5th Annual International Pearl Design Contest

We are pleased to announce Shinka Kimura, a Rhino designer, as the winner of the Visionary Award and the Fantasy Award of the 2014–2015 International Pearl Design Competition in New York City. 

Shinka Kimura used Rhino for the design and rendering of her winning jewelry pieces. She learned to model and render in Rhino at McNeel Miami with instructor Sergio Martinez. Sergio is "extremely helpful with artistic insight!" Kimura says. Kimura is now a Certified Rhino 3D Instructor. Kimura majored in Product Design at Parsons School of Design in NYC and majored in Art History with a focus on Modern Art and Decorative Art at Keio University in Tokyo. 

Check out her winning Jewelry pieces: 

Visionary Award

The Visionary Award, which looks for the piece that redefines the iconic pearl strand and shifts the perception of pearls for today’s consumer, went to Shinka Kimura for this “Lady Gaga Transformation” necklace.

Fantasy Award

Kimura also won the Fantasy Award, given for a conceptual, aspirational design, for this “Celebration” piece. 

For more information please contact Shinka Kimura.

We invite you to visit and become a member of GJD3D. It is a community for jewelry designers who are exploring new shapes using generative algorithms.

How to Model Organic Facades

The newest course at Thinkparametric focuses on designing an organic facade. Learn various methods, techniques and software that will help you when designing more free-form shapes. You will walk through the process of modeling an organic building envelope using Rhino, T-Splines, and Grasshopper.

Details...

Workshop in Digital Fabrication and Parametric Design

Design Lab, Escuela de Diseño UAI, an authorized RhinoFabStudio, invites you to their Workshop in Parametric Design and Digital Fabrication.


This class objectively provides tools for the design process, using concepts and contemporary technology for students to specialize in a study area. Participants will be able to build design strategies linked to a theoretical framework recorded from diagrams and associative models. They will reach a sufficient level to use generative software to develop an individual project.

The course also introduces emerging technologies in the field of digital manufacturing like Rhino and Grasshopper. Students will be able to balance between general concepts associated with these developing technologies and proper management methodologies and operational techniques to understand costs, benefits, and comparative advantages.


Place:  Design Lab, Escuela de Diseño UAI, Chile
            Diagonal Las Torres 2460, Peñalolén, Santiago, Chile

Date:   Saturday, 22 August 2015
Time:   9 pm

For more information and to register, please contact Mario Vergara.

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.

Bomba lampshade, by Aleksandar Dimitrov

Bomba is a minimalist lampshade designed by Aleksandar Dimitrov.

"The product is fully functional printed in 3D with fine surface texture. Combining aesthetic and protective function, Bomba stands out with a simple shape and attenuated three dimensional pattern designed with Rhino and Grasshopper. The bulb can be partially or entirely hidden by screwing the shade further."

Complete details...

3D Printed and Prototyped Shoes by Julian Hakes

Fashion designer Julian Hakes uses Rhino and 3D printing to create prototypes of his famous Mojito Shoes.

Read the complete story...

RhinoRing Educational now free!

RhinoRing is a Rhino plugin that supports jewelers and jewelry designers in their day-to-day work. It improves the workflow with custom windows and menus.

Students and faculties are encouraged to use RhinoRing for free. This requires an educational Rhino license and is activated online the first time the software runs.

Details and download...

New book: Advanced Numerical Simulation Methods

Advanced Numerical Simulation Methods: From CAD Data Directly to Simulation Results
Author: Gernot Beer

This book is about changing the paradigm of numerical simulation. Until now simulation required the generation of a mesh and this has meant a major effort and also a source of errors. In many cases an accurate description of the problem geometry is available as Computer Aided Design (CAD) data. 

This book will show how the generation of meshes can be avoided completely by using CAD technology. This includes using CAD data for the description of the geometry of the problem directly without approximation by a mesh and applying the functions that CAD programs use (non-uniform rational B-Splines or NURBS) to the description of the unknown. 

The book starts with an easy to follow introduction to NURBS and the standard data exchange format used by CAD programs. This is followed by an application to finite element shell analysis. For the solids modeling the boundary element (BEM) is used since this is the only way mesh generation can be avoided. A computer program written in Octave/MATLAB, that has full 3D capabilities, is introduced and used to demonstrate various steps in the analysis. Applications are in solid mechanics. Both linear and non-linear analyses are discussed and many practical examples are given. 

The book is designed to provide a starting point for scientists that want to work in this exciting new area of research and for practitioners to learn how the "pain" of numerical simulation can be eased.

Details and order... 

Job opening at IaaC Barcelona

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia is looking to extend its team with an Expert in Digital Fabrication & Computational Design.

Details and application...

Rhino for Mac Online Course Begins August 3rd

Level 1 Rhino 5 for Mac Online Course

August 3-13, 2015

Join us for our Level 1 Rhino 5 for Mac online course beginning on August 3rd.

• Orientation:
    Monday, August 3 (9:00am - 11:00am Pacific)
• Training:
    Tuesday-Thursday, August 4-6 and
    Monday-Tuesday, August 10-11 (9:00am - 1:00pm Pacific)

Details:

• You will need the latest Rhino 5 for Mac version installed. Rhino 5 for Windows will not be acceptable for this class.
• You will need a stable and fast Internet connection.
• You will need the Rhino 5 Level 1 Training Guide and Models as well as the Rhino 5 for Mac User Guide. You may print the PDF for your reference. Download here.
• All "live" sessions will also be recorded and posted to a private Vimeo classroom album. You may watch/stream the videos for your review for up to three months following the class.

Sign up today!

Parametric Design in Architecture Master by BarcelonaTech UPC School

After four years of experimenting with contents and pedagogic formats at the successful Parametric Architecture intensive course held at ETSAV, Ramon Sastre, CODA, and The Metropolitan School of Architecture are stepping forward in the education of future professionals with the new master degree Parametric Design in Architecture. 

The Master Parametric Design in Architecture (by BarcelonaTech UPC School) is a unique opportunity to critically review computational design and move towards a more challenging and self-demanding commitment to environmental constraints.

The architectural project is a complex process that should link knowledge management with design in an operative way. We call parameters to all categories of information that affect decision-making in the project development. This is the goal of parametric architecture: go beyond geometry and form to design a system with all the variables and categories involved in the process.

This is the potential of current software tools: Rhino Grasshopper, Dynamo, and others. They allow change to the design process, transforming architects from builders of models to builders of systems.

Our aim is to design and discover novel form-finding strategies through the methodological integration of forces, matter and processes.

The Master degree, taught in the Metropolitan School of Architecture, provides a residence of international students as well as equipment and facilities of the latest technology necessary for this training. Its model workshop, digital laboratories and technology centre CRITT, and collaboration with the Barcelona Fab Ateneus Network, ​​allows students to explore all possibilities in parametric design techniques.

Visit UPC School for enrollment info and further details.

IASS 2015 in Amsterdam: workshops

The International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) and the Royal Netherlands Society for Engineers (KIVI) are co-organising the yearly IASS symposium. The symposium will take place from 17 to 20 August 2015 in Amsterdam the Netherlands. 

Workshops

On August 15th and 16th, 2015, before the opening of the IASS2015 International Symposium a number of workshops will be hosted in which you can participate. 

These workshops are aimed at getting hands-on experience and skills in the creation of various types of shell and spatial structures.

Don't miss the Rhino, Grasshopper, Kangaroo related workshops by our friends Ioanna Symeonidou, White Lioness Technologies, and many others:

• Workshop 01: Build your own tensegrity model
• Workshop 02: Structural Folding for Architectural Design
• Workshop 04: Kinetic plate structures
• Workshop 05: Explore the possibilities of applying multidisciplinary design optimisation on your own design challenges
• Workshop 06: Flexible Matter: Experiments with analogue and digital form-finding of membranes
• Workshop 08: Flexible Formworks - Double Curved Panel Casting
• Workshop 09: Flexible Formworks - Vacuumatics
• Workshop 10: Flexible Moulding – cast your own concrete panel on a recyclable temporary mould
• Workshop 12: Seamless Variation in Design to Robotic Production Processes
• Workshop 13: SHAPED MATTERS - Shaping material properties with additive manufacturing

Complete details...

