2021 - 2022
Individuation is a visual metaphor for finding your place.
Inspiration
Individuation exists somewhere between quilling and Christmas wrapping paper remnants. The aesthetic is reminiscent of crafting with construction paper. In this scenario, the paper curls itself. It is constantly pushing against its neighbors who are maybe a bit too close. In an effort to create some breathing room, it wants to curl in on itself, creating a safe space within.
Process
The concept is much easier to grasp than the execution. Firstly, this is a purely 2D simulation that has been extruded along the z-axis. The underlying structure is a Houdini vellum simulation consisting of polywire curves. The vellum setup makes it easy to tweak variables like bend angle and rest length. This simulation increases or decreases the bend angle parameter over time.
The main challenge was coming up with simulation settings that would keep each curve stable while dozens of other curves were compressing it and twisting it against its will. It was very common for the simulation to break once several layers of curve were compressing against themselves. Lots of simulation substeps and a small time-step helped but the system is still moody on a case by case basis..
