New with parametric arrays and grasshopper

Hello there community

I'm an architecture student and completely new to algorithmic modeling, so I would need some guidelines to start with

I'm looking for this kind of morphology

So I would need to create a primitive object (the trapezoid)

then I should sweep it along a curve while it's being modified by certain parameters

Any tutorial explaining this specific type of model?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ChristianCammilleri on April 23, 2015 at 6:14pm

Is there any tutorial available about parametric arrays?

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 24, 2015 at 1:02am

It's very specific, so I doubt you'll find a tutorial that covers it.
Are you sure it's a modification of a base trapezoid? To me it looks more like four spiraling curves that are connected by trapezoids at every slice.

Permalink Reply by ChristianCammilleri on April 24, 2015 at 4:14pm

Perhaps, you' re right,

It's very specific the example I posted.

I'm new to this, so im looking a tutorial explaining how to make an array using a primitive, then I can modify it by certain curves or paths..

Or maybe i'm in the wrong way and I should start learning Grasshopper by another way

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 24, 2015 at 5:08pm

Actually picking a project and trying to do it in GH is an excellent way to learn I think. It's just that you won't find a piecemeal explanation of it.

Let's say the shapes you're after are vertical sections through a collection of hand-made curves that spiral around each other. The curves don't cross over, so we can re-use the same order everywhere without fear of the section becoming x shaped.

The steps we need to achieve this could be:

Import curves from Rhino into Grasshopper.
Define a section width.
Define a direction along which the sections will be cut. This could be a curve as well, but we'll stick to a line for now.
Find the intersections between each guide curve and each section plane. Should be a single point each time.
Connect the intersection points in the correct order, creating a closed polyline.
Offset the polyline inwards by a fixed distance.
Create a single surface from the original and offsetted polyline.
Extrude the surface by the section spacing width minus some amount.

Steps still needed: