DSDN 104: More Hexagonal Work...

So I kept on moving forward with the hexagonal designs. The ideas that I came up with stemmed mostly from relatively random creations at time. But they're designs in their own right and have the right to survive to be reviewed.

I worked heavily in Sketchup again, mostly due to the lack of Solidworks at home. Just because I have a less powerful tool at my disposal does not however mean that my work would suffer. In fact, sometimes much stronger aspects can come out in full where as sometimes the over-use of powerful technology can dull that lustre.

The second design in the branch of hexagonal iterative designs is what I've decided to call the Hexa-Reactor, which is composed of 35 hexagons arranged in what I'd almost deem a very peculiar way. There is a central series of hexagons around which the others are arranged. On every layer, three of the hexagons are arranged vertically, while the other three are arranged horizontally. It looks really unique!

The view into the reactor core, end on showing the design of each layer.

 Here we can see the Hexa-Reactor in all its Sketchup glory. For a free tool, Sketchup is pretty damn awesome!

Here I had a lot more fun with the rendering again. I know it's a bit questionable, but I wanted to create the sense of something potentially sinister and powerful, just like a reactor.

In stark contrast, the chrome finish gives the Hexa-Reactor an expensive, almost ethereal look. The blank, markless faces of the forms gives that sense of something untouchable, something that could possibly not even be of this earth.

For that model I then jumped back a little bit to model number one, when I was trying to get something complex out of an iterative shape. I went for creating the sense of flow again, however aimed to keep the shape a lot more compact for this piece. Another element that I wanted to include was the central triangle that carries all the way through the shape.

 Here you can see all the hexagons arranged vertically, very clearly showing their structure while the triangle down the middle gives the shape a clear core form.

Here you can see the actual shape of the model very clearly. I actually really really like this model, as it very clearly shows the curve I was trying to achieve, while the shape remains very compact and controlled, while still allowing for the iterative design to shine through.

Again, I rendered in chrome, but not in glass this time. The chrome almost makes it seem like an intense piece of small machinery. Can you imagine having a 3-D printer in the shape of this? How impractical. The design wouldn't suit at all. The shape does look really cool in the chrome though.