Sightlines and View Obstructions

    Sightlines and View Obstructions

    This Grasshopper definition takes any potential point of view and simulates a spectator’s quality of view based upon what areas on the stage would be blocked from view.

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    Grasshopper Contour Tool

    Grasshopper Contour Tool

    This definition was written to speed up the process of creating a contour model while limiting the amount of waste generated during the fabrication of the physical model.  An interface was developed within Grasshopper where all of the important settings can be controlled, allowing those who know little about grasshopper to still use the definition.  [...]

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    Grasshopper to ANSYS

    Grasshopper to ANSYS

    If you’ve played with Grasshopper then you know how much fun it can be to throw the sliders back and forth and watch your geometry change.  What if you wanted to get analysis data for everyone of those iterations?  Parametric modeling eases the task of generating multiple iterations, but it can be a bit laborious [...]

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    Grasshopper to Excel Exporter

    Grasshopper to Excel Exporter

    One of the amazing things about working with Grasshopper is the ability to generate lots of information, a key part of Building Information Modeling.  However, the difficulty is that it can sometimes be difficult to get that information out of Grasshopper in an organized form.  Damien Alomar’s work with GH and Excel served as the [...]

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    TAS Ambiens Workflow

    TAS Ambiens Workflow

    Though Ambiens is technically a piece of CFD software, it allows for rapid modeling (when you get used to its quirks) and very quick simulations (often less than 2 minutes). After playing with Ambiens for about an hour, you should be able to run relatively complex studies…which is a-typical of most airflow modeling software…so as quirky as the software is, the “bang for the buck” is fairly good.

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    Posts

    Stage Lighting with LEDs, Arduino, & Firefly

    We recently built a 1:24 scale model of a studio theater.  The design team did a great job building the model, but it was so seamless (thank you laser-cutter!) that it was very dark inside.  Even after the viewing holes had been cut, it was literally a black-box.  The solution was to rig up a bunch of high-intensity LEDs on the theater catwalk to illuminate the stage in an attempt to create something akin to the dramatic lighting during an actual show.  So we mounted the LEDs in black plastic tubing to get the can- and spot-light effects.  The lights were wired back to an Arduino micro-controller and we used the Firefly components for Grasshopper to control the whole system.

    All this had to be done quickly: about two days before an important client meeting.  First, we had to solder together a bunch of LEDs to long wires.  As we only had speaker-wire on hand, so the most challenging part was stringing it along the catwalks with electrical tape.   With our “not so thin” speaker-wire cabling, it created a bit of a mess when the wire bundle exited the model…

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    A Breathing Building Skin at ACADIA 2010

    Breathing Building SkinScott will be presenting “A Breathing Building Skin” at the ACADIA 2010 Conference at Cooper Union in New York, taking place October 21st – 24th.

    The theme of ACADIA this year is “the changing nature of information & its impact on architectural education, research and practice,” focusing on the flow of information , generative & evolutionary modeling, & digital fabrication.

    Scott’s work – which was the core of his MS thesis at the UW’s CBE – is an exploration into the development of a breathing building skin.  The driving concepts for this project are the three types of evolutionary adaptation: flexibility, acclimation, and learning.  Of particular interest is how these biological concepts relate to architectural design and design computing.  Parametric modeling was used throughout the project to study a family of folding geometry to constitute a system of diaphragms as an alternative to the use of fans for distributing volumes of air.

    Sightlines and View Obstructions

    The design of performing arts center’s, sporting venues, and other places of spectacle requires the layout of a large number of seats with the hope that most, if not all spectators will have an unobstructed view of the event.  Equations can be used to calculate a rake that will limit one person’s head of hair from blocking another person’s view, but it is difficult to know how well this value is working for every seat.

    We are developing a Grasshopper definition that takes any potential point of view and simulates what areas on the stage would be blocked from view.  A slider controls which seat is analyzed and Rhino’s camera orientation and location are also adjusted to the selected seat.  The definition can also be used to compare the quality of view from all of the seats by coloring the heads according to which ones have the clearest view versus those with the highest number of obstructions.

    The goal is to be able to use the definition as a feedback tool for creating parametric iterations of seating layouts within Grasshopper.  It is also capable of analyzing existing seating layouts using the center location of each seat, allowing consultant provided options to be more easily compared.

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    This definition is still under develop so please send feedback related to how you might imagine something like this working, what you’d like it to be able to do, or what information is important.

    The section of the definition that lays out the seating centerlines can be downloaded here.  This definition was written in Grasshopper 0.7.0030.  The other parts of the definition are currently not available for download.

    Obligatory disclaimer: the author does not guarantee that these parametric models are bug-free or that they will solve all of your problems.  If you find bugs or have suggestions for improvements, please let us know.

    University of Washington Digital Design and Fabrication Certificate Program

    The University of Washington’s College of Built Environments will be offering a certificate in Digital Design and Fabrication this fall.  The certificate program is a three quarter exploration of digital design tools like Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, and Solidworks in combination with lasercutters, CNC routers, plasma cutters, and 3d printers.  The program is open to professionals in design fields of architecture, engineering, construction, or any one else who might be interested in picking up some new skills.

    Scott Crawford of LMNts will be teaching parametric modeling during the winter quarter along with Rob Corser of the University of Washington.  Other instructors include Ben Dalton of Miller|Hull and Kimo Griggs of the University of Washington.

    Digital Design and Fabrication Certificate Program Website

    Virtualwind Workflow

    Virtualwind is an architect-friendly Computation Fluid Dynamics simulation tool.  In a previous post, I briefly outlined the steps involved in setting up a Virtualwind study.  The video below goes through the entire work-flow from start to finish: from cleaning up the geometry in SketchUp to create a watertight model all the way through to visualizing simulation results. I am certainly not using all the features in Virtualwind and there are likely quicker ways to setup the domain and atmospheric conditions…so to those Virtualwind users out there, please let me know what I could be doing better.

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