fall 2019

The intent of this tool is to reconsider authorship (in this instance, of architectural line drawings) as a negotiation between the work’s creator and its eventual audience.

This project is intended as

a) a new tool for the production of perspective line drawings

The script automatically computes lineweight and stroke color (along user-controllable domains) as a function of distance from an established camera location, including variable width and color gradient for lines that approach vanishing points.

b) an opportunity to apply a rapid-prototyping approach to the production of architectural drawings

By enabling simple parametric control of aesthetic choices, the drawings’ creator can quickly produce an expansive catalog of options for the same image, many of which may not have been considered otherwise.

c) an interactive means of engaging the viewer with the drawings produced

By empowering the audience to adjust the drawing based on their physical location in space, the tool establishes a collaborative link between the creator’s intent and the viewer’s experience.

Using the Make2D command in Rhino, the selected geometry is converted to a flat hidden-line drawing, before being remapped to the projection plane of the established camera.

Once the drawing is precisely superimposed over its parent objects, the curves are subdivided to produce a point cloud. These points are projected back onto the original geometry to produce a measurable distance from every point in the projection plane to every to every parent object.

These distances are the fundamental data that drives the tool’s output.

Inputs + outputs

using OSCulator in conjunction with Grasshopper, the 3D Connexion Space Mouse — normatively used for 3d modeling — can be used to manipulate 2D lineweight intensity, color palette, and opacity based on distance from a static camera location

likewise, the Kinect empowers the viewer to adjust the static image by changing their position within the viewing space; lateral movement adjusts the drawing’s color palette, while fore/aft movement adjusts lineweight and reveals additional detail

Findings + next steps

In its current state, the project is extremely resource-intensive, to the point that it is not usable for any practical application. However, if the script was rewritten more elegantly (and perhaps with other input devices), it could be a powerful tool for uniting the creator with their audience.

Future iterations of this tool will include a) increasing levels of detail for the viewer in the fore/aft direction; ideally the drawing would be understood as a mostly typical perspective from a distance, but closer inspection would reveal more information, including construction details, furniture, entourage, and even interaction between a project’s inhabitants, and b) more aesthetic parameters like opacity, fill options, and dashed/offset paths.

Thank you!
Many thanks to Dan and Adam for being so enthusiastic about the course (and available to help), and to all the members of this semester’s class for their exceptional and inspiring work.