Friday, April 28, 2017

Python improvements in Rhino WIP





We have introduced Python improvements in the latest Rhino WIP. They include:
  • Python editor has a new module tree organized in method sets for easier navigation.
  • API documentation now includes more details.
  • Python editor output window has better context help. 
  • Debug window is formatted for high DPI screens.
  • Improved performance of the GHPython component, up to 10x faster than the Rhino 5 component.
  • New functions to create common Rhino types, including CreatePoint(), CreateVector(),  CreatePlane(),  CreateColor(), CreateInterval().
  • New, updated guides on Rhino.Python and GhPython.
Download the Rhino WIP to give the newest improvements a try.

Thursday, April 27, 2017

How is a greeting card like shipbuilding?


Two shipbuilding degrees, a little inspiration and creativity, Rhino, and a laser printer: Lovepop cards! These intricate 3D pop-up greeting cards have an interesting history.

Best friends and founders Wombi Rose and John Wise studied together at Webb Institute. After college, they went their separate ways but met up again at Harvard Business School. On a graduate school trip to Vietnam they discovered a variation of origami, slices of paper measured and cut to a specific size, then assembled into a 3D sculpture.

Inspired, the two applied their shipbuilding skills in miniature and created Lovepop.

Each Lovepop card folds flat with a 2D picture on the front. On the inside is a 3D sculpture, which pops out of the card.

The card designs are entered in to Rhino. Prototypes are created, the card sculptures are laser cut, then assembled by hand.

Lovepop's business exploded when Rose and Wise landed a spot on ABC's Shark Tank. See the Shark Tank follow-up episode.

More details in Polished Magazine...








Tuesday, April 25, 2017

AA Visiting School UK - Band-Saw Manoeuvres, Hooke Park Campus, Dorset (UK)



(Robotic Fabrication Workshop Series)
July 28-August 6, 2017
AA Hooke Park Campus, Dorset (UK)


The Architectural Association is holding its second Robotic Fabrications Workshop, Band-Saw Manoeuvres, at its Hooke Park campus. The workshop series Robotic Fabrications, to be held every year, explores robotic manufacturing for architectural elements. The main ambition is to provide an in-depth exploration of fabrication methods and technologies.

"Merging expert knowledge of timber construction with cutting-edge robotic fabrication technologies we will explore the creative potential of prototyping complex and large-scale timber structures with digital tools resulting in the construction of a roof structure for the temporary foundry building for the Hooke Park Campus.

Our weapons of choice- the chainsaw and bandsaw- will gain an augmented level of precision and control when wielded by the large Kuka KR150 robot. Through rigorous physical testing, we will prototype connection details utilizing the extraordinary precision and flexibility of multi-axis robotic machining.

We will investigate the ancient craft and traditions of Japanese joinery to inform our Robotic Choreographies. These principles will undergo a digital interpretation - and whilst preserving the poetry, ritual and sensitivity, get translated into a highly choreographed movement pattern or toolpath for the robot and end-effector."

During the course, Rhinoceros will be used for design development. Additionally, KUKA/prc and in-house developed plugins on the Grasshopper platform will be used for robotic fabrication.

The deadline for applications is July 20, 2017.


Program Head:
Emmanuel Vercruysse
Course Tutors:
Pradeep Devadass
Zachary Mollica


Mesh2Surface 4.3: New release



Mesh2Surface 4.3 has been released. This latest version of Mesh2Surface reverse engineering plugin for Rhino, together with small bug fixes and improvements, adds the CurveNetwork Surface feature to the available toolset, which opens new possibilities for 3D reverse engineering from scans.

Visit www.mesh2surface.com for more information...

Friday, April 21, 2017

Job Opening at CHAM: CAD and Software Development Engineer


Job Title: CAD and Software Development Engineer
Job Level: Junior Level (1-2 years commercial experience)

CHAM is seeking a CAD and Software Development Engineer for its Wimbledon office. The successful candidate needs commercial experience with C#, .NET framework, and C++ and will initially focus on further development of CHAM’s latest product, RhinoCFD, a plugin integrating CFD capabilities into Rhino.

