Lasertec, El Salvador - RhinoFabStudio

We would like to welcome Lasertec, a laser cutting and engraving company in El Salvador, as an Authorized RhinoFabStudio. Lasertec specializes in creating and fabricating your ideas. 

Visit their RhinoFabStudio site, the place where they share and display their work and the work of their students and clients. Stay in touch with their Facebook page to learn about their upcoming events.

For more information, please click here ...

What is a RhinoFabStudio? A RhinoFabStudio™ (fabrication studio) 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.

Architectural Design training in Oslo (Norway) by Pivot Produktdesign AS

Rhino for Architects at Pivot Produktdesign AS

Oslo Norway, 4-6 November 

Course Outline: This course will cover common areas in architecture, such as solid modeling, paneling, project management, 3D printing, and presentation. You will gain in-depth knowledge of the methods used to create high-quality models. 

We will also look at ways to present designs directly from Rhino and with rendering plugins V-Ray or Maxwell. 

Level: Beginner/intermediate.

Prerequisites: We will customize according to the level of the participants. 

You should ideally have at least three months of experience with using Rhino. But experience with other software, such as AutoCAD, will make up for little or no Rhino experience.

Trainers:

Fredrik Wenstop - 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 architectural and design offices in Norway.

Liam Woolley - A design engineer with education from the automotive sector.

His specialty is developing and prototyping products and special fabrications within architecture. Liam also has long-time experience with rendering and visualizations, 3D modeling, and optimization through FEA.

Complete details...

Marine Design training in Oslo (Norway) by Pivot Produktdesign AS

Rhino for Marine at Pivot Produktdesign AS
Oslo Norway, October 30th to November 1st

Course Outline: The course focuses on choosing the right strategy for a given task and using Rhino to its full potential. 

Much attention will be paid to topics specific to hull modeling, model quality, and surface analysis. 

Structure: This three-day course starts with a brief refresher on Rhino basics. Then we will move on to topology and using various tools to create high quality CAD models. 

Maxwell Render can be part of the curriculum if realistic rendering of vessels in the water rendering is a priority.

The course is adaptable, so we can include your specific modeling tasks upon request.

Prerequisites: You should have at least three months experience using Rhino, or have completed McNeel’s Rhino Level 1 training. However, experience with other modeling software will make up for little or no Rhino experience.

Level: Beginner/intermediate.

Trainers:

Fredrik Wenstop - 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.

Liam Woolley - A design engineer with education from the automotive sector.

His specialty is developing and prototyping products and special fabrications within architecture. Liam also has long-time experience with rendering and visualizations, 3D modeling, and optimization through FEA.

Complete details...

Rhino and Fashion Design training in London (UK) by Bryan Oknyansy

Bryan Oknyansy, with the support of SimplyRhino UK, has organized a series of Rhino workshops in fashion:

• Intro to Rhino, FabLab London, 7 October 2015
• Rhino for Fashion, London College of Fashion, Nov-Dec 2015

And very soon a Footwear Design workshop!

inFORMed Clay matter 2.0 - Grasshopper and robotics workshop in Turin (Italy)

inFORMed Clay matter 2.0

Grasshopper and robotics workshop

23-25 October 2015 - Turin, Italy

The workshop is a collaboration between Co-de-iT, Fablab Torino, Officine Arduino, based on ongoing Co-de-iT research called “inFORMed matter“.

The “inFORMed matter” research project focuses on the exploration of additive fabrication processes. It explores producing form through the morphogenetic properties and capacities of matter by embedding information structures during the fabrication process itself.

The goal is to go beyond the current state of prototyping, in which the physical prototype is as close as possible to a clone of its digital counterpart, making fabrication a pure replication. 

Instead, by coding and embedding extra levels of information the production and digital fabrication phase becomes an integral part of the design process. The embedded information maps and defines material features and behaviors and different deployment patterns of the physical and aesthetic properties.

The workshop focuses on the exploration and development of the whole design and digital manufacturing process through additive processes of ceramic mixture materials.

