Final Poster & text

Poster pdf Link -
http://www.gamefront.com/files/20169725/3335222+Snowfalke+Iteration+Poster+Pdf.pdf

Poster Text -
The formation of a snow crystal may seem like they have a pre-determined way in which they grow but they are essentially ice that have particular elements in their environment interact with them which creates the form into intricate patterns. There is a pre-conception that snowflakes are rain drops that have frozen solid, this however is not true. Snowflakes form when water vapour condenses directly into solid ice, it then continues to form on the ends of the starting crystal and continually grows from its centre point.

The different formations/patterns that are seen in snowflakes are then dependant on their environment, different wind directions, temperature and other factors. It is rare but possible that you can find two snowflakes that are alike, as long as the dependants are kept similar in an environment.

Snowflakes usually grow six primary branches with each main branch supporting additional side branches. In nature you cannot find non-symmetrical ice crystals as it is not possible for such forms - 5,7 & 8. However in high winds it is possible for the variations to be increased and 12 sided snowflakes are possible, although rare. They are essentially two six sided flakes that have attached almost perfectly. The average size of a snow flake is 2mm so exceedingly small but still viewable by eye.

The way snowflakes form is much the same process as I have seen so far , in attempting to recreate this in grasshopper, starting off at the very basic aspects of the form, in which it is based around arms extending out from a centre point inside a circle. With sub-branching arms then attached to the main branches. The similarities of this can be seen in the actual way snowflakes gradually grow outwards with their sub-branches.

I then allowed for the amount of arms to be changed as well as the sub branches of the main arms, from the sub-branches of the main arms I then added a third set of arms that then created more depending on the initial main arm. I also added gave a third dimension to my experimental model by giving height to the iterations allowing for much more variations in the different designs. There are then sliders that are able to be moved that control the distance of the secondary and third arms. Another way of varying the different iterations was also obtained by adding a slider that controlled the distance of when the arms would start. All the different changeable variables were made in order to create the most varying iterations.

For the Initial 1st & 2nd iterations I changed the height arms and distance of starting arms as well as the joining geometry. The 3rd iteration has 5 arms and its joining geometry has been changed. for the 4th and 5th iterations I have changed the sizes of the arms and middle as well as changed the joining geometry to pipes and other forms. The 6th iteration is based entirely of pipes in order to highlight variation. The 7th has four arms and has its height changed with smaller geometry. The 8th iteration has the joining geometry all based around each individual arm. The 9th iteration has so many arms and branching arms that it has created a circular geometry. The 10th iteration has its geometry all joined from its base with a lot of interconnections. The 11th iteration is based around pipes and large geometry that look like 5 armed stars. The 12th iteration has its exterior arms based at the lowest height and interior at its highest with fragmented geometry.

The above view images are from the 1-12 iterations and the perspectives cascading down to the left from to down and across. The image above and to the right is iteration number 12 and i thought looked the most impressive. The large image below is then of iteration 5.Basing all the different iterations on the basic fundamental properties that we see of snowflakes in nature in which they are 6 branching arms with sub-branching arms. It has allowed for the main properties to be turned into a format that I have been able to experiment with and create vastly differentiating geometry by changing the main variables of what makes up a snowflake which has allowed me to create vastly different variations.