Interested candidates, contact hr@cham.co.uk for more information.

Generative Morphologies V4.0 workshop, Chennai (India)


July 23-30, 2017 - from 10.00 to 18.00
Chennai (India)

Generative Morphologies V4.0 is an international workshop intended for architects, students of architecture and urbanism, professional designers, and artists exploring advanced contemporary algorithmic generative systems at a city's urban scale. It's aimed at establishing a platform for learning new techniques of design, production, and presentation.

Details

Generative Morphologies V4.0
will computationally address Morphologic Metropolis, a growth and data-driven phenomenon of the city as an ecological organism adapting to an environmental stimulus. The generative system is formulated with a general workflow that primarily focuses on Anemone (plugin for Grasshopper), along with a range of techniques in a streamlined process across two major software platforms: Grasshopper and ZBrush.

This workshop will use McNeel Rhinoceros and Grasshopper plugins, Pixologic ZBrush, Luxion KeyShot.

What You Will Learn
  • Understanding of macro morphologies and adaptive architectural systems
  • Introduction in Rhino, Grasshopper, ZBrush
  • Introduction to generative design in Anemone, Cocoon, Octopus (plugins for Grasshopper)
  • Introduction to mesh manipulation, texturing, and optimization in ZBrush
  • Introduction to mesh modeling in Grasshopper from points with Cocoon and smoothness in Weaverbird
  • Strategies for 3D printing
  • Visualization with Luxion KeyShot
  • Discussions on project presentation

Tutors
Vamsi Krishna Vemuri / India
Shridhar Mamidaala / India

Early registration until May 23, 2017
Late registration until June 23, 2017



Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Rhino Workshop in NYC, April 19





Wednesday, April 19, 2017
4:00PM-7:00PM EDT
US$150.00 - buy your ticket here

This Rhino workshop aims to discuss some of the specific applications directly related to the architectural industry, how it can be leveraged, and how different 3D software Rhino, Sketch Up, and Revit can be leveraged to maximize the most from it.


Part 1: Making a watertight model in Rhino
·      Introductory concepts for watertight modeling techniques
·      Check and fix STL errors in Rhino
·      Requirements for quality 3D printed output

Part 2: Optimizing an architectural 3D print
·      Scaling and exporting techniques
·      Minimum thicknesses
·      Optimize models to reduce print time and cost

Part 3: Texturing and full color 3D print output
·      UV mapping techniques and types
·      Render materials
·      Extracting textured geometry
·      Full color 3D print workflows

Part 4: Advanced workflows for 3D printing
·      Model integrity between Revit, Rhino, and, Fusion 360, Sketch Up

Location:
BluEdge
44 West 18th Street
3rd Floor Conference Room
New York, NY 10011





Tuesday, April 18, 2017

ExpressMarine 1.1 parametric marine plugin release + free webinar



Express Marine AS has announced the release of ExpressMarine 1.1, a parametric marine structural design plugin for Rhino. ExpressMarine is a plugin that enables designers to rapidly build up parametric 3D models of marine structures.

Its main advantage is the dramatic reduction of the modeling time, achieved through the integration of the 2D drawings and the 3D model in a single, common environment.

Weight and center of gravity results become available much earlier in the design tender phase and the model topology allows easy updates throughout all later design stages.

It is the ideal preprocessor of the structural model to be further used in other marine design software for detailed engineering, class drawings, weight distribution and tracking, FEM analysis, etc.

We invite you to join a free webinar on ExpressMarine on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 (3 PM-4 PM CEST).


Diseño Paramétrico, a presentation by Ana Monreal - April 24, ESADA, Granada (Spain)


Diseño Paramétrico, by Ana Monreal (ROJOmandarina Studio)
Monday April 24, 12:00 - 14:00
ESADA - Escuela Superior de Arte y Diseño de Andalucía
C/ Santa Paula, 33
18001, Granada (Spain) 


During the Semana Creartiva event organized by Escuela Superior de Arte y Diseño de Andalucía, Ana Monreal, industrial designer and cofounder of ROJOmandarina design studio, will deliver a presentation on parametric design.

