Biggest challenge: Support issues in general

Biggest learning: The Prusa is not great for interlocking/ free-moving designs

Biggest wish: To have looked at the slicing more carefully, and realize that one layer misprinted badly.

We tried multiple prints and ran into a couple issues:

The Rhino file for the print on the right was WAY to big, so we simplified many of the meshes on the links
1. The print still came out fuzzy because it was too small of a shape for the ultimaker to print accurately
2. Many bit of the print crumbled off
The print on the very left is a bigger and less dense version of the print on the right; we tried to make it bigger so it didn't fall apart
1. It broke off at the exact same point in many links: we suspect that for layer 45 of the print, it printed in PVA instead of PLA, which caused it to break off when dissolving the PVA
The middle print worked fine, but an overall issue we had for all of these is that the print times exceeded 3 hours.

The print on the very right was the first iteration of the white one on the left, which was obviously a failed attempt.

Pictures of design and Printing Process:

Grasshopper Basics

In this tutorial, I practiced using polar arrays and lines. It wasn't really too complex at all: I understood it pretty much immediately. I also experimented with Extrude.

Grasshopper Cylinders

In this tutorial, I practiced using polar-arrayed pipes and extrusions. I am now really familiar with the pipe command, but still need to do some work on the Extrude command, as I don't understand it fully. For the two forms, I messed around with the sliders I defined on the top right of the GrassHopper canvas.

Grasshopper Torus

In this tutorial, I experimented with Loft and circular objects in general. I was wondering if loft could be used to combine different circles to make a wavy torus.

Grasshopper | Curves & Surfaces

In this tutorial we practiced constructing lines and surfaces using components like Evaluate Surface. I felt pretty good, but can definitely be more comfortable manipulating surfaces.

Rhino | Voronoi on 2D

In this tutorial, we learned how to use voronoi, and make it have substance through extrusion. While the extruded form is technically 3-d, it isn't voronoied from all directions, like for example in a sphere, wich is what I'd like to learn more about.

Graph Mapper Tutorial

This was a simple tutorial showing how to make an array of planes, then use them to map a graph (in this case a sine summation) which was lofted as radii of circles.

Paneling with Surface Morph

In this tutorial, we used deconstruct domain, divide domain, and Brep to wrap breps around cylinders, then used sliders to manually configure their formations.

2D Illusion

In this tutorial, we experiemented with maelstrom using different geometries. It was actually really cool and intuitive, with the Maelstrom command having a lot of modular variability. We also used some bezier commands that were less intuitive, but seemed very applicable otherwise.

Sphere Voronoi

In this tutorial, we practices applying the voronoi tool to 3d objects, using components like populate geometry-- in short, the 3d equivalents of what we did with 2d geometry. I was unable to make Weaverbird work on my laptop, and the loft component was a little buggy, so I tried using the combine component to try and troubleshoot the issue.

Voronoi Cell

In this tutorial (as least until the part I got to), we learned to use the voronoi Cell tool to create a singular voronoi cell that would usually be found in a 3d Voronoi. Once again, I wasn't able to make WeaverBird work on my computer, so I wasn't really able to continue the tutorial past step 12.

Mood Board:

Sketches:

Photos of Prototype and Work:

Note: There were MANY failed prints that I was not able to document, but most of them involved a base that wasn't flat, so the piece wouldn't adhere to the bed properly.

Final Render (Burnished Silver):