16-455 - Human-Machine Virtuosity

We created a system in which expert skills of a Chinese calligrapher are transferred to a beginner through computer augmentation, allowing beginners to creatively compose calligraphy pieces without the otherwise necessary expertise.

This project is the second part in an ongoing exploration of the pop up and how humans and computers can work together to design them.

With a system for capturing carving stroke data and manipulating it into a pattern in place, we use the mandala designs in two completed artifacts. First, the woodblock print, and second, the layered accordion book.

In this phase of the project, we aimed at creating a design system that allows you to shape a mesh through whole body interactions. By taking skeleton data from an Xbox Kinect, we were able transform body movements into mesh shaping movements in Rhino through Grasshopper. We focused on improving the user interaction with the system over our previous iteration by incorporating various suggestions we received from users