VisualARQ 1.4

VisualARQ 1.4 has been released and is now available to download.

What’s new in 1.4:

• New Roofs: Automatic gable and hip roofs. (video)
• New jog Sections: Real time sections in display and render. (video)
• New window types (awning, hopper, and hung) and glass muntins.
• Table export to Excel and CSV.
• All known bugs have been fixed.

See the complete list in What’s new...

Create interactive 3D PDF files from 3DM

Create interactive 3D PDF files!

• Import Rhino 3D files


• Rapidly capture 3D views and recall them with PDF bookmarks


• Preview and publish to one of more than 50 high-impact templates


• Click to easily customize text, images, logos, and colors


• Many templates include interactive buttons and clickable lists


• Share 3D with anyone that has Adobe(R) Reader 9+

Download demo and more...

Grasshopper and Firefly workshop in Portland

GHX Firefly Interactive Workshop
University of Oregon, Portland
School of Architecture & Allied Arts
August 16-19, 2011

This four-day hands-on workshop is an intensive immersion into the Rhino plug-ins, Grasshopper and Firefly, that take the code-writing out of parametric design and Arduino electronics. Firefly is a set of comprehensive software tools dedicated to bridging the gap between Grasshopper, the Arduino micro-controller, the internet and beyond. Workshop participants will be guided in building responsive structures.

Instructors: Andrew Payne of LiftArchitects and Jason K Johnson of Future Cities Lab

Details...

Computational Design Summer Program

Digital Practice: Hong Kong
August 1-13, 2011

Digital Practice is an international summer program focusing on computational design.

About the workshop...
Led by professors from The University of Hong Kong, as well as invited practitioners with expertise in practice of cutting edge digital techniques, the summer program offers participants opportunities to experience applications of computational tools during different stages of an architectural project. By learning advanced computational techniques through case studies in the context of Hong Kong, participants are expected to go beyond the conventional perception of technology.

More...

Guitar building video tutorials

Luthier Tool Company has online video tutorials for using Rhino to build guitars and stringed instruments. More and more people are getting into building guitars, mandolins, violins, etc. using CAD/CAM tools.

Details and download...

Scan&Solve 1.2 service release

This free service release adds one of the most requested features to Scan&Solve: support for color baking and exporting the computed results in popular formats for 3D visualization and 3D printing.

Download and details...

Blobshop Inflatables

Blobshop Inflatables is a new company that designs and manufactures very cool advertising inflatables. Final modeling was done in Rhino.

Blobshop Inflatables photos and interactive 3D models...

Generative Design and Parametric Structures with Thornton Tomasetti

This presentation by Robert Otani and Jonatan Schumacher from Thornton Tomasetti was recorded at the New York City Revit Users Group July 2011 meeting.

It is a little over an hour long, but well worth your time to watch to the end.

More details...

workshop BRANCH POINT: INTERACTION on Strelka (Moscow)

workshop BRANCH POINT: Interaction on Strelka (Moscow)
August 11-18, 2011
Moscow – Russia
Red October’s [КРАСНЫЙ ОКТЯБРЬ] factory
Contact: haiman-ed@yandex.ru
Organized by: branchpoint [ТОЧКА ВЕТВЛЕНИЯ]

Interaction is an intensive, ten-day design workshop with the goal of researching the convention of digitally-driven design methods, interactivity and manufacturing technologies utilising workshop resources and Red October’s [КРАСНОГО ОКТЯБРЯ] factory, which is now in the most dynamic developing heart of Moscow. This building plot will become an interactive platform during the workshop, between citizens, landscape, architectural shapes, the building plot itself and its surroundings.

The main core of the Interaction workshop will be the development and implementation of innovative and experimental design-and-build strategies through site-specific spatial prototypes, prior to manufacturing the pavilion at a one-to-one scale. We will be using a large number of special 3D software and informational design tools including Grasshopper (Rhino), RhinoPython, Processing, vvvv. What we produce with this software will be adapted using CNC fabrication equipment, motor controllers, X-box Kinect cameras and sensor technologies.