Ana will explain what parametric design is, its advantages, how it can be applied in product design, fashion and architecture and tools used to perform it (Rhino + Grasshopper).

Follow @AnaMonrealC, @rojomandarina and @esadagrx on Twitter.



Monday, April 17, 2017

Construct3D at DUKE University




Construct3D 2017 at DUKE University aims to bring together educators from a broad range of educational contexts to exchange ideas and innovation. We are honored that they have invited RhinoFabStudio director and Rhino and Grasshopper trainer, Andres Gonzalez, to lead a workshop and a talk.

Don't miss this opportunity! 

Workshop

The Rhino Data Driven workshop is a preconference workshop with numerous real-life examples in that introduces participants to the logic and principles of parametric created 3D-Forms.
 
Location: Duke's Technology Engagement Center (TEC)
Date: May 5, 2017
Time: 1:00 PM-4:00 PM
Register for conference: https://sites.duke.edu/construct3d/
And then sign up here: https://construct3d2017.sched.com/


Talk


The Data, Design, Code, Rhino talk is for designers who are exploring new shapes using generative algorithms, like Grasshopper, a graphical algorithm editor tightly integrated with Rhino’s modeling tools. 

Location: JB Duke Hotel Ballroom A,B,C

Date: May 6, 2017
Time: 10:00 AM-10:30 AM
Register for conference: https://sites.duke.edu/construct3d/
And then sign up here: https://construct3d2017.sched.com/


Register now for the Workshop and the Talk! Spaces are limited!


For more information please contact Lizabeth Arum and Chip Bobbert.


What is a RhinoFabStudio? 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.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

C# for Grasshopper Workshop - May 12-14, Berlin (Germany)



May 12-14, 2017
Parametric Support Office
Hardenbergstr. 38
10623 Berlin, Germany


Parametric Support
invites you to join its C# for Grasshopper coding workshop for advanced users.

C# is a programming language in which Grasshopper for Rhino was written. It is commonly used to create plugins.

During this three-day course, the following subjects are covered:
  • Basic coding in C# programming language.
  • Algorithmic thinking in design and 3D modeling.
  • RhinoCommon library. Extending Grasshopper scripting capabilities with full Rhinoceros 5 functionality.
  • Shortening the script execution time by optimizing the algorithms. Methods of saving resources by finding inefficient operations.
  • Geometric algorithms. Delaunay triangulation, Voronoi diagram, shortest path problem, etc. described and implemented in C#.
  • Scripting in Grasshopper’s C# script component.
  • Creating your own components in Microsoft Visual Studio.
After the course, you will be able to create your own components, solve complicated problems, operate on data structures, and optimize your code. Going in-depth into geometric algorithms will give you a better understanding of the tools you’re using and broaden your mind in finding clever solutions.

Detailed program coming soon.

Registration at hello@parametric.support

Tuition Fee:
300 EUR (Early Bird, till April 15)
350 EUR (Regular)

Classroom and online training resources for Rhino


Can't come to a class at one of our offices?
  • Find a classroom near you. You get live instruction from authorized Rhino trainers.
  • Take an online class. Get the benefits of instruction without traveling. Find a class in your time zone and take the class from the comfort of your own desk. Our live online classes are in-depth classes, usually 20-24 hours of instruction. 
  • Join a live online Rhino 5 webinar. Rhino experts will show you how to get started with Rhino. We have classes for both Rhino for Windows and Rhino for Mac. These are usually 1-2 hour live meetings with a more technical emphasis.
  • Arrange a custom class. If you need a custom class, we have a list of resources that offer this service.

Friday, April 14, 2017

Ladybug + Honeybee workshop series




Performance Network has announced its Ladybug + Honeybee webinar workshop series with Chris Mackey. Seats are limited. Sign up today!

