technical input

3D modeling and printing

3D modeling with Verena

On Friday, we spent the day with an input from Verena. However, we got an introduction to the modeling programs Rhinoceros and Grasshopper, it was nice to fresh up our knowledge in that field. We started with the basics, steady but slowly due to lots of questions, then we moved to more advanced techniques. I found this intro really useful and beneficial for the project- also for the long-term future. Parametric design will allow us to come up with a framework for the form and then just change the different parameters and get a modified result easily. Also, whatever we create can be mapped to a mesh, something we created or scanned.

As I am still following tutorials, don’t want to go into details here, so let me just post a couple of screenshots from the basic exercises till the complex mapping tasks.

Enjoy!

The arrow was created with lines, then extruded into 3D.

A variation of solids (right) , and possible operations with several meshes (left).

Wave inspired shapes created from simple 2D lines.

Starting off with Grasshopper.

Using shift list to connect circles with pipes, then twist them to create interesting forms.

Creating different surfaces on different body parts. The furthest we got today…

The following week our tutorials went on. As Verena got sick, Martin and Joëlle explained more complex methods that combines input from sensors and Grasshopper sequences. As a start, we tried a few things in Shiftr.io, then connected it with Rhino. This session included a lot of “copy this code there” and “download this example and play with the parameters” kind of exercises so I cannot really share a self made example.