Tapeworm. A script for creating developable surfaces.

Dear grasshoppers.

Some people have shown interest in my Tapeworm script, so I'm posting it here for anyone to try.

There are some notations inside the VB script explaining what is going on.

Basically, the script deals with the surface as if it were a long series of connected planar quads and then outputs the vertices of those flat surfaces as two lists of points. These points can be made into either polylines or interpolated curves, resulting in either a faceted or a smooth surface.

The two most important inputs for the script are "bend" and "twist". They should be lists of values that determine the curvature for each segment and the direction of this curvature. Please note that both lists should be equal in length. Also, the more values (steps), the more accurate the surface will be. The resulting surface should become single-curved (developable) and unroll to a straight strip.

Some photos and videos.

Good luck! Feedback is welcome.

Mårten Nettelbladt

Omkrets arkitektur

www.omkrets.se

The Geometry of Bending

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