[Greenbuilding] Building by Intelligent Rearrangement - an idea

[chiarenzaantonio at netscape.net]

malberthobart at yahoo.com.au wrote:
> It's a method for building walls from irregularly-shaped stones where a computer acquires the 3D shape of several stones using a 3d scanner or digital camera then the computer starts fitting the stones to each other and to the wall shape, in the virtual world. The computer outputs instructions to the builder as to the position and orientation of the stones to be placed in the wall.
I am all for virtual work, if only for what trying it out teaches about
the actual task--(I wrote a program to help a friend preview and refine
her "randomly" tiled bathroom, and of course random turned out to be not
so aesthetically pleasing, or random looking, as imagined)--but I agree
that on site, building something with stone (which I also enjoy) taking
the time and effort to photograph each rock, twice or more, is just
silly, and almost no one would want to do it.  Maybe on a very large
scale, as Amy Bauman suggested, it would have a place.  I would like to
add a few rationalizations as to why a stone yard could find such a
program useful:

    * a person can scan and sort (on the grass and in their
      subconscious) enough rock for a wall or patio and come up with a
      best fit for a small selection;  your program could keep the
      entire inventory "in mind" when selecting pieces for a project, so
      it wouldn't be a question of making the best of a random pile, but
      of a more perfect fit, not in the sense of each joint being
      tighter, but overall usage.  this might eliminate the need to
      purchase that extra 15% of material (more of a consideration with
      higher priced stone.)
    * a numbered kit might give a DIYer more confidence (though a
      stonemason could also pre-assemble, mark, disassemble, and package
      a project, so this would have to be faster/cheaper/better)
    * in some areas homeowners are not permitted to build their own
      retaining walls.  if your program could gain acceptance in enough
      such municipalities this might be useful.
    * if it allowed engineers greater knowledge and control of exactly
      what is happening inside the wall, it might expand the limits and
      uses of dry stack stone beyond what is now considered safe and
      acceptable, I don't know.
    * if the images are full color it would allow the customer/designer
      to preview the project in advance--even make their entire purchase
      remotely without ever walking through a stone yard.  I hate to
      advocate anyone marketing rock over long distances, but it is
      done, and this would be a commercial advantage.

The more I think about this, the more the big issue (I am just assuming
you can solve your 3D computer problem, it is beyond me) seems to be
cheap and easy scans, not just of the rocks--perhaps digital video
cameras set up around a gate that all the stones have to be carried
through anyway as they leave the quarry on the way to where they are
stored/shown, but of course after having those inventory transponders,
or bar-codes if you want to be low tech, attached to each stone in a way
that they neither fall off nor damage the stones--but also scans of each
prepped project site so that the plan can follow all the real dips and
curves.

Adding factors like color and texture to the selection process would
actually be much easier than the shape issue, though the ultimate
solution there might be the same as I used on the random tiler:  when
the computer is done and displays the proposed arrangement, the user can
click on any piece they don't like and it is redone.  Repeat until
happy.  That is, repeat until the designer/customer is happy.  I don't
think the preprogrammed approach will thrill anyone who really wants to
work with stone.