Aligning the edges of mesh strips to make flaps

Hi…! I know this is sort of a frequent topic here but I couldn’t really find anything this sort of a complex geometry. It would be awesome if I could get some new hints.

I am trying to emulate Vaulted Willow by TheVeryMany in concept. But the edge sorting in the mesh strips is all over the place. I have tried ‘MeshDirection’ from Kangaroo. It has provided some order to the absolute nightmare that was my mesh earlier. But it still hasn’t fully aligned everything so far.

Basically I want to create flaps for connections like Marc Fornes has created in the picture below.

Also, another approach I was thinking about. Every strip has flaps that go over the mesh faces of strip ‘below’ it. How can I possibly make a strip recognize which strip it has to overlap since all the edges are arranged pretty much randomly(probably according to how I drew them in the base mesh)?

Any help would be highly appreciated.

TVM_Exp.gh (221.8 KB)

@DanielPiker @Joseph_Oster

It’s not clear to me at all what you mean by by flaps for connections. I think a more detailed description of intent is a must.

What you want is another level of what you seem to imagine. All these type of structures are done using some special code. I have done some of them but I don’t (no more) disseminate this. But if you want to stick to paper or some light material you can use Ivy that have some very nice features.

For more complex work I think it is better you begin to make some Library using C#, Python or VB in order to control all that is needed to control the size of the flaps, the fabrication (size limit), the rivet holes, the bending radius.
See the exemple of what I did and the definition (with some Library behind)

Good luck

Hi, Laurent!

Thank you for your input. I understand that this is quite a complex affair so I’m trying to understand it step by step. I am currently stuck with trying to sort the edges of each of my strips(or faces) in a way that, with a single script, I can make all strips relate to the next strip below them. This is just to define the direction in which my flaps should go. Currently, the edges and even the faces of the strips are arranged quite randomly. If I can figure this out, then I can move on to deciding the shape, size, etc of the flaps.

Meanwhile, I’ll study the examples that you provided.

Hello!

I am just trying to get the edges of my mesh strips to align so that I can have the direction of the overlap(flap) for all the strips in a single step. Currently, the edges of my strips are randomly arranged and I can’t seem to sort that problem out. I hope this and my reply to Laurent makes it a little clearer.