Design Modelling Symposium Berlin 2013

The 4th Design Modelling Symposium Berlin “Rethinking Prototyping” will take place at the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany, from Saturday September 28 until Wednesday October 2, 2013.

As in previous years, the Symposium consists of two parts, two days of Workshops and Master Classes (including Rhino, Grasshopper, Sofistik, Firefly, Arduino, RhinoScript, RhinoPython, RhinoCommon SDK and KUKA|prc) followed by a three-day Conference with Keynote Lectures, Case Studies and Poster Sessions.

Design modelling has benefited from computation but in most projects to date there is still a strong division between computational design and simulation leading up to construction and the completed building that is cut off from the computational design modelling.

The Design Modelling Symposium Berlin 2013 would like to challenge the participants to reflect on the possibility of computational systems that bridge the design phase and occupancy of buildings. This rethinking of the designed artifact beyond its physical has had profound effects on other industries already. How does it affect architecture and engineering?

Details and registration...

STEM Schools and RhinoFabLab

Ms. Swanson’s 8th Grade Engineering Class from Gulfstream Middle School recently visited McNeel Miami. See the video here.
 

Gulfstream Middle School is a Certified RhinoFabLab, and according to Ms. Swanson, they are constantly looking for ways to blend math into technology and engineering. The Middle School is learning Rhino and Grasshopper to create projects that will help them achieve that goal.

VisualARQ Grasshopper Components

VisualARQ Grasshopper Components is a new add-on that allows working with VisualARQ architectural objects inside Grasshopper.

Check out the Help, exercises and videos!

Download from food4Rhino...

REaction workshop in Paris

REaction workshop
Grasshopper + Smart Cities
July 6-7, 2013
Paris (France)

The workshop
Based on the “Smart City” concept, the workshop will focus on the analysis, understanding and proposal of this new approach through the next steps:

1. Presentation of three case studies regarding the concept of Smart City in the Urban Public Space developed in the Master of Advanced Architecture of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), specifically in three different streets of Barcelona: Pere IV, Meridiana, and Paseo Grácia.
2. Approach to the first visualization tools based on the mapping concept (data collection, interpretation, representation, and new analysis strategies).
3. Tools application over different urban contexts to understand the relation between Paris and the smart city concept.
4. The workshop results will be published in the collective blog and web page, to amplify the range of influence of this developing concept and bring to public view the work of all the people involved in this knowledge incubator.

Details and subscriptions: http://www.superbelleville.org/reaction/

New book: Working with Rhinoceros 5.0

Working with Rhinoceros 5.0
New Rhino book by Michiel van der Kley

This new book (320 pages, 680 illustrations) is a user guide for working with Rhino 5, the 3D modeling and visualization program for product designers, artists, architects and sculptors.

The book will teach you, step by step, to use the program. It describes drawing in 2D, building in 3D, editing in 3D, materials, light, rendering, export possibilities, scripting and a lot more with a lot of examples.

Available in English or Dutch here...

DIVA Day 2013

Thornton Tomasetti has just announced that the 2^nd Annual DIVA Day will be held on July 15^th at their offices in New York City. Early-bird registration is now open.

DIVA Day is a conference on the use of environmental analysis in design practice and research. The full-day event includes a series of presentations and discussions, focused on how DIVA and associated simulation tools can be used in design and performance-evaluation workflows. Sessions include introductions to new features by the DIVA Team, and research and case studies by practitioners at leading architectural, engineering and consulting firms and universities. This year, the afternoon will be devoted to an Educators Session which will focus on ways DIVA is used in college and university architectural and building technology education.

Details...

Visit the DIVA site and learn more about DIVA for Rhino.

SCAD Jewelry and Objects Class of 2013

The SCAD Jewelry and Objects program prepares students for a variety of careers in industrial, fine art or entrepreneurial settings. SCAD Jewelry and Objects are a Certified RhinoFabLab. Here, students gain a foundation in traditional jewelry, metalsmithing, and silversmithing techniques through a diverse yet detailed curriculum and acquire an understanding of new technologies, concept development, electronic design and rendering, and production methods.

Please come and join SCAD Jewelry and Objects to celebrate the exhibition of work by the graduating class of 2013.

Date:  May 31, 2013
Place: SCAD Fahm Building
Time:  5:00-7:30 PM

For more information, please contact Jay Song.

IAAC Global Summer School 2013 – Istanbul Sessions

click on the image to make it larger

IAAC Global Summer School 2013 – Istanbul Sessions
ITU- Istanbul Technical University
15-26 July 2013

With the support of Rhino Turkey, this year Istanbul is added to the destinations of IAAC Global Summer School. Organized by SayaSaya, a private research group on networks and systems both in digital and material systems, Istanbul sessions will take place at Istanbul Technical University, Taşkışla campus. 

IGSS programme investigates common agendas in global locales and aims to generate a dynamic network based on distributed knowledge and collective actions. This year the theme is 'productive city'. All of the countries IGSS will take place at will be connected 24 hours to share knowledge, develop projects, debate the agenda topic, and explore how the agenda unfolds with the particular economic, biological, and social factors of each locale.

The local Istanbul sessions will focus on networks and systems for the environmental and regional scales and urban vegetation integrated structural skin on tectonic scale. The local organizers started the preparations by installing sensor boxes to ITU campus and preliminary workshops on visualization and modeling based on the collected data.

Prior to summer school, there will be three days of tutorials for Rhino, Grasshopper, Cytoscape, Processing, Arduino, and Quadrigramm.

• Instructors: Nilufer Kozikoglu, Adj. Prof.Burcu Biçer, Dr.Kutsi Nircan, Emrah Kavlak, Assoc Prof Dr Pelin Dursun,
• Guest tutors: Tomasz Jaskıewıcz, TBA
• Contrıbutors: Onur Gungör; Prof Dr Nil Turkeri and IAAC Alumni Gamze Gunduz, Deniz Tumerdem.
• Sensor boxes and Arduino sessions in collaboraton with Amberplatform’s Hyrbri-city.
• To apply: http://www.iaac.net/educational-programs/productive-city-2013-30
• For further information: info@rhinoturkiye.com, www.productivecityistanbul.com

Rhino user meetings in Washington DC

There is a new group for power users of Rhino, RhinoScripting, and Grasshopper in the Washington DC area. Designers from architecture, engineering, marine design, fashion, jewelry design, CAM fabrication, rapid prototyping, graphic design, and multimedia are all likely members.

Andrew Cocke, a professor and designer practicing in Washington DC, New York, Taiwan, and China, has organized the group on Meetup. Meetup is an online community that enables offline local group meetings. 

Join. Become a Zoophile...

Scan&Solve 2013 WIP = SnSMesh + SnSScript + Scan&Solve for Rhino

Scan&Solve 2013 - the latest and most powerful combination of Scan&Solve FEA tools available yet. Numerous advanced features and improvements in Scan&Solve 2013 include:

• Built-in support for SnSMesh and SnSScript
• Single SnS command to any solid geometry (polysurfaces, lightweght extrusions, meshes) within Rhino 5
• Real-time visualization of solution progress in the original SnS solver
• New alternative powerful solvers from Intel: 
  • DSS - a direct solver delivers speed by using more memory
  • ISS - an iterative solver that may often improve performance
• Increased resolution to maximum of 500,000 elements
• Settings tab and additional controls
• Numerous performance improvements and bug fixes 

This free WIP is available immediately to all licensed and evaluation users of Scan&Solve. The current version will operate until June 21, 2013.

Download Scan&Solve 2013 WIP...

Buy Scan&Solve...

Acoustics and aesthetics in Iowa

LMN Architects have added another performing arts facility to their portfolio. This one is the School of Music Building, University of Iowa: 700 seats, 946 unique acoustic panels.

The building's concert hall features a suspended acoustic ceiling canopy. Its intricate latticework provides strategic openings for the audio speakers, stage and house lighting, the fire sprinklers, while concealing the structural truss work.

To visualize the concert hall, LMN fabricated a three-foot scale model, plus a few full-sized components, on the firm's 3-axis CNC mill.

Many consultants contributed to the design using different digital formats. The acoustical consultants used SketchUp. The lighting designers used Revit. The theater and audio/visual consultants saved their specifications as DWG files. All of these programs were compatible with Rhino and, using Rhino's Grasshopper plug-in, LMN was able to incorporate all the consultant's information.

