Drawing Machines (opens in new tab)

(drawingmachines.org)

91 pointsyonilevy5y ago14 comments

14 comments

It reminds me "PWA"[0] concept art by Stefán Zsolt[1] created using Blender 2.4x, which was published in the "Blenderart" Issue 1 (2005/11/15).[2,3]

[0] http://blender3d.org.ua/book/BlenderArt1/img/g3.jpg

[1] https://developer.blender.org/p/zsoltst/

[2] http://web.archive.org/web/20060329091150/http://www.blender...

[3] http://web.archive.org/web/20070927020908/http://www.blender...

bjackson27185y ago

James Nolan Gandy (https://www.instagram.com/gandyworks) does excellent work like this.

regularfry5y ago

I got vaguely fascinated by the documentary Tim's Vermeer a few years back, where Tim Jennison makes the argument that Vermeer used something not unlike a couple of these to project his scenes onto a canvas so he could effectively paint-by-numbers. Whether that's true or not, I found the idea fascinating, I just don't have a good enough understanding of optics to understand how the system of lenses and mirrors works to be able to know how to replicate it.

pram5y ago

It's not really controversial or a secret IMO, a lot of historic ateliers taught students utilizing a camera obscura. Indeed basic education is still largely based around literal copying using grids, even today.

regularfry5y ago

Yeah, it's the specific combination of a camera lucida, a concave mirror, and a long-focal-length lens that I just have a bit of difficulty figuring out. Like, I can put all the components together on the table, but knowing what the distances and angles need to be to get rid of parallax is not obvious to me.

abeppu5y ago

https://drawingmachines.org/post.php?id=148

It's kinda weird that the understanding of the word "spectrograph" seems to have changed a lot in not that long a time. My understanding is that work on observing the spectra of stars and understanding their composition went on in the 1920s. Not only did the 'spectro-' part acquire a relatively specific meaning, but it seems like the term flipped from naming a device to an image produced by a device in not that long a period.

kian5y ago

I think, in this case, we are seeing semantic a relation between spectra of light (in terms of overlapping sets of frequencies) and producing a 'graph' of the spectrum of rotational frequencies in ink. Anyone know with any more certainty?

kd5bjo5y ago

Traditionally, “X-graph” refers to the device which produces an “X-gram,” a physical record of some sort (e.g. telegraph/-gram, electrocardiograph/-gram, etc.)

1 more reply

tikej5y ago

The drawings of the machines are art by themselves.

One thing I miss about plotting libraries is having the ability to draw this kind of "pencil drawn" plots as in old technical books.

phkahler5y ago

Making a pen plotter:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3340918

carapace5y ago

I didn't see mentioned the planimeter: "A planimeter, also known as a platometer, is a measuring instrument used to determine the area of an arbitrary two-dimensional shape." ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planimeter

perilunar5y ago

That would be covered by the integraph category:

> “The applications of the integraph are very numerous. With it we calculate areas, divide areas, determine centres of gravity, calculate moments of stability, load and resistance, solve algebraical equations, draw parabolas, etc.”

carapace5y ago

Holy crap! Thanks! I missed that completely. (Too focused on the planimeter.)

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

14 comments

app4soft5y ago

It reminds me "PWA"[0] concept art by Stefán Zsolt[1] created using Blender 2.4x, which was published in the "Blenderart" Issue 1 (2005/11/15).[2,3]

[0] http://blender3d.org.ua/book/BlenderArt1/img/g3.jpg

[1] https://developer.blender.org/p/zsoltst/

[2] http://web.archive.org/web/20060329091150/http://www.blender...

[3] http://web.archive.org/web/20070927020908/http://www.blender...

bjackson27185y ago

James Nolan Gandy (https://www.instagram.com/gandyworks) does excellent work like this.

regularfry5y ago

pram5y ago

regularfry5y ago

abeppu5y ago

https://drawingmachines.org/post.php?id=148

kian5y ago

kd5bjo5y ago

Traditionally, “X-graph” refers to the device which produces an “X-gram,” a physical record of some sort (e.g. telegraph/-gram, electrocardiograph/-gram, etc.)

1 more reply

tikej5y ago

The drawings of the machines are art by themselves.

One thing I miss about plotting libraries is having the ability to draw this kind of "pencil drawn" plots as in old technical books.

phkahler5y ago

Making a pen plotter:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3340918

carapace5y ago

perilunar5y ago

That would be covered by the integraph category:

carapace5y ago

Holy crap! Thanks! I missed that completely. (Too focused on the planimeter.)

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse