ACADIA 2009 Paper Accepted!

My paper for the ACADIA 09 Conference was accepted today. The title is "Parametric Strategies for Civic Architecture Design". There were 106 paper submissions and only 21 papers were chosen. I am very happy to be a presenter! Visit the ACADIA 09 Website for more info!

http://www.grasshopper3d.com

A new official Grasshopper community has been created to replace the Google Group site. The new site allows you to set up your own Facebook-esque profile and post pictures and videos. The site also features tutorials and links to other tutorials online.

Click Here to Visit http://www.grasshopper3d.com

Open Source Spotlight 02: TopMod 3D

TopMod 3D
Click here to visit the Top Mod website and Download.
TopMod3d is a free, open source, portable, platform independent topological mesh modeling system that allows users to create high genus 2-manifold meshes.

While a little buggy and (sometimes) sluggish, TopMod has some very unique tools for creating complex meshes. You begin with a primitive shape (a cube, for example) and then manipulate it to create more intricate, continuous meshes.

The program has many subdivision and remeshing options although I wish it featured a sub-d 'preview' toggle so I could get a better idea of what the smooth result looks like before committing to a permanent operation.

Regardless of its flaws... there is still much fun to be had with TopMod...

Open Source Spotlight 01: K3DSurf

As an ongoing feature, I will spotlight various Open Source design software that I find useful, fun, interesting... and most of all COOL.

K3DSurf
Click here to Visit the K3DSurf Website and Download
From the Website: K3DSurf is a program to visualize and manipulate Mathematical models in three, four, five and six dimensions. K3DSurf supports Parametric equations and Isosurfaces.

As a designer, if you are at all interested in mathematical form finding, definitely check this software out... the simple interface allows you to navigate through a huge library of mathematically derived forms and surfaces. You can manipulate/create equations, adjust mesh resolutions, and output the mesh (*.obj) for use in other programs. Below is the result of some fun I had playing around with a gyroid for 5 minutes....

3D Voronoi "Porn" in Grasshopper

There has been an interesting discussion going on over at the Grasshopper Google Group for achieving 3D Voronoi within the Grasshopper environment.

Visose recently posted a method for using the VB.NET script component in conjunction with the Pointset Reconstruction plug-in in order produce a set of 3D Voronoi polysurfaces (BReps) within Grasshopper. The method does not allow for auto-updating. You will have to hit F5 in GH to refresh the result. Still, this is pretty effective if you want slightly more automation than is currently offered by the PSet plug-in.

I have posted the *.ghx file of the method: GH_3D Voronoi_Pointset Macro Method.ghx

You will need to have the Pointset Reconstruction Plug-In installed for this to work. The image above is a result I got after modifying the voronoi BReps within Grasshopper (offset and fillet of 3D voronoi = trendy architecture!)