The project resulted from the damage of the 2008 flood and is now expected to be completed in 2016.

Details featured in Fabrikator ...

Intersections 2013 AEC Symposium

Intersections 2013: Interoperable Workflow | Innovative Practice
May 31, 2013 - 9:00am-5:00pm
NYC College of Technology, New York, NY

Intersections 2013 is a symposium with lectures and panel discussions by industry leaders, educators, and innovators on the topics of:

• Tools: Identifying them, teaching them, and ensuring they play well together.
• Innovation: Finding the conditions and opportunities for innovation in both established firms and small start-ups alike.
• Making it work: Translating innovative technology into high-impact practice using lessons from the field.

An exhibition of student work will run concurrently with the symposium. The display will focus on new curricular initiatives within the Department of Architectural Technology and will include research and prototypes from courses on foundational digital skills, computational fabrication, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and building performance/energy modeling.

Details...

Rhino and V-Ray presentation in Vienna

Presentation Rhino/V-Ray for Rhino/Maya in Vienna

Invitation to "ThreeKC Autodesk Maya / Rhino / V-Ray" presentation on Thursday 13 June 2013, 15:00 to 18:30 in the Austrian Social and Economic Museum, Vogelsanggasse 36, 1050 Vienna (Austria).

We invite you to the presentation of the new versions of Rhino, V-Ray for Rhino and Autodesk Maya and show the latest developments in the 3D area.

Roland Reyer presents the new version of Autodesk Maya 2014, Carlos Pérez (McNeel Europe) presents Rhino 5 and food4Rhino, Matus Nedecký (flying architecture) and Fabio Palvelli (3D Dreaming) show V-Ray for Rhino and rendering services for architecture. We also show the new Wacom Cintiq 22 HD touch.

There are 2 events, the first at 15:00 and the second at 18:30. Places are limited to 30 people each.

As a special event you can attend between the 2 events a basic coffee seminar "Coffee - from the plant to the cup" at the Coffee Museum.

Program:

• 15:00-15:45h: Presentation software Autodesk Maya 2014 (group 1)
• 15:45-16:00h: Tour "100 years of life and living in Vienna / Dr Carl Auer von Welsbach in the Agricultural Museum (Group 1)
• 16:00-16:45h: Presentation software Rhino 5.0 and VRAY (group 1)
• 17:00-18:15h: Basic coffee seminar "Coffee - from the plant to the cup" with Mr Edmund Mayr
• 18:30-19:15h: Presentation software Autodesk Maya 2014 (Group 2)
• 19:15-19:30h: Tour "100 years of life and living in Vienna / Dr Carl Auer von Welsbach in the Agricultural Museum (Group 1)
• 19:30:20:15h: Presentation software Rhino 5.0 and VRAY (Group 2)
• 20:15-22:00h: Finger found, drinks and "Come Together"

Participation is free, but due to the limited number of places registration is required. To register to the event, we ask you to select the following options:

Online registration 15:00
Online registration 18:30
or by email: office@kkkc.at
or Tel: 01-545 78 25

The Rhino and V-Ray for Rhino presentations will be in English.

New plugin: Rhino Open Projects

Rhino Open Projects is a collection of tools for Rhino 5 developed by the Laboratory of Design Tools and Methods in Industrial Engineering (Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Padova) for research projects such as biomedical (including dental), veterinary sciences, reverse engineering, rapid prototyping, cultural heritage, the geometric products specification, the naval field, ophthalmic optics, and others.

The Rhino Open Projects tools are now available for academic and commercial purposes. Currently there are three plugins available:

• AdvMesh allows mesh operations such as curvature analysis based on fitting methods, add noise to a mesh, fit a quadratic function on a set of points, simple mesh editing tools that allow to add and remove vertices and faces.
• AdvSurf estimates the lines of curvature of a surface.
• LensDesign, developed for progressive addition lens design, analysis and data exchange for manufacturing process.

More info and download at food4Rhino...

May 17-20 NYC design event

WantedDesign, an international design event of lectures, exhibitions, and workshops, is now showing in New York City at the Tunnel at the Terminal Stores building.

