Computational Thinking

Joel Gethin Lewis

Lecture 3: Mixing and Sculpting

What I'm going to talk about today:

  1. Moving from two dimensions to three.
  2. x,y,z co-ordinates, Pythagoras' theorem in three dimensions.
  3. R,G,B co-ordinates for colour, other colour spaces.
  4. Point clouds and voxels.
  5. Polygons and Polyhedra.
  6. Bonus: Artists working in three dimensions.

1. Moving from two dimensions to three.

2. x,y,z co-ordinates, Pythagoras' theorem in three dimensions.

3. R,G,B co-ordinates for colour, other colour spaces.

  • You can map any three variables into three dimensions to help you think about them spatially (i.e. in physical space).
  • An example of this is mixing together Red, Green and Blue (RGB) colours to make any other colour.
  • Digital colour mixing is additive while analogue paint mixing is subtractive.
  • How does projected light mix?
  • There are other ways of mixing variables to make colours - for example Hue, Saturation and Brightness (HSB).
  • I often use HSB in digital work to make it easy to blend between colours - much easier than RGB. You can visualise colour using a colour wheel or a colour solid. Complementary colours are on opposite sides of the colour wheel.
  • Colour theory is a huge area of study, for graphic design and even psychology.

4. Point clouds and voxels.

  • One way of storing three dimensional information is using point clouds.
  • The output of three dimensional scanners is often in point clouds - a grid of positions, each with a depth value - think of Pin Art toys from the 1980's.
  • Another way of storing three dimensional data is to use Voxels (from the initial letters of volume and element, with the insertion of -x- for ease of pronunciation).
  • Voxels can be a super efficient way of storing three dimension information - used for everything from MRI scanners to Minecraft.
  • Creative uses of points in space: Motorstudio Design Room / Hermès × Tokujin Yoshioka / Shining360 by Claire Hentschker.

5. Polygons and Polyhedra

6. Bonus: Artists working in three dimensions.

Thanks!