Fabrication of moiré on curved surfaces

Moiré is an appealing visual effect observable when two or more repetitive patterns are superposed. Fabrication of moiré effects has already proven to be useful in a range of applications, from art to engineering. Here, we introduce a method for designing and fabricating level-line moirés on curved surfaces. These moiré shapes are obtained by superposing a partly absorbing layer and a layer formed by an array of cylindrical lenses or by two layers of cylindrical lenses. We formulate the problem of placing an array of cylindrical lenses on a curved surface as a design problem with a small number of dimensions. The range of possible solutions can therefore be explored by a human observer. We demonstrate the quality of our method by rendered simulations and by fabrication. The resulting static displays can be manufactured using different fabrication techniques, from multi-material 3D printing to molding.