Participants will work in four groups, each of 15 people. Each group will be led by two to four mentors with experience in the appropriate field:

1. Dynamic Landscape / Gen/App || urban strategy and resources interaction | moderated by: Daniyar Yusupov (S.-Petersburg), Ekaterina Larina (S.-Petersburg), Aleksandra Boldyreva (Perm)
2. Object || object in the urban landscape | moderated by: Maxim Malein(Moscow), Philipp Kats (Moscow), Milan Stamenkovich (Moskow)
3. Skin / Fabrication || generative design structures driven by physical laws with future fabrication using experimental manufacturing techniques | moderated by: Dimitry Demin (Germany), Daniel Piker (UK)
4. 4. Interactive || human-surface-inviroment interaction | moderated by: Vadim Smakhtin (Moscow), Eduard Haiman (Moscow), Giya Djahaya (Sochi)

• Participation: Anyone, independent of their profession and qualifications, is welcome to apply. Participants in the different groups may need different skills and experience, and therefore the applicants will be chosen with reference to their portfolios.
• Software requirements: Rhino, Grasshopper 0.8, VVVV (for INTERACTIVE cluster)

*working in Skin/Fabrication cluster requires basic english knowledge

Application form in English (application deadline 30 July)...

Workshop page on Strelka`s site

First RhinoFabLabs in Europe

MedioDesign (Barcelona) and Controlmad (Madrid), both in Spain, are the first certified RhinoFabLabs in Europe.

A RhinoFabLab™ (fabrication laboratory) is an Authorized Rhino Training Center (ARTC) with a 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.

Join the community now!

RhinoParametrics 2.0 released

RhinoParametrics 2.0 has been released. Check the news here and download the eval.

VSR Shape Modeling 1.0 Beta

Virtual Shape announces VSR Shape Modeling 1.0 Beta, a plugin for Rhino that adds advanced modeling, editing, and analysis tools to create Class-A surfaces.

VSR Shape Modeling includes VSR Shape Analysis. A partial list of features:

• Simple and fast control point modeling
• Curve and surface matching functionality up to G3 (Flow)
• Graphic handles for easy modification of the created geometry
• Integrated analyses in almost all functions to evaluate the resulting geometry
• Quick user-controlled surface creation on polygon meshes
• Curve sketching functionality
• Curve and surface approximation to simplify the geometry

Details and download...

apomechanes 2011

Ahylo lab is pleased to announce the launch of the apomechanes 2011 studio to be held in Athens for the third year, from July 25 till August 5.

Apomechanes is an international intensive computational design studio held each summer in Athens, Greece. The studio is devoted to furthering techniques and concepts of algorithmic processes as means for design and fabrication. Apomechanes brings together individuals from diverse backgrounds and fields of study to discuss, exchange, and collaborate on projects that investigate modes of algorithmic and machine processes in architectural design.

Complete details...

Motion control for 6-axis robots with Grasshopper

Daniel Piker just posted a new Grasshopper plug-in, Lobster, a tool for solving the inverse-kinematics of 6-axis robot arms.

More details...

T-Splines User Group Meeting in Vancouver, BC

Register now for the first ever T-Splines for Rhino User Group meeting/Level II training on Thursday, August 11 in Vancouver, BC. Meeting will be held immediately following the SIGGRAPH conference.

The agenda features training in the morning and user presentations in the afternoon. The event is designed to send you home with both the inspiration of seeing how to use T-Splines to make better organic models, and the point-and-click skills to actually get it done.

Details and registration...

Inventor Supports Rhino

Autodesk Inventor 2012 imports native Rhino 3DM files.

Details...

Modeling to break the sound barrier

The 2005 movie, The World's Fastest Indian, told the intriguing story of New Zealander, Burt Munro, in his quest to break speed records on his Indian Scout motorcycle in the 50s and 60s.

Today, breaking land speed records still fascinates people. Now speed records are broken by Australian Rosco McGlashan in his 'Aussie Invader'. Instead of a gasoline-fueled 1000 cc engine, Rosco drives a 9-ton rocket car powered by bio kerosene and liquid oxygen. Instead of 200 mph, Rosco reaches speeds of around 1,000 mph.