David Trubridge returns to the event, having just returned from the Milan Design Fair, where he exhibited 'The Elements', an installation of hanging sculptural forms with Swarovski crystals, acrylic, and anodized aluminum.

At WantedDesign David is launching his new light, Manuka.

WantedDesign program information ....

DesignX starts tomorrow

DesignX - ICFF 2013
May 18-21
Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York, NY

DesignX starts tomorrow! Join the DesignX meetup and attend the launch party. Limited seats are still available in the Grasshopper workshop. If you haven't registered yet, sign up today!

Register here...

Workshops include:

• Intro to Parametric Design: Visual Programming with Grasshopper
• 3D Printed Fabrics: Modeling Interlocking Elements with Rhino 
• Intro to Physical Computing for Designers (Arduino)
• Interactive Modeling: Responsive Design with Firefly
• Hands-on Desktop Prototyping for Designers

Details...

iRhino 3D 1.4 now available

Share your insight and inspiration.

On the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch
Pan, zoom, and rotate with a tap or drag of your finger. The handy navigator lets you scroll through thumbnails, so you can quickly jump to any model you want. Load Rhino models from web sites, Google Docs, Dropbox, email attachments, or from iTunes. Save views as images for mark-up and emailing.

New in version 1.4

• New View Navigation Mode: Look/Move (in addition to the classic Orbit/Zoom) - found in Settings.
• Thumb joysticks make it easy to get inside models and look around - found in Settings. 
• Now requires iOS 5.1 or higher. 
• Various optimizations and bug fixes.

Details...

Looking for an Android viewer? Click here...

Android controller for Rhino/Grasshopper

Control Grasshopper with your Android device.

The Rhino Grasshopper Controller sends all the sensor information from your Android device directly to Grasshopper. From there you can do with it whatever you want and control your geometry with gravity, rotation, light or touch input...

The app requires the following installations on your PC:

• Rhino 
• Grasshopper plug-in for Rhino
• gHowl plug-in for Grasshopper

Details and download...

View Rhino files on Android devices

3DM View is a new Android application from AMC Bridge for viewing Rhino's 3DM models on your mobile device.

Details and download...

RoboFold workshops: King Kong and Godzilla

Workshop: Folding - design and simulation

London, May 29-30, 2013

The RoboFold Folding Simulation and Design workshop is a two-day intensive workshop, exploring folding techniques in design and fabrication. You will simulate in Kangaroo and the King Kong plugin for Grasshopper. Designs are realized with the CraftROBO vinyl cutter. Spaces are still available!

Workshop: Robotic simulation
London, June 27-28, 2013

Godzilla is a new free Grasshopper plugin for simple and intuitive robotic simulation. An optional small device generates the actual control code.

Godzilla competition: The best use of the Godzilla software gets a free place for the next workshop. Judged on creativity and practicality.

Check the complete details plus a review of the latest RoboFold workshops...

Rhino 5, Grasshopper and V-Ray event in Stuttgart

Softwarebox GmbH invites you to a free Rhino 5, Grasshopper and V-Ray for Rhino event in region Stuttgart, where Peter Mehrtens (Grasshopper expert and Rhino trainer) and Gerrit Corsmeyer (Rendering expert) will show you (in German) the latest in modeling, computational design and photorealistic rendering:

• Date: June 6, 2013
• Starting: 2 pm
• Location: MEILENWERK Region Stuttgart
• Free registration (in German): www.softwarebox.de/termine

RhinoTerrain and RhinoCity events

RhinoTerrain 2.0 and RhinoCity will be announced soon. To see a sneak preview of these new plug-ins for geo-modeling, civil engineering and urban planning, don't miss the following events:

• May 23-24 - Rencontres Nationales de l’Ingénierie Publique - Nice (France)
• June 11-13 - Les rencontres de SIG-la-Lettre - Paris (France)
• October 8-10 - Intergeo - Essen (Germany)

Contact RhinoTerrain sarl for more info...

