Author: howesben

Parametric Seating – Summer midterm project

The Parametric Seating project brief is embedded below, and is also available on google docs at this link.  Unlike last semester, students were asked to choose an existing seating system to model in rhino and grasshopper instead of designing their own.  Hopefully by taking the design work off the table, we’ll be able to better focus on proper technique and gain a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of parametric and rule-based modeling.

Parametric Truss Tutorials

Embedded below is a six part series reviewing the parametric truss example we have been going through in the workshops.  As I mentioned in class, this is an extension of DesignReform.net‘s classic tutorial.  In addition to the parametric and generative modeling techniques covered in the videos, we focus on the creation of reusable and easily readable functions, as well as naming and grouping best practices.  Enjoy!

Part 1:  Reference rhino geometry and create driving surfaces.

Part 2:  Create triangular faces from driving surfaces.

Part 3:  Offset triangular face’s border inwards and fillet.

Part 4:  Create and render planar surfaces.

Part 5:  Offset curve by area.

Part 6:  Offset curve by distance to attractor point.

Mid-Term Project: Parametric Seating

The brief for the mid-term project is available on google docs (the embed did not work with this doc – sorry).  We’ll go through this brief tonight as we discuss your individual schematic design options.  I thought it might be useful to share this before the presentations so that you know what we’re going for at the end of the project.  See you in a bit!

Firefly + Kangaroo

This is way too awesome not to post:

Firefly Vision tools + Kangaroo Physics from Daniel Piker on Vimeo.

Two grasshopper plugins, Kangaroo physics and Firefly, are used to enable direct interaction with Grasshopper geometry using a webcam.  Can’t wait to see the kinect version.

Found on grasshopper3d.com

GH Workshop 1 recap and additional examples

Since there were quite a few questions during our first GH workshop and we didn’t get through all of the examples, I thought a recap / demo video might be helpful.  The recording below covers the example we did in class, and includes two additional examples that should help you complete the roof structure assignment.

Hopefully this will be helpful for some of you – I know these types of tutorials are very helpful for me when I’m learning new software.  If there are any questions or comments, please post them in the comments.  Good luck with grasshopper!

Midterm Project: Parametric Benches, part 1

For the class midterm assignment, each student will develop a family of parametric benches.  The final presentations for the project will be in class on March 8th, as noted in the syllabus.  The first part of the project is due at the beginning of class this week, and is available for your reference on google docs.  It is also embedded below.  Part 2 will be assigned in class this week.

Grasshopper Resources

There are a wealth of online resources that should be taken advantage of when working with and/or learning Grasshopper.

First and foremost is http://www.grasshopper3d.com/, the project’s homepage.  The site contains a very active forum, links to numerous tutorials and learning materials, and provides the most recent releases of the program itself.  Also check out the always growing list of add-ons, some of which we’ll be using later in the term.  If you have a GH question, this is the place to start.

Second: designreform.net.  There are a bunch of fantastic grasshopper tutorials dating all the way back to when grasshopper was called explicit history.  All tutorials are very high quality and do a great job explaining concepts as well as technique.  This blog is a great resource as it offers tutorials across a wide cross section of parametric and rule based platforms.

Third: The Grasshopper Primer – Second Edition.  This is a comprehensive document that describes, in detail, the basics of the interface all the way up to programming on top of GH.  Although it was written for an older version of GH, most of the material is still very relevant.  I don’t know of another document that provides as much information on as many topics.  If you are looking for an in depth answer to a question, the Primer is often more helpful than the forums.