ts connectors and slots that allow CNC machining the facets and connectors for assembly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34OvgflJEmI
We developed this construction methodology earlier this year while working on a large scale parametric structure for Midburn, the Israeli Burning Man. While doing so I used grasshopper to generate the facets for the geometry, while a friend on the team (Matan Zohar) wrote a javascript app that translated the mesh into connectors and slots for CNC manufacturing. You can see more about the project here:
http://www.shlomimir.com/triped/
I wrote this component as an exercise in learning rhinoscript and python, with the purpose of bringing the functionality into the grasshopper workflow. It's now to the point where it is working for triangle and square welded meshes while outputting the connectors and slots as an unorganized list.
Questions and To Do List
1. I'm new to object oriented coding and functions, and basically just wrote the whole thing as a series of conditional loops with two dimensional arrays holding the data. Planning on restructuring this better, would love any tips.
2. Right now outputting the connectors and slots on the input mesh itself in 3D, planning on setting this up layed out on one plane to organize for cutting. I was wondering if there are any existing tools for this or if I need to do this manually.
3. Labeling connectors and slots. Is there anyway to output text from python that can be later baked into the rhino for labeling?…
st shortest path. The guiding splines would work like a forcefield so that paths are "drawn" towards them with a user defined strength and radius of influence.Since each path is basically independent, it should be relatively straight forward to multithread. I downloaded the C# code for the pathfinding node and have to see if I'm up to it.
Would also be interesting to know how far away the first beta of a multithreaded GH 2 is.
I also had some hopes when "Fabric Engine" showed a demo of a Rhino exporter, since its "Canvas" is an extremely optimized node system that's fully multithreaded and optionally uses the GPU, which could be interesting to explore for some heavy lifting if they for instance would attach it to GH. But I guess it does not make much sense for them as a target.
Above image uses 20000 random points. In Softimage XSI ICE this would not be much, since it's nodes are fully multithreaded and optimized for huge numbers of particles and point deformation. In GH, with anything above 500 points, things get rather "meditative".
Illustrator takes up to half an hour after each and every change to colour, line style, blending mode etc. I have one even more complex file with over 3 GB size and there Illustrator (CS6 x64) goes into some kind of trance and after some hours of thinking moves on to some advanced psychotic, catatonic state to never fully return... ;-)So usually I run it in the background while doing something else...
I recently tried different other vector graphics apps (Inkscape, Affinity Designer, Xara) but they were even worse if they were able to open the files at all. Maybe I should give Corel a try too.
Cheers and thanks for your offer! Your work is a major inspiration for me while learning Grasshopper!
Tom…
igned by this software may be terrible, this is how the future is being shaped, so an understanding of the technology is important.
http://bimandintegrateddesign.com/2014/10/24/googles-bim-busting-app-for-design-and-construction/
https://vimeo.com/107291814
-Projects are due May 8th at the WAAC Final Gallery (I think at 5:30 PM). You will have your board(s) pinned up and your physical model complete underneath. The location is still being worked out, so I will let you know when I know. After the physical submission, a digital submission is required as well. There should be at minimum -
A board with the discussed drawings and images below, named LastName_FirstName_FinalProject.pdf
A photo of your physical model (if not included on the board), named
LastName_FirstName_FinalModel.pdf.
These should be posted on the dropbox sometime before the last day of the semester. Your project will not be graded if you do not physically submit on May 8th and digitally submit sometime before the semester is over.
-Project brief is below
Project Brief: Up until now, you have been using grasshopper to develop, analyze, and fabricate architectural ideas in a very controlled format. The final project is a chance to combine this knowledge with your own design intent and aspirations. The project will use specific deliverables to spur growth, but also allow for you, the designer, to do what you please within the following boundaries.
Requirements:
# open project# must be a design project # story of what you are designing and why you are using grasshopper - specific design intent# must have physical scale model # must have 24” x 36” board - made in Adobe InDesign or Photoshop # grasshopper definition image # 1 artistic rendering - any format - with scale figures # 5 iterations of your project must be presented # 1 diagram to visually describe your project # text describing project # process drawings - photos/sketches/models/other iterations# this is the bare minimum - to have an excellent project, one must go above and beyond these requirements# talk to me if you have out of the box ideas of presenting/ teams / etc...
That is all, there are no assignments due this week, just keep working on those projects. I am available for help during the week, just email or post in the forum. USE THE GRASSHOPPER FORUM IF YOU ARE STUCK. There are many people on here that are way smarter than I that can help you.
See you all next week!…
an almost planar tissue (your case) can cause a variety of issues up to the undo able state (metal parts/components grow in size as well for no reason). See forces estimated by FF below.
