Displacement maps / Mesh Deformation

Hi Guys,

Im still finding my way around Grasshopper and trying to come up with something like the following:

I work heavily in 3D Max, and would do this using displacement maps. I was wondering if I could do something similar in grasshopper based off maps? It's basically intersecting rings, and it creates those dimples where the intersections happen.

Any help r thoughts on how I could achieve this in GH would be really appreciated.

Thanks guys!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hyungsoo Kim on December 27, 2016 at 12:00am

You might want to see this.

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/sine-wave-with-spiral-form

Permalink Reply by Ethan Gross on December 27, 2016 at 12:48am

Looks like Hyungsoo beat me to the punch but here's a similar method that adds some exponential damping that your photo seems to imply.

Attachments:

ripples.gh, 10 KB

Permalink Reply by Hussain Almossawi on December 27, 2016 at 5:26pm

Thanks a lot guys that's awesome, can't thank you enough!!

Permalink Reply by Nik Willmore on January 1, 2017 at 11:13am

Permalink Reply by Ethan Gross on January 2, 2017 at 12:54pm

Very nice Nik. Any clues as to the process?

Permalink Reply by martyn hogg on January 2, 2017 at 4:11pm

Out of interest, does anyone know how to make the ripples reflect off hard edges or surfaces? Or is that a simulation question?

Permalink Reply by Ethan Gross on January 2, 2017 at 6:12pm

Well upon some reflection Martyn, I came up with the following: For simplicity, symmetry and laziness, I'm only using one point source at the origin, in an ngon, and then reflecting that source along the edges to give n additional sources, that are mirror images of the original. Since they are further out, and there is some exponential damping, their influences add up but they are attenuated by their increased distance. Because of symmetry, I don't think this method works correctly for n>6; it's like tiling.

Attachments:

ripples reflected.gh, 17 KB

Permalink Reply by Ethan Gross on January 3, 2017 at 3:39am

I played around with the function, changing the sine to a cosine but more significantly, changing the damping from exponential to something that goes like 1/distance, so it takes longer to diminish and the symmetry becomes more apparent. Maybe this actually has some physical meaning since the intensity of a wave spreading out over the surface of a sphere decreases like 1/r^2, and perhaps the intensity on a disk goes like 1/r.(?)

Permalink Reply by martyn hogg on January 3, 2017 at 1:18pm

Be interesting to add strength to each point source to give another way of varying the pattern!

Permalink Reply by martyn hogg on January 3, 2017 at 3:42am

Nice work!

I guess this method works because of the symmetry but anything asymetrical would require some sort of simulation

Permalink Reply by Ethan Gross on January 3, 2017 at 4:26am

Thanks Martyn. I'm sure in general you're right, particularly if the shape is concave or curved but I think the idea of reflecting would still work even for some non-symmetric polygons. I have to think about it some more.

Permalink Reply by martyn hogg on February 27, 2017 at 3:52pm

Made one from London Plane wood...

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