A robot to weave carbon fibre

KUKA weaving with carbon fibre from Basia Dż on Vimeo.

As part of her end-of-studies project, Basia Dżaman, a Polish student from the School of Form, a Polish school of design, modified one of KUKA’s robotic arms to weave carbon fibres. The design student started making parts thanks to a 3D printer. Once the parts are installed on the industrial robot, it can weave carbon fibre according to the model programmed by the operator. By coating it with resin before weaving, it becomes solid as classic carbon fibre.

Basia Dżaman designed the 3D parts with Rhino software, which enabled her to modify each part according to her preferred stitches. Each part takes three to five hours to be 3D printed. For her graduation project, Basia Dżaman used the robotic arm to make traditional Polish stitches, or snutki. In spite of the quite limited interest in these stitches, this project opens up the scope of possibilities in manufacturing objects in carbon fibers. For Basia Dżaman, this project “has proven to be a versatile process which leaves many possibilities open for exploration in the future.”

Read the full story...

Develop3D magazine: July 2015 issue

The July issue of the Develop3D magazine contains some cool Rhino related projects, including the Brooks running shoes on the cover.

Download the magazine here...

Advanced Building Skins proceedings

The International Conference on Building Envelope Design and Technology took place on the 23-24 April 2015 in Graz, Austria.

Download the proceedings for free and see some Rhino, Grasshopper and EvoluteTools related projects.

Thea Render 1.5 for Rhino

Thea Render 1.5 brings a slew of new features and, of course, the Thea for Rhino plugin has been updated to reflect new additions.

A few new features are:

• Versatile interactive rendering system comprised of biased, non-biased, and GPU engines
• Rhino clipping plane, sun study, and camera animation support
• Render individual channels for post processing

Details...

Forum with the news of Thea for Rhino 1.5...

Hangzhou Tennis Center - Steel saving petals

Courtesy of NBBJ - CCDI

Rhino is part of another unique and distinctive design. This one focused on Grasshopper and taking advantage of parametric design.

NBBJ, in collaboration with CCDI for structural design, designed the Hangzhou Tennis Center.

One of NBBJ's goals was both environmental and cost-saving: to reduce the amount of steel used in the structure's envelope. They did so, now boasting a 67% steel savings over similar arenas.

Grasshopper was first used to generate an accurate logarithmic design for the shell. The generated double curve surfaces took a form of petals. Grasshopper was used for the model to convert the petals to structural elements.

The Hangzhou Tennis Center, located in Hangzou, China, is scheduled for completion in 2015-2016.

Arch20 featured the project on their web site as a study of computational design.

From Rhino to Laser

Step by step: How to print/cut  from Rhino to a Trotec laser

In this short video clip, you will learn what to consider when you want to send information from Rhino to a Trotec laser.

Watch the video...

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..

Facades+ Miami: Registration is now open

Facades+ is heading to Miami! Registration is now open. Sign up today!

Facades+ Miami
September 10-11, 2015
Register here. Early bird registration ends August 9th.

Day 1: Symposium
On Day 1 a series of stimulating presentations and discussion-based panels will examine the increasingly fast-paced evolution of façade technology, address new perspectives on building skins, and explore innovative, sustainable design practices.

Day 2: Field Trips
A rare opportunity to examine South Florida’s most innovative facades led by Miami’s leading architectural authorities! Choose your route through Downtown & Brickell or Miami Beach & Design District with hard hat VIP access to some of the buildings under construction.

About Facades+...
Facades+ is the leading conference on high performance and high design building skins. Join the robust dialogue that covers all aspects of building envelopes and is the key to building systems integration, resilient buildings and a sustainable built environment. Who should come? Architects, fabricators, developers, consultants, and other design professionals.

Details...

