John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

and it wasn’t quite the same thing. I’ve had RPs [rapid prototype parts] made
that I’ve never seen that have been in exhibitions. There is something that is not
quite the same between the CAD [Computer Aided Design] and the actual object
when it is output. I just wondered if you could say a little bit about what was it
that wasn’t quite the same maybe? It’s a difficult thing to try to…
Lionel T. Dean: Scale is a large thing. You know how big this thing is on
screen and you can measure it but it’s not quite the same thing as having it there
in your hands. Being able to just tumble this thing around is not the same thing
as having to use some device to tumble it on screen. There is something that is
much more direct or intuitive when you are actually holding these things in your
hands. Generally what I miss is the presence in the space. I have a studio in my
home and I habitually wander in there before bed and check things out and you
see it in a different light than when you are working with it through the day. If
you just wander in there when you haven’t been working on it and just look in
the door you see it in a slightly different way…
Keith Brown: With a generative system like that which will output possibly
within a particular kind of set parameters do you find other things that are going
on that are possibly surprising, you don’t expect or whatever that a potential end
user, consumer might choose? Most of the time my experience is that I am
delighted with the output when I do see it but on occasions I am disappointed
because it is not quite what I thought it might be. Is there any way of
compensating for that within the software design maybe that is going to
generate these possibilities?
Lionel T. Dean: I think it is one of the compromises with having a generative
system is there are ones that I won’t be one hundred percent happy with. What
I would like to do is generate hundreds and pick my top ten all the time. But
that is something that I just have to step back and let go and say “No you set the
rules if it meets the rules it should be good enough”. That is what you have said
and they always won’t be your favourite one. That is something I have to come
to terms with and I’m not always comfortable with.
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