IN SEARCH OF THE ABSTRACT FORM-TIME CONSTRUCT OF SPACE


11 November 2010

'spider evolution'



during the course of my investigation of simplistic model ideas with large number of different outcomes, I found myself working on a circular stack of triangles which are defined by few simple parameters. each parameter was originally defined by the user (the coding was left within the script but deactivated), however, as I was going through different settings to get shapes which are very different from each other for testing purposes, I decided to fully randomise the script. I have settled for the boundary condition of 20 units randomly picked to speed up the process of the shape search. within a matter of several minutes I have generated some 30 random shapes which were eventually dubbed 'spider evolution'. I'm now planning to expand the script or modify it for other purposes.





.:script:.

Option Explicit
'Script written by shane gregoran
'Script version 30 August 2010 00:20:56 updated 28 October 2010

Call p04TriangularSomethings()
Sub p04TriangularSomethings()
'for this purpose all random numbers have been set to max of 20
'Dim nPts : nPts = Rhino.GetReal("how many segments", 12)
Dim nPts : nPts = Floor(rnd*20)
If nPts < 3 Then
nPts = 3
End If
Dim cp : cp = Rhino.WorldXYPlane
cp(0)(2) = Floor(rnd*10)
'Dim iR : iR = Rhino.GetReal("length of short triangulation",10)
Dim iR : iR = Floor(rnd*20)
If iR < 1 Then
iR = 1
End If
'Dim R : R = Rhino.GetReal("length of segments",15)
Dim R : R = Floor(rnd*20)
If R < 1 Then
R = 1
End If

Dim iCirc, iLength, iPts
ReDim iPts(nPts)
iCirc = Rhino.AddCircle (cp,iR)
If Rhino.IsCurve(iCirc) Then
iLength = Rhino.CurveLength(iCirc)
End If
Dim i, S, iSc
For i = 0 To (nPts-1)
iSc = iLength/nPts
If i=0 Then
S=0
Else
S = iSc*i
End If
iPts(i) = Rhino.CurveArcLengthPoint(iCirc, S)
Next
Dim oCirc, oLength, oPts
ReDim oPts(nPts)
cp(0)(2) = Floor(rnd*10)
oCirc = Rhino.AddCircle (cp,R)
If Rhino.IsCurve(oCirc) Then
oLength = Rhino.CurveLength(oCirc)
End If
Dim outS, oSc
For i = 0 To (nPts-1)
oSc = oLength/nPts
If i=0 Then
outS=0
Else
outS = oSc*i
End If
oPts(i) = Rhino.CurveArcLengthPoint(oCirc, outS)
Next
'Dim apxH : apxH = Rhino.GetReal("height of apex guide curvature points", 6)
Dim apxH : apxH = Floor(rnd*20)
Dim Origin, Direction, Normal, hPlane
Origin = array(0,0,apxH)
If IsArray(Origin) Then
Direction = array(0,0,apxH+1)
If IsArray(Direction) Then
Normal = VectorCreate(Direction, Origin)
Normal = VectorUnitize(Normal)
hPlane = Rhino.PlaneFromNormal(Origin, Normal)
End If
End If
'Dim apxR : apxR = Rhino.GetReal("distance of apex point from base", 5)
Dim apxR : apxR = Floor(rnd*20)
If apxR < 1 Then
apxR = 1
End If
Dim hCirc, hLength, hPts
ReDim hPts(nPts-1)
hCirc = Rhino.AddCircle (hPlane,apxR)
If Rhino.IsCurve(hCirc) Then
hLength = Rhino.CurveLength(hCirc)
End If
Dim hS, hSc
For i = 0 To (nPts-1)
hSc = hLength/nPts
If i=0 Then
hS=hSc/2
Else
hS = (hSc/2)+(hSc*i)
End If
hPts(i) = Rhino.CurveArcLengthPoint(hCirc, hS)
Next
Dim wo : wo = array (0,0,(apxH/2))
Dim crvInnerPTS, crvOutterPTS, crvInnerPTSstring, crvOutterPTSstring
ReDim crvOutterPTS(nPts-1), crvInnerPTS(nPts-1), crvInnerPTSstring(nPts-1), crvOutterPTSstring(nPts-1)
For i = 0 To (nPts-1)
crvOutterPTS(i) = array(wo, hPts(i), oPts(i))
crvOutterPTSstring(i) = Rhino.AddCurve (crvOutterPTS(i))
Next
For i = 0 To (nPts-1)
If i = 0 Then
crvInnerPTS(i) = array(wo, hPts(nPts-2), iPts(i))
Else
If i = 1 Then
crvInnerPTS(i) = array(wo, hPts(nPts-1), iPts(i))
Else
crvInnerPTS(i) = array(wo, hPts(i-2), iPts(i))
End If
End If
crvInnerPTSstring(i) = Rhino.AddCurve (crvInnerPTS(i))
Next
Dim capCurve, capCurveString
ReDim capCurve(nPts-1), capCurveString(nPts-1)
For i = 0 To (nPts-1)
If i = (nPts-1) Then
capCurve(i) = array(oPts(i), hPts(i), iPts(1))
Else
If i = (nPts-2) Then
capCurve(i) = array(oPts(i), hPts(i), iPts(0))
Else
capCurve(i) = array(oPts(i),hPts(i), iPts(i+2))
End If
End If
capCurveString(i) = Rhino.AddCurve (capCurve(i))
Next
Dim LoftA, rr, LoftB, SurfA, rrr
ReDim LoftA(nPts-1), LoftB(nPts-1), SurfA(nPts-1)
For rr = 0 To nPts-1
If rr = nPts-2 Then
rrr = 0
Else
If rr = nPts-1 Then
rrr = 1
Else
rrr = rr + 2
End If
End If
LoftA(rr) = Array(crvOutterPTSstring(rr), crvInnerPTSstring(rrr), capCurveString(rr))
rhino.DeleteObject iCirc
rhino.DeleteObject oCirc
rhino.DeleteObject hCirc
Rhino.AddEdgeSrf LoftA(rr)
Next

End Sub