2015.02.08 - Design Studies

A normal day as ever for Toral. Having finally gotten the courage to peel his bandage from his cheek at the scrape he'd gotten a couple days ago in his hotel room, he seems relieved it's all taken care of by nature.

With this burden off his shoulders he was again free to roam about New York.. and his first stop was to the -nearest- Starbucks cafe. His caffeine meter had gone to 'dangerously empty' a day or two ago, and he needed his fix as soon as possible.

The smell of said establishment was as enchanting as ever, but he was a man of planning and habit. As he stepped in line, his order was predetermined. Four shots of espresso, straight.

As the man entered Starbucks, a young woman sat there, a sleek Laptop on the table in front of her. The screen was showing an item in 3D, something which spun around its z axis rapidly. Somehow it seemed to change, but there was no button pressed as Jane did just watch the software do some evolutionary process to make the object follow some specifications. Specifications to create an aerodynamic helmet with a minimum of friction and a maximum of protection while being printable in a left and right side. Not something which was visible from just the spinning vertex-grid, but it did obviously run through stages of evolution the longer it spun there.

In Janes hands, the paper mug in Venti size cooled slowly, the hot chocolate-espresso telling about its sweet contents.

Toral is determined on doing this, he must get to the head of the line and place his order. It is essential! While in line he spies a curious device he's not yet come across, said device being the laptop that a certain woman is viewing. He picks up the scent of her drink and notes that it's espresso.. well, there's his backup excuse for engaging conversation once he's done his order. He -must- know what that device is!

With the line dwindling and the mage soon at its head, he makes his order. But he does it rather plainly this time, a venti espresso. After that he's reaching for one of his pockets, idly asking, "Do you accept checks?" regardless of the answer, he offers plastic to pay for his drink. An effortless exchange and a mental note for the next visit!

The simulation progresses, the screen showing the spinning hardshell outline while Jane only smells at her cup. Nothing she can do at the moment, having written the simulation. A new color appears, adding lines that go across the upper part of the item, telling about stiffening metal strips that connect the left and right, evolving the object further.

With more than a few strange looks pointed his way as the barista handles his drink, Toral waits with patience. With questions and curiosity running through his head, he projects very little of it outward. A few moments later and his cup is in-hand, complete with the extra sleeve nobody remembers the actual name for he wastes no time in approaching Jane.

"I apologise if I'm intruding." he starts. "But I've never seen a.. contraption such as that." a vague and polite gesture to her laptop. "Mind explaining it to me?"

Jane looked up on the question, her hands still around the cup as she took a sip of it before she answered. "It's a helmet design which shall be minimum weight but maximum protection against blunt trauma. The program iterates the design 8 times per rotation, tests the properties against each other and tests them against the results of previous iterations. Does that answer the question?"

Toral nods slowly to the answer given by the woman before him, even taking a sip of his straight espresso. Bracing, delightful caffeine. He perks up immediately. He seems to be keeping track with this decently enough. "Yes, but I was asking about what you have described to be a computer of some kind. Aside from the blocky things I have seen at libraries, I had no idea what that was." again another vague gesture to her laptop.

A moment Jane blinks, then she sighs. "it's a Laptop. No, let me specify it better: It's a digital automated calculation engine which can perform several billion calculations per second and store whole libraries of information on the surface of metal slices that, pressed together, just fill the volume of your index finger. And at the moment this miracle of electronic engineering is performing the calculations fo an iterative, self evolutioning design. Which hellhole you came from that you don't know a computer?"

Perhaps the tone was a bit strong, but Toral doesn't let that show. "Well, considering I grew up in a nomadic, world-travelling group of families that had no use for technologies and only recently myself came to modern society, I think I am adapting well enough. I am also supposing that this particular computing task, by its very nature, is quite advanced. Either you paid a lot of money to have it done, or you did it yourself." he replies, another sip of that delicious caffeinated beverage. "In either case, it is impressive."

"Guipsy or what? damned, get yourself a Phone and integrate to society." Jane sighs as she places her cup next to the laptop, watching the iterations pass. "It's just a fancy program utilizing an architecture program to simulate impact as 'weight' of oerlaying, not sculpted stories and then an algorythm that searches for a way to strengthen the weak points by altering the shape or adding material. Just some good work with a program that already existed and got some good changes by me."

Toral shakes his head. "I have little use for a phone, and don't really need a way that I can be tracked beyond my spendings." he states. "I am also uncertain if I should take offense to that gypsey comment." but he does listen to her additional statements. "That all does sound simple enough, but I don't have experience with computers enough to gauge that beyond it being a plan on paper." taking a neighbouring seat. "Are you integrating other pieces of armor to compliment said helmet?"

"It is just a design study, how much stability you can gain just from shape and using a composite of a 3D-printed part and metallic stripes added during the printing process by hand. Like a Motorcycle helmet printed at home in two pieces, then you slot in the metal stripes with glue and push it together to get the finished helmet. A product that can be made on demand in any size." Jane smirks a moment "What armor should it compliment with?"

Toral nods quietly. Definately something that sounds like it would be helpful, except... He won't ask, but he gives a confused look at 'motorcycle'. "Generally, you will want a headpiece to mount with something on the shoulders, to further disperse impact over a larger area and prevent head trauma. Or, this is what the outfitting family believed. But that led into whole body coverage and synergy, which the average person might not be bothered in to, from what I've seen the past couple weeks." finally a proper swig of his drink. "Perhaps a bit of flair to slope onto the shoulders in addition. More materials and sizing required, but it would be more effective overall."

"Spreading the impact over the shoulders will prevent turning the head in the way it can at the moment. I try to work with spine-aligning armor shields, that allow turning the head, but the main absorption shall be done already by the helmet." Jane sighs as she presses the enter Key to halt the iteration a moment to type in commands "You see, it is not yet anywhere near complete and the design currently only can shield against about 200 lbs, but I need like 1500 at least to have it allowable for street usage."

Toral idly nods, pulling himself further from the conversation, mentally. His curiosity sated, and his drink still warm, another big swig.. his interpersonal skills could probably use help.