Workshop topics

• Anticipate material behavior through digital simulation: Test and apply different tool-based conditions and parameters (extrusion direction angle, speed of extrusion, variable layer thickness, etc. ) and evaluate the consequent material behavior to get useful feedback for the digital model's next iteration. The aim is to understand how to embed material properties as code and information during the digital design phase, fine-tuning it towards the desired outcome.
• Seamless and shorter design-to-machine pipeline: One, by directly informing the machines by generating the necessary code in the design tool. Two, by building the design process around the machine's capacities.
• Embed morphogenetic material properties as design factors: Understand and manage such properties, behaviors, and their potential morphological outcomes for different materials, from clay to biologic matter, to map and use them as an atlas of expressive possibilities and performances of the material.
• Understand constraints and opportunities determined by the chosen constructor agent or machine: Learn to use and manage different machines to handle the extrusion tool for additive processes and learn to evaluate and exploit the influence, constraints, and opportunities provided by different machines and movement technologies. 

During the workshop, we will use tools to handle the special ceramic extruder, a customized 3D printer, type delta, and a 6-axis Comau Robot NJ 60.

The final output will be the result of influence, cooperation, and conflict of these. Only by successfully combining computational simulation, material properties and capacities, and machine constraints and opportunities we can effectively evaluate and push further the design process potential. Through this, we can foster design and fabrication skills and sensibilities for a more comprehensive awareness of relations between computation and material aspects.

Complete details...

Refugees Welcome House

Check the latest project by Dimitry Demin, Refugees Welcome House, done in Rhino and Grasshopper:

"For whatever reasons people may seek refuge in Central Europe, it is our task and responsibility to face these challenges. This also includes the question of adequately accommodating the new arrivals shortly before winter comes. We feel convicted to make a substantial contribution to answering these questions with an aesthetically sophisticated, technologically advanced and economical solution.

It seems obvious that integrating people seeking asylum into society from the first day on is preferable to seclusion, since these people literally went through hell to get there. And regardless of how we will admit them, most of them are going to begin a new life here with us. It is left to policy makers to create a system for integration, but as members of a global society, we are all called upon to contribute and act.

Our proposal within the scope of architecture is to provide buildings, which are temporary, modular, cost-effective and quick to assemble, yet can be built in individual configurations. In the cooperative field between architecture and industry the experiences and technologies to implement such concepts exist already. Computational methods can be applied to solve and control the technical requirements of components and to develop strategies, making buildings more adaptable and resource-efficient."

More details...

Rhino training in France: Orca3D, Naval Architecture, 3D Printing, Interior and Furniture Design

NDAR is organizing, with support from Vanessa Steeg (McNeel Europe), some specialized Rhino courses this fall:

• Rhino3D for 3D-printing, 3 days, 28-30 September
• Rhino3D + Orca3D for Naval Architects, 3 days, 12-14 October
• Rhino3D Interior & Furniture modelling, 3 days, 23-25 November

Click on the links to learn more...

Eyas for Grasshopper

Eyas enhances Grasshopper by providing solutions that allow Grasshopper to be the central blank canvas for defining digital workflows for data on preprocessing, post processing, sorting, and object relationships.

Eyas is primarily for the AEC industry for solutions related to Building Information Modeling (BIM).

Eyas provides low latency solutions for manipulating data, both native Grasshopper and native Rhino document objects. Eyas uses the principles of object attributes, data tables and dictionaries, and using a NoSQL approach. Data is stored in memory using key value and field name field value methods. Excel is tightly integrated to provide pre and post processing options for data manipulation.

Download Eyas on food4Rhino...

E4D Winter School 2016 “Sand: an (in)finite resource?”

ETH Zurich is inviting applications for the E4D Winter School 2016 “Sand: an (in)finite resource?”. 

Master and doctoral students with a background in architecture, engineering, urban planning, geology, chemistry, and related fields are welcome to apply. The program revolves around the so-far untapped resource of desert sand and the question of how to activate its potential as an alternative building material for future cities.

