STF#8 - 2023: Workshops
WU04Automating building design using Grasshopper, ShapeDiver API, Cortex and Ellipse
Delivered by Thornton Tomasetti & Rhino Developers, McNeel
Do you ever wish your 3D models, drawings, and BIM data all lived in a snappy and easy-to-use web app? If so, come join our workshop at Shape to Fabrication in London this April to learn more about Ellipse – CORE studio’s new AEC platform. We’ll also be talking about using ShapeDiver API and machine learning for automating building design!
Step 1: Generate a structural wireframe using the ShapeDiver API. Participants are taught how to make an API call to a ShapeDiver app using C#. The ShapeDiver app is a Geometry Service developed by CORE prior to the workshop. It could for instance take a floor surface as input, and return a proposed structural frame.
Step 2: Generate structural members based on the centerline geometry from Step 1. With CORE studio’s Graph analysis tools in Grasshopper combined with the centre line output from Step 1, we can define inputs for Cortex API. Cortex is a ML platform and interface developed by CORE studio, and its API enables machine learning applications in Grasshopper. In this case, it will take a centre line along with structural context data (such as loading), and suggest member profiles.
Step 3: Present the structural model using Ellipse. With the information from Step 1 and Step 2 combined, we now have a full structural model. Using the CORE studio’s newest app Ellipse and its Grasshopper plugin, the model can be uploaded to an Ellipse notebook. From here, we can build a custom dashboard with 3D and 2D content, along with diagrams to represent embedded metadata.
Requirements:
This workshop is designed to work for a multitude of users, from early beginners to the more advanced GH/scripting users.
Software/Hardware required for participants:
- Windows laptop with Rhino 7 and Grasshopper
- We will provide any other GH plugins during the workshop, most of them are on the Rhino package manager or web-apps.
David Mans is a Senior Associate Applications Developer at Thornton Tomasetti | CORE studio where he focuses on Product Development for Web Visualization Platforms and is the AECtech manager. David has been an educator for over 15 years, teaching at Pratt Institute and CCNY fostering the next generation of computational designers. Prior to CORE studio, he was the Senior Computational Designer for Grimshaw Architects NYC and a Lead Designer on the Main Canopy of Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion for Dubai Expo 2020. He is also the author of over a dozen open-source plugins for Grasshopper 3d.
Emil Poulsen is an Associate Applications Engineer in CORE studio at Thornton Tomasetti. With a background in architecture and engineering, his main focus is internal tool development, often involving Rhino & Grasshopper APIs.
Jeroen Janssen is an Associate Director and is leading the CORE studio team in London. CORE is Thornton Tomasetti’s Research and Development incubator, enabling collaboration with project teams and industry colleagues to drive change and innovation. Jeroen particularly focuses on the design of microclimates for urban spaces. During the early stages of a design, in-house developed digital models of wind simulations and solar and thermal radiation are used to analyse complex urban scenarios on master planning scale or at the level of an individual development, thus ensuring comfortable spaces from the outset of the architectural design process.
Supported by:
Mathieu Huard – ShapeDiver
Supported by:
Daniel Piker – McNeel
Websites