Software : Rhino 3d and Grasshopper (Explicit History)
Level : Intermediate
Description : In this Rhino video tutorial we cover how to make scaling circular patterns based on the distance between points. This is similar to a tutorial i built in 3ds Max with wire parameters.

Please have a look in the forum for more Grasshopper files and images.

Topics Covered
-New Grasshopper UI
-Series component explained
-Creating point grids
-Using the distance component
-Driving geometry with parameters
-Using the mathematic operation components

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So……. Explicit History has been re-branded as Grasshopper. I am also glad to say that David Rutten did not just change the name. He has also TONS of new functionality. This programs was amazing before now it’s even better. Further more this is only release 0.3 i would imagine they have plenty more on deck for future releases.

Here is link to the McNeel blog with the announcement

Here is direct link to the Grasshopper blog

Here are some updated images from SHoP’s 290 Mulberry project. If you have not see the project you can see more images at http://290mulberry.com

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Software : Autodesk 3ds Max
Description : This is the third part of a series in which I will try and go through all the operations that can be done at the sub-object level of the various geometry types in 3ds Max. This 3ds Max Video Tutorial goes over the majority of the procedures that can be done at the vertex level of an editable Mesh. All of the example are simplified to show the fundamentals of each command.

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Modifier : Surface
Works on: Splines

3ds Max Description : The Surface modifier generates a patch surface based on the contours of a spline network. A patch is created wherever the segments of the interwoven splines form a three- or four-sided polygon. The Surface modifier and the CrossSection modifier, taken together, are referred to as Surface Tools. They allow you to create complex or organic surfaces, like the fuselage of a plane, or a three-dimensional character.

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Software : Revit Architecture
Level : Beginner - Intermediate

Description : This Revit 2009 video tutorial covers how to add parameters for scheduling and tagging. In this case the objects being scheduled are parking spaces. The problem was that by default Revit is able to schedule the “count” of objects. In this case i wanted to schedule stacker parking which meant every parking component equaled 2 spaces. In order to schedule the number of spaces, a shared parameter is added which looks for a yes/no parameter stating whether or not the component is a stacker. This is done by adding a conditional statement which looks to see if the family is a stacker based on the yes/no check box. The techniques in this example can be easily transfered to any family type with in Revit. This same logic can apply to estimating Techniques, i hope to cover quantity extraction a bit more in the weeks to come.

Topics Covered
-Making shared parameters
-Scheduling shared parameters
-Tagging shared parameters
-Scheduling with conditional statements
-Controlling visibility with parameters
-Controlling multiple object with one parameter

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Modifier : Cross Section
Works on: Splines

3ds Max Description : The CrossSection modifier creates a “skin” across multiple splines. It works by connecting the vertices of 3D splines to form a skin. The resulting object is another spline object that can be used with the Surface modifier to create a patch surface. These two modifiers, when used together, are sometimes referred to collectively as “Surface Tools.”

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Software : Rhino 3d and Explicit History (Grasshopper)
Level : Intermediate
Description : In this Rhino video tutorial we cover how to make a sine and cosine curve with with Explicit History. The initial set up for this tutorial can be used to test any of the math functions. We set up a a simple interface to drive range parameters which can then connect to many of the scalar components.

Please have a look in the forum for more Grasshopper files and images.

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In the next few weeks I hope to re-launch the forum section of this site. In general it has only been used for students to post work and for me to give feed back. My interest is in making it much more of a discussion rather than me answering questions (which i will keep doing).

So my question to every one reading is…. What aspect of a forum would compel or dissuade you to contribute? Is it interface, categorization (technique vs software) or you just don’t like forums?

If you have any thoughts on this post or an example of a forum that you found particularly useful or fosters good conversation please post it in the comments of this post. Hopefully I can get some good feedback and put into the design of the new forum.

Thanks,

Dave

Software : Rhino 3d and Explicit History (Grasshopper)
Level : Intermediate
Description : In this tutorial we cover how to make an exponential curve with with Explicit History. This is an intro to using scalar parameters to driving geometry with math. Also covered, is how to use the range components to make collections of objects, in this case points. The next few videos I post will try to isolate these tools in an effort to see what they do individually. As my general philosophy I try to break software down into it’s simplest commands then begin to combine them to get more complex results.

Please have a look in the forum for more Grasshopper files and images.

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