2. Therefor I strongly suggest to consider Plan B (a) mastermind a secondary "anchor" capability in order to achieve a far more stable system (b) use a mount design that can support this (and comply with the attractor concept of yours). Here's a variable mount custom system (mostly machined AND not cast) that is suitable for the scope (Rhino reads the stp file OK .... but makes a colossally big file - thus I attach here the original).
3. On first sight lot's of things in this system appear "odd". For instance: is it stable? Why these double cables are used? How far can be adjusted? (that's a classic case for feature driven parametric design - not doable with Rhino).
4. This concept (strut axis exported only) is tested in FORMFINDER and some other far more complex membrane apps that I use quite often (not RhinoMembrane). Here's is what FF tells us about:
Observe a different kind of "stress" when this is converted to radial type:
5. If you insert the stp file to the Rhino file provided (exactly as exported from FORMFINDER - no mods of mine of any kind) you'll see what goes where (and why). That way the usage of double cables is rather obvious (and a lot other things - for instance the way that the struts achieve "equilibrium", see the slots in the base mount plate.
6. If this approach is worth considering your definition requires some serious rethinking (far more simpler/manageable with the drawback that the real parts they are "static" they can adjust only as far this particular solution allows them to do - controlling them parametrically is clearly impossible with the current state of R/GH capabilities).`
All in all: this case works because the cables push the anchor points downwards and the struts push them upwards.
more in a while
…
reaky thing consisting from triangulated "modules" (i.e an assembly out of this, this and that) where the exterior edges ARE always under tension (= SS 304/316 cables OR nylon) and the interior ones MAY be under compression ( = steel, aluminum, wood, carbon) OR ... some of them ...may be under tension. Bastardized T trusses deviate a bit from theory ... but who cares? (not me anyway). T trusses have many variants (but as the greatest ever said: Less is More).
2. Large scale T for AEC is the art of pointless since it costs around the GNP of Nigeria. Here's some indicative components from a module of a multi adjustable TX system costing (the module) ~ the price of my Panigale (Google that):
The above is mailed to a friend who has MIT (yes, that MIT: the top dog) on sight ... therefor he needs some appropriate "credentials", he he.
3. The distance that separates the above with the demo TDT node provided is around 666.666 miles - but we don't care: we are after Art not some testimony to vanity.
4. On purpose I've used a smallish ring to give you a clear indication upon the constrain numero uno in truss design: CLASH matters.
5. You'll need:
(a) A decision related with the tensioners (classic Norseman + SS cables or nylon machined thingies?).
(b) A machinist who can do elementary stuff (like the adapters) and can weld this to that (the "ring" for instance). His abilities must be 1 in a scale of 100. If the fella has a computer (not a CRAY) and he knows what 3dPDF is (hmm) ... well ... use that way to communicate with him PRIOR designing anything: He must agree on the parts BEFORE the whole is attempted (as a design in GH or in some other app).
(c) A carpenter with a wood lathe for the obvious. BTW: BEFORE doing any TDT attempt > ask the carpenter about the available wood strut sizes. Against popular belief DO NOT varnish the wood (use exterior alkyd/oil stains from some top maker like the notorious US company PPG).
http://www.ppgpaints.com/products/paints-stains-data-sheets
(d) Good quality cigars (and espresso) plus some classic music (ZZTop, PFloyd, Cure, Stones, U2 etc etc) during the assembly.
(e) Faith to the Dark Side (see my avatar).
May the Force (the dark option) be with you.…
nd then writes some data to a certain range of cells, but currently I am missing the small bit of code to save the file and then close that certain excel workbook. One other thing to note is that I'm writing into another excel file concurrently from another set of VB componenets, which must remain open, so I don't want to save & close that file. - Only the file which I'm writing data to from this VB component needs to be saved & closed. Any help would be appreciated.
Here is the current bit of code:
Rhino.Runtime.HostUtils.DisplayOleAlerts(False)If _write = True Then'Dim val As DoubleDim row As IntegerDim column As IntegerDim Pole As StringDim Angle As DoubleDim cellValue As StringDim rowstart As Integer
Dim xlApp As ObjectxlApp = System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application")Dim wb As Object = xlApp.Workbooks.Open("W:\Bay Bridge Aiming\Knuckle Plate Aiming\Re-work_Field-Aim_20m.xlsx")Dim sheet As Object = wb.Worksheets("Factory-Aim")
rowstart = 0
Dorowstart += 1cellValue = sheet.cells(rowstart, 1).valueLoop Until cellValue = ""
row = rowstartcolumn = 1For Each Pole In Pole_IDsheet.Cells(row, column).value = Polerow = row + 1Next
row = rowstartcolumn = 2For Each Angle In KnucklePlt_Anglesheet.Cells(row, column).value = Anglerow = row + 1Next
End IfA = 0
Much thanks,
Joel…
Added by Joel DeBoef at 12:29pm on October 23, 2012
hat aren’t completely there. BIM will have to continue to evolve some more if their supporters want to get to realize the promise that still is. I can’t say much about PLM, but I would say that both BIM and PLM should be considered in future developments of GH and Rhino. David has said several times that some GH limitations regarding geometry and data structures (central to interoperability) are actually Rhino limitations. So, I wouldn’t put so much pressure on David for this, or at least I would distribute the pressure also on the core Rhino development team.
