Saturday, April 30, 2011

Digital fabrication reaches the Idaho backwoods

From Seattle, it is a 14 hour drive (10 hours if you don't mind a few speeding tickets) to where you will find Bill Amaya's shop. And a few steps away, you are on the banks of the Big Wood River and minutes from Silver Creek. Perhaps the best fly fishing in the lower 48 states. And if that is not enough, the 2.3 million acre Frank Church Wilderness Area is just a few miles north. Oh, and did I mention the ski area and golf courses. I don't know how Bill gets any work done. That must be why he has so much digital fabrication equipment.

Robotic Fabrication of Parametric Chairs

Mark Meier just finished making some chairs he developed in Rhino and Grasshopper. They were hot wire cut from EPS foam using a 7-axis robot in the Digital Fab Lab at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture.

Check out other projects that Mark has had a hand in...

T-Splines 3.0 for Rhino Released


T-Splines 3.0 for Rhino was just released. The new features and enhancements include:
Introductory pricing until June 30, 2011.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Thursday, April 28, 2011

AEC projects designed with Rhino


AECCafe, the online magazine, does a great job of showcasing interesting AEC projects.

These recent projects were designed with Rhino.

"Parametric Architecture with Grasshopper" primer now available

This primer is the English translation of the popular Italian handbook about parametric modeling with Grasshopper, edited by Arturo Tedeschi and foreworded by Fulvio Wirz (Zaha Hadid Architects).

Book contents:
  • Algorithms
  • Graphic interface and basic knowledge
  • Mathematical and logical concepts
  • Curves and surfaces definition and analysis
  • Geometrical transformations
  • Data Tree
  • Attractors
  • Mesh
  • Digital fabrication
 You can browse the primer and buy it here: http://www.edizionilepenseur.it/edizioni/en

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

VisualARQ and RhinoBIM presentation in Paris


VisualARQ and RhinoBIM presentation
18 May 2011 at 2 pm
Paris (France)

This presentation is addressed to architects, designers and engineers interested in architectural 3D modeling, parametric design and BIM (Building Information Modeling).

It will show the process of modeling an architectural project in 3D and the generation of 2D drawings and sections by Francesc Salla, VisualARQ Product Manager. It will also include an overview of the latest developments in RhinoBIM by Phil Shapiro, Cadlantique.

Rhinophoto 3.0 released


Rhinophoto is a photogrammetry plugin for Rhino that provides automatic 3D digitizing from a set of photographs. You can now perform accurate 3D digitalization with your camera. It is used for reverse engineering, industrial design, architecture, naval engineering, footwear design, and more.

Rhinophoto 3.0 adds many new features, including improved Scale and Orient commands, the possibility to use different lens with same focal length, computation of 3D tolerance area, compute normal vectors of 3D points, new calibration camera process, multiple reference scale bars, a stair and countertop builder module, faster computation, and much more!

Digital Design Manual


Digital Design Manual
by Marco Hemmerling and Anke Tiggemann
DOM publishers, Berlin

In architecture and interior design, spatial concepts are increasingly computer-generated, illustrated, and presented. Computer aided design is already established in architectural offices. The influence of digital technology is increasing. This manual introduces different digital tools and includes tutorials based on everyday practice. It will help you use digital technology in the design phase and planning process.

Includes application examples of UNStudio.

Book contents:

• CAAD
• 3D-modeling
• Visualisation
• Animation
• Image editing
• Layout
• Building Information Modeling
• Virtual Reality
• Digital Fabrication
• Mediatecture

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

New installation by Marc Fornes


Y/Surf/Struc is a large scale physical installation that is currently exhibiting on the 4th floor of the Centre Pompidou in Paris as part of their permanent collection - and will stay there for 2 years.

The project is an investigation into dramatic morphological changes: from a surface condition to a distributed structural network. The resulting non-linear morphology is then described for manufacturing purposes into a set of 7000 aluminum stripes (all unique) through search protocols written in Rhino / RhinoCommon - before finally nested into RhinoNest.

