notion parallax

Generative Components tutorials

One of my students asked what order they ought to do the GC tutorials that are on the tutorials page. For some reason I hadn’t actually thought about that – duh!

So here it is:

1. Theoretical framework
   This is actually slides for a lecture, so it doesn’t make as much sense as it could if had been designed with being read in mind. That said I think if you use a bit of imagination then it is a pretty useful place to get started.
2. Making a reactive component & Programming a scribble
   These have a long history, he reactive component tutorial was first written sitting in the Qi cafe in Oxford to use with Kathrine Findlay‘s students at Dundee university. Since then it’s been through more than 20 major revisions and I’ve used to teach a huge number of people, so it should have a fair few of the kinks ironed out. However, I haven’t updated it for a while, so there are some changes to the interface, mainly the look of the buttons, and that the ctrl+clicking is no longer needed.
   It is both tutorials in one PDF. There are also videos to go along with both of these: 
   • Reactive component video tutorial.
   • Scribble By Function video tutorial.
3. Fabrication planning tuorial This was written sitting in the Sydney Botanic Gardens with my laptop plugged into a post and then the wire hidden under a bag so that the rangers didn’t see it! It was for Anthony Burke‘s masters of advanced architecture students. It’s quite simple, but just gives a bit more practice with GC, and starts you thinking about making real things.
4. Scripting fundamentals
   This explains a few things about scripting that are not about what to write to make the computer work, but more about how to write code that makes your life easier, formatting, commenting etc.
5. Testing
   This is the modelling equivelent of the scripting fundamentals tutorial, it is essentially theoretical/philosophical, so it leaves you to apply the idea in your own way. It tells you about how to think about your project to avoid getting bitten later.
6. Strategies – These two are about how to make planar quads. They are a bit light, and becasue GCuser is no more, there are no example files. I’ll try to make some one day.
   • strategies series – ensuring planarity with torus patches
   • strategies series – ensuring planarity with sheared cones
7. End
   By this point you know everythign there is to know about GC.
   Whaaaat, not a chance! Keep playing, and go to the forum and post a lot of questions. Rob Woodbury‘s website (and book – Elements of Parametric Design) has a load of great stuff too.

So there you go. There are lots of other tutorials out there, and if you think that one would slide into this sequence well then let me know and I’ll link it in there.