Best Books to Become A GH Master

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Permalink Reply by David Rutten on January 12, 2017 at 6:59am

I have Tragsysteme here at home. Lovely book but not sure it taught me anything about algorithmic design.

Permalink Reply by Daniel González Abalde on January 12, 2017 at 7:58am

I have read little of it because I have always found too many words for so little content. But, from my point of view, the way is by learning to write code. And step by step understand the nature of processes and geometry.

I switched from GH to VB and everything became more connected and deep. At all levels, from how Rhino works to think algorithmically also in GH. And once there, you can oscillate in algorithms from graphics to geometry, from production to AI. If you have time and do this to enjoy (among other things), allow yourself the luxury of being self-taught (taking a little from here and a little from there), it takes longer but you get further.

Permalink Reply by Ol OneEye on January 15, 2017 at 12:28pm

Hey Cool,

So in the coming months I am definetly looking to 'dive deep' and make the switch from all GH to writing VB script. Before I do this, I really want a more 'theoretical' understanding of writing these codes, before I bite the bullet and learn syntax and such.

Maybe books about logic or simple geometric patterns? I'm not sure what I am looking for, just something to read to set up a 'framework' of knowledge before filling my brain with info. A structure of thinking to assimilate coding knowledge...

Thanks

Alex

Permalink Reply by Daniel González Abalde on January 15, 2017 at 6:07pm

I started by googling "Grasshopper scripting tutorial", which do simple things like creating a curve or generating grid of points. I do not remember any documentation that laid the groundwork for me from the beginning. And maybe it's not so bad. When you face something complex (many elements and many interactions) you force yourself to understand it for yourself in a genuine way, that is how to do it deep. Learning to program is not complicated (difficult to treat), but it takes time and is continually evolving and learning. Another option, perhaps the best, would be to find someone who can teach you directly.

The paradigm under the hood of all this is object-oriented programming (OOP).

About the language, I recommend that you try C#, VB, Python and Processing (JavaScript), and choose the one you like the most to start to play (I feel like Professor Oak xD). In fact testing all these will make you have a more global understanding. You can simply watch tutorials and decide which one is the best for you. VB is out of trend, C# is the pretty girl of .Net (Microsoft) and most used professionally, too (I think) for GH. VB and C# are like brothers, based on .Net, are very similar and I would recommend one of these to start in Rhino and GH. However, they say that Python is the easiest for beginners, for me his main advantage is that it is multiplatform (if you aspire to create GH plugins (for win and mac) you will have to learn python). I am very very comfortable with VB, but this one is very declaratory, although this does not bother me, but sooner or later I will have to emigrate, I guess to Python (to make Peacock cross-platform).

Programming is knowledge+logic+creativity. What is always going to be missing is the first thing, so you will very often consult the Rhino SDK, perhaps also the GH SDK, and the .Net library. And for start, just watch tutorials, do it and try to understand what is happening until you understand that nobody really understands anything :) 

Permalink Reply by Nik Willmore on January 15, 2017 at 5:07pm

When learning to program, which will let you skip over quite a bit of the Grasshopper data tree jungle (except when you must create them in code to interact with other components later), realize that the Rhinoscipt you see in books is simply obsolete now that Rhinocommon itself has full documentation. Rhinoscipt is just a confusing extra layer on top of Rhinocommon. Python is more of a beginner's language than VB too, and can very simply access parallel programming speed ups of Rhinocommon commands. I also see a lot more job listings in tech for Python than VB. You can also simplify programming early on by directly calling on node-in-code use of existing Grasshopper components ("nodes") but that breaks parallel programming steps. There's quite a steep learning curve just for Grasshopper, then another for Rhinocommon, but the Python or VB learning is much easier due to Google common English language searches of a given task with "python" or "vb" added bringing up many Stack Exchange etc. solutions with rated answers given by a vast community of programmers.

Permalink Reply by David Bachman on January 15, 2017 at 10:20pm

I just finished writing a basic introduction to Grasshopper and Grasshopper reference guide. It's mostly a set of tutorials of increasing complexity, some of which may be of interest to experts as well as novices. I believe its due out in March (2017), published by Industrial Press. I will try to publicize this more broadly when its actually out. 

Permalink Reply by Ol OneEye on January 16, 2017 at 6:10am

Cool! Definitely link it when it comes out! So it sounds like python is what needs to be learned... any suggestions on a good book? 

Permalink Reply by James Dalessandro on January 17, 2017 at 9:46am

Perhaps not a book geared towards Grasshopper, but the book Patterns in Nature by Peter S. Stevens has greatly improved my understanding of natural processes. Imitating which seems to be something many people on this forum strive to do with Grasshopper. A great book to have.

Permalink Reply by Ol OneEye on January 17, 2017 at 11:31am

That's what i'm talking about! Definitely buying! I was going to mention... I think plants and algorithmic design are intrinsically linked. For a long time I have been  looking for a book that investigates the way plants grow and behave, specifically the algorithms underlying their structure.

Permalink Reply by Daniel González Abalde on January 17, 2017 at 11:58am

http://algorithmicbotany.org/papers/

BTW* The next version of PhylloMachine will be completely rebuilt and focused on plant growth. I researched the L-System a lot, even those dependent on the environment, but it was unsatisfactory to see that there was still a certain artificiality that made me leave that path aside. The fractal results are cool, but I have already started (and temporarily abandoned) other algorithms much more organic, based on bioinspired methods, which I hope to be able to mix with generative grammar someday. Both L-System and spatial colonization algorithms can be implemented directly in GH in its simple version.

Permalink Reply by Ol OneEye on January 17, 2017 at 2:04pm

woa cool! Are you based in NYC? would like to buy u a drink.. n discuss!

Permalink Reply by Ol OneEye on February 15, 2017 at 8:24am

So I just read through this, and it is amazing! Pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Theoretical, a little 'artsy.' In a similar vein, do you know a book like this that discusses evolution? Plants and animals? Or the development of different types of rocks?

thanks!

Alex

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