EQLZ 247 Computational Design

Computational Design of outsole for EQLZ 247 performance Basketball shoe. Geometry was created in Rhino / Grasshopper. Rendering, animation / simulation was done in Houdini and rendered in Karma.

Project info: https://www.davidburpee.design/work/eqlz-247-game







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Some gifs

gait_video_gif_1_low
gait_video_gif_2_low
gait_video_gif_3_low
scale_gif

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Product viz



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Launch Teaser animations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAOVb5u4PBw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlLgYBB4UiU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yZ1iQihpM4

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this is an awesome project!! thanks for sharing!

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Very impressive work.

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Great projects!
What does the inspiration from shark scales bring to the sole?
Because I know there is a lot of interest in shark scales for their aerodynamic properties in water.
Is that the case here?

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Thanks Vinz, this was an area of inquiry that we wanted to study actually. Considering that shark scales are “directional” in that they reduce resistance in water in one direction and yet provide “traction” in water in the other direction. This is of course a different application than on a basketball court, so part of our exploration was modifying the shape for its intended purpose on the court, and studying a variety of shapes through prototyping and wear-testing. Of course, being a retail product there were aesthetic properties of the scales that we were drawn to as well, as part of utilizing a wholistic approach to design with origins in biomimicry for function as well as appearance.

At the end of the day though the proof is in the pudding, and the response we have received from professional wear-testers, athletes at all levels, and casual enthusiasts is consistent that the traction and feel of these is exceptional. Of course this is not only due to the traction pattern as the construction, last, materials, and several other design parameters contribute to a shoe’s performance, however I would like to think at least a bit of our bio-inspired forms contribute positively to this overall package.

Hi David. This looks absolutely amazing!! I am so impressed!
I am working on a similar project for a shoe, but with a different pattern. I have never used Rhino or Grasshopper before, but am trying to learn it for this important project. Can you help me understand how you did this, so I may apply it similarly but just to this other shoe project?

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Hi Brigham, thank you for your message.

This process overall uses quite a few different advanced techniques both in Rhino and Grasshopper in order to complete the design and create the geometry. Particularly due to the complex forms of footwear (doubly curved and highly varying surfaces,) not being able to describe the outsole using a single surface (consistent patterning across polysurfaces,) and needing to adhere to manufacturing and mold-making limitations, in addition to needing to describe various concepts related to computational design. Unfortunately I don’t think I would be able to easily describe the tasks in a way that is digestible for someone new to the software. Hopefully you understand.

That being said, learning is now easier than ever and there are a lot of excellent tutorials out there both free and paid. I would encourage you to break down your task into parts, and seek out some learnings that respond to each aspect of the task. Best of luck on your project.

Hi,
First of all, great project. Looks amazing and love the combination of multiple softwares used (houdini enthusiast :smiley: )

I was wondering how you developed this pattern:


To me, it looks like a tween interpolation but was wondering how you generated the surface (looks likes a mesh surface?)

Thanks!

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Hi Clark, thanks very much for taking a look. The wave pattern was actually generated by creating a series of section profiles in grasshopper and sweeping between them. Those surfaces (and the entire outsole) are NURBS geometry which is fairly typically needed for production and mold-making. You can see the isocurves (albeit lightly) in this image:

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Thank you for the explanation!

I guess my only questions left is how does the section loft work in this area of the shoe?


I understand the ones near the edge of the shoe, since those curves would just be moved and lofted to get the desired results.

Edit:


Also, is the manipulation of the Y axis vectors done through attractor point?

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Same way it works for all of the waves - they are swept individually maybe that is throwing you off, imagine concentric curves:


For the vector orientation it is using the line you see moving - called a gait line. It is finding the nearest point from the scale to that curve and then interpolating the directional vectors in the field so that I can control falloff. Easier to see with the vector arrows.

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Hi, beautiful project, can you describe it for someone who has experience? Thank you in advance!