Algomad 2013 – Focus on Sagrada Familia

Algomad 2013 – Focus on Sagrada Familia will take place from July 3-6, 2013, at the ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering. The seminar will focus on the design, fabrication, and construction work developed using parametric and generative computational methods at the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. These problems will be used to teach the digital design methods that are the core of the seminar.
 
The temple’s technical team is committed to the Algomad organization and will serve as supporters and guides throughout the workshops. Sagrada Familia will be open to the attendees for guided tours so they can see for themselves the design and construction work developed at the temple. The workshops will take place at ELISAVA’s beautiful facilities on Barcelona's world-famous Las Ramblas. 

The seminar leaders will not try to speculate on how the tools under discussion will be used but will instruct in the operation and possible applications in the architecture, engineering and design fields.

The program includes workshops and conferences.

The workshops and conferences will be held in Spanish.

Complete details and registration...

Rhino jobs for industrial designers

Are you an industrial designer looking for a new job? These companies are hiring:

• ACCO Brands - Industrial Designer
  Redwood City, CA
• Ammunition Group - Designers, Packaging
  San Francisco, CA
• Hasbro - Senior Designer (Sesame Street Job)
  Pawtucket, RI
• ITO Design - Industrial Design Intern
  Nürnberg, Germany
• TOMY International - Designer (Boys Toys)
  Chicago, IL
• Exponents - Industrial Design Intern, Entry Level
  Toronto, ON
• Motorola - Senior Industrial Designer
  Chicago, IL

 More ...    

Lands Design WIP 5

Lands Design for Rhino is a software for designing gardens, green spaces, and landscapes and it runs in the Rhino environment.

Lands Design provides tools for producing technical drawings in 2D and 3D of the green space to work with, and realistic images and virtual tours through the project to perform.

Lands Design is ideal for landscape architects, urban planners, town council technicians, constructors, designers and draftsmen, environment departments, nurserymen, gardeners…

What's new in WIP 5:

• Improved joins between branches in the nXt plants
• New conceptual plant blocks
• Now, the Google Earth Import command also creates a textured mesh, in addition to the scanned curves
• New cut and fill option to add a path to an existing Terrain
• In the Terrain properties, new option to lock the X and Y cell size values of the grid
• New option to define custom folders for the urban furniture blocks browser

Complete details...

DYNAMIC FIELDS Workshop and Conference, Bucharest (Romania)

Parametrica [Digi Fab School] from Bucharest, Romania, invites you to DYNAMIC FIELDS Workshop and Conference (July 15-28, 2013) to participate in the digital design build project, seeking to create an inventive collaborative environment. The workshop is part of a series of PARAMETRICA events, promoting computational design thinking and exploring the new possibilities of parametric design.

Key lecturer and Jury: Patrik Schumacher (Zaha Hadid Architects)

Workshop Concept (July 15-27, 2013):
The future of structures lies in their ability to utilize and respond to the energy which exists in the environment surrounding them.
In this 14-day workshop the various energy fields which exist in a given environment (wind, water, sun, sand etc.) will be identified, analyzed and then simulated, after which experimental structures will be generated and fabricated such that their performance will act as a continuous real-time response to these environmental parameters.

Conference Concept (July 28, 2013):
During this day we will present the final workshop projects and our special guest, Patrik Schumacher will explore the subject of computational design thinking and parametric architecture.

Objectives:
The workshop objectives are two-fold. In the first phase the workshop focuses on the identification and analysis of resources inherent to the environmental context, thus developing a better understanding of their nature as well as optimized methods of use or response. In the next phase, the objective is to generate structures which through either means of fabrication or material properties can respond to, or utilize the environmental energy sources.

Complete info and registration...

BrickDesign for Rhino 5

BrickDesign for Rhino 5 is the first software that enables architects and engineers to fully exploit the design potential inherent in the novel and innovative robotic fabrication processes.

Robotic Fabrication

Computer-controlled fabrication allows the realization of highly informed building elements in an economic and efficient process. Applied to brickwork the robot can individually position each brick, thus enabling map patterns and images on a facade or realizing complex wall geometries.

Functionality

• Intuitive design of a large set of small, discrete elements
• Fully parametric data model
• Fast and easy creation of design variants 
• Integration of user-defined details
• Expandability through the scripting interface
• Complete integration into design and planning process
• Automatic generation of basic fabrication data

Download BrickDesign 1.0 from food4Rhino...

