Name: Bat Design using (Base)ball inputs
Overview (Read Me):
This tool allows the user to maximize their baseball bat design based on the bat’s cost, style, and power using a few input parameters. To make things easy for the user, they only have to select their desired control variables and the generative design study tool will generate outputs accounting for all evaluators of the bat design.
User Guide:
User Inputs
The dynamo model first creates three user inputs, handle length, barrel size, and barrel length. These three inputs will vary during the generative design study.
Control Inputs
All additional variables will act as control variables. These variables will not vary during the generative design study, but the user does have the ability to change them based on their preferences.
Geometry Creation
After all control inputs are updated based on the user preferences, all of the inputs both control and variable are used to create the geometry of the bat.
First, the knob is created using the dynamo script below:
Then the handle geometry:
Then the barrel geometry:
After the outline geometry is created, three separate solid geometries are created using the created curves. Each part of the bat is its own solid, knob, handle, and barrel, because most bats are made up of many different pieces instead of just one solid object.
Volume and Surface Area Values
After the bat geometry is created, the volume and surface area values for each solid are found.
Evaluators
These values along with a few of the initial design specifications are used to create three evaluators for cost, design, and power.
The Cost evaluator breaks total cost into barrel cost, handle cost, and knob cost. The cost per volume for each of these three solids can be changed in the control variables section. Once the costs are decided, these values are multiplied by the volumes of their respective solids to arrive at a total cost value. The dynamo script can be seen below
The style evaluator looks to measure how aesthetically pleasing the bat overall bat design is and then assigns a value based on how well the bat design meets universally attractive style characteristics. The first part of this formula adds style value based on the ratio of barrel volume to handle volume. It is assumed that a larger barrel to handle volume ratio is more aesthetically pleasing. The user has the ability to change how important this style feature is by changing the barrel to handle style factor located in the control inputs section. The second part of this formula adds value based on the total surface area of the bat. The higher the surface area, the more space for potential graphics leading to a higher design potential for the bat. The user again has the ability to change how important this style feature is by changing the design potential factor located in the control inputs section. The dynamo script can be seen below.
The power evaluator looks to measure the potential of the bat to hit the ball far. This first part of this formula assigns value based on how large the volume of the barrel is. This bigger the barrel, the more power potential the bat has. The importance of this feature can again be changed in the control inputs section by inputting different values for barrel power factor. The second part of the formula assigns value based on the potential torque of the bat. handle length is used as a proxy for torque as torque is assumed to increase as the handle length gets longer. This importance of this feature can also be changed in the control variable section by changing the value for torque factor. The dynamo script can be seen below.
Outputs
After the evaluators are created, the values are extracted as outputs
Generative Study
A generative design study can then be created based on the dynamo model created. The screenshot below shows the generative study user window below that is used to create the study. The range of the three input variables is already set for the user based on typical values for realistic bat designs. The user has the ability to change the testing range for these variables. Then the style and power evaluators are set to maximize, and the cost evaluator is set to minimize. The user has the ability to go into the dynamo logic to change the control variables based on desired preferences. The user then selects, “Generate,” at the bottom of the generative design window in order to create a study.
Example Results
Below are examples of typical results from running a generative design study with the given control variables.
Video Demo