ParaCloud GEM for Rhino OS X

ParaCloud GEM is a design tool for populating Mesh Models with any Mesh geometry. With a simple to use interface, ParaCloud GEM offers an easy way for creating complex 3D models by users at any CAD skills.

ParaCloud GEM is now available for Rhino OS X.

Intro to Grasshopper in two parts

David Fano has posted an Introduction to Grasshopper in two parts on his blog, design.reform.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Royal Huisman’s design system based on Rhino

In 2007 Royal Huisman decided to integrate Rhino in their workflow of designing their mega sailing yachts. Royal Huisman belongs to the top five mega sail yacht builders of the world!
Read the entire case study on RhinoCentre Netherlands blog.

Ronchamp roof - Analysis and modeling process

Andrés de Mesa and Joaquín Regot from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have been kind enough to share this paper "Architectural freeforms analysis from the digital generation of surfaces. Ronchamp roof."

Custom Paneling in Rhino

Learn how to make custom paneling routines using existing 2D and 3D geometry and the PanelingTools plug-in for Rhino. You can download and try PanelingTools. They are free.

More tips, tricks, and tutorials...

RhinoScript Labs Update (April 20, 2009)

RhinoScript is a scripting language based on Microsoft's VBScript language. With RhinoScript, you can quickly add functionality to Rhino, or automate repetitive tasks.

The Labs version of RhinoScript contains additions and modifications to the version of RhinoScript included with Rhino 4.0 SR5.

The following new functions have been added to the Labs version of RhinoScript:

AddPlanarMesh - Creates a planar mesh from a closed, planar curve.
BoxMorphObject - Bounding box morphs an object.
ClosedCurveOrientation - Returns the orientation of a closed, planar curve.
CurrentDetail - Returns or changes the current detail view in a page layout view.
CurveNormalizedParameter - Converts a normalized curve parameter to a curve parameter.
CurveParameter - Converts a curve parameter to a normalized curve parameter.
DetailNames - Returns the detail views of a page layout view.
DimStyleLengthFactor - Returns or changes the length factor of a dimension style.
DimStylePrefix - Returns or changes the prefix of a dimension style..
DimStyleSuffix - Returns or changes the suffix of a dimension style..
DivideCurveEquidistant - Divides a curve such that the linear distance between the points is equal.
ExtrudeCurveTapered - Extrudes a curve to a taper.
GetMeshFaces - Prompts the user to pick, or select, one or more mesh faces.
GetMeshVertices - Prompts the user to pick, or select, one or more mesh vertices.
IntersectSpheres - Calculates the intersection of two spheres.
IsDetail - Verifies that a detail view is on a page layout view.
IsLayout - Verifies that a view is a page layout view.
IsLayoutObject - Verifies that an object resides in either layout or model space.
IsPointOnMesh - Verifies that a point is on a mesh.
Layer State Methods - Several new layer state methods were added.
LineCylinderIntersection - Calculates the intersection of a line and a cylinder.
LineSphereIntersection - Calculates the intersection of a line and a sphere.
MakeCurveNonPeriodic - Makes a periodic curve non-periodic.
MakeSurfaceNonPeriodic - Makes a periodic surface non-periodic
MeshVertexFaces - Returns the mesh faces that share a mesh vertex.
ObjectLayout - Returns or changes the layout or model space of an object.
PlaneSphereIntersection - Calculates the intersection of a plane and a sphere.
ProjectCurveToMesh - Projects one or more curves onto one or more meshes.
ProjectPointToMesh - Projects one or more points onto one or more meshes.
RemoveCurveKnot - Deletes a knot from a curve.
RemoveSurfaceKnot - Deletes a knot-line from a surface.
ResetMaterial - Resets a material to Rhino's default material.
ReverseSurface - Reverses the direction of a surface object.
ShootRay - Shoots a ray at a collection of surfaces.
SurfaceNormalizedParameter - Converts a normalized surface parameter to a surface parameter.
SurfaceParameter - Converts a surface parameter to a normalized surface parameter.

Details and download...

