Actually it's not the jewelry that's nervous, it's the creators. Or their company: Nervous System. They produce a line of jewelry (bracelets, rings, necklaces, earrings and brooches) that were generated by sophisticated algorithms in software. The designs are then either 3D printed, or in some cases 3D printed moulds are used to create the final objects.

 

Nervous System uses three different algorithms for much of their product lines: diffusion limited aggregation (which produces eerie coral-ish branching structures); Distortion meshes using a physics simulator (which produces weird twisty meshes that look strangely natural) and Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces (which produce similar stretchy meshes, but they're a lot smoother).

Here's the best part: you can actually play with these algorithms yourself using three handy applets on their Tools page.

 

We're very pleased to see a few things going on here:

 

• 3D Printing technology is being used to create highly unique objects for a new business that might not have existed otherwise
• Advanced mathematical algorithms that emulate natural designs join 3D printing technology to produce something fantastic

Will small designers who employ these advanced techniques demonstrate the future of 21st century businesses? Will this approach grow and overtake conventional techniques? We're watching closely.

 

Via Nervous System (Hat tip to Jessica)

The ZER01 Art and Technology Network is preparing for what promises to be a spectacular event in September 2010 in San Jose, California. The event is an art exhibition held every two years, and this year's theme is "Build Your Own World". Now that's the a theme Fabbaloo readers would like to hear more about.

One of the exhibitors will be the BIOS Collective: "BIOS collective is a working group of academic and professional designers exploring the application of biological patterns to architecture."

We've written about their interesting work before.

According to Charles Lee, Co-Founder & President of the Bios Design Collective:

We are hoping for a close relationship with the 3d community to try to help realize our project. The installation is entitled Coloniatechne and it is our hope that when complete it would be the largest collection of 3d printed panels yet assembled. We have budgeted for the purchase of at least three Reprap machines and hope to have them continuously run in a musuem or gallery setting for most of the next year for the final installation in September. Since we have only won the concept design phase of the project the specifics of the where has not been resolved yet. We want to make the production of the panels open to the whole 3d community in the hopes we can achieve the production of all the "Polyps" we need.

The ColoniaTechne project is uses the principles of agent-based self organization to form the structures. While these principles are found in many places within not only nature but also human society, Bios have chosen Coral as the inspiration of the ColoniaTechne project.

Our project proposes an interpretation of the qualities shared between complex biological systems – like coral – and the collaborative distributed networks found in 21st century human electronic culture. To create our project, we will draw from two open-source communities: one centered around the development of the “Replicating Rapid Prototyper” (RepRap) and one centered around the development of software for an open-source microcontroller (Arduino). With the help of these two communities, and SJ Zero-One, we will create a self-organized, interactive sculpture who’s behavior runs on crowd-sourced algorithms.

Bios plans to build a "Pavilion" at a point of high traffic and waiting area for convention commuters, where they will be astonished by the displays. Inside the pavilion unique "polyps" will use genetic algorithm-equipped "Grasshopper" software to develop the objects. However:

Grasshopper, and its companion program Rhino, are both down-loadable as fully functional trial versions, and so are available to anybody with a computer to run them. We will post a base algorithm on our blog, asking people to download and modify it to create their own versions. We will print their designs on our machines, or encourage them to print their own when possible, and drop them off. As our collection of polyps grows throughout the summer, we will add them to the base structure.

They're still in the early stages of this enormous project, but we thought there are many willing participants in the Fabbaloo sphere that might want to contact Bios to participate. "The project is still in concept design and will definitely develop in the coming months. We are looking for new members to help participate on the project so please feel free to contact Charles, Chris or Jess about possible opportunities and contributions."

Via Bios and ZER01

We bumped into this intriguing 3D design on Flickr, produced by Phil Renato. According to the Flickr notes, the item was printed by Mike Gayk at 3D Systems University in "Projet thermophotopolymer", for which we can't locate any more data.

The fine details are interesting, and evidently some work was done to accomplish this:

I sanded and polished it using my standard series of auto paint finishing steps - and it got bluer and smoother and more translucent. As I progressed through, however, to wax etc the build texture started reappearing. Then I drilled out and set the studs with epoxy (as the material is not a thermoformable once photoset) - and I used a 250W halogen bulb about 12" away to kick the glue (60min glue, let sit 9 hours with lamp on). When I went to get it, it was this crazy pastel/white blue with all of the build texture coming through - even while the surface remained "polished." Crazy.

Via Flickr

FABberz and the Live Architecture Network are collaborating on a new venture to bring design tools to students in Brazil. Their idea: produce collaborative designs with residents and students to improve housing conditions in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.

They'll be holding a series of workshops leading up to the 2016 Olympics, which are being held in Rio in that year. The first workshop will be held with local architects soon. Students will be introduced to "cutting edge parametric design tools", and their goal will be housing that is not only affordable, but also sustainable. Hopefully issues with housing, crime and drugs will be reduced.

The project needs funding, as all projects do. They've chosen to use Kickstarter as their fundraising platform. The project requires USD$7,000, but has only $1,000 as of this writing. Deadline: January 9, 2010. If you would like to support this worthy venture, please proceed directly to the link below!

And you thought there were few good spin-offs from the Olympics!

Via KickStarter

Multiple tips arrived this week directing us to a rather amazing design: FluidForm's Evolve Ring Silver, designed by Michal Piasecki and Krystian Kwiecinski. Not only does this item look very attractive, it also has a scientific heritage: The design was machine generated by Artificial Intelligence software, specifically a genetic algorithm. GAs use simulations of reproducing generations to gradually "evolve" a solution.

Piasecki and Kwiecinski designed a GA specifically to produce such rings and this is their result.

But it doesn't end there. This GA is evidently to become part of Fluid Forms' standard service. In other words you'll soon be able to use the GA as a "ring configurator" to generate a unique ring of your own! They say this is mass customization, and it is.

But it's also Customized Evolution. Your solution, grown in seconds.

Via FluidForms and Michal Piasecki (Hat tip to Andreas, Bryan and Kerry)

We've written a few times about the amazing paper 3D printer from MCOR, which uses common A4 paper as it's build material. Now we see it being used by a professional design firm: Freedom Of Creation.

They've been experimenting with the device and produced the iPhone cover shown above. As you can see, they slipped in a stack of rainbow-colored paper into the MCOR's input hopper, resulting the multicoloured iPhone cover. With paper printing, the object can be colored before it's even made!

Some comments from FOC on this technology:

What is intriguing about printing in paper is that the process itself is fairly simple, its about stacking layers of paper and removing what you don’t need.

It’s the greenest and most low-cost technology for 3D printing, therefore Freedom Of Creations’ Imagineering department is researching possible applications ranging from collection products to scale models and promotional material for clients.

It sounds like they'll be making good use of the technology in coming months. Can we have that in green?

Via Freedom Of Creation