Help with linking Grasshopper to Paneling Tools

Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to Grasshopper, but I've been working through tutorials and trying to get my knowledge up to speed. One problem I'm having is using Grasshopper alongside Paneling Tools (I'm sure I'm not the first!).

I'm trying to work through Example 2 on the following page;

http://wiki.mcneel.com/labs/panelingtoolsandgrasshopper

Most things perfectly, i.e. the intersecting planes through the curve, the slider bar to control the number of points on each circle on the intersecting planes, but the problem I'm having with this is the VB module - the only way I can bake the points into Rhinoceros is using the Bake tool on the Grasshopper tool bar after I've selected the Divide Curve module. Even then, I can't use the points for paneling tools - as I understand it, this is because each point does not have the right name which paneling tools accepts (i.e. G(0)(0), G(0)(1), G(0)(2) for a planar point grid or G0(0)(1), G0(0)(2) etc as described on http://wiki.mcneel.com/_media/labs/panelingtoolsmanual.pdf page 5 for a point grid on a surface). I tried renaming a few points to match the suggested point names (manually), and this was accepted in Paneling tools, but I'm looking for a way to automate the process (I don't think re-naming over 100 points manually is a suitable solution!).

Ultimately, I'd like to be able to create points on a surface within Grasshopper, then baking them into Rhino so I can use Paneling tools.

I'm really hoping that someone could point me in the right direction; am I missing something with how to operate the VB module, or would it be best to make a workflow that could rename the point grid array...would this involve lists, trees etc?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Abs

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael Pryor on July 14, 2011 at 11:38am

Why not just only use grasshopper and use box morphing?

Permalink Reply by Michael Pryor on July 14, 2011 at 11:49am

http://rhinotoday.com/2009/01/grasshopper-tutorial-box-morphing-by-...

Permalink Reply by Abs on July 14, 2011 at 12:42pm

Hi Mike,

thanks for your suggestion - I tried using box morphing, and my attempt is attached (I used the instruction video Part 3 from http://jonb.free.fr/nao/index.php/2009/01/09/grasshopper-tutorial-b...), but there are several reasons as to why it wasn't suitable for what I'm trying to do;

1. I'm interested in using a 2D pattern rather than a 3D form, which will then be repeated within a Paneling point grid which is assigned to a surface. The repeated patterns are then pulled onto the surface, which are then used to trim the surface.

2. The surface I'm using has high curvature, and using box morphing intersects the surface, so it doesn't conform to the surface as closely as I'd like it to unless the number of repeats along U and V are increased.

3. The surface I'd like to use has various trimmed regions on it. Paneling Tools is great for me, because the 2D pattern is repeated on a Surface Domain point grid, so it is initially repeated over the the trimmed regions, but once since the Pull setting is used, only the repeated pattern curves that lie over the kept surface remain (see Paneling tools jpeg).

The surface I've used in the images isn't the surface I need to use, but hopefully it shows what I'm trying to do. Also, I've managed to get the patterning that I need on the paneling tool example, but the reason why I want to use Grasshopper is that it allows me to scale up/down the UV ratio of the paneling points by using a slider tool, so the user can change the pattern density. The only trouble with this is that I can't bake the points out of Grasshopper into Rhino so I can use paneling tools.

Also...I'd quite like to know how the VB module works, because I'm curious, and I'd like to learn more!

Sorry if this is a bit wordy, but I can't think of a better way of explaining what I need.

Cheers, Abs

Attachments:

Paneling tools trim demo.jpg, 191 KB
Box Morph example.jpg, 212 KB

Permalink Reply by Michael Pryor on July 14, 2011 at 2:27pm

Yea I see what your saying, box morph ignores your surface cutouts. I dont know anything about paneling tools, In grasshopper I might boolean or trim the boxmorph with the surface openings, or cull out the panels that go over the opening. I'm sure there is a better way.

Permalink Reply by Abs on July 14, 2011 at 2:38pm

Hi Mike,

Ok, I'll carry on playing about, and I'll have a look at using a boolean or trim/cull like you suggested. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply though. Really appreciate it.

Permalink Reply by Michael Pryor on July 14, 2011 at 2:31pm

maybe this helps?

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/profiles/blogs/panelingtools-selection

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