The former could be exemplified by Rhino, as a relation between two bodies will be defined by their physicality, and the latter by PTC Creo Elements, as it is the physicality of bodies that is constantly altered and updated following new relations. In that sense, we find on one hand tools that are closer to the 2D modeling legacy – those using a boundary-based mode of representation with bodies whose interactions are limited to logics of proximity and juxtaposition – and, one the other, software that follow a functional mode of representation with bodies that are defined not so much in terms of their physicality but of their relationality with other bodies.
By saying so, I am not referring to the resonating divide between NURBS and polygons, but rather to the need of 3D modeling software to embody hierarchical, parametric and procedural logics. I was indeed already aware of the two main approaches to 2D design – vector graphics (Illustrator, Inkscape, &c.), which is composed of lines, and bitmap graphics (Photoshop, GIMP, &c.), which is composed of pixels – but the conceptual problematics of adding a third dimension to modeling were quite new to me. I was supervised during my studies by software studies scholar Matthew Fuller, and I kept from his work a strong interest for the various logics governing software tools. Yet, before doing so, I want to do a quick summary of what I found the most interesting in this week’s review/lecture.
I of course won’t review each of them in depth, but I will give a quick overview of what I have been able to take out of some of them. In fact, as most of the software we were introduced to were either free or available for free for university students, I used my Goldsmiths and McGill email addresses to download quite a wide range of them (Rhino, Blender, Maya, AutoCAD, Unity, Antinomy, 123D, Meshmixer & FreeCAD).
With Neil inviting us to try as many modeling tools as possible, let’s just say that I took his invitation quite literally. Modeling: From Boundary to Functional Representation
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