Materialedreven 3d digital formgivning: Eksperimenterende brug og integration af det digitale medie i det keramiske fagområde

The purpose of this research is firstly to support the ceramicist in working experimentally and exploratively by means of digital media, and secondly to contribute to an interdisciplinary discourse about the use of digital media within the field of ceramics. The project focuses on 3d form; hence 3d digital graphics and Rapid Prototyping (RP). “RP” is a common term for techniques for transforming 3d digital form into 3d physical form.

The research project is centred on two research questions: One question is about how knowledge and experience about form giving in the field of ceramics can be transferred to and utilized in 3d digital form giving. Another question is about what can be gained with such an approach and use of 3d digital form giving, ‐ and how it can be utilized in a dynamic interplay with actual shaping of three‐dimensional ceramic artefacts.

”Material‐driven form giving” is an approach to the process of giving form in the field of ceramics, which is defined and exemplified in the thesis. This approach is based on the idea of the ceramic material as a generative and responding potential in the form giving process, which can contribute unpredictable form solutions.

More specifically, the idea of material driven form giving was explored and exemplified by means of the author’s own experiments with 3d modelling and simulation software. This led to the concept of material driven 3d digital form giving. The point of departure for these experiments was the use of dynamics in the animation program Real Flow. In the terminology of such 3d software, “Dynamics” is a common name for a number of digital tools designed for simulation of physical phenomena; e.g. liquids, wind, and gravity. It is argued that dynamics in this sense can be seen as a generative and responding potential, which is comparable with the role of ceramic material, when used according to the idea of material‐driven form giving, hence the name material‐driven 3d digital form giving. Various artefacts were produced during the experiments by transferring digitally defined forms into ceramic materials by means of RP. These artefacts showed a potential to produce “dynamic conflicts”. Such conflicts contribute with a fluid boundary between fiction and reality, which reflects the above‐mentioned use of techniques and materials.

The results obtained so far encouraged an experimental development of a 3d digital tool named digital interactive form giving tool (DIF) in cooperation with a computer programmer. The experiment explores an interactive 3d digital drawing, which responds visually to the movement of the hand in a virtual 3d space using a wii-mote as a device. The movement captured and digitalized by the wii-mote forms the basis for a 3D physical model produced by means of RP, which expresses the movement in physical form. The experiment with DIF showed how 3d digital media enables the designer to develop his own generative and responding dynamic systems, and achieve a higher degree of complexity in the form giving of an artefact. It is argued that such an approach represents a more personal way of material‐driven 3D digital form giving, compared to the use of so‐called commercial software.

All in all, the thesis develops an experimental and explorative approach, combining digital media with experience rooted in the field of ceramics. Furthermore, the thesis points out the potential for the ceramicist in interdisciplinary collaboration with designers from fields such as interaction design and programming.
In future research it might be of interest to develop generative and responding systems for 3d form embedding tactility as well. Furthermore, the development of RP techniques based on ceramic materials utilizing the chemical transformation in the kiln firing is a topic worth exploring.

The thesis is mainly written in Danish, but during the project period four papers were published in English and presented at international peer reviewed conferences. Each of these papers reflects different aspects and views, which are discussed in the thesis. Two of the papers are focussing on practical experiments in the research project, while the other two papers are focussing on method, which is exemplified by the experiments. The four papers are collected and republished in present volume.