Hello everyone, I’m working on a Geodesic Dome project and am trying to create a structure as similar as possible to the attached image, where the connectors (vertices) and beams of the structure are aligned. I’ve tried several list and geometry approaches, but to no avail. Can anyone help me?
LuSilva_GeodesicDome_REV13.2.gh (193.2 KB)
You have the centerline of the connectors in your model already. When you lofted the inside and outside shapes you created the exact centerline you need. Those lines can also be created by joining a point from the center of the sphere to each node of the of the surface.
I attached a revised version of your model. My approach was to create each truss member. Once I had those I found the boundary curves at each node point. The boundary curves were connected and those are your connectors. The points of each connector boundary are not planar, so the cap holes does not work. You will need to figure that out.
If you were to build this there are a few more details in the images that are important from a practical standpoint. Based on the dome dimensions it does not seem you are building this.
LuSilva_GeodesicDome_Help_Solid difference-BRAD.gh (78.0 KB)
Thanks, Brad, especially for the explanation. I’m just starting to use Grasshopper, and this support is very important. This model is small (radius = 65 cm), as I’ll initially build a demo for a university event. Later, I plan to build a larger, scale version, like a small house.
If you are building this I would look to simiplify those connectors. Those are quite complicated to build at any size given the number of angles. Ideally all cuts would be a simple angles and not compound cuts. I doubt that is difficult to do, but the outer surface would be an extrude and not a loft. This would still work since it would only affect two angles of each truss.
Structures like this are not stable until all the parts are connected. That makes erecting them difficult. I would not be surprised if they built forms to erect many of the domes in your example website.
So, I combined Brad Shipton’s solution with an approach I was already working on. I think it worked very well. Here’s the result. I plan to gradually improve some aspects in the future, but for now, I’m pleased with the results.
LuSilva_GeodesicDome_REV14.2_report.gh (110.7 KB)
