PolygonPrototyping

Grasshopper/Rhino tool to create a construction system based on beams and connectors.
Simple lines are drawn in space. Grasshopper generates a ready-to-3d-print set of connectors.

Academic workshop at Burg Giebichenstein – University of Art and Design, Halle, Germany, by Guest-Prof. Frank Spenling, expanding the possibilities of 3d-printing through algorithm-aided design.

Details: https://toolchains.wordpress.com/polygon-prototyping/

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Comment by djordje on May 12, 2013 at 12:49pm: Got it.
Thank you once again for the reply.

Comment by FrankS on May 12, 2013 at 12:06pm: No analysis whatsoever involved, just modelmaking and finding out what happens in the physical world ;-)

Which proves to be as essential as learning grasshopper for this project. There is always so much stuff you find out with the material in your hand. The pure digital modeling tricks you into believing that stuff is stable and rigid, and suddenly gravity, friction and and kinematics kick in ;-)

I don't mean computational analysis wouldn't make sense here, just that in this academic project the immediacy of physical models are a good way to learn estimate analog and digital properties.

Comment by djordje on May 12, 2013 at 6:09am: Ok thank you.
Now I am even more interested in your project.
Is there some sort of stress analysis involved? Stress analysis of nodes, or just linear members (sticks)?

Comment by FrankS on May 12, 2013 at 6:04am: Hi djordje,

Thanks for your feedback.

jepp, it is a kite made from tyvek.

I will ask Laura, who designed it,

to post a more explanatory picture. Although i like the beach shot ;-)

Comment by FrankS on May 12, 2013 at 5:51am: Hi Ignacio,

I am sure it can work with lunchbox generating the lines. In this case, the input for the PolygonPrototyping-definition will have to be individual straight lines that meet in connection points. I will post the definition after some cleanup work. The trick is to create spheres around the connection points, then intersect with the lines. That way, you can specify all point necessary to create planes, circle and consequently lofts.

Comment by djordje on May 11, 2013 at 3:05am: Very nice Frank.
By the way, is this a kite:

http://toolchains.wordpress.com/category/polygon-prototyping/#jp-ca...

Comment by Ignacio España on May 10, 2013 at 6:39pm: Can this work with Lunchbox's Panneling and structure tools? I gave it a quick try, but the planes generated quite a mess...

Comment by FrankS on May 10, 2013 at 11:07am: Hi matt,

wow, that was quick.

Nice project! Metal printing is just great, lets see what happens when is stuff gets cheaper.

Here is another link, I stumbled upon a while ago: http://www.mostdisruptingdesign.com/

The topic seems to have some relevance, or in other words: "great minds think alike" ;-)

cheers from berlin, frank

Comment by Matt Hutchinson on May 10, 2013 at 10:51am: Hey - interestingl stuff - I worked on some very similar connectors a while ago - it's an ongoing project, but here's the link:

http://patharc.com/portfolio/re_stock