Scan&Solve 2013 now with grid resolution display

The grid display in Scan&Solve 2013 for Rhino WIP allows visualization of the resolution -- the computational grid on which the simulation is carried out. This tool can be used to guide the selection of the resolution when setting up simulations and can serve as a diagnostic tool in identifying trouble spots in the simulation results. 

Also new in Scan&Solve 2013 for Rhino WIP is the ability to select fonts and colors used for the legend display.

Grid display video...

Download Scan&Solve 2013 WIP...

100 year history of the UNM's School of Architecture

UNM Centennial Chromagraph

100 year history of the UMN's School of Architecture

The installation is a 3D representation of the 100 year history of the UMN's School of Architecture that will be one of several exhibition pieces featured in UMN's upcoming 100 year anniversary celebration in October.

The model was designed in Rhino/Grasshopper informed by data about the school's history. Primary designer was Adam Marcus who has been the Cass Gilbert visiting fellow for the past two years. Nesting and RhinoCAM + machining and assembly by Masters of Architecture students Dan Raznick, Jordan Barlow and Sam Daley. 8080 pencils (the different colors represent various degrees granted), ~17,000 holes, 36 sheets 1/2" baltic birch. 8' x 8' x 38'. Ten to twelve people can pretty much pick it up and move it.

UMN RhinoFabLab technicians consulted along the way, checked out the router occasionally while they were cutting and tried to make sure they didn't break anything.

More photos about this installation can be seen here. 

What is a RhinoFabLab?

A RhinoFabLab™ (fabrication laboratory) 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.

FORMHERR - Winners of Red Dot Product Design Award 2013

The company Formherr Industriedesign, Rhino pro-users and Authorized Trainers, have been awarded with the Red Dot Product Design Award 2013. The winning project, a firefighting helmet commissioned by Dräger Safety AG, was challenging as it had to combine a number of serious aspects related to security and to the inclusion of innovative equipment, as well as wearing comfort and an aesthetic appearance. The whole helmet was completely modeled in Rhino until the designfreeze.

More details on the winning project…

More details on Formherr…

Badger batch rendering for Rhino. New version available.

There's a new version of Badger available - free for existing users. 

In this release:

1. There's a new "For each" task that allows you to run a job "for each" of some list of things. Like Named Views.
2. We've added save/load for jobs so you can transfer jobs between files.
3. The task list supports multiple selection.

There's more coming! Please let us know your wants and wishes for the next release.

Download it at http://www.badger3d.com

Students are valuable

John Boone, intern at Gorman-Rupp Pump Co.

Never underestimate the value of students. Recently we posted a link to a Boston Valley Terra Cotta project. This restoration firm was quick to credit the University of Buffalo architecture department for introducing the Boston Valley Terra Cotta designers and sculptors to new, high-tech tools.

In Ohio, a similar thing is happening. We received a note from Bruce Weirich, a teacher at Ontario High School, that one of his former Rhino class students is an intern at Gorman-Rupp Pump Co. Tyler Lasusa and two other Ohio State students are working in 3D modeling at the pump company, adding new perspective to traditional methods.

Richland Source article on interns at Gorman-Rupp . . . 

Rhino Rotorblade - airfoil and rotor generator

The Rhino Rotorblade project – A NACA airfoil shape and rotor generator plugin for Rhino 5.  

This free plugin allows the generation of cross-section profiles for NACA airfoils.  It also allows the easy and user-friendly assembly of cross-sections to form wings and rotors in the form of surface CAD models.

More about Rhino Rotorblade...

Download...

Online Level 2 Rhino course begins next week

Our Level 2 Rhino 5 online course begins next week. The class is scheduled for August 19-29. We have a few seats still available if you'd like to register. The course has been updated for Rhino 5 and will consist of seven sessions, a brief orientation on Monday followed by six half-days of Rhino 5 training.

Dates/Times:

• Orientation: Monday, August 9, 9:00 am -10:30 am
• Training: Tuesday-Thursday, August 20-22 and 27-29, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
  
  Note: Times listed are Pacific Daylight Time. Calculate your time zone.

