Parametric Vessel Animation

January 27, 2022

Parametric Vessel Animation

Grasshopper Animation - Parametric Vessel No. 2

Grasshopper Animation - Parametric Vessel No.1

Work in progress - beginning stage

This week, I learned how to animate a parametric design using Grasshopper for Rhino.

I really enjoyed animating and creating the definition for the animation. Several months ago, I had briefly looked into creating vessels in grasshopper but I did not understand the full process.

After attending the past few classes, and watching some tutorials online, I finally understood the process and was able to create my own parametric vessel definition.

This is what the full definition looked like before I used the ReMap Numbers object to animate the vessel.

This is what the definition looked like after I remapped the parameters for the vessel. I renamed each ReMap Numbers object to match the slider it was replacing. I did not delete the original sliders because they helped me visually remember what their purpose was.

Something I like about this definition is that I can draw any curve I want on the graph and it will be applied to the body of the vessel. The bezier graph only has two control points that define the curve. Even though two control points are enough, I would like to know how to add more control points to make more complex vessel shapes.

On my own, I tried to figure out how to create a convincing material from within Grasshopper for the custom preview. It seemed to work fairly well except for the "Shine," which did not change with the slider. The surface of the vessel always looked matte, even with 100% shine. Since I wasn't satisfied with the appearance quite yet, I looked at some tutorials online for help.

Watching this tutorial, I learned how to apply a rhino material from within grasshopper using the "set one material" option. That is the option I was looking for -- I can tell that I will be using it a lot for my future projects! :)