Condensation Modeling with Honeybee
Thursday, April 20, 9:30 AM PDT
Price: US$59
Register.

Urban Heat Island Modeling with Dragonfly
Thursday, April 27, 9:30 AM PDT
Price: US$59
Register.


Expanding Your Climate Data Sources with Dragonfly
Thursday, May 4, 9:30 AM PDT
Price: US$59
Register.


CFD Simulation with OpenFOAM, Rhino, Grasshopper and Butterfly (Advanced)
Thursday, May 11, 9:30AM PDT
Price: US$89.00
Register.





About the presenter...
Chris Mackey is a building scientist and designer at Payette Architects as well as a recent graduate of MIT’s Masters of Architecture and Masters of Science in Building Technology 
programs. His completed thesis involved the development of software to produce high-resolution thermal comfort maps of buildings off of EnergyPlus results as well as a new suite of spatial thermal comfort metrics that mirror those currently used to quantify daylight.



Chris has intimate knowledge of the following languages/software: Python, Grasshopper, Rhino (including RhinoCommon), EnergyPlus, and OpenStudio. In his free time, Chris is an avid contributor to the Ladybug + Honeybee environmental analysis plugins for Grasshopper and is currently building a new “insect” to link these two plugins and the Rhino/Grasshopper interface to macro-scale climate modeling engines and data sets.



AA Visiting School: Floating Architecture, Amazon




Mamori Lake, Amazonas
August 25-September 2, 2017
Research shows that sea levels around the world have been rising for many decades due to global warming. The consequences of this will put hundreds of cities at risk of being flooded. Similarly, water levels in the Mamori Lake vary greatly between the dry and wet seasons, when the river can grow up to 14 meters flooding the forest and changing the physiognomy of the land. 
Currently, local houses are built on stilts to deal with tidal variations but in recent years, this has not always been enough to prevent the river from causing devastation. Conversely, there are several floating plants in the Amazon that have developed clever buoyancy strategies to adapt to this ever-changing environment. Through physical and digital modeling as well as biomimetics, the workshop will investigate new types of floating architecture that can adapt to tidal variations and rising water levels while responding to extreme weather conditions. 
The workshop will take place in a lodge by the Mamori Lake shore, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. The initial exploratory days of analysis and data collection will offer the participants the possibility to discover the astonishing Amazon ecosystem and interact with the local communities. A series of lectures about design, architecture, and biology will provide students with an understanding of innovative concepts at the forefront of architecture.
  • Students will receive a certificate from the Architectural Association.
  • Students will develop skills in parametric modeling using Rhino and Grasshopper.
  • Students will gain an understanding of concepts like biomimetics, emergence, self-organization, and material and biological systems.


Thursday, April 13, 2017

How one designer uses RhinoCAM


RhinoCAM has started a series, the User Spotlight Videos, highlighting some of their customers. First up is the fun video with Bernie Solo of WorksbySolo. See how he sets up a project for machining.

WorksbySolo Facebook page...
The RhinoCAM video on YouTube...

Level 2 Rhino 5 for Mac begins May 2nd



Image credit: Kyle Houchens, The Outside



Our Level 2 Rhino 5 for Mac online course begins next month on May 2nd. Kyle Houchens will be our 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.


Dates/Times:
  • May 2-4 and May 9-11 (Tuesday-Thursday each week)
  • Hours are 9am-1pm PDT each day
    Note: All times listed are Pacific Daylight Time time zone.
    Calculate your time zone.


Live training sessions let you 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. Videos will be available for streaming up to three months following the class. 


Wednesday, April 12, 2017

RhinoPiping v1.2.8 now available



NAVINN recently announced the release of RhinoPiping v1.2.8.

This new release has a brand new license management. The plugin is now using the same license system as Rhino, more stable and suitable than previously. RhinoPiping is now also compatible with Zoo 6, which gives you the possibility to have floating licenses.