LoboScape: UNM's new advertising technology

LoboScape: UNM's new advertising technology

The University of New Mexico, a certified RhinoFabStudio,  is trying a different approach to advertisement. UNM's Senior Lecturer III and the Director of the School of Architecture and Planning’s Fabrication Laboratory, Matthew Gines, took part in this project with the help from four university students. Gines specializes in digital fabrication, design-build, representation, and technology as it relates to design in academia and the architecture profession. He is also a 2015 RhinoFabStudio Mentor.

LoboScape is a visual installation that welcomes travelers as they exit the revolving doors from the arrival gates into the Albuquerque International Sunport. Projected onto a custom fabricated display, it uses the latest technology in visual arts to tell the story of The University of New Mexico and its people. The exhibit features a 3 1/2 minute loop of multiple projected images on multi-faceted and triangulated surfaces about the achievements and events at the University of New Mexico.

For more information, contact Matthew Gines or visit:
Project's webpage 
KRQE News 
UNM's Newsroom 
Albuquerque Journal

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.

Maxwell Render for Rhino: Video Tutorials by Holger Jahns

Holger Jahns is a Berlin-based industrial designer and Maxwell Xpert. He has been using Maxwell since the beta days for visualization work in his studio and in his work as a lecturer at several international universities.

Watch Holger Jahns Maxwell for Rhino video tutorials here...

Free seminar: BIM Modeling with VisualARQ and 3D printing

• Where: COAC Barcelona (Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Barcelona. Plaça Nova, 5. 08002 Barcelona)
• When: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015. From 11am to noon and from 5pm to 6pm.
• Duration: 1 hour
• Price: Free

Come and see how to convert a BIM architectural project into a 3D printable model.

You will see the complete process, from the creation of the building design with Rhino and VisualARQ to the preparation of the 3D model to be printed in a 3D printing machine.

The presentation will take place next Tuesday July 14th at COAC Barcelona. It will last about 1 hour and it will be done in two separate sessions (11 am and 5pm).

The seminar is free but space is limited.

More details and registration (in Spanish)...

New RhinoGold 5.5 Service Release

TDM Solutions announced the new Service Release 2 for RhinoGold 5.5. They improved the RhinoGold's workflow and fixed some minor bugs.

The improvements include:

• Better workflow in commands such as shank studio, dynamic cap, dynamic bend, mill grain, and advanced ring curve
• Fixed minor bugs on Cluster Edition, Profile Gumball, Rope, Head Studio, Eternity, Mold Draft Angle, Cutter in Line transversal, Hollow Ring, and Ring Wizard
• RhinoGold Render Studio bug fixed when closing without pausing

To upgrade your current RhinoGold 5.5:

• Directly from the RhinoGold - An upgrade message will pop up. Click on the message to download the latest service release.
• From your private area at TDM Solutions - Sign in and click on Software to download.

Online Rhino course begins on Monday

Level 1 Rhino 5 for Windows - Online Course

July 13-23, 2015

US$200.00

Have you registered yet? Our Level 1 Rhino 5 for Windows - Online Course begins next week.

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: July 13, 9:00 am-10:30 am (PDT)
• Training: July 14-16 and July 21-23, 9:00 am-1:00 pm (PDT)
  Calculate your time zone.

Sign up today!

Rhino for Mac and Maxwell Studio

Rhino for Mac was announced a few weeks ago. Plugins aren't there yet, but you can achieve professional renderings using Maxwell Studio (included in Maxwell Render suite*).

Learn here how to export various file formats from Rhino for Mac, import them into Studio, set up materials, cameras, and such, and then render in Maxwell Render.

*Maxwell Render Suite includes Maxwell Studio and the Rhino 5 for Windows plugin.

Ladybug Photovoltaics components released

The plugin Ladybug Grasshopper Environmental just released a new set of free components for analysis of Photovoltaics. They are based on the PVWatts v1 online calculator, supporting crystalline silicon fixed-tilt photovoltaics.

These components help you answer the question: "How much energy can my roof, building facade, solar parking... generate if I populate them with PV panels?"