Design by: MARC FORNES *THEVERYMANY™
Computation: Rhino / RhinoPython / RhinoCommon

Parametric Design course in Tallinn (Estonia)


Parametric Design course in Tallinn (Estonia)
May 9-11

The course Parametric Design is addressed to professionals and students in every design field, who want to learn the latest innovative software technologies for design. It will investigate the potentialities offered by the associative and generative design methodologies using the software Grasshopper. The outcome of the course will be a good knowledge and practice of parametric design tools and processes to achieve more performative and attractive projects, proper and environmentally fit design solutions for a variety of project issues.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Designing Jewelry with Rhino, new book



Designing Jewelry with Rhinoceros, a new book written by Elîania Rosetti has recently been released.

The book will show readers how to draw/model 3D jewelry with step-by-step instructions, as well as how to prepare models for production. The book was designed for professionals and beginners, with tips and techniques for jewelers using Rhino. Available in English and Portuguese.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Intro to Grasshopper webinar, April 27

Join Novedge's Introduction to Grasshopper webinar next week on Wednesday, April 27th. Andy Payne, licensed architect and Founder of LIFT Architects will present.

Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Time: 11:00am PDT



Point Crowd - RhinoScript in Python workshop

Point Crowd is a three-day RhinoScripting in Python workshop. Python is an easy and intuitive programming language which makes RhinoScripting easier than ever. This class will provide the high demand skills associated with computational design and architecture while maintaining focus on the principles of design.

Dates: June 8-10, 2011
Location: Boston, MA
Early registration fee: $965
Note: Early registration deadline is May 4th - Sign up today.



Topics include:
- Introduction to programming Python
- The mathematics of space
- Introduction to NURBS and Rhino data structures
- Systems for generative geometry




Early registration deadline is May 4th.



RhinoGold training in LA & NYC

Cadblu and TDM Solutions have added several new RhinoGold 3.0 training sessions to their Spring 2011 class schedule. Sign up today!


If you have questions or would like to register, contact Lucy at (212) 481-8700 or Hratch at (818) 303-1766.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

T-Splines for Rhino training, multiple cities


T-Splines has announced new dates and cities for their T-Splines for Rhino live training courses. Select a course near you...
Each T-Splines class is an accelerated, one-day, hands-on experience where you will learn how to use T-Splines by creating a number of models. During the class, you will learn skills that will help you more quickly create high quality free-form models.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Material Matters workshop, May 14-15

Join modeLab at their upcoming Material Matters workshop. The workshop is a two-day intensive design and prototyping workshop scheduled in Brooklyn, NY the weekend of May 14 and 15. An optional third day (May 16) may be added to your registration.

Using Rhino and Grasshopper, participants will develop multiple instances of parametric prototypes to be represented in digital as well as fabricated output.


Dates: May 14-15-16 (16th optional)

Location: Brooklyn, NY





Sunday, April 10, 2011

Digital Design and Fabrication workshop in Portugal

Workshop Digital Design Processes IV, Parametric Bridge
April 18-21
Oporto, Portugal

The IV Workshop Digital Design Processes is associated with the seminar Formal and Semi-Formal Methods in Architecture, that will be held in Oporto in May.

The workshop by X-Ref and OPO’Lab will be held during the Easter holidays. In this edition, the challenge is to rethink a recurrent topic of debate in Oporto, the connection between the two margins of the Douro River. The workshop Parametric Bridge will explore parametric digital techniques and digital fabrication, using Rhino and Grasshopper to design an architectural solution for a pedestrian bridge.

Information: gch@x-ref.org or info@opolab.com

AA Visiting School in San Francisco

In the summer of 2011 (11-22 July), the AA will hold its second Biodynamic Structures workshop in San Francisco.

This two-week design workshop, co-taught by the Emtech faculty at the AA and the faculty of Architecture and MEDIAlab at California College of the Arts, will explore integral active and passive architectural systems that respond to changing environmental, spatial, and social needs.

Associative modeling, simulation techniques, material experiments, and digital fabrication tools will be integral to the design process and prototype-making. The work generated throughout the workshop and the final prototypes constructed will contribute to a publication and traveling exhibition at the culmination of the three-year program.

The deadline for applications is 20 June 2011.

Application forms and additional information are available online at http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/sanfrancisco and http://sanfrancisco.aaschool.ac.uk/.

Applications can be submitted to visitingschool@aaschool.ac.uk.  

Friday, April 8, 2011

Summer internship opportunity at Bose

Bose Corporation is looking for a highly motivated Industrial Design student to intern in their Advanced Development Industrial Design (ADID) group for the summer of 2011 at their Framingham R&D Center, located ~20 minutes from Boston. A complete job description and application details are posted here.