RhinoTerrain 1.5 announced

RhinoTerrain introduces RhinoTerrain 1.5

Faster, better productivity, and more features which include:

· Ultra fast terrain creation with Constrained Delaunay triangulation (>2 million triangles per second )
· Ultra fast contour curve generation that works on large terrain meshes
· Gridded terrain with user STEP definition ideal for NURBS surface terrain generation
· Ultra fast terrain viewshed analysis for impact study (television, phone antenna, wind turbine position, house point of view)
· Terrain slope and height analysis
· Stepped terrain generation from contour lines ideal for architectural presentations
· Shaded contour lines display
· Terrain filtering
· Cut and fill volume computations
· Import of 3D GIS data (ArcInfo, USGS DEM, IGN Bd Alti)
· Import of Leica 3D scanner in colored RGB point cloud
· Ultra fast mesh terrain tiling with geo-referenced orthophoto support
· ZCorp 3D printer support for 3D terrain printing

The majority of our functions are designed to use the MultiCore feature (multi-threaded) to increase your productivity.

RhinoTerrain 1.5 list price is 695€/$. For existing RhinoTerrain users it's a free upgrade.

Additional details and a free Evaluation version are at http://www.rhinoterrain.com/ (Download section).

Maxwell Render for Rhino - Plug-in Update

Next Limit announces a new release update for the Maxwell Render for Rhino plug-in.

The 1.8.2 release of the Maxwell Render for Rhino 4 plug-in sees movement toward greater simplicity, while also providing a more powerful workflow. Mainly, the changes made will be seen when working with the plug-in's Scene and Database Manager windows.

More information and download here...

Spaceframe aast installation

aast/// spaceframe installation
Location: aast exhibition Settimo Torinese, Turin, Italy
Authors: Davide del Giudice, Andrea Graziano
Web: http://madeincalifornia.blogspot.com/

Spaceframe structure is an installation of a 3D surface of flat triangular paper panels "massive" unrolled on a plane and realized with laser cut technologies.

Triangular panels create a 3D pyramid surface configuration with parametric holes in the interior faces that have dimensions which follow distances from centroid areas faces and one point attractors defined by the user.

Process: My Rhino Grasshopper definition was rebuilt, and optimized based on a definition found at Designalyze. I have implemented the new definition by including parametric functions to create a "massive unroll" pyramids getting a file with the panels A and B separated, numbered, with the faces of the pyramid united among each other trough common edge, flap to the joints between panels and more. In this way the lasercut machine come out of the panels that you just bend to get the final three-dimensional configuration.

More...

Rhino 5 public development begins

The Rhino Development Team is excited to announce the beginning of public development of Rhino 5.

Owners of Rhino 4.0 are invited to read about our development process and then download and test drive Rhino 5.

The first WIP (Work-in-Progress) release of Rhino 5 is available in English and includes support for 32- and 64-bit Windows Operating systems.

64-bit Windows supported:

The 64-bit version of Rhino 5 can use as much system memory as is available from the operating system. This allows you to open and edit models that are much larger than you could edit in Rhino 4.0.

The 32- and 64-bit versions of Rhino can be installed and run on the same computer at the same time.

Backward compatible:

Rhino 4.0 plug-ins will load and run in the 32-bit version of Rhino 5. Plug-ins will need to be recompiled for the 64-bit version of Rhino by the plug-in developer. Until they're ready, you may need to run the 32- and 64-bit versions of Rhino 5 side by side.

New features:

Many Rhino Labs plug-ins have been included in this Rhino 5 WIP. Also, several other new features have been added. A list is available on the What's New in Rhino 5 WIP page.

System requirements:

• 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 2000, XP, or Vista
• Rhino 4.0
• 100MB of disk space
• 2GB RAM (4-16GB recommended for 64-bit systems and very large models)

Download now:

For a list of new features and to download, please visit http://download.rhino3d.com/rhino/5.0/wip

Join the discussion: 

Visit news://news.mcneel.com/rhino to talk directly with our developers, read about what we're doing, share your ideas, and report any problems you experience.

Enjoy!

RhinoMembrane tutorials

Johannes Linhard coauthor of RhinoMembrane has made available 5 tutorials on how to use RhinoMembrane on http://www.membranes24.com/

Magnetic Grasshopper

Daniel Piker has posted a Grasshopper definition for displacement by magnet attractors based on real physics. It allows you to set multiple ‘attractors’ which interact realistically just like electric charges, magnets, heat flows or ideal fluids. Sliders control whether each point is a source, sink, vortex or a combination of these.

Details and download...

Rhino Job - Abilene, TX

Indivijual Custom Eyewear needs freelance help to design eyeglass frames. They also need help taking rough sketches of frames to finished CAD designs for milling.

Details...