It´s nice to be able to contribute to this project here´s my little interview with some others I´ve found very interesting .To watch more visit the the Interviews section of Opensimsim

RODRIGO MEDINA GARCIA: OPEN SOURCE DESIGN from opensimsim.net on Vimeo.

BJARKE INGELS: OPEN SOURCE DESIGN from opensimsim.net on Vimeo.

TATIANA BILBAO: OPEN SOURCE DESIGN from opensimsim.net on Vimeo.

AU Studio: open source design network from opensimsim.net on Vimeo.

IÑAKI ECHEVERRIA: OPEN SOURCE DESIGN from opensimsim.net on Vimeo.

Sketch Chair is probably the most complete application I´ve  seen so far compared with some other similar tools featured here, created by Greg Saul an industrial design graduate  Sketch Chair is a very complete interface that allow users quickly design furniture by simply drawing some lines, one of the most remarkable things I see is the implementation of a physics library normally used for video games, to test the stability of the pieces and also make some basic ergonomic studies.

If you want to try out the application and see more content and images please visit Greg Saul’s website.
Description (from the site)

“Sketch Chair” is a exploration in using computation and rapid manufacturing techniques to allow users to design and build their own products or in this case their own chairs.

The Sketch Chair software allows a novice users to take part in the entire process of designing and building their own chairs. Chairs are designed using a simple 2D sketch-based interface and design validation tools. Thereafter chairs are fabricated from sheet materials cut by a laser cutter, CNC milling machine or papercutters.

A collaboration with JST ERATO Design UI Project in Tokyo.

tools used:
- Processing (Eclipse)
- jBullet Physics

SketchChair from Greg Saul on Vimeo.

What would it be like to reach into a screen and manipulate virtual objects as in real world, that is something that Jinha Lee an interaction designer and computer scientist working at MIT Media Lab has been working on.

Beyond, a novel collapsible input device for direct 3D manipulation. When pressed against a screen, Beyond collapses in the physical world and extends into the digital space of the screen, such that users can have an illusion that they are inserting the tool into the virtual space. Beyond allows users to directly interact with 3D media, avoiding inconsistencies of input and output without having to wear special glasses. Users can select, draw, and sculpt in 3D virtual space and seam- lessly transition between 2D and 3D manipulation. We de- scribe detailed interaction techniques, implementation and application scenarios focused on geometric design and pro- totyping.

Beyond – Collapsible Input Device for Direct 3D Manipulation beyond the Screen from Jinha Lee on Vimeo.

Assemblage in public is an installation commisioned by the Chelsea College of Art and Design designed by Ola Wasilkowska and Michal Piasecki for their Parade event. The event took place on 21-23 May, 2010 at Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground in London.

The installation was made using computational design strategies with a low-tech assembly of repeatable components (4320 crates) on site. The project is rooted in an idea that a repetition of a few simple rules is able to construct complex geometry, which can host different functions.

The core structure of the intervention was obtained through multi objective optimization with genetic algorithms. The optimization was conducted with a purpose built software written in Processing. The goal was to distribute the components according to a predefined “shadow map” and to keep them structurally stable at the same time.

Apparently as their thesis year has come to an end some of the members of the group will be looking to undertake personal projects while others continue with the project by founding a company with all the potentials developed during his years of thesis, let’s hope they continue to particpate together collaboratively since they are a great team.

DESCRIPTION (from the site)
Radiance covers a standalone brick fireplace in a mid century ranch home in Broad Ripple, Indiana. The clients rarely used their existing wood-burning fireplace and wanted to change its function. We proposed an ambient lighting piece that still hosts traditional qualities of the hearth. As an artist and an architect, the clients’ liberal and eclectic design aesthetic allowed for a great degree of freedom and risk-taking during development. They considered this project as commissioned artwork rather than a client-based architectural intervention, adding to their collection in the home. Radiance is intended to exploit the qualities of the hearth by re-centering the focus of the home and providing an ambient environmental effect.

DESIGN:
Radiance was inspired by various shelf mushrooms, based on their form, organizational structure, and component geometry. The mushroom has a distinguishing set of gills that alternate in lengths from the stem’s center point. The lengths of these gills forms a repetitive pattern intended to cover the largest surface area under each mushroom cap. This pattern has been abstracted into our system to arrange each pod, defined as a radial set of 16 plastic components with an LED placed directly behind each. The wiring for the LEDs is embedded within the surface of milled MDF, further expressing the pod’s organizational system. A Passive Infrared Sensor is located at the centroid of each pod, acting as the trigger for the parts around it.