The three-week program will take place at the TU Berlin campus in El Gouna, Egypt, from 9 to 28 January 2016. The application deadline is September 30th. 

Check the program and application criteria here...

Thea for Rhino - Showreel and promotion

Thea for Rhino integrated plugin takes full advantage of Thea Render functionality and lets you create high-quality photorealistic renderings within Rhino 5. With advanced features such as interactive render, true physical-based materials, innovative material layering, IES and HDRI light support along with a versatile rendering system comprised of biased, unbiased and GPU engines, rendering within Rhino has become really powerful.

See the new showreel here...

And read more about the September promotional price...

Lightweight internal structures - Two new Grasshopper plugins

Two new Grasshopper plugins are focusing on creating lightweight internal structures. 

Computational techniques, new materials, and fabrication processes are joining forces to create strong yet light lattice structures.

Intralattice is a set of open source Grasshopper components for generating solid lattice structures within a 3D design space.

More info on Intralattice .....

Exoskeleton is a free plugin for creating meshes. It is currently two components: Exo Wireframe and Cytoskeleton.

• Exo Wireframe thickens lines and nodes into watertight meshes. It solves the nodes using a convex hull and stitches the hulls together with polygonal struts.
• Cytoskeleton thickens the edge network of any existing mesh into a thickened mesh. The topology of the base mesh enables the production of a clean quad mesh whose vertices are all an even valence. 

More info on Exoskeleton ....

Online Level 1 Rhino 5 for Windows Course, October 2015

Level 1 Rhino 5 for Windows - Online Course
October 1-14, 2015
US$200

In this online class you'll learn to create and edit accurate free-form 3D NURBS models. This fast-moving class covers most of Rhino's functionality, including the most advanced surfacing commands. Our detailed class outline is available here.

Dates: 

• Orientation: October 1, 9:00 am-10:30 am (PDT)
• Training: October 5-7 and October 12-14, 9:00 am-1:00 pm (PDT)
  Calculate your time zone.

Sign up today! 

Live training sessions let you to ask questions and interact with the class and instructor. In our usual format, all sessions will be recorded and posted for your study and review. If you cannot make a session, you will be able to catch up at your convenience.

The class will be conducted in English using the GoToTraining software. You will need Rhino 5 for Windows software installed.

Notes: Rhino for Mac is not acceptable software for this class. You will need a stable and fast Internet connection. You will need a headset/microphone combo. You will need a hard copy of the Rhino Level 1 Training Manual, which you may download here.

New Rhino book in Turkish

Sifa Ari Demircioglu just released a new Rhino book in Turkish, with great tutorials and examples in architectural modeling, product design, and jewelry.

Details and order...

New Advanced Master Program in Computational Design & Making in Paris

Advanced Master Program in Computational Design & Making aims to provide students with a cross-disciplinary culture of computational design, from parametric conception to extensive knowledge of the impact of digital design and making tools on artistic professions, design, urban planning, architecture and engineering. The training is designed as an augmented experience including courses, prototyping workshops, conferences, maker-spaces visits and networking events. The courses and conferences will take place in multiple locations in Paris, making this training a true opportunity to discover innovative places.

Learn more and apply at mastere-cdm.enpc.fr

Designing kayaks from scratch

The Ruby kayak

Williamson Boat Design in Anacortes, Washington, uses Rhino to design and build kayaks from scratch.

Warren Williamson says that after he has the parts cut on a CNC machine, "The kayaks go together like a Swiss watch."

We have a little art on the water.

Google photos of the Cayenne kayak ...

Just for fun, here's a YouTube of Warren Williamson kayaking the Skookumchuck Rapids for Pygmy kayaks.

Winners!

