7. Computational Couture¶
Research & Ideation¶
This week I learnt how are made many of the textiles and clothes with complex geometry are produced. Eugenio is a Genius! He inspired in many possible ways to create complex patters for 3D printing or to create patterns digitally. In example, I found this designer that proposed to print at home some garments using a 3D Printer:
Also, I found this scientific journal where it is highlighted some aplications of 3D Printing in the field of agriculture, in healthcare, automotive industry, locomotive industry and aviation industries.
Ana's Presentation guided me into the different types of materials that can be used for 3D Printing, below it is a helpful screenshot from her presentation:
From Eugenio's tutorial I learnt many of the functions that you can use in Grasshopper and how powerful is this tool to create complex patterns:
Some of the functions I learnt were:
• Grasshpoper gives a number to each point. This number is called index. This component has an input and an out put
• Slider, lets you see the size of the number. It goes in order that you generate it and generate them. Grasshopper starts to count in Zero,
• Instead of connecting with a line, you can connect with a point
• If you need to work in rhino what you did in rhino, you need to use the function “bake”.
• Orange block is empty. Red is an error.
• To navigate among files – Right top “unnamed” you can see them
• Flip curve from Rhino.
• The starting point needs to match the starting point from the other curve
• Tween: create curves in between curves. Sleesct curve A, CURVE B, and factor
• Range: by default creates an interval, and divides it in number subdivisson. You can connect it in the tween function and create a number of lines.
• Curve/curve: intersection of curves as the way to split the curves
• To delete you use the function Shatter. With C you select the line you want to cut, and then select the parameter curve that you would use to cut. Closed polysurface for 3D printed object
• Voronoi, shows a different type of mesh
• Perlin noise: generates mathematic noise. Deforming the shape of our surface. Vector fierd, then merge field, which is a general field. Extrude lines for printing
How to use a 3D Printer¶
In recent years I have seen many people posting in social media about all the possible options you can get with 3d Printers . However, until this moment of my life, I am lucky enough to have the chance to be close to many 3D Printers and to understand how they work. Previously I understood the concept of how they Work , but it was until this week that I learnt how to use it and these are the main steps to be considered:
Set the machine:
- Place the fabric over the bed using clips. It must be tensed
- Calibrate the bed, the nozzle shall not be that close to the bed to drag it and shall not be that away for more precise deposition of the plastic.
- The temperature of the Nozzle shall be according to the Plastic fabricant. In this case it was recommended from 220°C to 235°C and we set it at 230°C
- The nozzle shall be at home position to avoid tracks
Prepare the file:
- Select the file in *stl format (Standard Triangle Language)
- In the 3d printer check temperature, speed, thickness, size and finally
- If there is a problem in the geometry you can use 3D printer to verify your file
- Open it on Cura
- Check temperature, speed, thickness, size of your textile and set the following settings: a. Layer Height: 0,2 b. Infill: Lines c. Flow: 100% d. Enable Retraction:OFF e. Print speed: 25 mm/s f. Print Speed: 25mm/s g. Support: OFF h. Plate Adhesion: None i. Nozzle size 1mm. Changing the thickness creates the pattern in textiles
Design of Parametric Model¶
First Step is Open Rhino and then open Grasshopper. Doubble Click and Select Rectangle, this will define a rectangle area of your surface
Double click and select the length of your area and then Conect it to X and Y values. In this example the size of my squared area is 100mm x 100mm.
Afterwards, Connect your rectangle to Offset , which will be connected afterwards to P Charge.
Then double Click, and select Populate2D. This will create points inside the selected area. Then you connect your Rectangle to your Region (R with R) and then Select two number sliders> One for the number of Points and the other for the Random seed for Insertion. In this example we have 4 points in Seed 1.
Finally, connect a point to the population as Point.
Then, insert the function Point Charge to charge the above points « Pt ». The inputs for Charge will be the Points « Pt », the Decay of Charge Potential, the boundary (Which is the Offset of our Rectangle and also the Charge of the point object (In this example we did not use this variable). After the Resulting field, insert the function « MergeF » to merge the resulting fields into a single input.
Parallel to the previous step, we insert the function Circle, to create Circles out of the Points. Afterwards we insert the function Divide, to divide the circles in a variable number of parts. In this case we divide it in 15 parts, and this will create he number of lines of our magnetic fields.
Once you have completed the above steps, the diagram should look like this:
Finally, Connect these two Functions into the Function «Field Line » in order to create the field line into a curve. According to the above parameters, you should see now the final figure like this, and we will call this curve FLOWERS.
Then, to obtain a better resolution from our figure, we divide the curve into segments and then we create a curve into a polyline. The functions for this process are « Divide Curve » and « Polyline ». To adjust the number of segments of the polyline, insert a number Slider.
Finally, the remaining steps to obtain the File ready to 3D Print are:
Insert a BB OFFSET. The inputs for this function are the Polyline from previous Step and a the Distance of the OFFSET that will define the thickness of the 3D Print. In this case we set it to 0.6mm
Insert a Boundary Surface after the offset
Insert the function « Extrusion » and define the thickness of the volume with a Vector in Z direction. In this example we defined it as 1.2mm with a Number Slider. To validate that all the curves are closed we inserted a panel:
Finally you insert the function « Mesh »to create a group of points and then insert the function « Mesh Joint ». Now the file is ready to be 3D Printed
In the 3d printer check temperature, speed, thickness, size and finally If there is a problem in the geometry you can use 3D printer
Exporting and Printing your file¶
Finally export file into STL format. Make sure it is a closed object. Open it on CURA and follow the guidelines detailed in Section “How to use a 3D Printer” of this Website and the file is available at the bottom page of this site 1
parameters for 3D Printing & Materials
Nozzle size: 1 mm, - Material: Black PLA - Fabric: White elastane - Layer Height: 0.2mm - Temperature: Nozzle= 200ºC Bed= 60ºC - Retraction: 3mm - Print Speed: 50 mm/s
Once the above parameters were set, I 3D printed my design in a White Stretch material with black Nozzle.
The result was amazing and it looks exactly the same as it was designed. However, it was notices that there was a bit of non desired material deposited caused by the nozzle movement. This extra filaments were removed with tweezers.As we saw in the lectures, one effect that 3D print has in textiles it that it creates a curvature effect in the cloth once is removed from the 3D Printer. It looks like a game of black flowers forming a white flower in the middle.
Conclusion¶
I 3D printed my design and I think it is a good alternative to obtain creative and complex textiles. With computer design we can create complex geometries and with Grasshopper we can control all the variables of the design. Also, by 3D printing a hot filament on a fabric, we can get textures and curvatures and we can play to obtain complex shapes and geometries.
Overall, 3D printing in computational couture has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about fashion and clothing design, and to create more sustainable and innovative designs. 3D printing allows for the creation of intricate and unique designs that would be difficult or impossible to produce with traditional manufacturing methods.
Also, garments can be customized to each uset and this technique allows rapid prototyping of designs, which can reduce costs with traditional prototyping method.
Thank you Eugenio, Petra and Ana! :) Another Successful Week
Fabrication files¶
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File Rhino: FLOWERS design ↩
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File Grasshopper: FLOWERS design ↩
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File STL: FLOWERS design ↩