All sessions are instructor-led and will be recorded for later viewing.  If you cannot make a session, watch the video and catch up before the class meets again.

Sign up today!

E57 File Import plug-in available

The E57 File Import plug-in is a Rhino 5 Labs Tool that will allow you to open or import .E57 files. The E57 file format is a compact, vendor-neutral format for storing point clouds, images, and metadata produced by 3D imaging systems, such as laser scanners. The file format is specified by the ASTM, an international standards organization, and it is documented in the ASTM E2807 standard.

More information...

MedioDesign Digital Fabrication workshop

MedioDesign, authorized RhinoFabLab, just finished a very special digital fabrication workshop for a group of students of Universidad Simón Bolívar that visited Barcelona.

 Follow the results of the workshop on their blog or twitter...

In 2 Space workshop Barcelona

In 2 Space 2013, International Workshop 2013

Barcelona, Spain

September 4-14, 2013

In 2 Space is a cutting-edge workshop in academia worldwide focusing exclusively on novel approaches to architecture.

The workshop's goal is to prepare students from different disciplines and countries for the continuing advancement of technological and computational processes in architecture, as they merge the fields of design, art, engineering, construction, and natural sciences.

The workshop will focus on challenging the design space boundaries of current architectural and engineering practice. It seeks to provoke a re-examination of techniques, practices and theories of design in relation to engineering, robotics, digital manufacturing, material science and biology.

Participants to this workshop will also discover this beautiful city via a professional vision of its architecture and culture. The workshop will provide a unique opportunity to visit the most famous architecture studios and approach the foreign experience and its methodologies.

Complete info and registration...

Rhino for Architecture training in Oslo

Rhino for Architecture at Pivot Produktdesign AS
Oslo (Norway)
October 9-11

Course outline:

• Choosing the right approach to different modeling tasks.
• Communicating your designs in a way ensures that designs come across as intended. 
• Creating good quality models that can be used directly for manufacturing or 3D printing. 
• Project and file management.

These lessons will provide some insight as to 'Why' I might want to do something rather than just 'How' to do something.

Prerequisites: The course will be customized according to the participants' levels. Trainees should ideally have at least three months of experience using Rhino. However, experience with other software, such as AutoCAD, will compensate for little or no Rhino experience.

Level: Beginner/intermediate

Trainer: Fredrik is an industrial designer and certified Rhino trainer. He has experience in both product engineering and architecture.  
As an industrial designer, Fredrik gained his architectural skills while working at Snøhetta Architects in Oslo. Since then he has been involved in several building projects, and held training courses for several architect and design offices in Norway.
 

Complete program and registration details...

AA Visiting School Madrid

AA Visiting School Madrid - Trans-Computational Membranes
Nano-Patterning to Mega-Cities
Universidad Europea Madrid (UE), Madrid, Spain
Monday – Thursday, September 16-26 2013

Venue: LASEDE-COAM (Colegio de Arquitectos de Madrid)

Trans-computational membranes will explore computational design methods through digital-analog experimentation. It will challenge the way we conceive flexibility within the context of spatial re-adaptation as a driver for social change. Time-based dynamic systems will transform the digital–analog divide through networks of instantaneous spatial deployment, creating a symbiotic spatial context that examines new-era demands.

The workshop will rethink membrane structures from the micro to macro organization resulting in a habitable prototype. Through the investigation of different scales, tensile structures will primarily be re-adaptive environments, searching for dynamic stability while responding to new spatial necessities. Natural-based models will be challenged through a continuous dialogue between analog and digital experimentation, where material processes and fabrication techniques are incorporated within a digital working methodology, analyzing material behavior from Nano-scale patterns to the production of physical prototypes at 1:1.

Students will take part exploring varied modeling and generative design workshops aimed at digital fabrication of textile prototypes. The course will be taught by tutors from the AA and the UEM who specialize in simulation techniques and generative design. The course will also be assisted by experts in textile materials as well as tensile structures alongside studio-based design tutorials. A series of lectures will address topics related to dynamic architectural models, adaptive systems and patterning experimentation for spatial deployment.

