Mars Project: Part 1

This portion of the assignment called for several things; an analysis drawing based off of an individually chosen photograph of the landscape of Mars, followed by a series of grid transformations, and a 3 by 3 inch model based off of something within the grid drawings.

Personally,  I was intrigued by the high contrast areas of between the dark and light, which I eventually interpreted as high points and lower elevations. In my initial analysis, I created a drawing that highlighted the tallest points within the picture, and demonstrated the process by which it appeared that elevated "dunes" supplemented each other into producing such points. The "valleys" of the picture were represented with the dark lines perpendicular to the dashed lines, which thus demonstrates the connectivity of the elevation in its entirety.

Following, the square transformational grid was produced as a composite of three transformations based off of the following rule; the squares that fell upon the highest points in the analysis, they would mimic the movement of the supplementary dunes, and extend outwards. This stretches the graph, and then for the fourth transformation the smallest angle of each intersection of squares was extended a quarter of an inch further. The poche in the square grid was produced by darkening the pockets that had a point translated in the fourth grid following the same path as the third transformation.

Lastly, the photograph displays a model was produced based off of a section of four layers of the transformational grid, constructed to portray each transformation and the movement of individual layers.

 

For my second set, the analysis was also an investigation of the high points, but this one explicitly explores the interconnectivity of one in relationship to each other. It also examines the movement of  wind, as the triangles placed around each circular high point represents a wind direction based off of a hypothetical horizontal wind flow (as interpreted from the direction and creation of dunes within the Mars landscape.)

 Through the size and direction of the interpreted wind vector, I skewed the triangular grid as if it were a malleable sheet; changing the composition of the triangles in areas where the analysis portrays wind, which thus alter the triangles surrounding those most affected. This logic applies for the first three generations. For the fourth grid transformation, it is altered by the composition of the history of the past three transformations, which further alters the deformations within the grid. The poche section was composed by only darkening the areas that has a point within a fifteen degree area pointing in a bottom-left direction, which was determined by averaging the direction of the wind vectors.

The model was produced in a similar method to the previous model, by examining the transformation of the triangular grids by pulling them apart in a three dimensional process, but this time the space is visually represented through the negative space of the triangles. The photo explores how shadow and physical portions have overlapped and seem to blend into one, based off of the creation of the negative space.