Fast Company announced the winners of their Innovation by Design Awards. We are pleased to see so many of our clients as part of the winners and the finalists. Names such as fuseproject, NewDealDesign, Dyson, Pensa, Whipsaw, LUNAR, Veryday, Leatherman Tool Group, Navdy, Tactus Technology, Fiskars, Skully, Teague, Rockwell Group, SOM, Sasaki Associates, PriestmanGoode, Svigals + Partners, NBBJ, James Carpenter Design Associates, Michael Maltzan Architecture, IDEO, MIT Senseable City Lab, Joris Laarman Lab ....

Details of Fast Company awards finalists ....

Rhino – Grasshopper – ARCHICAD Connection

GRAPHISOFT's Rhino-Grasshopper-ARCHICAD connection is more than an interoperability package. It fills a gap in the design process between early stage design and building information modeling. It offers tools for seamless bidirectional geometry transfer as well as a way to translate basic geometrical shapes into full BIM elements while adding algorithmic editing functionality.

Rhino – ARCHICAD Connection

A pair of Export/Import add-ins that read and write Rhino’s native format (.3dm) on the ARCHICAD side. With the help of these extensions, users are able to develop a “reference model” workflow between the two applications where the file format of the model exchange is Rhino’s native 3dm.

The Rhino Export Add-on enables users to pass on the geometry of a model produced in ARCHICAD to Rhino efficiently. Choose between different standard methods of model representations to fit the purpose of the model transfer.

The Rhino Import Add-on enables users to pass on a model created in Rhino to ARCHICAD. The imported model will appear as a GDL object maintaining the logical build up of the original Rhino model.

Grasshopper – ARCHICAD Connection

A pair of add-ons working together to link Rhino/Grasshopper with ARCHICAD dynamically. The connection provides a unique design workflow where the strengths of each application complement each other regardless of the actual stage of the design process.

The tool converts any Rhino/Grasshopper design geometry directly into BIM construction elements by using Grasshopper’s interface while maintaining the algorithmic design control.

It operates through a live connection where the visual algorithmic editing capabilities of Grasshopper are applied directly on predefined ARCHICAD construction elements, 2D-3D geometrical elements, and their parameters.

Due to the dynamic link, any elements (basic geometrical shapes or full BIM components) originating from any of the three work environments (RH, GH, AC) can be stored or referenced in the algorithmic design script.

Complete details...

Grasshopper London User Group Meeting at ARUP

Arup is hosting our next Grasshopper London User Group meeting on 24th September.

Please make sure to RSVP on this page.

The running order on the night will be:

• Toby Clark with an introduction to Arup parametric work (10 mins) and a brief description of Gifu Library by Toyo Ito.

• Paul Jeffries on Arup developed tools including StaG, Salamander, and the KTC workflow. (10 mins)
• Vladimir Marinov on parametric optimization of curved glass. (10 mins)
• Clayton Riddle on his work in Australia. (10 mins)

And we will have two external speakers on the night.

• Stephen Melville + Will Pearson (Format - RCD) on Daniel Liebskind's Milan Expo Pavilion. (20 mins)
• Loop.Ph (Mathias Gmachl and Rachel Wingfield), latest work. (20 mins)

Please feel to invite other colleagues and collaborators. Refreshments will be provided.

See you very soon,

Toby, Paul and Arthur 

Call for RhinoVAULT case studies and survey

The Rhinoceros® plugin RhinoVAULT emerged from research on structural form finding using the Thrust Network Analysis (TNA) approach to intuitively create and explore compression-only structures.

Call for case studies and survey

Block Research Group (BRG)is looking for convincing case studies. If you can answer one of the following questions with yes, we would love to hear from you:

• Did you use RhinoVAULT in the design process for a real structure or building?
• Did you use RhinoVAULT for a student design project or master thesis?
• Did you use RhinoVAULT to design and build a model, prototype, or pavilion?
• Did you use RhinoVAULT as a teaching tool in your class?

Please send an email to rippmann@arch.ethz.ch with details or a download link (via wetransfer, Dropbox, etc.) until September 20th.

BRG also created a short and simple survey form (will take less than three minutes) for anybody who has used RhinoVAULT and is willing to share their experience.

