Design Geometry

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a process of creating three-dimensional objects from a digital file by building them layer by layer. Unlike traditional manufacturing, where the material is cut or molded into shape, 3D printing adds material in successive layers. This allows…

Relief in the context of art and sculpture refers to a technique where a three-dimensional form is created on a flat surface. The object or figure “protrudes” from the background, creating depth and texture. In this short tutorial video, I am modeling waves relief using…

Truchet patterns refer to a set of geometric designs based on simple, repeating shapes, usually tiles or squares. These tiles can be rotated or flipped to create complex and visually interesting patterns. A French mathematician, Michel Truchet introduced these patterns in the 1970s. Since then,…

A “hypar” is short for a hyperbolic paraboloid, a double-curved, saddle-shaped surface often used in architecture and structural design due to its unique geometric properties. It is a ruled surface, meaning it can be constructed entirely with straight lines, despite its curved appearance. In this…

In art, design, and geometry, folding involves bending or creasing a material—such as paper, fabric, or other flexible substances—into defined shapes or patterns. Folding techniques can also be used to create multidimensional forms and structures, blending artistic expression with practical functionality. In this short tutorial…

In geometry, a truncated icosidodecahedron, rhombitruncated icosidodecahedron, great rhombicosidodecahedron, omnitruncated dodecahedron, or omnitruncated icosahedron is an Archimedean solid. It is one of thirteen convex, isogonal, non-prismatic solids constructed by two or more types of regular polygon faces. In this short tutorial, I am constructing an…

The sphenoid hendecahedron is a unique and interesting polyhedron. As the name implies, a “hendecahedron” is a polyhedron with 11 faces, while “sphenoid” refers to a specific type of shape that is often unusual, asymmetrical, and typically wedge-shaped. This polyhedron fills space, packing 3D space…

The rhombicosidodecahedron, an Archimedean solid, is one of the 13 convex polyhedra made up of regular polygons. While all its faces are congruent, they consist of various types of regular polygons. I previously explored this fascinating polyhedron and am revisiting it now as part of…

The Herschel nonahedron is a canonical polyhedron whose skeleton is the Herschel graph. It has 11 vertices, 18 edges, and 9 faces. Of the edges, 6 are short and 12 are long. It is characterized by having nine faces (hence the prefix “ennea” meaning nine…

In geometry, the excavated dodecahedron is a star polyhedron that looks like a dodecahedron with concave pentagonal pyramids in place of its faces. In this short tutorial video, I am modeling an excavated dodecahedron in the Rhinoceros software. I use basic drawing and modeling commands….

A truncated cuboctahedron is an Archimedean solid, meaning it is a highly symmetrical, convex polyhedron with identical vertices and faces of regular polygons. As its name suggests, you can create the truncated cuboctahedron by truncating (cutting off) the vertices of a cuboctahedron. A cuboctahedron is…

An icosidodecahedron is a polyhedron that is part of the family of Archimedean solids. It has 32 faces, consisting of 12 regular pentagonal faces of a dodecahedron and 20 regular triangular faces of an icosahedron. It is highly symmetrical, with the same arrangement of faces…

Stellation of polyhedra refers to the process of extending the faces (or edges) of a polyhedron outward to form new, more complex shapes. These new shapes, called stellations, are created by adding extra vertices, edges, and faces that “project” outward from the original polyhedron’s structure….

A dual polyhedron is a concept in geometry where two polyhedra are related in such a way that the vertices of one polyhedron correspond to the faces of the other, and the faces of the first polyhedron correspond to the vertices of the second. The…

The truncated octahedron is an Archimedean solid, characterized by a mix of hexagonal and square faces, and it has a very symmetrical and regular structure. Buckminster Fuller called this solid “Mecon”. The truncation process includes the cutting the edges of a polyhedron. We do this…

Buckminster Fuller used the term “dymaxion” for a variety of his designs, and one of these was the dymaxion map. It was based on the geometry of a polyhedron. While the dymaxion map is more directly related to the icosahedron, Fuller’s work often involved using…

A Buckyball, (or Fullerene), is a molecule of 60 carbon atoms with a structure resembling a soccer ball. It is a specific type of fullerene, often referred to as C60, where the carbon atoms form a series of pentagons and hexagons in a pattern that…

Truncation in mathematics and geometry refers to cutting off parts of a shape, typically the vertices, edges, or other extremities, to create a new modified figure. This process is often used with polygons, polyhedra, or functions. A truncated tetrahedron is a polyhedron we can derive…

In Rhino, layouts are used to prepare drawings for printing or presentation. They provide a way to organize and display 2D views of your 3D model, such as top, front, side, and perspective views, in a way suitable for producing printed or published documents. In…

A cube is a three-dimensional shape with six square faces, twelve edges, and eight vertices. It is one of the most familiar geometric solids and is a special type of rectangular prism where all sides are of equal length. A cube has a high degree…