This morning we discussed different mechanisms. One candidate was a spindle, either driving a vertical motion with a nut-in-a-rack, or using the spindle with pinions to create an up-down rotation aligned with the central axis, the idea being that we could simulate leaves blooming. The problem with the latter is that the level of complexity would rise fairly quickly as more leaves are added, and more generally that the motions might look really stiff on their own. This stiffness can of course be mediated by the software, tweening the motor action in and out.

Another option was to use this rotation with a winch, that would either leave slack for leaves to fall down, or apply tension to gather them together by use of a string. Combining this with some sort of fabric, think (shower)courtain, we can achieve some drooping that gives us an organic look, with a bunch of secondary motion. This secondary motion could very well mask the stiff mechanical motions of our machine, giving us the organic look we are after.

An issue with the winch-type would be that we have to make reliable friends with gravity, along with a risk of tangling the wires - a mitigation to this risk would be to use spokes that can both push and pull. In any case, this type of action would look like an umbrella with a rotational motion on the inside, rather than a vertical translation of the hub.

For now, we are going with the winch'n'string method. Stay tuned for prototyping sheets and cardboard models.

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