INTERACTION:
There are two pulses that occur after triggering a pod’s sensor. A primary ‘pulse’, that fades to full intensity and quickly fades off, followed by a secondary ‘pulse’ which fades on quickly but dims slowly over nearly a minute. This pattern can be interrupted as new users trigger a pulse creating the dynamic lighting affect seen in our video.

Similar to the lighting effects of fire, Radiance creates dynamic changes in intensities across it surface. This makes the piece enticing to watch and because the pulses fade in and out so smoothly the lighting is not overbearing. There is a distinct difference in the lighting qualities throughout the day and into the night as the piece becomes more and more the central component bringing warmth and light into the home.

Radiance from PROJECTiONE on Vimeo.

Collaborative cloud  has the objective of getting people in contact with the concept of open fabrication,  besides the DIY initiative and local fabrication , collaborative  cloud offers the idea off  sharing design , tools and concepts.

Please take a look at the application they have designed for submit your design is very fun and easy to use.

Description (from LAN site)
Collaborative Cloud is an installation which investigates distributed and decentralized design and fabrication. The interfaceallows you to design and give information to a piece of the cloud, thus anyone can participate in the project’s growth over the next 8 months. The physical construction will take place at the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB) in an exhibition titled: LABORATORI DE FABRICACIÓ:Nous escenaris del disseny i la producció tridimensional.
The Collaborative Cloud is a project created by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (iaac.net), organized by the DHUB, and designed by Luis E. Fraguada (LAN), Victor Viña, Areti Markopoulou, and YOU!

The project was designed using processing for the interface, and GH / Rhnoscript for geometry and population. Once a user submits a design, the interface outputs a data file as well as a PDF of the piece ready for fabrication. As the database grows, these files are matched with a potential position on the cloud.

Among his collection of works I found two I liked the most the first one is called Daily Stack ,  I really need to get one of these organizing my work flow has become a bit difficult with so many distractions and activities to do and this seems to be a fun and effective way to solve this situation.

Daily Stack is a playful tool that helps you become more aware of your daily work-flow and time management. By creating a physical representation of your tasks, Daily Stack speaks subtly to your conscience and helps you manage your time through unobtrusive ambient feedback.
It consists of a base device and a collection of wooden bricks in different shapes and colours. The bricks represent different kinds of tasks and time-intervals. By adding a brick to the base you commit yourself to the task and time span that the selected brick represents. Daily Stack communicates with an desktop widget on your computer that enables you to keep track of your time and tasks in progress. It also enables you to browse through your past and and compare your days in a colourful informative pattern.

Daily Stack from Anders Højmose on Vimeo.

The other project would be Pong that Beat wich is a project made in collaboration with Sebastian Thielke and Jonas Maanson ,it is an interactive Pong table that when you play , the camera register where the ball is when it hits the table, and a new sound is added to that location. While playing the step sequencer is continuously running. In that way you create a beat while playing. If you drop the ball on the floor, you are game over.

PongThatBeat! from Sebastian Thielke on Vimeo.

I have been playing around with processing for a  year now and I thought it would be nice to post some of the best libraries I have  used for my experimental projects , for those who don´t know processing is a programming environment for designing generative graphics , animation, games and complex interactive applications. Processing comes already  integrated with several libraries  that extend the power  of  processing beyond working simply  with graphics and images , However, the ever-growing community  of processing has created libraries that allow you to use audio, video, and connect processing with other technologies and devices which allow the creation of practically anything you can imagine.

Here´s a list of the best libraries I have tried out and that you definitevately have to take a look at , I also would  like to thank everyone who takes the time to create this libraries that makes the life of people like me so much easier and fun.

Traer Physics : A simple particle system physics engine for processing. I’ve designed this to be application / domain agnostic. All this is supposed to do is let you make particles, apply forces and calculate the positions of particles over time in real-time. Anything else you need to handle yourself.

JMyron: Myron is the cross-platform, cross-language, open source, video capture and computer vision plugin. One core C++ object gets cross-compiled as a handful of high level language “wrapper” libraries. The wrapper for Java and Processing is called JMyron. The wrapper for Macromedia Director is called WebCamXtra. The aim of the project is to keep computer vision free and easy for the new media education and arts community.

PeasyCam: PeasyCam provides a dead-simple mouse-driven camera for Processing.

