Grasshopper to Monolith

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Comment by Kim hauer on March 8, 2016 at 6:20pm

Hi Andy,

I'm quite familiar with the GH alternatives that various members have contributed here. That's exactly why I raised the issue. I also see another person had posted a similar comment at the K3DSurf forum to which there was no response. I copied that picture to reinforce the beautiful symmetric nature of meshes as they embraces the defined geometric shape in GH as opposed to the marching cubes algorithm, which does its job mathematically, but without any design sense.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.... cheers!

Comment by Andy Payne on March 8, 2016 at 6:27am

Hi Kim,

Sorry for the delay.  To answer your question about mesh quality... Monolith currently uses a standard marching cubes algorithm to derive the iso-surface mesh.  It's been optimized quite a bit, but the resultant mesh topology is driven by the marching cubes algorithm.  We have been discussing other options for re-meshing that would give 'better' results, but we're still exploring the most effective way to implement those.  Weaverbird is a good mesh sub-division modeling, but it still works on the incoming mesh topology.  For true re-meshing you may want to look into the Plankton library for Grasshopper, developed by Daniel Piker and Will Pearson (http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/plankton) or Mesh Machine (http://www.grasshopper3d.com/profiles/blogs/meshmachine-update).  Hope this helps.

Comment by Kim hauer on March 6, 2016 at 4:48pm

Hi Andy:

My 1st posted picture had two purposes, it contains also my question on the Left part of the pic, the posting part you have now addressed. The 2nd Picture was intended to show the difference in wireframe mesh structure that makes the geometry in Monolith VS Weaverbird.

Comment by Andy Payne on March 6, 2016 at 3:54pm

Hi Kim,

Thanks for all the feedback.  Regarding posting on the forum... You were very close.  In the image you posted below you'll see a small blue button in the bottom left that says "Create Topic".  Had you pressed that button, it would have posted your thread to the Monolith forum.  It should be pretty straightforward as we're using Discourse as a hosting service which is very similar to the very popular Stack Overflow site.  Most forums are going in this direction and in fact, the regular Rhino forum is now hosted by Discourse as well.  Hopefully this will help in the future.

As far as your other question about your workflows... What exactly is your question.  I understand your desired workflow and the pictures look nice.  But, is there a specific question or issue you're running into with Monolith and/or Grasshopper?

Comment by Kim hauer on March 6, 2016 at 12:42pm

Hi Andy:

I forgot to mention I'm using your standalone program. Your GH addon, I'm sorry to say, is still something I'm trying to understand, which is probably my fault.

Comment by Kim hauer on March 6, 2016 at 12:32pm

Hi Andy:

Sorry to be such a pain. Here is pic I wanted to post at your forum, also without success, related to my question.


My workflow: for the picture on the LEFT

1. Quick one minute voxel sketch using Monolith, exported .stl
2. Import into Meshmixer, or reduce and remesh
2. Import into Rhino, do Boolean Intersect of a new Cube, to re create crisp cube edges
3. Import into Grasshopper, Cleanup geometry using WeaverBird and thicken wireframes.
4. Import into Keyshot for rendering
5. Whats still missing in my Tool chest s a 3d Printer ....so sad!

My workflow: for the picture on the Right

1. Did not use Monolith at all

Comment by Kim hauer on March 6, 2016 at 11:52am

Hi Andy:

Thanks for your reply, I tried again to leave a comment regarding another subject related to Monolith, at your forum without success. After creating a new Topic and entering my comments. Where is the Icon to that allows me to post the comment?

I also fully understand trying new make New UI's. At the same time you also don't want to alienate curmudgeon like me whose 1st computer was an Apple II. :)

Here is a screen grab of the question I was trying to post at your forum.

cheers!

Comment by Andy Payne on March 5, 2016 at 1:37pm

Hi Kim,
I appreciate the feedback. Sorry to hear you're having trouble with the forum. It's new and we're still working somethings out. We're constantly working to make it better, so we appreciate your feedback.
As to your other comments... Again, Monolith is still very much in beta. We're experimenting with different workflows. Voxel-based modeling is very different from traditional CAD modeling programs. We're very interested in exploring how well different processes work with voxel modeling. That's why we've been working on a stand alone application, a plugin for visual programming, and even a beta application for touch interfaces (i.e. iPad) in the works. But we give the software away for free too. We are working to improve the experience, but it is up to you to decide whether it is worth your time to learn how it works. Again, thanks for your feedback.

Comment by Kim hauer on March 5, 2016 at 1:18pm

Hi Robert: I apologize for using the word suck. Have you actually tried to post something at his forum?

I think Andy has a great program. I'm hoping to make what Andy has developed more usable... its called constructive criticism. After watching some of his videos I had to take screen captures so I could sequentially use his program. I have never had to do that for any program I learned.

There is no point reinventing the wheel when It come to windows program layout.
99% of Window users expect to see certain features in the same locations.
In fact many progams actually allow users to customise their work flow so that it integreate with other programs'  expected mouse commands.

Why on earth for example: would a typical windows user NOT expect to find a file Open command under the File menu?  Why use Clear Geometry under an obscure Option title?

Cheers!

 

Comment by Kim hauer on March 4, 2016 at 5:52pm

Hi Andy: I'm sorry to say my first forum experience at your forum sucks!

Since I could not post a picture at your forum I will do it here.

"" cheers!

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