Parametric tools for Majolica Domes Modelling

This paper presents some results of research aimed at defining a parametric tool for modelling complex decorative apparatuses of domes based on geometric rules definition and building techniques. MaTiDo, Majolica Tiles on Domes, is an adaptive tool that allows a user to place “fish scale” on revolution domes and oval or elliptical ones, on domes with ribs and domes without ribs. MaTiDo can be used to reproduce the look of the real domes and virtually reconstruct domes modified or destroyed. These ideal models are suitable for different uses, for Cultural Heritage dissemination or in HBIM process. The main geometric problem to address is how to evenly distribute on doubly curvature surfaces flat tiles that are all the same size. MaTiDo is being developed for colour automatic distribution on tiles in order to generate different decorative patterns on extrados dome surfaces.