ControlP5: ControlP5 is a GUI and controller library for processing that can be used in authoring, application, and applet mode. controllers are easily added to a processing sketch, can be arranged in separate control windows, and can be organized in tabs or group.

Anar: A cadKIT™ for Processing (v1.0) for Object Oriented Geometry. Based on (anar+) parametric modeling scheme is a KIT of libraries.

Toxiclibs: An independent, open source library collection for computational design tasks with Java & Processing developed by Karsten “toxi” Schmidt (thus far). The classes are purposefully kept fairly generic in order to maximize re-use in different contexts ranging from generative design, animation, interaction/interface design, data visualization to architecture and digital fabrication, use as teaching tool and more.

NextText: A port of the library for the Processing development environment. Keeping in mind the goals of  Processing, the library includes greatly simplified syntax and allows the creation of interesting sketches with very few lines of code.   And for programmers who want to push the envelope further, all functionality of the Java version of the library is maintained, so it is still possible to create intricate and more complex applications.

Hemesh: An imple­men­ta­tion of a half-edge datas­truc­ture for manip­u­lat­ing 3D meshes in Pro­cess­ing.

P5Sunflow: An easy way to make your Processing sketches look sexy as hell. Well, only three-dimensional ones, but whatever. Sunflow is a ray tracer written in Java. It’s pretty awesome.

I f you know of  another cool library please let me know on the comments below so we can add it to the list.

Architects are not the exception given the great capacity of analysis and feedback it can offer for generative form finding and the ease of programming work environments that allows architects create their own software depending on the needs of an specific project, many architectural schools and leading architectural firms have started to include it as a tool for R&D.

So far the majority of the works I´ve seen still are experimental and conceptual initiatives as it always is when using new technologies , however i think as this tool becomes more popularized and more specific libraries like Anar (processing library for parametric modelling ) begin to appear, we will start seeing real built projects using processing as part of their design process like the Glorieta Juan Carlos Iby in Mula,Spain by Esc Studio where they developed a software for social participation in which the public could design it´s own proposal and send it to the authorities for its evaluation.
Here are some of the projects I have tracked down so far , If you find more let me know so we can add them here.

3d voronoi structure – solids by Nils Seifert

1UP Design project , fabrication planing for the voronoi structure programmed in processing.

Processing particles – relaxation form finding by Nils Seifert

Form finding experiment by dynamic relaxation in processing. The girder depth is calculated by the tension of the surface at each point.

Behavioral System from Krzysztof Gornicki

Behavioral analysis system written in Processing for the purpose of msc3 hyperbody studio at the tu delft.

Improvisation on a Digital Space by Enrique Ramos

Code-generated space makes possible to define architectures whose configuration can be controlled by all sort of parameters such as pressure, sound and lighting levels. In this video, a performer interacts with the space through light sensors and resistors making it evolve with the music in real time.
This project has been developed with Processing, and Arduino, being the first used for the visualisations and the latter for the physical interface.

Mula Generative Software by Enrique Ramos

Custom software used to generate the “Glorieta de Juan Carlos I” in Mula (Spain), by esc-studio.
The software implements a Voronoi algorithm and allows the user to redefine the circulations and activity areas with a simple mouse drag.
This software will be used in a future public consultation, where the citizens will be able to create their own design proposals for the square within the parameters set by the architects.
For more information, visit esc-studio.com, or  spaceformwords.com

Digital Form Finding – Bat Wing by Kensuke Hotta

AA school Em-tech course work,’DIgital Form Finding’ built with processing (Refer from John Harding)

DESCRIPTION (from the site)
Sonic Wire Sculptor is based on a musical instrument by Amit Pitaru which has been shown in museums and galleries world wide. A great effort has been placed in reworking the app to take advantage of the the iPhone’s unique audio and input capabilities.

The Sonic Wire Sculptor turns your 3D drawing into sound. It introduces a simple yet deep connection between visual and audio composition.

The app is easily graspable and intuitive, allowing someone with no musical or drawing background to lauch it and start exploring. At the same time SWS goes deep and encourages musicians and artists alike to explore new ideas in their craft.

This iPhone version was led by Zach Gage with Amit’s support. Big props to Zach Lieberman and James Paterson for their seminal help.

Sonic Wire Sculptor requires headphones, without them you may only hear limited audio, especially on the low (bass) tones.

Sonic Wire Sculptor was reworked for the iPhone with ofxIphone and openframeworks open source libraries. See more at http://openframeworks.cc