Learning Algorithmic Design with Grasshopper

Course details

Algorithmic design allows you to add intelligence to the design process, making the computer a co-pilot in your modeling. In this course, learn how to bring algorithmic design to your workflow using Grasshopper and Rhino. This course was designed for product designers, architects, mechanical engineers, and industrial designers alike. Instructor Chris Reilly introduces advanced design techniques and projects that can help you get a more in-depth view of how to apply algorithmic design to develop projects in creative fields such as architecture and design. Discover how to create and fine-tune Voronoi diagrams, draw spline profiles, extrude 3D forms, and more.

Learning objectives
Planning for material depth and angled panel joints
Working with Voronoi diagrams
Drawing trapezoidal profiles
Offsetting corner lines
Drawing shelf and spline profiles
Using Boolean operations
Labeling panel profiles
Creating 3D extrusions and panel arrays
Using clusters to organize complex definitions

Concepts

Introduction

Harnessing the power of parametric design in Grasshopper
What you should know
Using the exercise files

Design and Algorithm Planning

Planning for material depth
Planning for angled panel joints
Creating spline joints
Outlining an algorithm

Creating Voronoi Diagrams

Exploring Voronoi diagram basics
Generating a dynamic Voronoi diagram
Manually adjusting a Voronoi diagram
Fine-tuning a Voronoi diagram
Creating a static Voronoi diagram

Drawing Shelf Profiles

Offsetting Voronoi cells
Fine-tuning offsets
Connecting cell corners
Accessing individual lines
Sorting profile edges
Sorting corner lines
Drawing trapezoidal profiles

Drawing Spline Profiles

Offsetting corner lines
Setting up spline width controls
Locating spline corners
Setting up spline height controls
Finding points inside each cell
Grouping points in space
Drawing spline profiles

Curve Boolean Operations

Curve Boolean operations
Previewing key components
Testing data flow

Labeling

Creating text labels
Labeling panel profiles
Rotating text labels
Organizing label components
Creating linear dimensions
Setting up angle dimensions
Fine-tuning angle dimensions

Creating 3D Extrusions and Panel Arrays

Extruding 3D forms
Orienting extruded forms
Sorting and searching Brep Components
Constructing base planes for orientation
Orienting a flat panel layout
Partitioning a data stream
Measuring panels
Calculating X offsets
Examining the data stream
Making X motion vectors
Calculating panel array rows
Calculating Y offsets
Spacing panels in the Y dimension
Fine-tuning paneling components
Organizing paneling components

Working with Complex Definitions

Locating panel base points
Labeling 3D panels
Final organization
Creating named views
Organizing complex definitions with clusters

Conclusion

Next steps