Study of natural shapes

Any suggestions for good references on the study of natural shapes ?
I have a great book called "Patterns in Nature" by Peter S. Stevens, but I'd like to go more in-depth ; specially on the subject of shells and skeletons.

Cheers !

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roland M on July 17, 2009 at 10:03am

Hi,

If you are interested in the General mathematics and engineering of shells, "Selected works in applied mechanics and mathematics" by Eric Reissner published by Jones and Bartlett might be of help. I don't think there is much structural analysis on animal shell structures because the mathematics and testing is very difficult.

Bones and skeletons are different than shell structures, you can find copious amounts of information on most animals. Any natural history museum or bookstore or scientific organization should have information.

Structure in nature is strategy for design was another good book with basic principles. I can't remember the author.

Also a good old read from before any of this was fashionable from the Victorian era is Rev. J. G. Woods Nature's Teaching and or Homes without hands. Nothing technical just nice to read and see insights into the development of natural design.

RM

Permalink Reply by Olivier Suire on August 11, 2009 at 8:13am

Hi Roland,

I think that analysis of animal shells WAS difficult. With X-ray and Magnetic Resonnance, plus all the 3D digitizing tools, it should be a snap...almost.
The Reissner book looks interesting, although it would be more useful for someone trying to develop Finite Element calculation software rather than an "end user" like me.

Since there is no such thing as a natural history museum in Morocco, I was hoping to find litterature on animal shells and skelettons over the Internet, but I am still searching.

"Structure in nature is strategy for design" is by Peter Pearce, and focuses mostly on polyhedrons, which I find a bit boring, and remind me of future as imagined in the 70ies, and TV series like "Moonbase Alpha" :)

"Homes without hands" seems interesting.

Thanks for all this, Roland !

Permalink Reply by Rinus Roelofs on August 11, 2009 at 9:28am

The author is Peter Pearce.

RR

Permalink Reply by Olivier Suire on August 11, 2009 at 7:50am

Hi Samuelf,

So you met Mr. Frei Otto : WOW !
In French, I would say "Je suis l'homme qui a vu l'homme qui a vu l'ours" :)
Happy to hear the "Bubble machine" is on it's feet again ...you might have photos perhaps ?
What I meant by "Skelettons and shells are opposite" is illustrated by this (approximate)excerpt of "The Ant Bully" :
An ant speaking to the little boy : "You mean you have your skeletton INSIDE you ? Yuck !"
:)

Permalink Reply by SamuElf on August 11, 2009 at 9:02am

Non je suis l'homme qui a vu le caribou! ahahah

Actually, the bubble machine was "fakely" fixe for that special event. We were trying to have the "ideal" environement to keep the soap film as long as possible. Normally, 100% humidity and as cold as possible above the freezing point.
Seriously, this legendary "machine" is nothing really specially despite of the beautiful picture you could take with. All was in that special blue light beam projecting the shape on a surface... As Frei said, it would have been nice to fix the minimal path machine, but we didn't have time for it. You know, unfortunately, we do all by computer today. Actually, last time, I tried to formfind an idea using the soapfilm.. I looked pretty stupid in my kitchen trying hard to get that stable for few second.. Well, it didn't work. The next day, it look me 5 min to do it on RhinoMembrane. BTW, in that field, this RhinoMembrane is kind of a revolution. To achieve real minimal surface or equal stresses surface was pretty difficult. There was one tool known for that: LISA. Only SL Rasch and 2 offices in France had a liscence. Rasch was owning a main right on it. I was pissed that I couldn't do it myself or couldn't get any copy of that tool. Cassé, now it became democratic! In your face BODO! ;-) He thought he was special! Not anymore!

Cheers

Permalink Reply by Olivier Suire on August 11, 2009 at 9:09am

Samuel,

Maybe you are not aware of this, but David (yes the Grasshopper David !) spent a few months at Prat-sa where I used to work, and developped form-finding scripts for Rhino that I have been using extensively on almost all my projects.
Send me your e-mail so I can forward them to you...

Cheers !

Permalink Reply by Vittorio Menna on August 11, 2009 at 10:15am

hi,
sorry if i jump in your discussion guys,
i m working with minimal shapes too and i m trying to find definitions and scripts about that... i have david's mesh/nurbs relaxation scripts, and i must say they work very well (if u need them just give me a shout)... do u have more resources and scripts? i would be very thankful with u sharing them... thanx in advance,
vittorio

Permalink Reply by Olivier Suire on August 15, 2009 at 7:39am

Thanks for sharing Bojana !

Permalink Reply by Hengame Mansouri on September 6, 2012 at 3:04am