Digital Fabrication Work

Had the opportunity last week to sit on a review of Maciej Kaczynski's Digital Fabrication class here at University of Michigan. The class was taught in tandem with David Pigram's Rhinoscript class. The student groups were made up of student's enrolled in both classes - so each project was scripted and fabricated out of steel or aluminum. I thought the work was outstanding and demonstrated a high degree sophistication with the tools. Below are a few iPhone shots.

Rivet Reef: Andrew Aulerich, Rennie Jones, Brenna Williams, Conor Wood


Rust Belt: Bob Bradfield, Bruce Findling, Mark Meier, Clay Montgomery


Dragonsloth: Bryan Alcorn, Lauren Bebry, Ben Hagenhofer-Daniell, Mikhail Kim, Jesse Wetzel

tetra | n - Runner Up! TEX-FAB Competition

area.architectures competition entry to the TEX-FAB Repeat competition. Project is created utilizing rhinoscript - details at the area. website.

Rhino + Grasshopper: Parametric Point Diagrid

This tutorial explains how to create a parametric diagrid using two control lines. Furthur explains the use of the N item select tool - for selecting a specific item from a list.

Length: 17.34

Rhino + Grasshopper: Parametric Truss 2

This is a remake of an old tutorial - as the data structures in the most recent version (06.0059) of grasshopper have changed - and the old way of constructing this surface will no longer work. This is a good beginning coverage of the parameter viewer tool and dealing with data trees - shows how you can use the tool for splitting a longer list of paths into smaller ones. For reference you can upload the definition here.

Length: 32.58

Rhinocerous + Vray: Transparency Mapping

In this tutorial I cover how to use transparency maps and different texture maps in Rhino with Vray. Transparency maps allow you to produce convincing effects, such as perforation patterns, fritted glass, landscape patterns, etc... quickly for studies or final renderings. Advantages over producing actual geometry are smaller file sizes, lower render times, and quick creation. Disadvantages are that it doesn't actually produce geometry - so can't be used for 3D output or fabrication. For basics on rendering/lighting with vray, check out Karl Daubman's excellent tutorials on the subject @ paramod.net
Total Length: 52.10

Conference Presentation: Assemblies and Aggregations

Been away from the blog for awhile, as I'm not teaching a computer course this term and working on a couple of competitions - however, I recently attended the ACSA conference in New Orleans, Re-Building, to present a paper on student work in fabrication - from the course Arch 571: Digital Fabrication, conducted in 2008. The projects focused on parametrics and casting in the production of full scale cast units. A copy of the paper can be downloaded through this link. Above are few images of the completed projects. I also recently received a development grant from the University of Michigan to conduct further research in this area. I'll be creating a full scale casting project over the next few months - and will post the developments and results.