Last update September 18, 2024

Thanks to the great success of "Three Tubes" created back in June of 2023, the client returned in December of the same year with a request for something "new and exciting".

They were still happy with "Three Tubes" but confessed it wasn't holding their attention as much as it used to, and they wanted me to "push the envelope" with another tube project.

After experimenting with various concepts I finally settled on an 8-tube configuration with partial intersections that would allow movement throughout the whole structure via interior passageways, in addition to the exterior openings.

Pre-viz of proposed structure

Also, to (hopefully) keep the client engaged over a longer period of time, I decided that each tube should have its own themed environment.

This was accomplished by covering the exterior of each tube with images inspired by nature, (water, grass, stone, seeds, bark, etc.), and creating a unique visual and tactile experience within each of the interior spaces.

Pre-viz with exterior textures

As with "Three Tubes", my first task was to procure the empty YBC Chip Star tubes that would serve as the primary construction materials.

Construction materials   Purchased from our local 7-11 Konbini

Since the client was expecting the project to be completed by Christmas, there wasn't much time in the production schedule, so I fired-up my "go-to" software, Houdini.

First, a single cylinder was built with a radius of 3.34225 units and a length of 22.5 units. These numbers closely matched the dimensions of the actual Chip Star tube, in cm's.

A single textured tube in Houdini

The single tube was replicated 8 times and stacked into four levels with a Y offset of 5.55 units, creating an overlap of 1.1345 units between layers. Each level was also rotated 70 degrees from the previous level.

8 tubes stacked

After a series of boolean operations to remove the intersecting segments, the tubes were "unrolled" (using UV texture co-ordinates) into flat sheets of 21 units x 22.5 units each.

Boolean-ed & unrolled

The eight "sheets" were then rendered using various texture maps, and output at a resolution of 2100x2250.

The 8 rendered images   Karma XPU: 4 seconds per frame

The rendered images were then transferred to an iMac workstation and printed on A4-sized plain paper with an image area of 21cm x 22.5cm.

Print-outs

After trimming, the sheets were glued to the outside of the 8 Chip Star tubes and the "holes" were cut out using an x-acto knife.

Glueing and cutting

Two levels of tubes were temporarily held in place with strips of cello tape while the joints were bonded together using craft glue. After the glue dried, the next level was added.

Believe it or not, getting everything to line-up correctly while applying the glue was one of the more difficult parts of this project.

Assembly

The interior of each tube had it's own unique "tactile experience"

Eight different interiors

After everything was completed it was time for the client review.

Boy, was I nervous!

"Interesting... "

"Not bad... "

"What the... ?"

"I love it!"

YES! Client approval!

Another job well done.

Thanks again to Houdini!

SOFTWARE

Houdini 20.0.506

Apple Pages Version 11.1

HARDWARE

Workstation I: Debian 11 Linux, AMD Ryzen 9 3900x, 64 GB, RTX 2070 & RTX 3070

Workstation II: iMac 21.5", Catalina 10.15.7, Intel Core i7, 16 GB, GeForce GT 750M

Canon Pixus TS203 Printer

The Bates Mfg. Co. Metal Ruler, Model BNR-12

Craft Scissors, 12.5cm Stainless Steel Blades

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

Eight YPC Chip Star "Lightly Salted" Tubes (empty)

Yamato Arabic Glue Stick, NA-50T

Eight Sheets, Multi White Paper, A4 size

Nichiban, 15mm Cello Tape

Mitsue Multi-Purpose Craft Glue (fine nozzel, 20g tube)