Back to the basics. I finally had time to test the vector fields components in Grasshopper. It was a couple of updates ago, a new tool group emerged in the vector tab, introducing different types of vector fields to users. Then, these fields could be merged to form more complex effects. However, I created a very simple example of how we can use those components to distort a system (such as a regular tessellation). Using attractor forces (usually in geometric…
In this exercise, Grasshopper draws various Archimedean spirals. It constructs polar points and maps them onto a range of angles and a number of points. The spiral’s turning speed is determined by the constant “a,” while the constant “n” gives unique names to the spirals by raising the angle variable to the power of 1/n. Wolfram Mathworld names the spiral with n = -2 as lituus, n = -1 as a hyperbolic spiral, n = 1 as a regular Archimedes…
Can we go back to the beginnings of algorithmic design tools, when it was still as simple as possible (not to the binary level of course)? Most of the theorists agree about the fact that contemporary parametric design tools sometimes provide needlessly many possibilities that suppress the designer’s own creativity. The Voronoi component in Grasshopper was one of the cult examples of that (mentioned here). Throughout this blog, I always search for simple and powerful definitions to design problems, without…
I’ve been searching for a method to study the Voronoi subdivision in order to manipulate it. There are well-known algorithms for that. But I thought it would be better if I use a projective approach just as I did in studying hyperbolic space (here). This is the metaphor of inflating balloons. However, I inflated cones instead of spheres. This way, it became possible to modify the algorithm. So I was able to develop a kind of variable Voronoi study here….
Today’s Architectural Geometry course was about platonic solids and different attractor objects in introducing component-based design systems. Benay’s idea was both pedagogical and interesting to test in Grasshopper. I searched for the most fundamental type of attractor solid in creating a composition such as this; There is a subdivided sphere and an attractor sphere. The pull component works great here. You may use multiple attractor solids or different shapes such as platonic solids as attractors. It is quite an easy…
The Möbius strip is a famous mathematical object. Although being in three-dimensional space, it is a closed-loop of only one surface and only one edge. This quality alone makes the object an interesting study for computational design. I aimed to create an object to test our new CNC machine. I wanted to test the egg-crate interlocking fabrication method. This is why the study became a Möbius strip fabrication. Apart from its uses in science and technology, here is an interesting…
This is a late update for my 2012 study on Cairo Pentagonal Tiling (or Cairo Tessellation). Originally, it was an exercise of dual tessellations. Because this tiling is the dual of the famous semi-regular tessellation of Snub Square. After coding the Snub Square tiling, I attempted to generate the dual of it. However, that created an inefficient result. This latest version generates the original Snub Square and Cario Pentagonal Tilings. Moreover, it is possible to play with the inputs to…
Here is the step-by-step generation of the old Snub Square Tiling. Frankly, this is the first step in the generation of Cairo Pentagonal Tiling I generated with Grasshopper earlier. Because Cairo pentagonal is the dual of a snub square. The first step was easy. Just dispatch cells of a square grid, then evaluate them according to the ratio of 0.366 approx. which is derived from the bisector of an equilateral triangle. Now, we have a snub square tiling, composed of…
The intricate harmony of the Islamic Patterns is amazing. The geometry of this and other Islamic pattern designs are explained in the 3rd chapter of Craig S. Kaplan’s Ph.D. dissertation. I constructed a semi-regular tessellation, particularly the 4.8 because it seems to open interesting explorations that mostly emerge from truncated squares. We know equilateral triangles and hexagons are also fundamental shapes for this task. However, the dual nature of the semi-regular tessellations makes a difference in most compositions. First, I…
This was my old plan to work with images in Grasshopper. Certainly, that was not the result I expected, but this could be counted as a starting point. After seeing beautiful circle packing compositions here, I decided to program Grasshopper, so that it’ll create a subdivision, based on image data. This was the initial version, just subdividing a plane with Voronoi points and visualizing it according to the image’s color values of proper UV coordinates. There is no interpretation on…