Grasshopper Algorithmic Exercise 1

Grasshopper Weekly Algorthmic Exercises

W1

I attempted to produce the lofts using simple circles which were also generated using grasshopper as opposed to drawing curves on rhino and defining them. I found it very useful as I could adjust the radii of the circles and obtain direct feedback as opposed to the back and forth process in Rhino.

To extend the loft, it was merely a process of adding another circle component and plugging it in to the loft algorithm.

The vase form is generic as I wanted to focus more on the patterning algorithms that could be implemented on the base shape.

Out of the many available patterning options discussed in the tutorial video, I had initially found that the Octree component had the simplest result as in it did not require any additional components to produce a working model other than the divide surface component. The iteration on the left is somewhat plain and I found the possibilities of adjusting the parameters yet again interesting.

I was able to adjust the number of divisions of the blocks as well as the number of points in the UV directions on the surface to produce a little more complexity (iteration on the right).

The voronoi 2d algorithm proved to be a little challenge to comprehend.

After a long period of viewing tutorials on the internet on how to successfully implement the pattern on a curved surface, I had to seek help from the tutor as well as a couple of friends. Eventually I was able to produce the relevant script that allowed me to map the voronoi curves onto the surface. This helped me understand that some algorithmic process require many starting points to merge together to produce the desired result.

Unsatisfied and keen for more, I stumbled upon a tutorial video describing an extension to grasshopper called the Weaverbird.

Fascinated by the tutorial, I was interested in trying out the extended options on my lofted vase. I was most intrigued by this process as it required me to work with meshes instead of surfaces and increased my curiousity of the relationship between meshes and NURBS surfaces. The weaverbird pictureframe component along with a few other options such as mesh thicken were added to produce the following results. Another thing I found surprising was that I was unable to create 2d drawings from the mesh results.