Flowing Shapes Along Curve

I am very new to GH...just started yesterday, so please excuse my lack of knowledge and correct wording. I am trying to create the form below in GH (the one below was simply created in Rhino). I want to start with a rectangle placed on a divided curve at the rectangle's mid point. As the rectangle moves along the curve, the sides scale and transform into a triangle. This would change due to the distance to an attractor point. The rectangles/triangles need to be perpendicular to the curve. I have a friend helping me, and we are having trouble aligning the plane of the rectangle to the perpendicular planes on the divided curve.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how do go about this? Again, I apologize for the lack of knowledge on the subject.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Pieter Segeren on March 22, 2014 at 8:22am

Hi Kelley,
here's what came to my mind first, though I have a feeling there is a much simpler way... Let's see if onyone jumps in:)

Attachments:

RectangleToTriangleSweep.gh, 21 KB
RectangleToTriangle.png, 59 KB

Permalink Reply by Kelley on March 25, 2014 at 12:11pm

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your response! I apologize that it has taken me so long to respond. I tried your file and it works! That is what I was looking to do. However, I have one more question.

I am also looking to scale the "back side" (the side that is not pinched down completely) to about 2/3 of the original size. Do you know how I would add this into the grasshopper file? Does that make sense?

Thanks again for your help!

Kelley

Permalink Reply by Pieter Segeren on March 28, 2014 at 7:55am

Hi Kelley,
that's okay, I'm not that prompt either anymore~ The principle I used for lowering the triangular end is the same as before, but I decided to show you anyway. Also added a slightly different approach which might be a bit easier to follow. I admit that the joined ruled surfaces was a bit of a brainf@rt, so I replaced that with a loft.

Attachments:

RectangleToTriangleSweepV2.gh, 53 KB

Permalink Reply by Kelley on March 29, 2014 at 10:59am

Thanks, Peter. I have been working with a friend who knows grasshopper fairly well on my project. We have been working with the original file you provided. It seems to work with one curve and one point. However, I would like to begin to apply it to multiple curves and multiple points. I have attached my project as well as the definition we have been working on. You can see that applied to one curve and one point, it works perfectly. However, if you attempt to apply it to all curves and multiple points, the surfaces close in a circular manner instead of ending with the curve. I realize that I could copy the definition and apply it individually to the curves, but I am stumped on how to apply it to multiple points. It is also a little messy in the way it lofts. Maybe this would be remedied by replacing the ruled surface with a loft, but again because I am so new to the program, I am having trouble linking it correctly. Let me know if you happen to come up with any suggestions.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Attachments:

From Forum-RectangleToTriangleSweep_edited2.gh, 16 KB
RctangleToTriangle Sweep.3dm, 350 KB

Permalink Reply by Pieter Segeren on March 30, 2014 at 3:29pm

this means it's time to look into data trees. There is lots of info on the forum about this subject.
I've adapted the definition a bit to work with multiple points and curves (without kinks!). Since you divided your curves without consideration of the kinks/corners in them, I assumed you don't need the sweep to have these kinks either ;)

Attachments: