Fabricating Gradient Transparency: A Bio-Inspired Digital Design Model and Prototyping Methods

Multilayered 3D printing is already allowing architects, designers, and engineers to experiment with new design processes and new ways of production. A new field of research focuses on bio-inspired material finding and computer-aided fabrication processes. This article explores performance-driven design possibilities through a study of marine animals, specifically cephalopods, and then proposes a novel computational and fabrication model. This computation model, which is named “Pigment Skin,” imitates the cephalopods pigment distribution system to fit complex “host surfaces.” The study is divided into two parts; the first part focused on analysing the biological principles of Cephalopods skin and translating them to a computational model. This article focuses on the second part, with the main question being how to apply computer-aided prototyping using the latest multimaterial 3D printing to fabricate complex surfaces with gradient transparency based on a computational bio-inspired model. The presented 3D printing methods, techniques, and material tests demonstrate the first successful physical model results of complex prototype surfaces with gradient transparency using single and multimaterial 3D printing.