Fernando's Water Containers
The project started with the shape of a hard-shelled fruit called “Tecomate” that is used in rural Guatemala to carry water from the river. Then I started seeing how this natural shape could morph into a much more westernized design such as the Coke glass bottle, the Pepsi glass bottle, and the even more modern plastic bottles.
Description of design drivers / goals
- Goal 1 - Start the project with the shape of a water container found in nature.
- Goal 2 - Take that shape and morph it into a westernized design such as the Coke or Pepsi glass bottles.
- Goal 3 - Take that shape and morph it into the shape of the current popular plastic bottles.
- Goal 4 - Have enough freedom with my design to make small changes to the model and end up with nice bottle designs.
Logic diagram
CAD models
CONSTRAINED PARAMETRIC MODEL - This is my parametric design with the x and y coordinate constraints. In this model it is very hard to make changes to the model and obtained the desired design.
TECOMATES - This is my design without the x and y coordinate constraints. In this model it is really easy to modify it by grabbing the points in the top and bottom of each arc and just moving them around. This model starts with the shape of the Tecomate (rural Guatemala.)
COKE BOTTLE - This is the same model as the previous file, but it starts with the Coke glass bottle shape.
PEPSI PLASTIC BOTTLE - This is the same model as the previous file, but it starts with the shape of a Pepsi plastic bottle.
Parametric variations: Images
Here are some examples of what happens when I vary the parameters….
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Lessons learned
Discussion
Looks good!
I took the liberty to create a gallery of your sample bottles and modified the names of the links to the CAD files.
Also, here is the constrained version I came up with: fernandotest.catpart
I really like that you took such a natural shape for your initial inspiration. I also think it's interesting that you chose such a small, tapered mouth opening for each design.
I really like the shapes that you chose and I'm impressed by how you were able to figure out how to make parameters so you could go from one complex form to another! Great work!
Thanks for sharing your “lessons learned”! I find the third one especially interesting - what is your further reflections on this? Can you elaborate on this? I have read about this “problem” on the internet earlier on, so I would really appreciate to here a bit more about what you have to say!
Susanne, thanks for your comment…
My problem was that when I put in all the parameter that define the shape of my bottles, e.i. tangency between arcs, the x & y coordinates of the bottom of each arc and their radius, I lost the ability to understand how my bottle was going to change when I changed a parameter. I could still change it, but because I did not have a well defined overall parameter it was really hard and boring to change the individual parameter and hope that the new model would be close to what I wanted. On the other hand, by having a more limited amount of constraints, e.i. tangency between the arcs, I could rapidly modify the model to the shapes I wanted. I guess the best way to understand what I'm trying to say is to open the CAD file named “CONSTRAINED PARAMETRIC MODEL” and see for yourself how hard it is to control the changes to this model vs. any of the other other files where you can make changes by simply dragging the points around with the mouse.
I guess I am not the only one impressed with your work :) I really like that you present your project in the very structured way and most probably you also worked in this way, that's what brought you to great results. I really like it!
Like the other commentators, I really enjoyed the way your project began with an organic shape. It think the process of creating a model from an existing object of natural form and converting it into different variations will serve you well as we head into the final project. Do you have any pictures of what happened when you pushed some of the parameters too far? it seems like you could get some really crazy stuff (or perhaps just a lot of error messages) because of the number of pieces that comprise your model.
It is interesting that you only realized the transformations you wanted to accomplish after you had created a model of the tecomate. I experienced this sort of “reverse” designing thought process, too and it just goes to show you that you have to start using the program in order to begin thinking in a way that the CAD will be both useful and powerful. Also, your configuration seems VERY complicated and I am impressed with your fluency in manipulating the CAD, despite your constraint issues.
I am very amazed by your skills in using this program. You came up with designs that would or could be implemented well. I think it is so cool that you started with the gourd in Guatemala. My knowledge is limited so I thought it was just great that you pushed the program and utilized the many parts to it to create the three very different models. Great job. I just really like that they all look so real.