Parametric Grading

I’m glad to see the group is consistently gaining members. In light of that I will try to do a better job of facilitating discussion on the topic. A recent idea that I have been toying with as of late is parametric grading using grasshopper.

My initial line of thought would be to use responsive surfaces controlled by attractors to conceptually define form and then have the definition output the relative parameters of the surface (gradient based slope maps, contours, etc).

Below is a tutorial from Ball State University I.M.A.D.E (a great program for digital design + fabrication) on responsive surfaces. I.M.A.D.E Responsive Surface

This tutorial is a great starting point for a parametric grading definition, but will need to be tweaked to handle multiple attractors and irregular shaped point grids.   

Once the surface is defined we can apply the contour tool from LMNts Architects to get contours and layout sheets for model fabrication. LMNts Contour Tool

From there we could always add new parameters such as slope gradients and constraints to make the form truly parametric.

It is a start and I would love to hear some feedback on what people think and ways to improve the workflow.

Cheers,

Matt