6. Computational Couture¶
This week has been very exciting for me, as I had worked with 3D printing before, but I had never worked directly with parameters from modeling software such as Rhino and Blender, so this week I continued to gain experience with these programs, but in the parametric field, and, honestly, I really enjoyed learning to design not only with parameters, but also with new ways of creating textures and fabrics with a similar appearance to normal fabrics.
Main challenges:
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Learning to design parametrically with Grasshopper.
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Understanding each command or element applied and its function within the pieces to achieve different textures.
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Experimenting with printing on fabric and other ways of making pieces that have a real similarity to conventional fabrics.
Research & Ideation¶
One of the technologies that has undoubtedly transformed the way we create is 3D printing, which allows us to materialize ideas and digital objects through multiple layers. Likewise, the world of fashion has joined its applications, making it possible to manufacture clothing, accessories, footwear, among other items. But how is it possible to create and replicate patterns and textures with 3D printing?
Parametric design - Grasshoper¶
Parametric design or modeling is a design approach used in various fields, from design to engineering and architecture. This process involves defining the parameters of a model and the relationships between them to create an easily modifiable and adaptable design, assisted by computer-aided design (CAD). Grasshopper is a cutting-edge parametric modeling tool that works with Rhino to enable a powerful and efficient new way of designing.
One of it main characteristics that I´ve never seen before is that there is a big canvas with different elements and each one of these components has a particular code inside of it (or a function). You can learn more about this kind of plug-in Here
weekly assignment
Check out the weekly assignment here or login to your NuEval progress and evaluation page.
about your images..delete the tip!!
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Remember to credit/reference all your images to their authors. Open source helps us create change faster together, but we all deserve recognition for what we make, design, think, develop.
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remember to resize and optimize all your images. You will run out of space and the more data, the more servers, the more cooling systems and energy wasted :) make a choice at every image :)
This image is optimised in size with resolution 72 and passed through tinypng for final optimisation. Remove tips when you don't need them anymore!
get inspired!
Check out and research alumni pages to better understand how to document and get inspired
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Blender research and tutorials - Erika Mirzoyan - FabLab Armenia
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Documentation grasshopper - Ola Muhanna - CPF
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Dual filament 3d print research - Stephanie Johnson - TextileLab Amsterdam
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3d print on fabric - Zahia Albakri - CPF Makerspace
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3d print on fabric - Aslı Aydın Aksan - TextileLab Amsterdam
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Visaulisations & Ideation - Dinesh Kumar - FabLab Bcn
Add your fav alumni's pages as references
References & Inspiration¶
A clear example of parametric design and modeling in the fashion world is the Studio Gissa brand, which combines digital design with technological innovation and the idea of making technology “inhabit your body,” that is, integrating the digital with the human in visual and experiential ways that feel current and relevant.
This is a brand that combines conventional techniques or processes with technology, as in this case, which seeks to ensure that the pieces do not actually look printed, but rather like conventional yet unique garments.
Julia Koerner is an Austrian designer and architect internationally recognized for her innovative work in 3D printing applied to design, architecture, fashion, and products. She stands out for combining advanced technological processes with organic forms inspired by nature, which has earned her recognition in multiple disciplines and media. What strikes me most about her work is the complexity of the shapes she creates, which at the same time look very natural.
More references¶
Personally, I found Ola's work quite creative, and the way she makes everything look so natural and grounds it right in nature. The most interesting is how she combines two techniques, one ancestral wich is embroidery or knitting and one innovative with 3D printing.
- Own experimentation
Last year, I had the opportunity to work with 3D printing to create clothes, and one of the hardest part was to get a "fabric" printed in 3D that looked as one regular, with the logic of intertwining warp and weft, what we got were some similar fabrics and the best part was to gave them volume with textures. I also used parameters but in the printed settings, never in the model which I am excited to be able to do from the modeling stage.
Inspiration¶
The main inspiration for this assignment is movement and textures. I want to experiment with different ways of creating volume and perspective with 3D printing. I want to learn how to achieve blurring and textures. I was also inspired by geometries and their repetitions.
Tools¶
Process and workflow¶
Voronoi¶
For the first part of the practical, I was very clear that the main part was learning how to design, and my goal with this practical was to become more familiar with parametric design and understand what each thing does. I wanted to design an accessory, so I started modeling on a support mannequin Head, first creating a SubD that I divided further to have more points from which I could model more curved shapes.
