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07. Computational Couture

I SEE COMANDS EVERYWHERE

Moodboard

Looking for inspirations was my second favorite things for this assignment. The first one was realizing that all my organic drawings can be achieved with grasshopper and digital fabrication. My inspiration can be divided in different moods: a more organic and attached to the body design; and another one more architectonic preserving natural forms. Parametric design can make the product more efficient in its structure.

WORKING WITH GRASSHOPPER

Hey

"Grasshopper is a visual programming interface for the 3D modeling program Rhinoceros. Rhino uses >non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) to precisely, mathematically model geometry. With visual >programming, you can algorithmically generate geometry by composing diagrams that link data to functions. >An algorithmic approach enables designers to create complex forms and rapidly generate alternative >designs. (Brendan Harmon).

This week was… boom. A lot of information (again). Even with a previous knowledge around grasshopper, it is still scary. A Lot of commands, different paths or options, too many algorithms… Some of the plug-ins that we used were: -Pufferfish -Bifocals -Weaverbird -Lunchbox -... there are a ton.

You can find many of them in Food4Rhino, Weaver bird in Giulio Piecentino.

Here is a really good blog where they explain everything from the beginning and how to work with grasshopper: Brendan Harmon

After watching the two first tutorials, I know I needed some more basic ones where I could follow and do the exercise at the same time. I found useful these ones:

After watching the last one I was really inspired to do some jewelry. So after fighting against many computers I started to draw some sketches where I know I could use the loft tool.

WORKFLOW

First of all...SKETCHING organic forms (always) Sketches

LOFT

This is the HIGH resolution code but I invite you to follow the Column loft tutorial:

Code

Loft by elsa.gil.benito on Sketchfab

I did another example more aligned with the the 3d printting on fabric so I could create volumes.

Bosque

This is the HIGH resolution code but I invite you to follow the Voronoi tutorial

Code

Bosque by elsa.gil.benito on Sketchfab

After finisihing the model, we decided to just test with the simple voronoi pattern and same high.

VORONOI by elsa.gil.benito on Sketchfab

But I also designed my own pattern using arrays in Rhino (not more grasshopper) if I had time to print more.

Pattern by elsa.gil.benito on Sketchfab

3D PRINTING PROCESS

We used the Prusa I3 Mk3/MK3S 3D printter with FilaFlex on a flexible fabric too.

Printting with FilaFlex is a little bit more trickier than expected as it needs a different extrusor. This filament is thicker than a rigid one and it also needs a special path to follow while it's hot. If we don't use a special extrusor for flexible materials, this can happen:

Problems

Printting on fabric can be trickier too, as we need to take in mind that we are adding an extra layer to the printter's bed. So calibratting and testing it is really important for printting on fabric.

Steps for preparing the print:

  • Calibrate the printter without the fabric to test if the extrusion of the filament is good.
  • Add that extra height of the fabric
  • Choose your fabric, if it's flexible you need to strech it as much as possible and attach it with clips >to the printer's bed. The fabric musn't move so the filament can stick properly.
  • Test if the height of the layer is good enought. The filament need to be deposited on the fabric and not move from there. If the extruder is too high, the material will slip.
  • Once it's good, print your pattern checking regularly if the filament is running properly.
    • We put a height of 0.4 mm in the Z axis
    • A 0,4 mm nozzle
    • A 1,75 mm filament diameter
    • Layer: 0,25 mm max
    • The total height was 1,5mm but we stoppped the process in the third layer.
    • Tº nozzle: 210ºC
    • Tº base: 50ºC
  • Wait for it...

Upside Upside down

When we all finished I tried the pattern with PLA as a rigid material. I used a microtul as a fabric and prepare it as same as the other one. We used the software CURA in order to generate the G-code.

CURA

BACK

BACK

DOWNLOADABLE FILES

Here you can download the Rhino and grasshopper files so you can experiment with them and make your own patterns!

Computational coture Drive folder

Last update: 2021-11-27