Parametric wall art design

[sancyk]

I'd like to fabricate something like this.  Once I have the 3D surface, I know how to build the individual slats from the Manufacture menu.  I'm essentially following this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U3QyqRQKOU)  The problem I'm having is building the surface that I want

If I follow the video, I can build something similar to what Geoffrey Stewart has by using a form and then pulling the point in 3D to get a specific shape.  But I'm having difficulty getting the nice waves shown in the picture above, which includes both sharp and smooth crests.

I'm thinking I should still be starting with a  form and a T-spline plane, but instead of just starting of with a bunch of squares, I'm hoping that I can start with the basic shape I want (shown below) and apply the form to that.   Essentially, instead of starting with a form with squares, it would be a bunch of shapes (triangles?) that I can then pull in the third plane (z-axis), using the splines as the crests or valleys.   I'm thinking more of a mesh but I really don't know.   TIA.

 

 

[sancyk · Accepted solution]

As I was trying to fall asleep after a day of migraines, I had an epiphany.   My problem is that i was trying to shape a form that had the size of the final wall.  I was having difficulty achieving the waves I wanted within the constraints of the form.  I thought to myself, create a much larger form, creates the waves you want, and then fit your parametric wall somewhere inside the form.  Now that I have a method,  I have to improve the way to create the waves in the first place.  I'm not totally satisfied in how they came out in the Z-plane....but I do have a combination of creases and smooth curves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sancyk]

Just to close the loop on this issue, should anyone else want to create a parametric wall....

The free version of Fusion (Fusion for Personal Use) does not allow you to "Arrange" all the bodies to a flat surface in order to cut them from a sheet of plywood (or whatever).   Instead, I had to move all the bodies side by side and then project them onto a sketch.   I could then export the sketch to a DXF file.  A pain to do for 50 bodies but it is what it is.

 

 

[sancyk]

Made a mockup using my scroll saw before attempting a full scale version with my (yet-to-be-purchased) CNC.  I'm satisfied with the results.

Doing the 3D surface like outlined above worked but is a bit clunky to get nice curves from a square form.  Rhino appears to be able to do this much easier using splines and SubD loft.   Create the splines and then use subD loft to create the form with the right pattern.   Wish there was an equivalent (maybe there is) in Fusion. 

 

[sancyk]

I figured out how to do it using another method.   This is easier than using Forms and allows for more shapes like a water ripple.   I essentially start off with a 2D sketch with the splines for the crests and the troughs.   I then copy that sketch to another plane.  I delete the splines representing the troughs from the top plane and delete the splines representing the crests from the bottom plane.   I then select alternating splines and use the Surface | Loft command.   Selecting all the splines in one shot will create a surface with smooth edges.  If I want a sharp transition,   I select the splines up to that transition and Loft.  I would then end up with another body.    Final step to create the surface is to Stitch.   I then follow the same procedure as before to create the slats.

Top view with splines for crests and throughs, along with the section I will use for the wall art.

 

Deleting alternating splines from the two planes

The surface after Loft

The slats