Complete details and registration...

Master - Architettura - Digitale - IUAV

The third edition of the post-graduate Master course in Digital Architecture (M.A.D.I.) at the University of Venice is starting in December 2013.

The purpose of the master's program is to provide graduate students of architecture and professionals an enhanced knowledge in using digital tools in architecture.

Training modules: Rhino and Grasshopper (Alessio Erioli), Grasshopper and Digital Fabrication (Luis Fraguada), Robots in Architecture, and many others (Poly Modeling, Rendering with V-Ray and Felix, Video Animation, Arduino).

Complete info and registration...

Bongo 2 Release Candidate 1 now available

You are invited to try out the Release Candidate 1 of Bongo 2, the animation plug-in for Rhino 5. The Release Candidate is open for all Rhino 5 users and is available in different languages. 

Bongo 2 Release Candidate 1 is now available from http://bongo3d.ning.com/

Enjoy!

Hull Design and Fairing Training for Professionals

Hull Design and Fairing Training for Professionals Level 1 & 2
RhinoCentre NL, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands
August 26-29

Ships – Yachts – Workboats – Multihulls
Goal: Design high-quality hulls with Rhino fast and flexible

Rhino enables accurate, flexible, and fair hull design with the “Rapid Hull Modeling Methodology”. This method is developed by RhinoCentre in cooperation with other professionals in the marine industry. After years of offering training and services to leading companies in the marine industry worldwide, RhinoCentre finally developed the unique training modules: Prepare2d input and Hull Design and Fairing Level-1 and Level-2.

These three modules are now combined in a three-day training that unveils the mystery of Class-A fairing to any designer, naval architect, or shipyard. One free extra day enables you to work on your own project with our assistance. You decide which program makes you successful and productive:

1. Hull design and fairing Training Level 1 & 2 and Work on your project
2. Feedback support on your work
3. Project support for your business

Trainer: Gerard Petersen, naval architect and founder of RhinoCentre, has used Rhino since 2001 in his projects in the most integrated way. Petersen developed hull design and fairing skills to be able to develop innovative concepts with unique hull shapes like the integrated trimaran Kenau. The trimaran project proved that Rhino is a professional tool to turn an idea into reality.

Language: English

Complete program and registration details...

Using Rhino to restore terra cotta angels

Original angel strapped to 20th floor of Beaux-Arts building

Restored angel ready to return to New York

Four 20-foot tall 1895 terra cotta angels from the Beaux-Arts building in New York were disassembled, recreated in Buffalo, then shipped back to New York and assembled. See how Boston Valley Terra Cotta managed this 'extreme makeover'.

Article in A/N Blog . . . 

Online Rhino course for marine designers

ProBoat E-Training is offering a Rhino Modeling for Marine Designers online course. It is a six-week course and begins on August 18th.

Learn to enhance your boat and yacht design skills with Rhino. Participants will learn how to work with curves, then surfaces, then move into fairing a simple chine hull, followed by a more complex sailing schooner hull.

Price: US$390.00

Instructor: Cliff Estes

Details and registration...

Is your 3D printer killing your kids?

Did that headline get your attention?*

It should have. This is just a reminder that 3D printers are industrial tools and like laser cutters, proper protective gear and ventilation is needed.

I was reminded when the topic came up this week on the 3D Printing Event Blog: That nifty 3D printer may be slowly poisoning you (and your kids?).

"According to a paper published in the journal Atmospheric Environment, the desktop 3D printers on the market can emit a pretty hefty amount of harmful ultrafine particles (UFPs) into the air." 

"Worst case scenario? Asthma-like symptoms, cardiac arrest, stroke, and even death. There’s also the issue of toxicity in the materials used to 3D print that could compound these effects."

*There are a bunch of journalistic tricks used here to get attention and scare. But don't run off in a panic. Just give this some thought and do the responsible thing for your situation.