Beam that sweeps around a curve

Hello,

Currently I am working on a project where I want to create a beam that sweeps around a curve. I want the direction of the curve to be perpendicular to the direction of the curve. So one thickness and height that doesn’t change (see attached image).
Can anyone help me with this? I am new to grasshopper so it is probably quite easy.

Thanks,

Roy
main assignment test 1.gh (13.7 KB)

I get something like this… I didn’t do the ends because don’t have time today.


beam_sweep_2023Mar1a.gh (16.9 KB)

Hello Joseph,

Thank you, this works really well. I went ahead and also turned the other curves into a beam. I do however get a problem when I turned the perpendicular curves into a beam. Please see the attached image. It looks like one of the frame is rotated too far and causes the sweep to twist. I tried to figure out how to fix it but I haven’t been able to do it.


main assignment test 1.gh (29.8 KB)

Any help is appreciated!

Roy

Twisted sweeps are a common problem: :slight_smile:

Looks like you copy/pasted code without understanding how it works - I’m not sure how it works either, and I wrote it! Looks like your first Sweep 1 duplicates what the second Sweep 1 is doing on the edge beams… and maybe a substantial re-write is needed.

I’m not ready to tackle this now, sorry. Maybe later, or tomorrow.

Hahaha, yea I tried to connect all the curves with the code line that you wrote and I ended up with weird results so I duplicated the script. I will try to find the solution. I didn’t know the problem was common. Thanks for letting me know!

Here is something quick and dirty. I didn’t bother to sweep the rectangles, just lofted them. Part of the trouble now is that your surface is so convoluted and unrealistic.


beam_sweep_2023Mar3a.gh (21.1 KB)

P.S. Replaced Loft with Sweep 1 using isocurves (purple groups). No difference?


beam_sweep_2023Mar3b.gh (25.3 KB)

1 Like

All these different nodes… So much to learn :slight_smile:
But the script works like a charm!
The construction is indeed very unrealistic. We needed a very flexible script to make all kinds of (more realistic) constructions. It’s for a architectural university project. I can show you the end result when it’s finished if you are interested.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the help!

This is amusing. I took this beam sweep code and applied it to a surface from another thread, with adjustments to the beam section dimensions:


sin test_2023Mar3b.gh (14.6 KB)

Yes, it works really well! :slight_smile: