Creation of a BIM model of a façade using Rhino, RhinoInside and Revit

Imagine Computation, a German based consultant for digital AEC processes, was asked to deliver a native Revit BIM model of a façade of an office building. To be able to make use of the flexibility of Rhino and in- house developed Rhino plugins, they created a new tool-set that allows to transfer 3D objects, attributes and other specifications such as materials and transformations to Revit without having to break the hierarchy of Revit elements.

To speed up the creation of 3D façade elements, they first developed a tool to link all elements as external blocks, including material information and other attributes. In the following step, they exported the same block definitions as single files and re-import them into Revit as families to set the given attributes and materials. In the final step, they inserted all Revit families at the corresponding position in 3D space to digitally assemble the façade. 

The tools were mainly developed as C# Rhino plugins and as C#- Grasshopper components as part of RhinoInside within Revit.

Further information can be found here...

New version of Discovery, an optimization tool for Grasshopper

Danil Nagy announced the latest version of Discover, his optimization tool for Grasshopper. This version 19.12 includes a set of new features and bug fixes.

For more details check out the release notes.

Get the latest version now...

3XN—Making architecture human

.

See Rhino in use in this 30-minute documentary on 3XN Architects. 

It's the eleventh episode of The Architects Series, a web series dedicated to renowned Italian and international design studios.

3XN Architects, based in Copenhagen and with offices in Stockholm, Sydney, New York, and London, employs a team of 140 architects and also professionals from other fields. 

As the documentary illustrates, for 3XN Architects, it's about working in a good environment that focuses on people, their creativity, and their constant commitment to finding innovative, sustainable design solutions.

The Architects Series Ep.11 - A documentary On: 3XN Architects...

FABRICATE 2020 (London, April 2-4) Tickets Now on Sale

Booking is now open for FABRICATE 2020, a unique conference exploring the future of digital fabrication in London this April.

Discussing the progressive integration of digital design with manufacturing processes, and its impact on design and making in the 21st century, FABRICATE brings together pioneers in design and making within architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, materials technology and computation.

Our Call for Work gathered over 220 submissions of exceptional quality from 41 countries. FABRICATE 2020 is co-chaired and co-organised by The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University and Swinburne University of Technology. It will take place in London between 2-4 April 2020.

Limited early bird tickets now on sale at fabricate.org

Upcoming webinar: Getting Started with Visual Coding: Dynamo, Grasshopper and beyond with Gavin Crump

Gavin Crump will present a brief overview of two of the most popular computational design tools on the market: Dynamo by Autodesk and Grasshopper by Robert McNeel & Associates. These tools have given designers across all disciplines the ability to automate and enhance their BIM/design workflows in many exciting and new ways.

It can sometimes be hard to know the best place to begin when learning these tools (and also not clear what benefit they may bring to you and your company). So this webinar aims to provide a clear starting point, as well as some examples of ways in which they can enhance your design workflows.

Agenda

• A brief overview of computational design
• What is visual coding?
• Dynamo and Revit
• Grasshopper and Rhinoceros 
• The best ways to learn
• Where to beyond visual coding?
• Q&A

When
Tuesday, January 21, 2020, starting at 9 AM UTC 

Reserve your spot in this webinar...

ControlMAD Master Course in Parametric Design (Madrid, Spain) - March-June 2020

ControlMAD Master Course in Parametric Design

Madrid, Spain

March-June 2020

A unique study program in the world that introduces you to parametric design and digital manufacturing in the fields of Product Design, Architecture, Landscape, Digital Fabrication... through the creation of physical and digital parametric models using as main tools Grasshopper for Rhino and our CNC machines (Computer Numerical Control).

The course is divided into 5 groups with several units. The aim of every unit is that students can learn new parametric tools based on Grasshopper.

• GROUP I - NURBS modelling (Rhino, Grasshopper)
• GROUP II - Digital Fabrication (visits to parametric outstanding buildings)
• GROUP III - Mesh modelling (Grasshopper for organic design, structural analysis and form-finding)
• GROUP IV - Interoperability (Grasshopper and its connection with arduino, sensors, data from internet, Python...)
• GROUP V - Thesis (individual work on the main interests of the student based on the previous units + V-Ray for rendering)

Regarding Parametric Fabrication, we will use our CNC 3 axis milling machine large size, 3D printers FDM and Trotec Laser machine. Material prototyping is included in the course.

Complete details and registration...

New Publication by McNeel: Essential Algorithms and Data Structures

We're delighted to share the release of the first edition of the Essential Algorithms and Data Structures for Computational Design. This publication by McNeel introduces effective methodologies to develop complex 3D modeling algorithms using Grasshopper. It also covers extensively the data structure adopted by Grasshopper and its core organization and management tools. The material is directed towards designers who are interested in parametric design and have little or no background in programming.

Download the full  PDF and Grasshopper examples...

Parametric Design Seminar in Oslo - February 11, 2020

Håvard Vasshaug from Bad Monkeys at the Parametric Design Seminar 2019. 

Parametric Design Seminar

Oslo, Norway

February 11, 2020

For the third time in Norway, a seminar dedicated to Parametric Design/Visual Programming is specifically arranged for the construction industry.

Several Norwegian and international speakers will show how they combine the use of different visual programming tools to solve challenging and time-consuming work in the design process. Such tools allow for completely new opportunities in design optimization of buildings and other constructions by adding rule-based relationship and logic, rather then doing it manually.

When you now can use standard software based on visual programming, it is also made available to everyone, and not only the large offices.

The lectures are held by both architects, engineers and industrial designers who use many different types of software to achieve their goal. The seminar aim to display the wide range of applications and possibilities with parametric design, regardless of software providers. But there will be the opportunity to meet representatives from Robert McNeel & Associates, the creator of Rhino and Grasshopper, among others.

Speakers that are confirmed for the Parametric Design Seminar 2020 in Oslo:

• Matteo Cominetti - Senior Automation Developer Arup and co founder of Speckle - London/United Kingdom
• Dimitrie Stefanescu - Open Source Data Infrastructure Arup and founder of Speckle - London/United Kingdom
• Sylvain Usai - Architect Design-to-Production GmbH - Zurich/Switzerland.
• Alexander Matthias Jacobson - Architect Climate and Computational Design Specialist Bjarke Ingels Group Architects - Copenhagen/Denmark
• Krzysztof Wojslaw - Parametric Design and VDC Specialist/Bridge Engineer at Sweco - Norway
• Øystein Ulvestad - BIM developer at Sweco - Norway
• Carlos Perez - Head of sales, marketing and business development, McNeel Europe - Barcelona
• Daniel Covacks - Parametric Design and BIM specialist at GRAPHISOFT - Hungary
• Ellika TAVERES-CACHAT - PhD candidate, Department of Architecture and technology Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) - Trondheim/Norway

The hole complete list of speakers is now ready, we are working on finalizing the program (Please also see program from the 2019 event to get an idea of what to expect).

Details and registration...

Datakit expands its range of Rhino plug-ins

Datakit, the French specialist in data transfer for CAD systems adds to their Rhino offer with new plug-ins for CreoView, Revit and IFC formats. This has also led to the creation of a bundle aimed the world of architecture and construction.

Three new plug-ins for Rhino

The Rhino 3D import plug-ins, which already support 12 exchange formats, have been enhanced after the October update with three new formats: 

• Revit, 3D CAD software for architecture by Autodesk
• IFC, interoperability format for BIM (Industry Foundation Classes)
• Creo View, 3D visualization software from PTC’s Creo products. 

Complete details...

Advanced workshop on Rhino and V-Ray in Oslo (Norway) - Jan 15-17 and Feb 12-14, 2020

Rhino for Designers + V-Ray, 3 days

by Pivot
Jan 15-17 and Feb 12-14, 2020

Oslo, Norway

COURSE OUTLINE 

The main objective of this course is to gain deeper knowledge in order to create high quality surface models. We will work with various surface properties that influence visual quality. Geometric properties that influence production, such as: draft angles, thickness and file transfer to other CAD software. During the classes, you will be introduced to Grasshopper and learn how this visual programming interface can improve the modeling process to create parametric geometries and repeating patterns. The last section of the course will focus on using V-Ray for Rhino to render high quality images efficiently.

STRUCTURE 

This three day class starts with a refresher on Rhinos interface and modeling concepts before moving on to use various methods to create high quality CAD models. We will look at how to automate modeling and to ensure repeatability and consistency in your workflow. Grasshopper and V-Ray will be a natural part of this course. The course is adaptable, and we will consider including specific modelling tasks from attendees upon request. Lunch is included, unless the course is held on-site, please notify us if you have special requirements for the food.

PREREQUISITES 

Trainees should ideally have at least six months of experience with using Rhino. Experience with other similar type of modelling software can however make up for little or no Rhino experience.

Level: Advanced

Complete details and registration...

New Ladybug and Honeybee versions announced

New versions of Ladybug and Honeybee have been announced.

You can download the new release of the legacy plug-ins from food4Rhino. For more details:

Ladybug 0.0.68 and Honeybee 0.0.65 Release...

Robotics Atelier, testing the limits and potential of 3D printing

Sponsored by the Norman Foster Foundation, the third edition of the Robotics Atelier 2019 took place in Madrid, Spain, last November.

Ten students were awarded a scholarship from the Norman Foster Foundation Robotics Atelier. They came from diverse backgrounds, including architecture, arts and humanities, computational design, and digital fabrication.

The selected scholars explored new opportunities for combining emerging technologies with experimental fabrication processes:

• How can 3D printing become a reality? 
• How can 3D printing lead to more sustainable architecture? 
• How will robots influence the future of design processes and the built environment?

The workshop continued the ground-breaking innovations made possible by 3D printing within the architecture and construction industries, such as primarily focusing on prints made with recycled plastics recovered from the oceans.

The workshop included six seminars by accredited academic professors and industry professionals, several working sessions, group reviews, and one-on-one tutoring, as well as a guided tour of the Reina Sofía Museum and the Medialab-Prado.

The lectures and working sessions were also documented and recorded, to be included in the Norman Foster Foundation’s Archive, accessible to scholars and researchers around the globe.

See Norman Foster Foundation Atelier 2019—Robotics...

Vertical gardens in ARCHICAD with Grasshopper

Build a vertical forest using ARCHICAD and Grasshopper, with bushes and hanging plants objects on random balconies.

This tutorial uses ARCHICAD 23, Rhinoceros 6, and ARCHICAD-Grasshopper Connection 3007. It demonstrates using a definition in Grasshopper to define a skyscraper with random balconies and plants.

ArchiRADAR tutorial, The Vertical Forest Using ARCHICAD and Grasshopper...

Construction & Robotics Master @ RWTH Aachen University

In order to lay the groundwork for its long-term vision of the construction site of the future, the Chair for Individualized Production at the Faculty of Architecture at RWTH Aachen University announces a new English-language Master’s programme in Construction Robotics (starting in April 2020). This programme will shape students in the innovative topics of digitalization and automation in the construction industry.

The main objective of the programme is the development and use of automated construction machinery and robotics as the basis for innovative construction processes on construction sites. Our graduates will be the trailblazers and innovation scouts for our society to invent new design and work environments for the design and construction of quality-driven, low-cost housing, waste and emission reduced low CO2 construction sites. They will be able e.g. to develop new methods to build and inspect buildings and infrastructure, work out concepts for circular economy in the building sector, create minimal invasive construction scenarios for inner cities, develop new materials and sustainable construction technologies for buildings and infrastructure.

We are therefore looking for highly creative minds, open to the future with an interdisciplinary background and team in one of the top leading German Universities at RWTH Aachen.

The Master’s programme will combine physical prototyping of machinery and processes with virtual commissioning of construction sites and machinery in virtual simulation environments.

We believe, that only by combining the knowledge and expertise of different scientific fields, such as mechanical engineering, computer science, civil engineering and architecture, will we be able to comprehensively create a new digital construction environment and transform the means of constructing buildings. Therefore, the Chair of Individualized Production invites Bachelor’s graduates from all these academic backgrounds to come together in Aachen for a highly interdisciplinary study programme in the field of Construction Robotics.

Get a feeling for the spirit of the new CR Master’s programme by watching this video!

An ARCHICAD Grasshopper utility by Mesrop Andriasyan

"The ARCHICAD+Grasshopper connection is not only about creating weird forms but also about enhancing workflow." Mesrop Andriasyan published an example to show that a system can be created and used to automate workflow.

See LinkedIn post...

Two new projects by Sterling Presser | architects-engineers

Sterling Presser | architects-engineers have been kind enough to share with the community their two latest projects, where Rhino was a critical tool for the geometry creation and fabrication:

Theatre Entrance Footbridge, Taiyuan, China
“The flowing Bridge”

“The Flowing Bridge” is a unique infrastructure project designed as an entrance to the inner and outdoor theatre and as a strategic connection to the whole park. The bridge is creating a landmark architecture and provide a qualitative access to the performance. It is conceived as an invitation to the art. And the whole composition is a sequence. The indirect path to arrive to the theatre gives the chance to discover the water feature and the entire leaves composition step by step. A straight path would make the journey too direct. A gentle curves comes in harmony with the landscape design and the theatre seating geometry.

The ballustrades are as well a specific feature creating a visual and special effect. The surface is designed to be visually abstract using a moiré effect, by shifting in space straight elements. The Moiré effect of the balustrade underlines the overall curved concept and provides a gentles surface effects that plays with the natural light. It is realised by shifting 2 grids parametrically, but keeping the codes requirement with a minimum 110 mm between elements for safety. 

Project info here...

Outdoor theatre (3000 seats), Taiyuan, China

The Outdoor theatre in Taiyuan Park is designed within a wider vision along the main river and the surrounding landscape. It aims at creating a point of focus inviting 3000 participants to outdoor performance within a natural landscape. The theatre within the landscape aims at leaving a cultural heritage and a landmark along the river. The Theatre brings public together. Thousands eyes are unified to participate to a performance and be inspired by the work of art. The project creates a continuous flow and a unique centralised composition. It is like a ribbon weaving up and down along the elliptic profile and creating space for programme underneath and slope for seating area. The entrances are formed through intermediate low points between the leaves as an articulated point. The continuous ribbon anticipates and envision the inner theatre along the river.

The project starts now on site and will include access footbridges and a future indoor theatre to close off the whole composition.

Project info here...

Announcing JSwan - easy JSON support for Grasshopper

Andrew Heumann, creator of human, Human UI, and MetaHopper, announced the release of jSwan to provide JSON serialization/deserialization for Grasshopper.

What is JSwan? JSwan is a set of Grasshopper components for working with JSON-formatted data. It’s designed to work intuitively with Grasshopper’s component logic and data structures. And it is open source. You can find the source and the documentation at http://github.com/andrewheumann/jswan 19.

JSON, Java Script Object Notation, is a lightweight format for storing and transporting data. It's often used when data is sent from a server to a web page. There are many reasons why you might use a JSON format inside Grasshopper. Here are a few:

• Interacting with the web: data from web services or APIs is often received or sent in JSON format.
• Translating Grasshopper/Rhino formatted geometry into a structured format any program can understand. C#, JavaScript, Python, and most other languages can read and author JSON data.
• Object Oriented Grasshopper. Construct custom object types by encoding them in JSON. Build your own reusable clusters that grab their relevant properties, rather than passing around many parallel data streams.

More information on Rhinoceros Forums Discourse...

Free Software by Design-to-Production

After developing software in-house for 12 years, Design-to-Production decided to give some of it away! To please developers and the general public alike, you can find two of our tools on food4Rhino – and there is more to come!

Clipping Box

Have you ever wanted to view only a specific part of your model? Rhino has a Clipping Plane, but what if this is not enough? Clipping Box allows to draw a box and clip the model along its bounds.

https://www.food4rhino.com/app/clippingbox

Code Listener

It is no secret that Rhino’s internal Python Editor is less powerful than the mighty RhinoCommon API. What if you could use Visual Studio Code and still run your Python code in a Rhino instance? Code Listener opens a link between Visual Studio Code and Rhino.

https://www.food4rhino.com/app/code-listener

About Design-to-Production

Design-to-Production is a consultancy for digital planning and building processes. Along with planning and coordination services for BIM and digital fabrication, they offer tailormade software tools for planning, fabrication, and productivity – from Rhino plug-ins to web apps and standalone software.

https://www.designtoproduction.com

Training for new ARTs at Appalachian State University

Dates: February 19-20, 2020
Time: 8:30 AM-4:30 PM
Place: Appalachian State University CAE - Center for Academic Excellence
Cost: $295


Course Description:
This course is for new Authorized Rhino Trainer (ART) candidates for NC, SC, GA, FL, and Latin America. It will concentrate on how to teach Rhino and how to make users more successful. We will not cover in detail each part of Rhino. However, the Level I and II guides will be the main reference.

Details.

Register here.

Questions? please e-mail: Jackie Nasser

You may also be interested in becoming a RhinoFabStudio. 

What is RhinoFabStudio? A RhinoFabStudio™ (fabrication studio) is a small-scale digital workshop, certified by McNeel, with an array of Rhino and Rhino compatible software and computer-controlled tools and training. These tools cover the various leading-edge industrial methods and materials needed to design, analyze, and fabricate almost anything.

How to Rhino, new podcast for architects

How to Rhino has posted its first podcast!

This is the first episode of How to Start Learning Rhino with Lazar Djuric.

Lazar Djuric, an architect from Serbia, is joining the How to Rhino team with a focus on teaching architects how to use Grasshopper and implement it in the architectural workflow. Lazar has international experience as an architect and has worked for different offices in Europe and Asia.

How to start learning Grasshopper with Lazar Djuric - How to Rhino Podcast...

Dlubal RFEM Interfaces to Rhino and Grasshopper

The FEA program RFEM is a powerful software for quick and easy modeling, structural analysis, and design of 2D and 3D models consisting of member, plate, wall, folded plate, shell, solid, and contact elements. 

Rhino is for the computer-aided modeling of any objects (from the teapot to complete buildings). Due to the specialization in NURBS curves and surfaces, there are no limits to the shapes. In combination with the Grasshopper plug-in, structures can be user-defined by using a clear, visual programming interface. The interfaces to Rhino and Grasshopper are implemented by default in RFEM. This makes the product package especially interesting for architects and engineers. 

More information about the RFEM interface to Rhino and Grasshopper...

AXOLOTL - Volumetric Modeling in Grasshopper

AXOLOTL provides a set of components for volumetric modeling in Grasshopper. 

The components are organized in groups. A typical workflow is to choose objects from PRIMITIVES, combine them using Boolean operations from COMBINATIONS, add further MODIFICATIONS as necessary, and finally visualize the distance object using a component from the MESHING tab.

Download AXOLOTL from food4Rhino...

Karamba3D in Revit via Rhino.Inside

Check the latest Karamba3D post on linkedin on how it can be used in Revit via Rhino.Inside...

Another supercar by Phil Frank

Phil Frank, designer of the legendary Saleen S7, is working with Factory Five on a supercar prototype. The F94 implements an ambitious project to transition composite shaping from the traditional hand-made mold plugs and tools to a digital process.

Want to know more? F9R Concept Supercar Update...

Rhino for Architecture workshop using VisualARQ - February 3-4 at McNeel Europe (Barcelona)

Rhino for Architecture workshop using VisualARQ

February 3-4, 2020

10.00h - 18.00h

McNeel Europe S.L.

Roger de Flor, 32-34 bajos

08018 Barcelona (Spain)

McNeel Europe invites Francesc Salla, product manager of VisualARQ (AsuniCAD),  to tutor a 2-day BIM oriented Rhino workshop for architects, engineers, and designers at our Barcelona offices. 

VisualARQ adds flexible BIM features to Rhino and Grasshopper. The workshop focuses on learning Rhino, VisualARQ, and Grasshopper as a Flexible BIM solution for developing and carrying out an architecture project from the 3D model to the 2D documentation. The workshop will help you improve your architectural modeling skills and parametric design workflow inside Rhino and Grasshopper.

Day 1

• Create BIM models in Rhino:
• Project setup, object types, layers, and templates.
• Manage the model with Levels and Sections.
• Work with 3D parametric architectural objects while building up a new project.
• Create new custom parametric objects, also from Grasshopper.

• Generation of 2D documentation:
• Add custom data to geometry in the model.
• Create lists for quantity take-offs.
• Dimensions, areas, annotations and other 2D drafting tools.
• Vector output printing, page Layout setup.

Day 2

• BIM from Grasshopper:
• Automate your workflow with the VisualARQ Grasshopper Components.

• Interoperability and BIM data:
• Import and export 3D models through IFC.
• Add custom IFC information to geometry, also from Grasshopper.
• Team collaboration with external references.

Requirements:

• Basic Rhino knowledge.
• VisualARQ 2 (Download link. Ask for a temporary license to visualarq@asuni.com if your evaluation version expires during the course dates.) 
• Rhino 6 for Windows.

Course fee: EUR 530,00 (+VAT). Full-time students, university teachers (proof of status required) and remote attendees get a 50% discount. Please note your seat is only confirmed once payment has cleared. Workshop participants qualify for a VisualARQ 2 license discount.

Maximum number of participants: 10 + 5 remote participants. If there is no quorum, the course will be canceled 15 days before.

Course language: English

Educational seats are limited. Sign up now by contacting McNeel Europe here!

Peregrine - Optimization plug-in for Grasshopper

Peregrine is a powerful new structural layout optimization plug-in for Grasshopper, the popular algorithmic modeling environment built into the Rhino modeling software. 

Use Peregrine to rapidly identify highly efficient (minimum volume) frame topologies for any given set of loads, supports, and material properties. 

A technology preview version of Peregrine is now freely available to download from food4Rhino...

MDL-IES Materials inside Iray for Rhino

Is adding lighting to your interior Rhino scenes difficult and time-consuming, resulting in the need for endless scene adjustments? Especially if you need to produce visual output quickly and also provide precise lighting system detail as part of the documentation requirements?

Then using Rhino and the Iray for Rhino plug-in could be the solution you are looking for, with the introduction of MDL-IES material based light sources where:

• Real-world light fittings become much simpler to work with.
• Light sources can be accurately assigned any surface or shape element.
• The creation of Rhino block light fitting libraries is streamlined.

These features significantly simplify the setup and installation of accurate real-world lighting systems, not only for lighting designers but also for interior and retail designers, architecture groups and the many other building industry sectors who all need to produce accurate photoreal visuals, along with installation detail for the project documentation system.

For much more information on these features and real-world examples of the output type created, check out these videos:

1. Introducing MDL-IES Materials inside Iray for Rhino 
2. MDL-IES Materials and a Retail Store Project:
3. MDL-IES Materials and a Harbour Front Development

Rhino in Revit, exploring a new workflow

Paul Wintour, founder of Parametric Monkey, introduced one of their latest tutorials:

"Rhino to Revit Workflow is by far one of the most visited tutorials on Parametric Monkey. But with the release of Rhino.Inside, a whole range of new interoperability possibilities now exist. We've been working with our clients to integrate Grasshopper scripts with Revit, and developed this quick tutorial to help them get up and running."

More information on the Rhino.Inside Revit tutorial...

2Shapes for Rhino - New jewelry plug-in

From the founder and product manager of RhinoGold, Rafael del Molino, and 2Shapes team, the new 2Shapes for Rhino is "the most intuitive jewelry design and fabrication software on the market".

"2Shapes for Rhino aims to solve all the design needs we have learned over the past 15 years, helping jewelers from all over the world".

"One of the most powerful features is the intuitive parametric. It allows us to change any property of our design, from finger size, gem, profile, including the thickness of prong. For us, simplicity is a must; for that reason, you don’t need to worry about complexities and focus on the results, the perfect design!"

Learn more at https://www.2shapes.com/rhino

Shape to Fabrication 2020 | Hackathon & Conference | London | April 17-22

SimplyRhino UK announces Early Bird Tickets for Shape to Fabrication 2020 | Hackathon & Conference | April 17-22.

Join us for the 8th iteration of our popular AEC focused conference in Stratford, London.

The Shape to Fabrication conference focuses on cutting-edge technology, innovative construction with applications in architecture, engineering, and design. Our speakers are shaping the future, working at the intersection of technology and design innovation, unafraid to push technology and engineering to new heights.

We live in an unprecedented time. An age where buildings are moving, jewelry is printed, clothes are sprayed on, facades are folded by robots and cars are made of textiles. We are proud to present to you the first to use such pioneering technologies to create these magical experiences.

Discover the latest approaches in digital fabrication and computational design from an international panel of presenters – Architects / Engineers / Fabricators / Artists.

New for 2020 - the Shape to Fabrication Hackathon hosted by CORE (Thornton Tomasetti) at Grimshaw Architects, London.

Visit www.shapetofabrication.com for more information, announcements so far, and STF ticket options.