Talking about Rhino vs. GH geometry, there is one (1) wish I have: support for extrusion geometry. GH already inputs extrusion elements from Rhino, but they are converted to breps. Is not a bad thing per se. The problem is when you need to bake several breps that make the Rhino file to weight several hundred MB. When these breps are actually prismatic, extrusion-like solids, is a shame that they aren’t stored as Rhino V5’s extrusion geometry in a file of just a couple of MB (I overcame this once with an inelegant RhinoScript that wasn’t good for other people). This was one of RhinoBIM’s main arguments. We can develop a structural model made of I-beams in GH using the Extrude components. We should be able to bake them as extrusions. That would also work for urban models with thousands of prismatic massing buildings (e.g. extruded footprints). Even GH’s boxes are baked as breps! Baking boxes as extrusions could be practical for voxelated or Minecraft-like models.
(2) Collaborative network support. Maybe with worksession handling, or something that aloud project team members to work on a single definition or in external references or something alike. I know there is another Rhino limitation on this, but maybe clusters are already going in that direction?
And maybe on the plug-ins domain:
(3) Remote control panel that could be really “remote”, like from other computer or device. There is an old Android App for that, but is not only a matter of updating. I mean, it would be great to control a slider with the accelerometer of an Android phone, but to have that on an iPhone will require another development team. If GH could support networks, a remote counterpart of a RCP plug-in could be developed as a cross-platform web app. I don’t know if you can access accelerometer functionality through HTML5 already, but for now, asking a client (or an spectator or any stakeholder for that matter) to control your sliders from gestures of his/her own phone would be awesome (maybe Firefly will fill that hole?).
(4) GIS support. GH already imports .shp files. Meerkat can even access the database, but what about writing to shapefiles or generating our own with databases processed/generated in GH?
(5) SketchUp support. Not only starchitects and corporations are using GH in the AEC. There are a lot of small firms, freelancers and students interested. Most of them use SketchUp for 3D modeling (not CATIA, neither Revit). Yes, you can import/export .skp from Rhino, but if GH could support nested block at bake time (also mentioned by others), it could write .skp files with complex relations of blocks (that are called components in SketchUp) and nested groups, going beyond what Rhino can export.
(6) Read/Write other formats. There are some challenges with proprietary formats that are not completely supported by Rhino, but they’re still a lot of open formats that are relevant to the fields of GH users, like stl and ply for 3D-printing. It could be nice to write mesh colors to a ply for 3D-printing a colored prototype based on GH colors. There are others, like IGES, STEP, COLLADA, etc. and 2D, like svg, odg and pdf. Some of them could offer special formatting options like custom data that the format supports but nobody uses just because is impractical to access this from direct modeling environments (but not from visual programming).
--Ernesto…
if you can't resolve the details ... well ... they do that as well. For Europe contact my good friend Peter Stevens. (BirdAir).
In general: PRIOR designing ANYTHING (at all) you must formulate some kind of collaboration with a specialized manufacturer. Problem is that ... er ... if they don't know you they don't give much attention (this is a rather "closed" AEC sector).
On the other hand if your membrane is bespoke designing the components (anchor plates, masts, tensioners etc etc) and/or using bespoke ones available in the market (not many around. mind)... well ... this IS the core of the matter. Rhino is NOT suitable for that kind of stuff by any means.
Kangaroo 1/2 is the way to go when inside GH. Other apps especially the "pro" ones are very expensive. BirdAir has the best software for that matter but is mostly an internal product available as well only for few "strategic" partners as they call Architects who can design that kind of stuff.
Other than that have some fun:
Tensile Membranes test3 - Grasshopper
And this ... well ...is about NOT doing it:
Need help about using Kangaroo for form finding
…
e like this. If you push a little plus mark the column will unfold and expand.
I am volunteering currently for this project when I have time https://github.com/CityOfNewYork/CROL-PDF
and there is a discussion of standardizing information extracted from pdfs into csv, then eventually to a json schema so that a large amount of information can be shared easily online and also visualized to allow filtering and making operations on a data set. The closest thing I know is http://openrefine.org/ but it is not an online app and not really a collaborative platform.
anyhow, columns with nested columns showing imgs with tables that corresponds to a set of paramters might be a good suppliment to parallel coordinates. since honeybee and ladybug now has a quite a large collection of analysis so if there is a way to create a pipeline from grasshopper to, yeah, something like github.io like you have it here, with a well designed JSON schema with fold-expand columns it might be a great way to keep track. just an idea, dont know how this could be achieved yet.
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