Link to the RhinoVAULT survey: http://goo.gl/forms/ZNg5fGYUc2

Prize

All of the participants will be entered into a drawing for a copy of the book Shell Structures for Architecture: Form Finding and Optimization (Cool extra: The book will be signed by some of the book’s authors!)

The winner will be notified and announced on the blog.

We look forward to hearing from you! (rippmann@arch.ethz.ch)

AA Greece Visiting School

AA Thessaloniki Revelations

30 October-9 November 2015

In 2015, the AA Greece Visiting School will continue its architectural agenda by introducing design techniques and themes through a team‐based unit approach. Design teams will be working with design-simulating tools and digital fabrication methods throughout their research. As the AA Greece Visiting School’s ambition is to rethink the way entire city blocks are constructed and to link them to a more hyper-specific contextualized construction model, its methodology also includes the capacity to contemplate the habits of architectural practice. This goal will be explored through a combination of the different design tools, i.e. Maya, Rhino, and Grasshopper, and by connecting form‐finding methods with form‐making techniques observed in various digital fabrication tools.

Each year a series of software tutorial sessions takes place in order to allow participants to develop their basic skills in controlling models parametrically and in producing interactive presentations. These sessions also embody manufacturing techniques enabling a hands‐on experience with the diverse range of digital fabrication systems such as CNC printers/routers, and 3D printers. Also, lectures and special events aid in advancing the participants' understanding of new design anatomies and developing a theoretical background on topics including machine control, computational space and complexity in systems, and innovative urban design approaches.

Complete details and registration...

How to fabricate dragon scales

The twisting form for the Vanke Pavilion for the Milan Expo 2015 -- a beautiful challenge for the UK structural engineers Ramboll UK Limited.

Ramboll worked with the architect, Studio Daniel Libeskind, to simplify the ceramic dragon-scale tile pattern. Ramboll worked in Rhino, Grasshopper, and Plankton to reduce the tile sizes and shapes to less than a dozen patterns. Using their in-house mesh generation, they analyzed the double curve surface, and then subtly varied the overlap instead of the shapes.

The Milan Expo closes October 31, 2015.

Description of structure in Arch Daily ...

How to Design a Pendant in Rhino & ZBrush

Image courtesy of Shapeways

How to Design a Pendant in Rhino and ZBrush

Written by Kat Kinkead, Community Manager at Shapeways
This tutorial is part of the "Shapeways University" series based on the model of a Pluto Pendant made by Community Manager, Kat Kinkead. She walks through her process, beginning with how to plan for 3D printing. She then compares plastic prototypes and final metal pendants. In this tutorial, Kat walks viewers through how she modeled the pendant in Rhino, and then mapped Pluto photos using ZBrush.

 

Level 2 Rhino for Mac online course, Sept 21-30

Image credit: Kyle Houchens, The Outside

Fall is a perfect time for improving your Rhino skills before the end of the year distractions are upon us.

Our new Level 2 Rhino 5 for Mac online course begins on September 21st. Kyle Houchens will be the instructor for this course. Kyle is a very talented industrial designer, skilled instructor, an Authorized Rhino Trainer, the owner of the The Outside Digital Design, and a McNeel Technician.

Sign up today!

Dates/Times:

• Orientation: Monday, September 21, 9:00am-10:30am
• Training Days: Tuesday-Wednesday, September 22-23 and
      Monday-Wednesday, September 28-30, 9:00am-1:00pm
  Note: All times listed are Pacific time zone. Calculate your time zone.

For a sample of Kyle's online Level 2 training, see this video. Password: Test

Live training sessions let you to ask questions and interact with the class and instructor. In our usual format, all sessions will be recorded and posted for your study and review. If you cannot make a session, you will be able to catch up at your convenience.

Hope you will join us for the first ever, Level 2 Rhino 5 for Mac Online Course.

Register here...

