circle packing constraints

I'm using a circle packing vb script, but i need it to do a few more things. Right now it populates a box with circles starting from the largest moving outward. This is good, however I would like to be able to setup a min and max size of the circles. The only other thing I want to do is set the start point so I could move a point such as an attractor around to get multiple variation using the same size and number. The script is included in the grasshopper file below.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Attachments:

circlePackingPoly.ghx, 62 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Vicente Gasco on November 18, 2012 at 7:57am

There seems to be an error. Nothing opens in the canvas.

Was this updated on the grasshopper for Rhino 5?

Permalink Reply by Marios Tsiliakos on November 18, 2012 at 1:40pm

Ohhhh..yes... but this is strange. Just in case I am uploading a rhino4 version. let me know how this works out for you.

Attachments:

CirclePacking_updt_rh4.gh, 4 KB

Permalink Reply by Vicente Gasco on November 18, 2012 at 1:47pm

Thank you for the reply but still the same happens. :/ weird...

I'm running the latest grasshopper for rhino 4 sr9. It should work.

Permalink Reply by Marios Tsiliakos on November 18, 2012 at 3:07pm

you say you getting an empty canvas? right? or you just getting error when opening cause I have internalised some points in the def..If that's the reason, just open it normally and replace the the interpolated curve with one of your convenience..

Permalink Reply by Vicente Gasco on November 18, 2012 at 3:52pm

I get a "Grasshopper IO message, "object reference not set to an instance of an object", and then the canvas stays empty.

Permalink Reply by Marios Tsiliakos on November 18, 2012 at 5:41pm

ok, one last try..

what about this?

Attachments:

CirclePacking_updt_las_t.gh, 3 KB

Permalink Reply by Vicente Gasco on November 18, 2012 at 5:46pm

Still not working hahaha. Dont worry, I'll try to figure it out. Thank you so much.

Permalink Reply by Marios Tsiliakos on November 19, 2012 at 2:27am

Hi,
I just mailed the file to a friend and it seems to be working for him, rhino4 sr9 gh 0.9.0014!! So you probably should check your system!
Best,
M.

Permalink Reply by Jesus Galvez on March 27, 2013 at 10:35am

Hey Marios,

I'm experimenting with bubbles at the moment. From the literature it seems that a hexagonal mesh is the optimal layout for tightest circle packing in a plane. I thought this script packed circles in the tightest way, but it only packs a bit more than half that which a hexagonal arrangement does.

Is this some kind of error, or is this script not meant to pack circles in the tightest way? If so, what is the logic of this script for packing circles?

In the left is an arrangement with a hexagonal layout, in the right that of the script.

Permalink Reply by Marios Tsiliakos on March 27, 2013 at 4:08pm

Hi,

this is more of a brute-force implementation of circle packing (trial and error). To achieve hexagonal packing which is indeed the tightest, you will have to make a more dynamic algorithm or use kangaroo for a force based packing.

Best,

Permalink Reply by JUAN TORRES on February 7, 2014 at 3:19am

Hi! thanks for your work and sorry for my ignorance but, in that definition you uploaded in Nov2012, how do you set the attractor points? im looking for something like this.. many thanks in advance!

Permalink Reply by Marios Tsiliakos on February 7, 2014 at 4:35am

Hello Juan,

Actually I haven't. This script is not using any locally defined points of attraction.

I am certain though that if you browse through this forum you will find smething that achieves this effect. Possibly using Kangaroo as I mention in the comment above.

Regards,