building model--where should i begin?

i took a brief grasshopper class over the summer but this model has stumped me. it is perfect for grasshopper but i don't know where to begin! it's composed of rectangular pieces, all the same size, that are oriented to create surfaces and suggest directionality. it would be terrible to have to do this in rhino so help is much appreciated!

any suggestions or keywords would be wonderful!

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Photo on 2010-10-02 at 13.32.jpg, 111 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 2, 2010 at 3:43pm

Hi Megan,

orienting boxes to follow a curve or surface is pretty easy, but making a stack of boxes that only touch and don't intersect is very, very difficult. In fact I suppose you'll need to use some sort of physical simulator to resolve collisions between object.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Evert Amador on October 2, 2010 at 3:58pm

Hi Megan,

Have you had a look at Kangaroo?
http://spacesymmetrystructure.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/kangaroo/
You'll need more that GH alone to achieve this.
Cheers

Evert

Permalink Reply by taz on October 2, 2010 at 5:44pm

The aesthetic looks similar to this (but that doesn't really help...):

http://www.sukkahcity.com/sukkah/gathering.php

Permalink Reply by Benjamin Golder on October 2, 2010 at 7:33pm

I think it would make sense to go for something simple at first, such as David's suggestions of orienting boxes to follow curves. If you look carefully at the renderings in the link Taz posted, you'll notice that their sticks overlap in the rendering, even though they wouldn't physically.
The more important thing to ask before you start is: What are you going to use the model for?

If it is just for illustration purposes, such as renderings and some basic sections and plans, then David's suggestion is enough.
If you want to use it to assist in making a physical model, think about what kind of drawings, templates, or lists you'd like to get out of the model that would allow you to build it in the easiest way, and then use grasshopper to create those templates.

As far as orienting on curves goes:
1. In rhino, make some guide curves that run along the "flow"
2. Input the curves and use a divide curve component to create points along that curve
3. create planes, using the points on the curves as origin points for the planes
4. make boxes from the planes, and adjust their dimensions
5. explore different ways of orienting the planes, and how that affects the overall look of the boxes
orient the planes to the curve they are on
adjust the orientation with a small random factor
orient the planes to other curves.
create separate curves and use closest point on curve to orient to them

What class is it for?

Permalink Reply by Megan Paige Sveiven on October 2, 2010 at 9:22pm

thank you sooo much for your help! i think it will help get me started... the digital model will primarily be for drawings and renderings i think, so i'm glad that i have a basis to start working with. i am in 100a in lisa iwamoto's section... i may post again if i run into any issues! thanks again!!

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