someone beat me to the punch: patent

When I first thought of this project, back in late 2008, I did a patent search and was unable to find anything like what I had in mind.  Upon doing a search now, I have found a patent for a VERY similar design, pretty much covering all my ideas.  However my system is based around the LED member to be removed and become part of many other aspects in climbing games and nighttime events.  Kind of disappointing, but not really, because I never set out to get this idea patented or even make a dime off of it. Well, I'll be indirectly paid, by getting a job because of it, hopefully speaking.

The patent was just approved this Jan. 2010 and was filed back in mid 2009.

I am curious to know if I were to contact him and show this blog...could we collaborate?

cheers,

alex

sketches for "CONSTELLATiON"

I've found the name for this lit rocking climbing hold system, " Constellation".  I'm playing with some of the typeface and graphics.  The dot in the "i" of constellation will be integral to the graphics, the dot will be a hold.  I plan to have others, which will make up a line, indicating a route, or a constellation, a dotted path.

I've been cleaning up some sketches from the early development phases. 

final teaser page, confederate wraith muffler redesign

updated render, cap redesign angled at 325 degrees

Render update.  
Thanks to a friend, he noted that the redesigned cap would best be at an angle ( rather than at 0 degrees ).  He spotted something that was originally intended, it just happened to slip my mind when modeling/rendering.  The grand argument here is to redirect hot exhaust flow from the riders right foot, and having the redesigned cap at 325 degrees optimizes hot exhaust flow around the riders foot at a stop lights and at highway speeds.

render fun

final teaser image: process

Getting close to something finalized.  Need to work on the graphics, further clarity of images shown.

circular rfid

After studying a few rfid tags in a google image search, I made my own in illustrator.  Much better!

rfid added

I need a circular RFID, this web found square one isn't working. 

RFID Wave

This sketch is turning out nicely! This is the second step in the process. After route selection, the user will wave his RFID tag and begin climbing.  This system would track all routes attempted and completed.

I'm going to add the RFID plate on the the tab.

&Rock Project - Start Button: Cycle Progression

The start button is the beginning of the climbers experience.  Upon selection of a route, the user will press the start button, and it will light up on the number and "a", dictating the first, and easiest route.  The user can keep pressing it, the routes will get progressively harder, until it cycles back to "a".

Heat Waves

I added the heat paths to the sketches.  

Exhaust gas is diverted around the riders shoe and leg.  This project was a very fast project, from Solidworks to CNC prototype within two days.  Design doesn't always have the luxury of time.  This project represents my knowledge of our shops CNC machine capability and how far 6061 aluminum cnc design could be pushed.  The shape is a balance between optimal flow and optimal material deletion.  The addition of the CM logo was welcome, because along with the stealth look of these bikes, comes the question, "Well, who makes this!"

A Designer's Portfolio is Never Done

Here's a quick snap shot of my muffler cap project while at CMC.  I need to add some "heat waves" to the illustration, giving the project meaning.  The cap was a quick fix, meant to redirect hot exhaust gasses away from the riders foot.

Start Buttons

 

These are Start Buttons.  (I am still unsure of the logical color progression here, representing easy to hard.  Cyan, Blue and Purple are too closely related.)

This system is a representation of the Yosemite Decimal System.  Green represents 5.8, cyan 5.9, blue 5.10 and so on.  The system is meant to have meaning to a user with no experience and then grow with the user based on three levels of information.  A seasoned climber will appreciate the level of detail the system allows, giving ability track his or her climbing progress at the gym.

The first and most intuitive communicator is Color.  Next is the representation of the YDS, expressed by the embossed numerical figure, 8, 9, 10, etc.  Lastly is the grade of either a,b,c, and d, (also used by the YDS) giving 4 grades of difficulty with in each numerical figure.  Thus, 10a, 10b, 10c, etc.

User Interaction

Dan, your average climber comes to the gym once a month.

He walks to a route, drawn to the route by the color.  Standing before a blue route, he hits the button, "a" illuminates, and the entire route above him does as well.  He stands back and analyzes the course.  He decides for a variation, looking for something a bit harder.  He hits the button again, the route path changes along with "b" being illuminated.  He likes what he sees and swipes his RFID tag given to him by the gym and begins to climb.  Once finished he slaps out at the top, by hitting a similar shaped button, turning the route LEDs off.

All the while, his personal information on the rock climbing gym's server is updating, keeping track of what Dan attempted, completed, and how long he took on each route.  He will be able to review this information through the gyms website, track his progress, and be able to climb with other similarly experienced climbers as himself.

rendering the start button

My tentative layout is complete.  I am finishing up the renderings of the start/stop button and it has added a greater amount of depth to the project. 

new render

I'm currently narrowing down the most captivating renderings.

hypershot load fail / success!

After unsuccessfully trying to load in my full assembly into Hypershot, I had to delete all  unnecessary parts (bolt and bottom, frosted LED housing piece) for it to successfully load.  I am perplexed, because the full Solidworks assembly was under 4mb...  Nevermind, it is now loading into the rendering software, test complete.

I will now begin to map out clearer rock climbing wall, load into Hypershot and render away.  I have opted out of trying to get the emissive light technique rendering from HS and will create the scattered light with Photoshop.  After having played with the emissive material it is just not worth it, poor results and way too much rendering time.

This was just a test! Final portfolio ready image will be something like the last image shown, with my exploded view showing all components involved.  This image shows the rock climber's intended path, amongst so many other holds.