Force Fields in Grasshopper

by Tuğrul Yazar | March 17, 2015 00:57

Finally, I had a chance to test and understand the force fields[1] tab in Grasshopper[2]. It creates a continuous vector field[3] inside of a given boundary. Therefore, it is very useful if you want to create an effect of the continuous presence of a force, such as gravity. The Wikipedia definition of a vector field is very basic and understandable:

In vector calculus[4] and physics, a vector field is an assignment of a vector[5] to each point in a subset of space[6]. For instance, a vector field in the plane can be visualized as a collection of arrows with a given magnitude and direction, each attached to a point in the plane. We often use vector fields to model, for example, the speed and direction of a moving fluid throughout space, or the strength and direction of some force[7], such as the magnetic[8] or gravitational[9] force, as it changes from one point to another point.

While playing with the components of force fields in Grasshopper, I came up with the idea of using field lines[10]. The Grasshopper definition is very simple. It takes necessary inputs such as linear and point charges and calculates the field lines. I created this in 2015. But in 2021 it still works without any change. Here is the Grasshopper definition:

In the future, I am planning to go further in this topic in my Design Mathematics studies. I feel that the vector fields and the simulations based on CFD can have a simple mathematical basis. I hope that I will be able to study in this field.

Source URL: https://www.designcoding.net/force-fields-in-grasshopper/

---