MATERIAL RESONANCE WORKSHOP

ST. LOUIS, MO | RHINOSCRIPT, GRASSHOPPER, & FABRICATION | AUG 9TH-12TH, 2010

Hosted by Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Art and Design
Sponsored By McNeel Rhinoceros

Material Resonance will be a four day, intensive workshop focused on practical application of Rhinoscripting or Grasshopper.  The workshop will also train participants in CNC fabrication using MasterCAM and the Washington University DIL fabrication lab.  There will also be demos of the new plug-ins Firefly and Kangaroo.  

The workshop is meant for professionals or students with a working knowledge in Rhinoceros.  Prior experience with Grasshopper or Rhino VB scripting is not necessary.  The workshop will start from first principles and cover topics from tessellation, components and connections to part organization, nesting and labeling.

Instructors   
Marc Fornes _ theverymany Rhino VB scripting
Andy Payne _ LIFT Architects Grasshopper
Kenneth Tracy _ Associated Fabrication MasterCAM

For more information and to register go to:
http://samfoxschool.wustl.edu/events/workshops/3630 

FORMATIONS WORKSHOP

SAN FRANCISCO, CA | PARAMETRIC URBANISM WITH GRASSHOPPER | FEB 13-14, 2010

I am really excited to be participating in the upcoming Formations 2010 workshop series being held at the California College of the Arts campus in San Francisco.  There is a really great lineup of instructors teaching a wide array of topics:

• Mapping Urban Information with ESRI ArcGIS by Mona El-Khafif (CCA URBANlab) and Richard Kos (CCSF GIS Education Center/ San Jose State University)
• Neocartography - an Introduction to Interactive Mapping with Flash by Sha Hwang (Stamen Design)
• Parametric Urbanism with Grasshopper by Andy Payne (Lift Architects) and Andrew Kudless (Matsys/CCA MEDIAlab)
• Sensing the City with Arduino and Processing by Jason Kelly Johnson (Future Cities Lab/CCA MEDIAlab) and TBA instructor
• Parametric Design Modeling with Revit by David Fano (Case, inc./ DesignReForm.net/Columbia GSAPP)
• ECOlogics with Ecotect by Nataly Gattegno (Future Cities Lab / CCA ECOlab) and Olivier Pennetier (Symphysis)

Below is a synopsis of the Parametric Urbanism workshop I will co-teaching with Andrew Kudless.
Instructor: Andy Payne (Lift Architects) and Andrew Kudless (Matsys/CCA MEDIAlab)

This workshop will focus on the generative modeling of urban design logics using the Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 4.0. From the early work of firms such as MVRDV to the more recent investigations by Zaha Hadid, a parametric approach to urban design has allowed designers to condense complex hierarchies of design data into solutions that exhibit highly differentiated patterns of urban form. The workshop will cover several techniques that attempt to integrate common urban design parameters dealing with massing, program, and density into one associative model allowing the designer to quickly and accurately test multiple design scenarios. The first day of the workshop will introduce many of the central topics and techniques of parametric urbanism while the second day will focus on the implementation of these techniques in a large, complex urban masterplan.

Eligibility: Open to all design students and professionals.
Cost: $100 for students, $200 for professionals.

Click here to register for this event

G-CODE WRITER FOR 2D SHAPE MILLING

This video shows some on going research on how the Grasshopper plugin for Rhino can streamline the CNC milling fabrication process; specifically for 2D shape milling on a PADE spin-W 5 axis continuous CNC Work Center.  Special thanks to Matthew Spremulli (former University of Toronto Grashopper workshop attendee) and Greg Everett of the Airport Railings & Stairs Co. Ltd. located in Mississauga Ontario Canada for running the code on their 5-axis CNC mill. 

The original Grasshopper definition has been updated to write both the G-codes (which are the individual groups of numerically controlled functions called packets which tell the mill how and where to move) and the P-codes (which are the instructions that are read by the PADEeasy software to call up the packets in a specific order).  Both sets of codes are streamed automatically to .txt files and are automatically updated upon any changes in the definition or Rhino geometery.

More videos to come on surface milling and 5-axis milling techniques.

Team:
Parametric Modeling - Andrew Payne & Matthew Spremulli
CNC Milling - Greg Everett

Fabrication Tools:
Parametric Modeling Software - Grasshopper plugin for Rhino
CAM Manager - PADEeasy
CAM Controller - OSAI Controller
CNC Milling Machine - PADE spin-W 5 axis continuous CNC Work Center

Fabrication Shop:
Airport Railings & Stairs Co. Ltd. located in Mississauga Ontario Canada 

GRASSHOPPER PRIMER ENGLISH EDITION

The second edition of the Grasshopper Primer is out and it wouldn't have been possible without the tremendous contribution from Rajaa Issa.  Rajaa is a developer at Robert McNeel and Associates and is the author of several other Rhino plugins including ArchCut and the ever popular PanelingTools.  This revision provides a much more comprehensive guide than the first edition, weighing in at almost 160 pages with over 70 new pages dedicated to creating your own customized scripting components.

This printing coincides with two events; the first being the new release of Grasshopper version 0.6.0007 which proves to be a giant upgrade to the already robust Grasshopper platform. Existing users will find subtle, and some not so subtle changes to how data is stored in the current version; making some previous definitions outdated or even unusable.  It is the hope that this primer will help new and existing users navigate many of the changes to the software system. The second event that overlaps with this publication is the conference titled FLUX: Architecture in a Parametric Landscape that is being held at the California College of the Arts. The event explores contemporary architecture and design through its relationship with changes in design technologies such as parametric modeling, digital fabrication, and scripting. Among other things, the event will consist of an exhibition and a series of workshops dedicated to parametric software systems.

Source Files:
The Grasshopper Primer_Second Edition.pdf (size: 10.7mb - right-click and select 'Save Link As' - adobe acrobat needed)

Primer Source Files (size: 193k - right-click and select 'Save Link As' - this is a collection of definitions and Rhino files needed to complete the examples in the primer) 

WAFFLE STRUCTURAL SYSTEM

I have been working on a definition for Rhino's Grasshopper plugin that would create a notched "waffle" structural system for any given surface.  With this definition, you can specify the number of struts in the X & Y axis as well as the strut depth and the notch thickness (or the strut material thickness).  The waffle system has a few components that define the strut labels and has a slider to control the label size to keep the model organized.  Finally, the definition orients the strut curves to the X-Y axis so that the curves can be easily output directly to a CNC mill or laser cutter. 

Also, if you are able to use this definition to create a waffle structure of your own (either laser cut or CNC milled), please email me some images and I will post the work on this website.  Good luck.

Source File:
Waffle_Structural_System.gh (size: 25k - file updated by GH user msieurju on 11.05.11 to work with Grasshopper v0.8.0052 or higher.  I'd like to express my thanks for the udpate.)

Note: This software and its documents are in the public domain and are furnished "as is". The author, Andrew Payne, makes no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the usefulness of the software and documentation for any purpose. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/