Modeling a Parametric Structure
For this assignment, I wanted to keep my shelter relatively simple as an arc-like structure using three controlling curves. I began by creating three parallel curves, though I later went back and added slider inputs to be able to alter the curvature of the different controlling curves — specifically, the length, height, and width/depth of the structure can be changed by number sliders.
I created placement points for the support beam adaptive components by using the Curve.PointAtParameter node with the first controlling curve and the corresponding line on the XY-plane as the input curves, as well as an integer slider to control the number of beams.
I created placement points for the adaptive panels by defining a UV grid and mapping it to the surface of the structure. I used integer sliders for the number of U and V points, which can flex the number of panels in the structure. I arranged the points into groups of four using the Quads from Rectangular Grid node, and used those groups of four points to place the adaptive panels. I then used code blocks to resize the height of the panels and the radius of the beams.
To experiment a bit with curvature and form, I then transformed the center controlling curve into a sine wave, along with sliders to control the wave amplitude, frequency/number of waves, and number of wave definition points on the transformed curve.
Transforming Your Geometry
For this part of the assignment, I decided to also transform the frontmost controlling curve of the structure into a sine wave to emphasize the curvature, and when flexing the form I used the same parameters (wave amplitude, frequency/number of waves, number of wave definition points) for both controlling curves.
Testing the limits:
When I minimize the parameters — specifically, when I set the wave amplitude and number of waves to zero, the structure returns to the original form, as shown in the screenshot below.
When I increase the parameters for wave amplitude and number of waves, the curvature of the form increases predictably. The screenshot below shows a wave frequency of 6 and an amplitude of 10.
When I maximize the wave amplitude parameter to 26, it creates the following unrealistic/dysfunctional structure with number of waves set to 5.
If the number of waves is set to greater than 5, then the maximum amplitude value of 26 breaks the form and it cannot be reshaped. Similarly, when I set the amplitude to a baseline of 6 and maximize the number of waves at 10, it creates the following structure.
If I try to set the number of waves to >10, the form breaks, so I set the maximum value on the number sliders to 10.
When I set the number of waves to a negative value, it still works and creates a similarly curved structure since the negative value just flips the direction of the curvature. The example below uses -6 as the number of waves with wave amplitude set to 6.
When I set the wave amplitude to a negative value, it has the same effect as setting the number of waves to a negative value — the structure still works and creates a curved structure with the curvature now being flipped with the negative amplitude. The following example uses -5 as the wave amplitude, with the number of waves set to 6.
Therefore, if I set both amplitude and number of waves as negative values, it would produce the same structure as if I set both amplitude and number of waves to positive values. For example, the following screenshot shows the form produced by setting number of waves to 8 and amplitude to -6, as well as by setting number of waves to -8 and wave amplitude to 6.