RhinoPiping LT (free) now has a completely separate installer and doesn't need to be activated anymore. For the PRO license, NAVINN is offering a special discount open to everyone until April 21, 2017 (10% with the discount code: SPECIAL10RP).

Several bugs have also been solved, and you can expect more news and tools in the few next weeks. NAVINN also recently redesigned their website and created a new auxiliary website exclusively dedicated to support and documentation.
  

MecSoft releases Rhino3DPRINT and Visual3DPRINT 2017


MecSoft Corp. announced Rhino3DPRINT and Visual3DPRINT 2017, the latest versions of their 3D printing solutions for Rhino and VisualCAD.

The 2017 release is a maintenance release with significant memory use improvements and performance enhancements. Also, this release fixes many of the bugs reported by customers and detected by internal testing.

Important features and capabilities of these 3D printing products:
  • Create meshes from raw point clouds
  • Stitch meshes to make them watertight and amenable to 3D printing
  • Perform Boolean set operations on mesh geometry
  • Decimate and smooth meshes for better 3D printing
  • Create support geometry for holding up overhangs when printing
  • Optimize the orientation of mesh geometry in the print volume
  • Create nozzle paths and corresponding G-code for FDM/SLA printers
More information or download a free demo of Rhino3DPRINT or Visual3DPRINT ....

Monday, April 10, 2017

RhinoResurf v2.1 for Rhino 5 64-bit released

RhinoResurf v2.1 for Rhino 5 64-bit has been released!

In this version some bugs have been fixed and a new command named RsImportLas has been added. This command lets users import .las files into Rhino. The LAS file format is a public file format for the interchange of 3-dimensional point cloud data between data users.

More details on the LAS file format...

Users can run the command _ RsImportLast in the Rhino prompt or can click RhinoResurf menuitem "RhinoResurf->Application->Import LAS data file".

The following two pictures show the colored point cloud created by importing LAS file data into Rhino:




Friday, April 7, 2017

Intro to Rhino 5 for Jewelry Design




Join PJ Chen in this popular 3-day Intro to Rhino for Jewelry Design workshop for the jewelry profession and all creative fields.  It starts with fundamental CAD knowledge and functionality using Rhino. The same practice can apply to product design, appliances, arts and crafts projects, toy design, interior design, and more.


Course Objectives: Understand and customize the Rhino 5 interface
  • 2D curve and 3D solid commands
  • Surface commands and their applications
  • Ring model with precision tools
  • Control point editing on curve and surface
  • Stone setting in 3D modeling
  • Model analysis and export files for 3D printing
  • 2D drawing - orthographic drawing (technical drawing)
  • Basic rendering with Rhino Renderer
Location: The Engineering Society of Detroit building 
20700 Civic Center Drive, Suite 450 
Southfield, MI 48076
Date: May 8-10, 2017
Fee: $695


For more information please contact PJ Chen.

What is a RhinoFabStudio? 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.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Intelligent Tectonics V2.0 workshop - Athens (Greece)



July 8-15, 2017

DeCode fablab
Agiou Thoma 9 and Halkidonos 52 corner
Athens, 11527 Greece


Intelligent Tectonics V2.0
will focus on the application of computational design in form-finding design strategies and fabrication methodologies for membrane typologies, stretched across spatial rod-string structures.

Learn to use physics simulations and optimization tools to design advanced computational forms, as well as achieve material representations through digital fabrication methodologies. Participants will revisit the compelling work of well-known architects on catenaries, minimal surfaces, and tensegrity structures, to generate a series of physical and digital study models for a proposal for a permanent ceiling installation at the DeCode fab lab in Athens.

A single built ceiling-mounted structure by all the participants will be the final result of the computational studies. The design will be digitally simulated, then fabricated and assembled by all students collectivelyA complete journey from design, through experimentation to fabrication and construction.

This workshop is for architects, designers, and artists at all skill levels interested in applied computational design strategies and the process from concept to reality.

Details

Grasshopper
and Rhinoceros will be the main tools used to carry out studies on the final design scheme and fabrication. Students will be guided through the writing of parametric definitions in Grasshopper, to create digital models of spatial systems.

