NudiBranch 0.028 is out!

Seven months later after the first official release, I kind of managed to properly update Nudibranch to the Grasshopper 0.9.005X series. The new version out is 0.028 (yes there were 27 different incremental attempts in between..) and it marks bug fixes (two evident plus more that were not that easy to spot), minor updates and optimization of some components, and finally 5 brand new components (**more details further down on this post). Bouncers, Slicer, BundleAttractor, MeshClimber, FrameGrid(new sub-tab Utilities) and Box3dGrid(new sub-tab Utilities).

Hopefully this is a major update, not only for introducing new components but mainly for improving the existing functionality of the add-on, specifically by reinforcing its global character, increasing its accessibility and user-friendliness, while exponentially reducing the calculation time for many of the existing routines. This release is unfortunately supported only by Rhino 5.0. The previous release for Rhino 4.0 is still going to be available to anyone who might be using the previous version of the software but its functionality is limited.

Some snapshots of the New Features are displayed in the following figures.

Of course your feedback is valuable in any case, so do not hesitate to contact us and add your comments or critique, either here on the blog or though the official Nudibranch group in the Grasshopper3d forum.

You can download Nudibranch of the Food4Rhino website.

Enjoy 🙂

**

BUG FIXES
• Satellite Component: The component was throwing an exception when loading geometry that was of Type IGH_GeometricGoo. This is fixed. (thanks Igor GH Forum for noticing)
• PointAttractor and CurveAttractor: These components were creating Null vectors when the attractors where further than the attraction range. This is fixed, they return Zero length vectors. (thanks Igor GH Forum for noticing)
EXISTING COMPONENT IMPROVEMENTS
• AttractorValues + CurveValues:
 Switched data arrangement to longest list
 Added additional right-click drop down menu to the distribution input
 Added auto-fill options when a value-list component is connected to the distribution input
 Added three options for the attractor solver as a right-click menu on the component (Minimum, Average, Maximum)
• PointAttractor + CurveAttractor:
 Switched data arrangement to longest list
 Added additional right-click drop down menu to the distribution input
 Added auto-fill options when a value-list component is connected to the distribution input
• TwirlAttractor:
 Switched data arrangement to longest list NUDIBRANCH Version History
Nudibranch Version History
• Railway:
 Added inheritance of the DataPath for the curves used as rails to organize the
generated points in a branched structure of the original.
• Walkers:
 Added an extra input for randomizing the speed for each walker in the
domain of (-Factor to Factor)
• PointHicking + CurveHicking + PointPatrolling:
 Switched data arrangement to longest list
• Uphill + Downhill:
 These components were replaced by the Climber Component
 Added two options for the solver as a right-click menu on the component
(DownHill, UpHill)
NEW COMPONENTS
• Bouncers:
 Animators Tab: Generates and animates a Number of Particles bouncing
within a user defined Box boundary.
• Slicer:
 Animators Tab: Generates and animates Rhino Clipping planes for a set of
user defined curves.
• BundleAttractor:
 Attractors Tab: Generates an iteratively bundled point list for any given
DataTree population of points.
• MeshClimber:
 Scramblers Tab: Generates the gradient descent or ascent paths on a Mesh
object for any provided point list.
• FrameGrid:
 Utilities Tab: Generates a 2-dimensional grid of points distributed as a
row/column structure for any given 3dRectangle.
• Box3DGrid:
 Utilities Tab: Generates a 3-dimensional grid of points distributed as a
row/flippedrow/column structure for any given Box.
EXTRA NOTES
• All modified components have been marked as “OBSOLETE”; hence they will continue to
operate in existing files with the previous release functionality. The “OLD” logo will appear on
top of the component’s icon.
• Added a tab icon for the 0.9.005x series
• Added a new icon in component Libraries
• Loaded from COFF Data

Nudibranch Copyright (C) 2013 by Marios Tsiliakos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.digitalsubstance.wordpress.com.

Nudibranch | Add-on for Grasshopper3d

Long time no see. Been very busy in the last couple of months…:( However I am particularly happy about this post. For the past month I had the chance to work on something that has been on my mind at least two years now. And finally the time has come when I manage to publicly release Nudibranch  a new Add-on for Grasshopper3d.

What is a Nudibranch????????? Specifically Glaucus Atlanticus..

The Nudibrach Add-in for Grasshopper3d is a set of components facilitating and automating Grasshopper’s capacity to generate distance-based value fields, in addition to moving particles through attractor defined vector-fields while creating animated simulations of these particles.

In particular, Nudibranch aims to automate the attractor development process (one or multiple), while covering most of the frequently used cases, without however intending to replace or render useless the basic understanding of how attractors operate. Furthermore, three animation components enable the real-time interaction between attractors and the affected data.

Since this is the first release of Nudibranch and it might still contain  bugs. Please use it “as is”, it does not come with warranties. Please give credit where credit is due according to the license file.

You can download Nudibranch from the  Food4Rhino website, along with other useful plug-ins.

A brief documentation and generic examples are also included in the download folder.

I plan to share my experiments with Nudibranch through this blog and via the Grasshopper community group. If you create an interesting design, or even better if you want to share some feedback and your thoughts on Nudibranch just drop a line. It will be really appreciated.

Finally I would like to thank Mateusz, Michael, Andrea, Angel, Arthur, Angel, Tudor for testing Nudibranch out and shared their valuable feedback…

Enjoy,

M.

Nudibranch Copyright (C) 2013 by Marios Tsiliakos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.digitalsubstance.wordpress.com.

Parametric Wireframe Bracelet (update on Point Attractor Grasshopper User Object)

Been a while since the last time. I had to make a few adjustments to the Point Attractor GH User object so that it outputs tree or branched data. The reason for this update is this discussion on the GH forum, which then led to a really impressive jewellery design, more specifically a wireframe bracelet.

Ifigenia Lambrou from Ikreate was kind enough to share some pictures of the final product of the algorithm using the Point Attractor. Here is a short description of the project named Parametric Wireframe Bracelet.

“Ikreate is a design studio founded in 2012, that focuses in jewellery and home decoration designs using rapid prototyping methods. The idea of designing parametric jewelleries through Grasshopper was a challenge due to the possibilities available plus the multiple outcomes. “One of a kind” jewellery idea was into our field, so as the ability of personalising them, according to the user. Parameters would alter the result each time changed.

The concept was to produce a magnetic field, a field of attractors, that could have the ability of affecting the structure of a geometry. In particular, a torus was chosen so as to be used for a bracelet. Torus geometry translated into a number of division curves in u and v. Alteration in the points, used as attractors, was deforming the curves, the structure of the torus.
During the final phase – production of a wearable geometry – physical flexibility was necessary to be given at the model. Besides the material used during printing procedure, the combination of the parameters, number of division+radius of the pipes, gave an extra flexibility to the model.”

I have made an attempt to re-create this result by also altering the overall morphology of the toroid shape. I am attaching a snapshot of grasshopper definition below. Please mind that you have to grab the updated GH user componet for Point Attraction from here . Enjoy.