Mike Annear helps in this project by using Rhino to provide 3D concept models.

Learn more ...

Architectural traveling seminar - July 24-30

LaN FLIGHT‘s 4th edition commences in Boston on July 24th, via New Haven, finishing up in New York on July 30th. Join the group for the full trip or the leg that suits your interests. LaN is looking to attract a geographically diverse group of students & professionals with various design backgrounds.

This en-route experience draws a diverse group of design participants from afar for a full schedule of exchanges with leading practitioners, practices, fabrication labs… all while exposed to urban transit infrastructure from Boston to New York.

Details and registration...

Rhino Job - Fab Lab Manager at MIT

MIT is looking for a Fabrication Lab Facilities Manager for the Department of Architecture.

The Fab Lab Manager will:

• Be responsible for organizing and running digital fabrication facilities as safe and effective learning environments. 
• Participate in educational initiatives aimed at new machine purchases and teaching.
• Provide instruction to faculty and students with design and research projects.
• Offer advice and instruction on the materials and techniques as well as the process of fabrication and assembly to ensure safe and successful outcomes.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline. A master's or professional degree in design or a technology-related discipline preferred.
• 3 years minimum experience managing a fabrication facility for an educational program utilizing traditional and digital methods.
• Must have experience with Rhino/CAD/CAM software and equipment. Computer programming experience advantageous.
• Experience working with college age students in a teaching or advisory capacity helpful.

Details and application...

Report Rhino UK User Meeting 2011

The Rhino UK User Meeting 2011 took place on the 6th of July at the Design Museum in London. It was a great success, fully booked, and with amazing presentations by users and plugin developers.

Dmitry Ushakov, CEO at Ledas Ltd. (developers of RhinoWorks), presented at this event and wrote a great report.

Report in English...

Report in Russian...

SIGGRAPH 2011 Vancouver, Canada

SIGGRAPH is the place to learn, the place to share ideas, and the place to compare the latest products. From artists to engineers, from developers and designers to large, established companies with international operations, SIGGRAPH is the only conference and trade show that draws the people from around the world and across the multiple disciplines who work in this exciting and innovative industry.

Stop by Booth 778 and say hello to the Rhino team.

Rhino partners exhibiting include:

Luxion - Booth 780
Chaos Group - Booth 135
IntegrityWare/nPower Software - Booth 578
Next Limit Technologies - Booth 625
Technology Joint Corporation - Booth 679
Caustic Graphics/Imagination Technologies - Booth 129

To experience McNeel products, go to The Studio where there will be presentations and a lab for trying hardware and software.

There is a limited number of free exhibits passes. Register here. The code is 3DRhino.

RhinoGold training in LA & NYC

Attend a RhinoGold 3.0 course and jump start your 3D modeling for jewelry skills. Classes are currently being offered in Los Angeles and New York.

Los Angeles - July 18-21 or August 29-September 1
New York - July 25-28 or August 22-25

To register, email CADBLU or call...

LA (818) 303-1766
NYC (212) 481-8700

Sign up today!

Sustainable housing in tropical urban settings

In the May 8, 2011 blog of AECCafe, see how GOMMA Design, using Rhino and Grasshopper, uses coral as an inspiration to design a self-sustaining and disaster-resistant eco-village in the Philippines. The design was awarded the Energy Award in the Design Against the Elements competition.

Read more ....

Python for Rhino Primer - Now available

Skylar Tibbets, Arthur van der Harten, and Steve Baer have just published the Python for Rhino Primer. In it you will learn:

• What the Python programming language is all about.
• Why Python is the world's fastest growing scripting language
• How to get started with Python for Rhino 5

Download the new Python for Rhino 101 Primer...

Or, order the printed version...

Also, join Skylar Tibbits for a 2 hour webinar introduction to Python for Rhino 5 on Friday, 22 July 2011 9-11 AM PDT. The cost is US$150. Only US$95 until 17 July 2011.

Sign up for the webinar...

Skylar is a lecturer at MIT's Department of Architecture, the Founder/Principal of SJET LLC and a 2011 TED Fellow.