So Begins the Madness...

 Hmm... quick post to start of this semester with. Here are some quick screenshots of the processes described in the Grasshopper video tutorials...

(Results at the end of the second tutorial... so far just following the instructions pretty closely.)

(Third tutorial, so far, so good.)

 (...Tah-dah...)

Well, so the tutorials went pretty smoothly and Grasshopper seems pretty straightforward and easy to navigate so far... so far...

So, as a short test of what I learned through the tutorials.... probably could have done something a little more complicated, but decided to keep it relatively simple (as I am a relatively lazy person...).

The curvy, squiggly design used to demonstrate the basic functions of Grasshopper reminded me vaguely of a DNA strand... so I decided to try to make something that somewhat looked like one, but... that changed a bit by the end of the day.

(Base curves with their divisions supplied by Grasshopper)

The base curves of the "DNA strand" (with its additional helix) was quickly thrown together in Rhino using, well, loose helices, which were then rotated together to create an interwoven appearance.

The basic steps described in the video tutorials were then executed, the curves divided by length, points pulled, etc.

(Its, somewhat DNA-ish?)

From there, I had decided that while the line drawing resembling a DNA strand was interesting, it needed... something more.

(The design from above, with added arcs)

Continuing to follow the steps described in the tutorial, arcs were drawn from points on all three of the helices, creating this somewhat interesting, twisted paperish object. This.. object was then lofted between the arcs to give it more of a solid form, then baked into Rhino.

(Lofted, more solid versions of the wire-form)

('Rendered' version of the above, looking pretty papery)

After creating this papery tubular object-thing, I started playing around with some of the basic tools in Grasshopper. Attaching a slider to the length input of the curve divider allowed, well, variations in the measure of distance between the division points, which, as noted in the video tutorials, changes the position and number of points along the curve. This also changes the undulations in the lofted form, allowing for more organic(ish) variations of the form.

('Rendered' variations made by adjusting the distance between division points)

(Fairly simple test of some of the things learned, probably could have made something better, but... for now, good enough for me...)

So far, the basic tools of Grasshopper seem, super handy to me. As of right now, I'm not 100% sure what you use some of these processes for, but I sure am looking forward to finding out. Everything seems pretty straightforward, especially with the flowchart visuals of Grasshopper.

In other words, I am definitely excited...