Kinetic Sculpture Design Using the Dynamic Cage

Abstract

Kinetic sculptures are attractive for periodic dynamic deformation effects. Designing such a sculpture is not easy considering the holistic shape versus many part details. To provide an easier design process, we propose a top-down framework for kinetic sculpture design. The system converts several input sketch curves to a dynamic cage, which shows the deformation of the sculpture's holistic shape in motion. The user can manipulate the sculpture's shape by dragging on the cage at any moment in motion. After that, a group of skeletons is generated from the cage. The user can adjust their shapes for detailed unit model generation. Experimental results show that with our system, designers can concentrate on the shape and motion effects, significantly promoting the orientation and speed of design.