They allow definition of different types of losses (snow, age, shading...) that may affect your PV system. Or find its optimal tilt and orientation. Or analyze its performance, energy value, consumption, emissions...

More info on the Grasshopper forum...

Download...

AA Visiting School Barcelona - Open Lectures Series

AA Visiting School Barcelona Open Lecture Series

BODEGA Enological Metabolism

ETSAB/UPC, Barcelona

2-16 July 2015

Bodega – Enological Metabolism centers its research on the associations that exist between wine and architecture in order to identify the influences they have on one another. Read more...

Open Lectures Series

ARCHI/TECH/E/NOLOGIES is a Lecture Series open to everyone, which will bring together professionals of all kinds concerning architecture, technology, and enology. Local and international architects with expertise in designing wineries will explain their strategies to develop their work in the wine field, whereas enologists and agricultural engineers will support and contrast all the techniques and current technologies used both, in the vineyard and the winery, to control the whole process of winemaking in order to optimize the quality and the design of its coupage. By linking all these disciplines, the students will be encouraged to learn and support their project based in all this knowledge and tools.

AAVS Barcelona 2015 - Opening Lecture
Josep Lluís Mateo, Mateo Arquitectura, Barcelona
Roca Barcelona Gallery, 2 July 2015 at 19:30h

AAVS Barcelona 2015 - Miderm Lecture
Rosa Rull, Bailo Rull + ADD Architects, Barcelona
Roca Barcelona Gallery, 9 July 2015 at 19:30h

AAVS Barcelona 2015 - Keynote Lecture
Didier Faustino, Architect, Paris
Roca Barcelona Gallery, 16 July 2015 at 19:30h

Loop de Loop

Charles Portelli, from the architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF),  dropped by our office and we got to hear about some of KPF's latest projects.

One deviation from the large architectural projects we expect from KPF is this intriguing furniture line, Loop de Loop. All modeled in Rhino and rationalized in Grasshopper.

The five-piece collection, designed by William Pederson, founder and partner of KPF, works for both outdoors and indoors with its polyester mesh and powder-coated carbon steel rods. The non-elastic knit is deforms equally, no matter the person's size.

Each piece is a single loop of 5/8" high strength tubular steel, passing one end of the loop through the other --  Loop de Loop!

In a New York Times article, Pedersen elaborated, "We digitized them into a program that uses CNC technology to bend the 5/8-inch high-strength carbon-steel rods into continuous loops. There are 40 individual commands, and every inch or so along each tube the computer commands a change in the bend. It's like squeezing a tube of tooth paste: You change the pressure, and it changes the angle."

VisualARQ 1.9 new features Webinar

Join Francesc Salla, VisualARQ Product Manager, for a fast-paced and exciting demonstration of VisualARQ 1.9 (in English).

VisualARQ 1.9 Webinar

Wednesday, July 8th, 2015
11.00 am-12.00 noon CEST

The webinar will show an overview of VisualARQ 1.9 and will focus on the latest new features and enhancements, including:

• IFC Import & Export
• IFC Tag and Export options
• New Plan View features
• New Slab object features
• New way to insert doors and windows
• New Curtain wall features.
• Create columns from 3D and 2D blocks
• Overview of VisualARQ Grasshopper Components WIP IV

Who is this webinar aimed at?

• VisualARQ users: newbies and existing users
• Rhino users working in architectural models
• Architects interested in the BIM workflow VisualARQ adds to Rhino, and the comunication with Revit through IFC file format.

The webinar is free and will last about about 1 hour, including the Q & A session.

Free registration...

New Rhino book in Turkish

Cem Donmez from RhinoAkademi has released the second edition of "Rhinoceros 5 ile Modelleme", a 1000-page complete manual full of modeling examples in Turkish language.

Complete details and order (in Turkish)...

Advanced Architecture Summer School in Paris

The Advanced Architecture Summer School (Paris, August 17-September 4) at VOLUMES coworking is a 3-week learning experience designed as an immersive journey in social innovation, computational design, digital fabrication, and collaborative culture.

The full program and the team have been updated, as well as a partnership with the makers innovation camp POC21.

Complete details...