G.E.B. – Gödel, Escher, Bach

This model reproduces the famous “Gödel, Escher, Bach” logo
1h 29m
2× print file
0.20 mm
0.40 mm
11.00 g
In the contest Typography Fun!
24
89
1
1042
updated July 2, 2023

Description

PDF

“Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" is a highly acclaimed book written by Douglas Hofstadter and published in 1979. The book explores interconnected themes from computer science, mathematics, art, and music to present a complex and thought-provoking exploration of intelligence, consciousness, and the nature of self.

 

The title refers to three individuals whose work significantly influenced the book’s content: mathematician Kurt Gödel, artist M.C. Escher, and composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Hofstadter draws parallels between their creative achievements and uses them as entry points to delve into various topics such as formal systems, recursion, logic, and self-reference.

 

The über-famous “GEB” logo, which stands for “Gödel, Escher, Bach” is a distinctive and recognizable symbol associated with the book. The logo was designed by graphic artist William Tunberg in collaboration with the book’s author, Douglas Hofstadter.

 

Its unique and visually captivating design serves as an iconic representation of the book and its exploration of complex and interconnected ideas from different disciplines.

 

The GEB logo consists of three capital letters, G, E, and B, which are intertwined in an intricate and interconnected manner.

 

From the top, we can see the B, while from the front we can see the G, and, finally, from the side, the shape reveals an E.

 

While the GEB logo is often rendered in black and white, emphasizing the intricate details and the interweaving nature of the letters, I decided to print it in gold to remind the “Eternal Golden Braid”.

 

Since I imagine that some users of Printables will surely want to remix this model to print their own three initials or the 3 initials of their significant other, I am including the Fusion 360 file.

  • The modeling starts with the “Letters” sketch. It would have to be edited to change the GEB letters to, say, XYZ. 
  • The letters are then extruded from this sketch. 
  • Next, come a few rotations (and fine translations) of the pieces.
  • Because the “E” and B are not big enough to occupy as much space as the G, I extrude one of their surfaces to make them “cubic”, so to speak. It would have to be a bit different for different letters.
  • I then create 3 cubes to contain the letters.
  • By combining these cubes with the letters, I obtain negatives of the letter, which constitute the material to be removed. In the bodies’ list, the negatives are called “Neg B”, “Neg E”, and “Neg G”.

There are always 20 ways to skin a cat in Fusion 360. These steps are my steps. They are likely sub-optimal. A clever experienced Fusion 360 CAD engineer would likely come up with a better way of generating the model. But it works. It will be easy to generate another one for ABC or for XYZ.

Tags



Model origin

The author marked this model as their own original creation.

License