RhinoNC and Dental Shaper road show

Want to learn more about CIMsystem's Rhino plugins for CAM (RhinoNC, Bamboo, Electrodex), Dental (Dental Shaper, Sum3D), and Nesting (Mosaix)?

Meet CIMsystem's expert team at any of these events around the globe:

• May 23-25 - Amici di Brugg, Rimini, Italy
• Jun 09-12 - SinoDent, Beijing, China
• Jun 19-20 - wfb, Siegen, Germany
• Sep 16-19 - Dental Expo, Moscow, Russian Federation
• Oct 11-13 - Expolab, Sao Paulo, Brasil
• Oct 17-19 - Expodental, Milan, Italy
• Oct 23-26 - Dentech, Shanghai, China
• Oct 25-26 - Colloquium Dental, Brescia, Italy
• Dec 03-06 - EuroMold. Frankfurt, Germany

Event details...

Rhino Python weekend workshop in Boston

Rhino 5 comes with the ability to script your ideas in Python. Python makes algorithmic design faster, easier, and more accessible than ever before.

In this 2-day weekend workshop, you will be introduced to algorithmic design for those with no programming experience. You will have the tools to work through geometric ideas in a whole new way.

For more information and to register, visit www.pointcrowd.com

.

Are you sure? Have you checked?

Are you checking your designs early and often?

There is no reason not to. The simulation and analysis tools for Rhino 5 keep getting better.

Scan&Solve™ has always provided finite elements in Rhino without meshing. Now they are offering two additional extensions to their tools.

First is SnSMesh. This version of Scan&Solve™ allows users to perform stress simulation on mesh geometry within Rhino. This version has the same functionality as the latest edition of Scan&Solve™ but works directly on closed meshes created in Rhino or imported from other applications that can export .stl, .wrl, .ply, and other mesh formats recognized by Rhino. That means you can directly analyze any part that you can 3D scan. No need to first reverse engineer.

Second is SnSScript. This scriptable version of Scan&Solve™ allows users to automate simulation processes that otherwise require user interaction. In the scriptable version, most of the functionality of the original Scan&Solve™ plug-in is exposed for calls from RhinoScript, including simulation setup, simulation computation, and solution visualization and querying.

Download SnSMesh or SnSScript here...

New Release of PanelingTools for Rhino 5 and Grasshopper

The new release of PanelingTools for Rhino 5 and Grasshopper is now available for download.

Details and download…

DYNAMIC FIELDS Workshop and Conference

Parametrica [Digi Fab School] from Bucharest, Romania, invites you to DYNAMIC FIELDS Workshop and Conference (July 15-28, 2013) to participate in the digital design-build project, seeking to create an inventive collaborative environment.

The workshop is part of a series of PARAMETRICA events promoting computational design thinking and exploring the new possibilities of parametric design. It is aimed at students, postgraduates, architects, interior, product, and urban designers, engineers, and anybody interested.

More details...

One more week for Regent Street Windows Project

British women's clothing retailer Karen Millen has teamed with the architecture firm Mamou-Mani to create a series of window displays in The Regent Street Windows Project 2013. Mamou-Mani is one of our Rhino and Grasshopper clients.

The Regent Street Windows Project connects fashion, architecture, and culture to create a series of unique window displays in London. Six teams of architects and retailers are on display till May 15th.

Project details ...

Art meets 3D Printing

Art meets 3D Printing with Type A Machines
 
Xylem is a product of the collaboration between designer Bryan Allen and sculptor Stephanie Smith. It is based on the translation of natural forms through analog to digital 2D representation and analysis into a re-physicalized 3D form. The final form evokes the Xylem layer of tree cells: reducing structure and enclosure to a minimum while still maintaining form.

Using a Type A Series 1 printer in conjunction with  Rhino 5 design software, the form was fabricated as 44 individually PLA printed panels. For two months straight the printer ran non-stop without failure producing all the compete components with registration numbers for placement. The parts were assembled on site by the artists.

