HARD WAVEFORM STUDIES / 002SED · SCULPTURE LAB
LIVE FORM

Dream barrel

PROFILE-GUIDED SCULPTURE
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CROSS-SECTION / ACTUAL MESH PROFILE
THE SHAPE INSIDE

A barrel is a void.

The solid surface wraps around a cubic profile. Change its proportions, then vary the curling stage along the crest.

2.20void length / width
76%local curling stage

The orange curve is the selected section. Curl, peel and solid thickness are artistic controls—not a fluid simulation.

RESEARCH → SCULPTURE

From a measured void
to a designed wave.

1 / Mead & Black · 2001

Fits a cubic curve to photographed surfing barrels and measures their aspect ratio and tilt. Our proportional controls use that same geometric idea. We do not run their photo-fitting routine or predict a reef’s wave from seabed slope.

Predicting the Breaking Intensity of Surfing Waves ↗

2 / O’Dea, Brodie & Elgar · 2021

Equation 1 gives the inside-void curve. We implement it as x′ = Lq² and z′ = (3√3/4)Wq(1−q²). The complete loop uses −1 ≤ q ≤ 1. L/W = 2.76 is the theoretical value; the authors allow L and W to vary independently when fitting measured waves.

Our open lip uses only part of this curve. The paper studies the void near closure; truncating it to design an open curling wave is our adaptation. Its observations inform the design, but no lidar data or empirical time evolution is simulated here.

Field Observations of the Evolution of Plunging-Wave Shapes ↗

3 / Byun & Stomakhin · 2017

Moana’s procedural workflow samples evolving profiles along artist-directed shape curves, with time offsets along the wave. Our crest sweep and varying curl reinterpret that principle. This is not Disney’s deformer, APIC solver, white-water system or code.

Moana: Crashing Waves ↗

4 / Ihmsen et al. · 2012

Unified Spray, Foam and Bubbles for Particle-Based Fluids separates crest spray, surface foam and submerged bubbles. Here, attached lobes around the crest and raised foam trails reinterpret those visual features. Their particle emission, velocities and bubble dynamics are not simulated. These controls create actual mesh relief; the turquoise preview also colours that relief white.

Unified Spray, Foam and Bubbles ↗

Our additions

Preset shapes, curl mapping, peel gradient, curved crest, surface ripples, water footprint, rear slope, lip thickness and end caps are design choices. The nominal thickness tapers toward the lip. The full wave’s outer back, foot and lip are not recovered from a photograph. The model is a grounded sculptural solid around a research-derived cavity profile, not a mass-conserving ocean simulation.

STL uses millimetres with the complete footprint width set by Export footprint width. Casting strength, thin regions, surface intersections and multipart mould release require a fabrication review.