07 computational couture

2nd - 9th November 2021

7. Computational Couture

Learning Grasshopper this week is not just like learning a new language, but a new mindset towards design. Each design step is broken down into components: functions, generators, equations, formulas. Grasshopper maps each design step so that you can control the workflow and accuracy of your ideas. It's a really smart way to visually program details..

Here's some of my own inspiration for mesh shapes I want to try and create for this assignment:

3d printer intro¶

Some basics about using the 3D printers:

PLA machines: Polylactic Acid
all fillers are plastic based
filaments are melted as they print
standard nozzle size = 0.4mm
heatlock cube
bowden A Bowden extruder is a type of filament feeding mechanism used in many FDM 3d printers
2x fans on machine - cools down filament after melting
compressor onto surface
maximum 50% in fill
3 axis: x,y,z
softer flexible filaments take longer
print walls first
wall thickness in shell always relates to nozzle size
support = a structured piece that is removed from an isolated part of a design
parameters: print settings profiles = layer thickness infill (strenghth) 50% (enough as standard)
entraction = holding delay of filament over gaps in design (enable)
do not export open objects
z offset position and pressure of nozzle to not impact stroke size on fabric

voronoi i¶

I started with following a short tutorial using the Voronoi algorithm to ease into using Grasshopper.

"Voronoi is a formulated diagram showing a partion of a plane, splitting regions depending on the mathematical positioning of points"

Add multiple points to a Rhino canvas and open in Grasshopper
Add points, box and Voronoi components
Right click, add multiple points and select points to add to Grasshopper
Add panel to cells output of Voronoi to see the available geometry from the drawn points
Add area to cells output of Voronoi to calculate the area of the geometry output
Add unit z (to give a command going in the direction of the Z axis) and..
Divide the area by a value on a number slider by connecting division to unit z
Connect extrusion Z axis output
Add a brep (boundary representation object) and link to the extrusion to cap the holes in the extrusion
Connect mesh brep to the brep
Connect mesh join to mesh to complete the mesh

So the final mapping of the voronoi design looks like this...
and the geometry looks like this in Rhino after using Grasshopper...

it would be cool to explore this more in another medium and to manipulate the structure some more.. for now the shapes will be too bulky to print onto fabric.

when i saved it as the STL file it doesn't look as thick and i like the fragments in the middle - but this will still be too bulky to print on fabric

voronoi ii¶

trying again with the voronoi as it is used in the computational couture tutorial

Fabricademy 20-21 Tutorials Grasshopper Part 1 from Fabricademy, Textile Academy on Vimeo.

point, create relationship from drawing to outcome
use transform move tool and link to point to create geometric transformation
motion connection to unit x = motion being the space it will be moved in the x axis direction
number slider to unit x factor = the number by which the point will be transformed = values min-max
line command [line between 2 points] will generate a measured line from the original point by the parameters of the other commands
using multiple points; selecting them and connecting them to poly line will make a line from the points
point list will list points in order they appear
the way you select points generate their order ie, one order or curve shape one way, and will change completely if selected differently
linking interpolate command to points will generate curves from their ordered shape
nurbs curve point does a similar command but offsets/staggers the curve drawn from the points
you can connect 2 generated styles of curves to the curve program by holding shift to connect them
boundary surface will transform a series of curves into a surface
populate geometry command allows you to plot points inside geometry
number of points generated by that command depends on count input so therefore you need a number slider to determine how many that will be
seed input in populate geometry will shuffle the
voronoi calculates the space where the points are centred
bounding box to boundary surfaces will enclose the working surfaces
connecting bounding box to voronoi boundary input will act as a trimmer
bake will take everything from grasshopper and send it back to rhino
surface split can be used to cut the new surface shapes generated by voronoi
brep to evaluate surfaces; comparing area and surfaces
using panels to collect values from brep and split surfaces: decide to separate values smaller or larger than a value on the number slider
dispatch to separate true from false (list to dispatch is from fragment list)
from dispatching to surface to offset curve to negotiate the sizing of the offsets in each cut surface: use a slider to determine the negative values for it

making a mesh¶

Making a mesh based on my photo

Starting with bringing the photo into Rhino using the picture command
Opening Grasshopper, adding a curve command and selecting multiple curves
Connect to Project
Connect to Curve to polyline and draw out a number slider
Add From curve to polyline output, connect polyline to BB offset
From BB offset draw an XY plane from the plane input and a number slider

so the curves are transformed into geometry by the curve to polyline and offset by the value of the number slider in the direction of the plane I remade the mesh in this way:

Starting with the curve function; using move to move and copy it in the direction of unit x; 10 times with the number slider
Connecting a bounding box to the geometry output of the move component; the area is generated from this output; combined with the outputs of move and connected to 2 different rotate components (the angle of rotations are generated with negative component rotating 60 degrees)