Once I had my piece the way I wanted it, I converted it from mesh to Nurbs to start using Grasshopper. Then I applied a previous scheme that we saw during the local class with the instructors to make Voronoi, and I experimented and changed the different parameters to adapt them to my piece and make my own voronoi2.
COMPONENTS FOR VORONOI 3D¶
- Geometry: Defines the domain or boundary where cells are generated and clipped.
- Box: Define the volume within which the Voronoi points are generated.
- Voronoi 3D: Dividing a volume into three-dimensional cells based on seed points
- Brep: This is how Rhino/Grasshopper describe complex solid or surface geometry using: Faces (surfaces), Edges, and Vertices. Its function is to calculate the intersection between two Brep-type geometries to create curves, points where they intersect, and possible regions useful for clipping.
- Discontinuity: This component is key to cleaning and understanding complex geometry such as Voronoi. It is used to detect points where a curve is continuous.
- Arithmetic mean: Calculate the average value of a data list, calculate the center point of the vertices of each Voronoi cell and the intersection curves.
- Scale: Increase or decrease a geometry uniformly with respect to a point without distorting the original shape.
- Polyline: Its function is to join a sequence of points in a polygonal line, forming the final Voronoi figure.
- SURFACE SPLIT: Divide a surface using curves as cutting lines, generating a flat surface with no thickness.
- MESH BREP: To convert NURB geometry into polygonal meshes
- Weaverbird → Mesh Thicken: This component is what allows you to give real thickness to a pattern such as Voronoi, especially when working with meshes, generating internal and external faces.
- Weaverbird → Catmull-Clark Subdivision: This component is used to smooth and refine Voronoi meshes by subdividing a mesh and smoothing it, converting hard faces into continuous, organic geometry.
I realized that the piece would not have a support to hold it on the ear and also that the piece looked very thin, so I made some changes and this is the final piece and I exported as STL archive 1.
G-Code (Ultimaker cura)¶
To define the settings for a printable object, we need to generate the G-Code and I used Ultimaker Cura that is an open-source software that provides an intuitive and easy-to-use interface that simplifies the configuration process.
This is the menu where you can change settings for printing.You don´t have to change all of them, just the neccesary.
| Material | Temperature | Speed | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|
| TPU Silk | 220 °C | **75 mm/s | High flexibility and elasticity, Silk-like glossy finish |
Printing¶
To print my piece I used the Creality Ender-3
Woven¶
I wanted to make a kind of mesh but with real texture of a woven, but for this one I wanted to use Blender to try a new software where I don´t have experience and this is what I got. I watch the following video to understand how the parameters work and how we can connect by points threads up and down to maje a woven grid that we can apply for objects with a real woven texture.
For the first part, you need to adjust the Blender preferences and download the extra curve objects extension. Then add a mesh that will be divided as many times as you think necessary to create your fabric. Each point and line will be the guides for adding nodes, and the first figure will appear. Without deselecting, go to the Celtic links options, which will help you create a mesh object to generate Celtic knot patterns and interwov
With this parameters I could play to get diferentes textures and woven thickness
And this is the final result to print 3
| Material | Temperature | Bed Temperature | Speed | Infill | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ** White Silk PLA** | 210 °C | 65 °C | 60 mm/s | 20% | Low flexibility, low to medium impact resitance and high-medium hardeness and high-gloss finish |
Attractor point¶
The parametric model 4 was created using grasshoper again, but this time I wanted to experiment with fabric an a faded surface, to this I found the attractor points that describe an effect where a grid of objects deforms based on its proximity to a specific point or points 5.
It is important to add a script so that printing stops and you can add the fabric that will serve as the surface that will hold the stitches.
| Material | Temperature | Bed Temperature | Speed | Infill | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black PLA | 200 °C | 60 °C | 60 mm/s | 20% | High Stiffness, Low flexibility, low to medium impact resitance and high hardeness |
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footnote fabrication files
Fabrication files are a necessary element for evaluation. You can add the fabrication files at the bottom of the page and simply link them as a footnote. This was your work stays organised and files will be all together at the bottom of the page. Footnotes are created using [ ^ 1 ] (without spaces, and referenced as you see at the last chapter of this page) You can reference the fabrication files to multiple places on your page as you see for footnote nr. 2 also present in the Gallery.