Advanced Modeling with T-Splines webinar




Join T-Splines for their upcoming webinar. T-Splines user Schuyler Greenawalt will discuss the technical details of how he designed an entire aircraft body for the Reno Air Races using T-Splines for Rhino.


Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm Eastern

Thursday, April 7, 2011

VisualARQ presentation in London


VisualARQ presentation in London

Where: Simply Rhino Training Classroom
Metropolitan Works - 41 Commercial Road (Weyhill Road Entrance) - London E1 1LA
When: 4-5 pm on Thursday 14 April 
Speaker: Francesc Salla, VisualARQ Product Manager

This presentation will show VisualARQ’s main tools, including the enhancements in the new version 1.3:
  • How to create and edit architectural parametric objects.
  • How to run operations with free-form walls, beams, and other architectural elements based on NURBS.
  • How to get the documents of an architectural project (sections, elevations, plans, schedule tables, surfaces, etc) from the 3D model.
  • How to assign attributes and materials to each object component for future 2D representation and render creation.
There's no fee to attend the presentation, but space is limited. To register, please send an email to fionuala@simplyrhino.co.uk.  

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

3D PDF for Rhino 5 32- and 64-bit


SimLab Soft's updated 3D PDF export plug-in for Rhino now supports:
  • Rhino 4 + Rhino 5 (32-bit)
  • Rhino 5 (64-bit)

The Evolutionary Computation Design group and exhibition by Ramboll


Following the success of the DIY Integrate City Exhibition in Liverpool and further development with Ramboll Engineer for the [d_pod], Ramboll is launching The Evolutionary Computation Design group and exhibition on 15 April at NLA, The Building Centre, Store Street, London WC1E 7BT.

The exhibition will highlight parametric architectural design and two case studies including [d_pod] by Pavilion Architecture (done in Rhino and Grasshopper) and Presidential Library in Astana by BIG Architects.

"Nature finds efficient designs through a lengthy process of trial and error called natural selection. In most cases, the designs are driven by environmental pressures and occur for a reason.

This is evolution.

Modeling techniques allow us to simulate and predict reality. With new technology and parametric systems, we can now replicate nature's efficiency as well. We can accelerate nature's processes to find the best-adapted solutions for given constraints.

This is evolutionary design."

The Computational Design group develops innovative solutions because there are always new design challenges to be met. Close collaboration between designers is central to understanding these challenges fully. Developing the parametric systems together helps to determine the best-adapted solutions.

See a demonstration of optimization programming and understand how cutting-edge design techniques are embedded in today's built projects.


RhinoGold Webinars


TDM Solutions has organized a series of free webinars about RhinoGold to take place during April and May 2011.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

RhinoMembrane at the IV Latin American Symposium of Tensile Structures


The IV Latin American Symposium of Tensile Structures, will be held from April 6 to 8, 2011 in Montevideo, at the University of Architecture - University of the Republic.

This symposium covers topics related to the design, typologies design, project, project methodology, assembly, calculation, acoustics, heat and light, maintenance, materials, costs and sustainability.

Rhino and RhinoMembrane will be part of the lecture "Technology platform based on the Force Density Method and Update Reference Strategy coupled with non-linear stiffness methods" by Prof. Arq. Gerry D'Anza (Italy).

There's also a 3-day "Rhino + RhinoMembrane + ixForten 4000" workshop in the noon during the symposium.

Architecture designed with Rhino

AECCafe, the online magazine, does a great job of showcasing interesting architectural projects.

These recent projects were designed with Rhino.

Monday, April 4, 2011

RhinoBIM Structure – New build

Everyone is invited to download RhinoBIM STR beta 3.2.

What’s new in 3.2?
  • IFC Export: Transfers RhinoBIM structures directly to structural elements in Revit
  • BIMAnalysis:
    • Now supports all Rhino objects
    • Point loads now supported
    • 64 bit
  • Grasshopper support:
    • With real time feedback
    • New tutorial video
  • Pre-sale: 50% off version 1 through 8 April 2011

Friday, April 1, 2011

Intro to Grasshopper webinar, April 27

Join Novedge for their upcoming Introduction to Grasshopper for Rhino webinar. In this session, Grasshopper guru Andy Payne will take a look at the Grasshopper interface and walk through a series of examples that take advantage of various generative and associative modeling techniques.

Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Time: 11:00am PDT

Seats are limited. Sign up early.