I studied the interlocking joint details in Grasshopper here and here. This time, the interlocking structures were revisited with a cleaner code and an in-depth explanation. I believe that this is a very good educational exercise for learning the potential of the native Grasshopper components. The Preparations The Region Difference (RDiff) component is used to create the interlocking detail of a surface that is contoured with bi-directional spacing. In the first part of the code, after contouring our surface in…

In this Voronoi puzzle exercise, we derive two-dimensional puzzles by using Voronoi diagrams. This is similar to my previous studies here, and here. Part 1: The Random Voronoi Diagram In section 1 of the below image, I use a rectangular region to generate random points. Then, I create a standard Voronoi diagram by using those points. Finally, I explode the Voronoi cells. Part 2: The Voronoi Puzzle Details In the second part, we draw an arc on the edges of…

Fields is a native group of components available since the very early version of Grasshopper. In today’s Design Computing class, we studied it again with the first-year design students. I studied these interesting and beautiful shapes earlier here, here, here, and here. The one you see below is a short in-class exercise about vector fields. The exercise aims to show the Grasshopper’s capabilities in form-finding studies via Field Lines. The definition starts with the generation of a set of random…

This is a return to the Swirly Flames tutorial I made in 2013 here. Since then, Photoshop changed a bit. There is no more Variations tool. Therefore, I had to use other tools such as Color Balance, Hue/Saturation, Inverse, etc. to achieve the same effect. It is still cool for me, personally, although we are in the age of AI-generated images now. It is not the visual result only, but the memories it carries until today. Nowadays, I am translating…

This paper investigates the integration of robotic fabrication into first-year undergraduate design education, particularly in a basic design studio. Traditionally, robotic technologies are not introduced at this level due to perceived skill gaps among novice students. The study demonstrates the potential and strategies for incorporating robotic arms into early design education through an experiment conducted at Istanbul Bilgi University. The experiment involved 32 students from various design disciplines, divided into control groups using hand-held tools and test groups using a…

While digging through the lecture archive, I found this video I made in 2017. We introduce Platonic solids and Archimedean solids in the Design Geometry course at Istanbul Bilgi University. This video shows how we can create an Archimedean solid, the Truncated Tetrahedron, by folding it from a flat sheet. While doing this, I intersected the spheres by using the relations between the side lengths of the solid, and I calculated the rotation angles accordingly. First of all, I drew…

We continue with the Grasshopper for Beginners series by explaining Rhino+Gh workflow principles. What does GH add to Rhino‘s standard drawing and modeling functions? To put the question differently, what does GH do that conventional modeling programs, such as Rhino, can’t? What is the difference and relationship between Rhino+Gh? Let’s take an example to answer these questions. Our example is about parametrically describing a surface model and deriving its alternatives. First, we will try to create a surface using only…

This is the continuation of the physical prototyping project of a folding pattern from 9 years ago. I simulate the folding pattern using the Rhino Grasshopper Kangaroo. As seen in the video, this is possible thanks to the pre-set hinge positions on the Rhino model. Thus, the folding motion can be animated on the screen. You can download and try the Grasshopper code. I often use this code in my ARCH 362 Parametric Modeling course. I think it is possible…

Let’s continue the Grasshopper for Beginners series. We start with the traditional “Hello World!” displayed on the Rhino screen: Placing the Components In most CAD programs, the text creation function, which is the equivalent of the Text command, is performed by a component called Text Tag (Tag) in GH. The Text Tag (Tag) component is in the Dimension panel under the Display tab. If you’re not comfortable with tabs and panels yet, you can revisit this section from the beginning….

The Parquet Deformation named “Wiry Wonder” was designed by Michael Cuttita in William Huff’s studio at the State University of New York in 1989. The below figure shows the original drawing made by the student. Similar to the previous one, this composition is based on a hexagonal lattice. In this composition there are three significant prototiles, marking the three key moments in the shape-shifting process. There is also one invisible prototile. It accommodates the transition between the last two prototiles….