 

Make sure to drop by Type A Machine booth at Maker Faire Bay Area at the San Mateo County Event Center on May 18th and 19th where you can get a closer look at this project.The Type A Machines team will also provide demos of their latest new product developments, to give you an exciting glimpse of innovative techniques for 3D printing.

Also, remember to join the Type A Machines group at www.RhinoFabLab.com too.

For more information, please contact:

Sara Bonomi, Marketing

sara@typeamachines.com

(415)378-5370

Force Based Design: Bauhaus Summer School

This two-week interdisciplinary course lays the foundations of a force-based design through theoretical lectures and presentations. Various examples will show that structure efficiency depends largely on the flow of forces within the structure. Possible optimization strategies will be discussed in the light of material saving and their impact on architectural form.

This course will introduce you to digital analysis and optimization tools. You will learn to deal with three-dimensional parametric software (Rhino, Grasshopper, SOFiSTiK, Karamba, Geometry Gym, Kangaroo).

Finally, the knowledge acquired will be applied to designing a pedestrian bridge or a slender tower.

Participants will be able to recognize the effects of forces as design parameters. They will recognize the potential of building geometry in the context of architecture and resource-efficient designs.

Information

• Where: Bauhaus-Universität, Weimar, Germany
• Application deadline: 15 May
• Course duration: 18 - 30 August
• Course language: English
• Target Groups: Master students, graduates, doctoral candidates, and young professionals
• Requirements: Basic knowledge of 3D parametric software is recommended
• Course fee: 490 € (100 € discount for students and alumni, 290 € discount for Bauhaus-Universität Weimar students)

Lecturers

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexander Stahr - HTWK Leipzig
• Dipl.-Ing. Christian Heidenreich - Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
• B.Sc. Martin Dembski - Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Guest lecturers

• Dipl. Eng. Arch. Simon Vogt - Transform Engineers, Hamburg
• Dipl. Bauingenieur FH Nico-Ros-Zeile - ZPF Ingenieure, Basel (CH)

More details...

Thomas Heatherwick: Making

When all is said and done Rhino is still only a tool. You can create poor designs as easily as you can create great designs.

For inspiration, the book Thomas Heatherwick Making is a showcase of great designs. The 600-page book is a compilation of Heatherwick studio projects from 1989 to 2011 -- projects as varied as furniture, bridges, handbags, boats, buses, shopping centers, and Christmas cards.

Each project starts with a design question. The answers are fascinating and creative solutions.

Thomas Heatherwick has said that design is a solution to a problem. We are glad to help with those solutions.

To purchase from Amazon in US ...

AEC Technology Symposium NYC May 20-21

The Advanced Computational Modeling Group of Thornton Tomasetti is pleased to host a 2-day conference that brings together technology leaders from the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry.

May 20 8:30am-5pm
Presentations
Center for Architecture
536 Laguardia Place

May 20 6pm-8pm
Reception
Trespa Design Centre
62 Greene Street

May 21 9am-6pm
Workshops
Thornton Tomasetti
51 Madison Avenue

For more information, visit http://www.thorntontomasetti.com/blog/acm

Or, e-mail...

Job opening at One to One

One to One is looking for a Senior/Lead 3D-CAD Modeler, Scripting and CAM-Fabrication Specialist (m/f)

More information and application

Godzilla: Robots with Rhino and Grasshopper

As many of you know Rhino has played nice with robots for many years. And things just keep getting better.

The latest is Godzilla, a new free Grasshopper plugin from Gregory Epps of RoboFold for programming and simulating robots in Rhino with Grasshopper.

Also, there is an optional small device to generate the actual control code.

If you would like to play with a robot in the comfort of your own home, give Godzilla a try.

The details are here...

BoltGen - free bolt generation plugin

BoltGen creates accurate Metric and English machine bolts of any length. This plugin makes Sockethead Capscrews, Flat head Machine screws, Flat head Capscrews, Pan heads, and Hex Heads, or just threads without heads if desired. 

Head drives include Torx, Philips, Allen Hex and Hex wrench.

Download, unzip, and place in the Rhinoceros Plugin Folder. In Rhino, choose Tools, Options, Plugins, and Install BoltGen. Rhino command is BoltGen.

More Rhino utilities from McVan Aerospace . . .