Kangaroo will be the tool to develop digital simulations with particles and springs to create tensile physical systems and explore physical and digital design intuitions. In this digital environment, participants will be shown various ways to represent physical forces and their interactions with springs and anchor points that will recreate the construction of the membrane.

Structural analysis will be performed with Karamba3D to understand different stresses in the elements and thus choose rods or strings. Further optimization will be achieved by introducing material properties in Karamba3D and optimizing them with Octopus.

The resulting design will be digitally detailed by additional parametric plugins and prepared for fabrication, using laser cutting and 3D printing technology for accurate control of the final components.

An important scope of the workshop will be understanding the fabrication implications and structural practicality not as a final design stage but as part of the design process. The system will inform the outcome. In particular, the integration process will include merging different materials as well as two fabrication techniques for the development of component-based systems with a combination of flexible/rigid/locking joinery.

During the workshop participants will receive both theoretical knowledge of the relevant topics and a practical demonstration of material samples and fabrication methods.

Early registration until May 8, 2017
Late registration until June 8, 2017

New release: V-Ray 3 for Rhino!


V-Ray 3.0 for Rhino! Now V-Ray is faster than ever to create great looking renderings in Rhino.

Features:
  • Virtual realityRender VR-ready content for popular virtual reality headsets.
  • Section cutsCreate quick cutaways and section renderings with V-Ray Clipper.
  • Aerial perspectiveAdd realistic atmospheric depth and haze.
  • DenoiserAutomatically remove noise and cut rendering times by up to 50%.
  • Grass and furCreate realistic grass, fabrics, and carpet with V-Ray Fur.
  • Twin-engine rendering architectureWith CPU or GPU acceleration, you can choose the fastest one for your hardware.
  • Interactive renderingRender as you design. See the results right away as you adjust lights, materials, and cameras.
  • Global illuminationRender realistic rooms and interiors with V-Ray's powerful and fast global illumination.
  • Real-world camerasWork like a photographer with controls for exposure, white balance, and depth of field.
  • Render elementsRender separate layers for more artistic control in your image editing software.
  • Render nodesGive V-Ray Swarm an added speed boost with cost-effective render node licenses. Render nodes are compatible across V-Ray 3 applications.
Price reduction! The new V-Ray 3 for Rhino license prices for licenses are now USD $695, EUR €500, GBP £430.

Sign up for the free webinar on April 19th.


Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Free lecture by architect Dimitry Demin - April 25, Zurich (Switzerland)



April 25, 2017 - 18:00 to 20:00
Visualisierungs-Akademie Schweiz GmbH
Pfingstweidstrasse 31a
CH-8005 Zurich


In the free evening lecture, architect Dimitry Demin will showcase different interesting applications of algorithmic design in architectural design and production.

Visualisierungs-Akademie invites you to join them, learn about interesting international projects and enjoy the Q&A with Dimitry Demin.

Bongo 2.0 Service Release 6 Now Available


Bongo 2.0 Service Release 6 now available

You can download it here.
The complete list of changes in this Service Release can be found here.

Enjoy!

   - Marika

Please note - The CheckforUpdates feature is broken in SR5 so the new service release needs to be manually downloaded.

Grasshopper Online Training in April




April 24-27, 2017
$205 per person


We still have a few seats left in our April class. Sign up today!

Join instructor Andres Gonzalez as he teaches the intermediate concepts of generative modeling in Rhino 5 using the Grasshopper add-on. He will apply these concepts to Grasshopper intermediate design and development in numerous real-life examples with you.

This course is for design professionals who are looking to efficiently learn concepts and features of Grasshopper at an accelerated pace in an instructor-led online environment.


REGISTER



Dates/Times:

Monday-Thursday, April 24-27, 9:00am-Noon (PDT)
All times listed are Pacific Standard Time. Calculate your time zone here.


Note: This course requires Intro to Grasshopper training or equivalent.