3d modeling – Project Project

Perhaps you’re interested in 3D printing? Though full of possibilities, 3D printing has remained outside the realm of casual tinkering because of cost, accessibility, and standard procedure. Recently however, 3D printing has become relatively cost-friendly! You don’t even have to own your own printer; companies such as shapeways will print your models for you at a (usually) reasonable cost! Many universities are adopting one or more 3D printers as well (even non-engineering-or-design schools, such as Reed), so if you are student there is a good chance that you can get access to a printer in person. If you are intrigued by the actual printing process yourself, this is a great blog for technical info: Reed College Fab Lab. Continue reading “About 3D Modeling and Printing”

Level sets, the gradient, and gradient flow are methods of extracting specific features of a surface. You’ve heard of level sets and the gradient in vector calculus class – level sets show slices of a surface and the gradient shows a sort of 2D “slope” of a surface. These measurements are useful on their own, but they hint at something else, something more abstract. The gradient vectors are perpendicular to the level sets, so will always be direction the “slope” of a point toward another point on another level set. But how would you represent that? The answer is the concept of gradient flow. Read more to learn about how these three standard measurements fit together to flow along a surface, much like a liquid or rolling object.
Continue reading “Level Sets, the Gradient, and Gradient Flow”