7 | Computational Couture¶

Inspiration¶

Grasshopper¶

How do they do it? Those shapes and geometries are made with the plug-in of Rhinoceros called Grasshopper. Grasshopper is a cutting-edge parametric modelling tool which works with Rhino to allow a powerful and efficient new way of designing.

It is mainly used for programming generative algorithms. The types of algorithms may include audiovisual, textual, haptic applications, and numeric algorithms. Grasshopper is created to deal with those areas where Rhino is incapable of extending.

Here is a quick introduction for beginners of what Grasshopper is and how to use it.

Necklace¶

I wanted to make a necklace that adapted to the body, like a second skin. The fabric will allow it to be the second skin and the 3D printed parts would give the body.

MakeHuman¶

I needed a reference to determinate the shape, so I did a model in MakeHuman with specific characteristics. Then, I exported as .stl file in order to open it in Rhinoceros. Foto modelo.

Rhinoceros and Grasshopper¶

I imported the human model into Rhinoceros. It was a 1:1 scale model, so I just had to draw the shape of the necklace.

I drew a geometrical shape with polyline command to decide the final form. After, I drew the same curve but with interpolar polyline which made an organic shape. In both case, I only drew half of the curve because I did a mirror to obtain a symmetric curve.

I made a surface and with the reference of the curve, I cut it. As a result, I had a surface with the necklace shape.

In Rhinoceros 7, the Grasshopper plug-in is in the main command line, so clicking there, you open it. From here, the odyssey of understanding and realising what one wants begins.

I used the plug-in LunchBox, in particular the hexagonal cell. As its name says, this command makes an hexagonal pattern, however, with t parameter. It can be changed depending on the value that you give it.

LunchBox

It’s a plug-in for Grasshopper for exploring mathematical shapes, paneling, structures, and workflow. It has also introduced new components for general machine learning implementations such as regression analysis, clustering, and networks.

There are many plug-ins to download and install on your computer free of charge. The most popular website is Food4Rhino. It’s a big community where users can find the latest Rhino plug-ins and Grasshopper add-ons, download materials, textures and backgrounds, scripts and much more.

via GIPHY

Here you can download the file:

Necklace by Arantza T. on Sketchfab

3D printing¶

I have used the same configuration that I used to print the earring pattern. Further on it is shown.

I printed it with PLA filament, silver colour.

Earrings¶

Rhinoceros and Grasshopper¶

In this case, I use an attraction point with the hexagonal cell, which means that the distribution of those will depend on the point position. The closer they are to the point, the larger they will be and the closer they will be to each other.

With t parameter I gave them a different shape.