Teknologia'15 - Helsinki (Finland)

Teknologia'15 

October 6-8, 2015
Helsinki (Finland)

Whether you work as an engineer or as a research scientist, R&D expert, a manager or in manufacturing, this is the one event you cannot miss. The newest products, the latest technologies, and the unique opportunity to strengthen your network create an atmosphere where fresh ideas develop.

Visit the AN-Cadsolutions at Booth (7H7) to learn more about using Rhino in combination with one of these: Blueprinter M3 3D-printer, Felix 3D-printer, Roland ARM-10 3D-printer, MassPortal 3D-printer, DAVID SLS-2 (with automatic rotaty table), Sense 3D-scanner, RhinoCAM, and SolidThinking.

3D PRINT show in Lyon

Following the wave of enthusiasm that greeted the 2014 edition, 3D PRINT will be back in 2015. This 100%-professional event will be held for its second edition.

When?
15-16 September 2015

Where?
Cité Internationale, Lyon.  

CADLINK will have a booth there. Come visit the team and learn more about their products and solutions. 

More details on the show... 

NVIDIA Iray for Rhino looking for beta people

The Iray plugin for Rhino is in development now. NVIDIA announced that their beta program is open and they are looking for more registrations.

NVIDIA Iray for Rhino is a rendering plugin for designers who want to quickly produce physically based, photorealistic visualizations.

Iray is integrated into Rhino, rendering directly within its viewports. It gives continual, realistic feedback as you craft your model's form, materials, and lighting. Iray's physically based capability predicts the behavior of real-world materials and lights. Accurate visualizations only need a minimum setup and specialized knowledge.

NVIDIA for Rhino supports the NVIDIA vMaterials library.

Apply for the beta program ...

Rhino Visual Tips 5 Collection

Learn how to model in Rhino3D version 5. 

Now you can watch more than 60 videos from the Rhino Visual Tips 5 collection at Rhino3D.TV





You can purchase Rhino Visual Tips 5 + SAVANNA3D, here!

Here is the direct link for the videos, if you are not a member, please join our Rhino3D.TV community and start learning Rhino 3D today!


What is a RhinoFabStudio? A RhinoFabStudio™ (fabrication studio) 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.

Alihankinta - Tampere (Finland)

Alihankinta 2015

September 15-17, 2015

Tampere (Finland)

The international Subcontracting Trade Fair presents the key areas of industrial subcontracting, namely the metals, electronics, plastics and rubber industries as well as industrial ICT solutions and consulting services. Sales and marketing as well as new materials and techniques will be the themes of the trade fair.

Visit the AN-Cadsolutions booth (C124), to learn more about using Rhino in combination with one of these: Blueprinter M3 3D-printer, Felix 3D-printer, Roland ARM-10 3D-printer, MassPortal 3D-printer, DAVID SLS-2 (with automatic rotaty table), Sense 3D-scanner, RhinoCAM, and SolidThinking.

Black Spectacles workshop schedule

Black Spectacles just announced their upcoming September workshops. Two classes you might be interested in are:

Conceptual Design with Grasshopper 

Don Semple from Krueck & Sexton will teach using Grasshopper in early design stages.

In this Level 1 course, you'll use Grasshopper to build and develop site iterations and a 3D model of the Eames House. You'll also learn how to generate plans, sections, and perspectives from the Rhino model.

Date: Saturday, September 16, 2015
Time: 8-5 pm
Location: Attend in person in downtown Chicago or online via GoToMeeting.

Architectural Prototyping with Rhino 

David Tracy from the Rockwell Group will cover creating prototypes in Rhino.

In this Level 2 course, learn how to leverage Rhino's tools to unravel complex geometry and develop drawings for laser cutting and 3D printing.

Work from prebuilt models of Renzo Piano's Modern Wing of the Art Institute. The course will explore how to develop drawings to fabricate prototypes of your designs.

Date: Saturday, September 26, 2015
Time: 8-5 pm
Location: Attend in person in downtown Chicago or online via GoToMeeting.

More details and to register ...