Hello all,
I am looking to automate the process of modeling ships frames. Every frame is a flanged plate with its dimensions the same relative to the hull and deck surface (see attached screen shot). There are HUNDREDS of them! I am reading up and watching videos on Grasshopper, scripting and macro trying to decide on a methodology. At the moment I am a bit overwhelmed can anyone recommend a workflow to help get me going in the right direction with the right tools?
Best,
David
When I model this by hand I start with a line and project to the hull and deck. Then these curves get offset, extended, trimmed and joined into a closed curve that makes a surface. Then the flange is extruded and the surfaces get offset by the plate thickness. The gusset on the outboard side is made in a similar way with a circle cut out of the middle.
When I tried to duplicate this process in Grasshopper the first challenge I run into is just getting the offset curves to form a closed polylines. Just extending and trimming a curve is really complicated!
While my modeling skills are good I have never done any programming and would like to know if I am headed down the right road using Grasshopper for this task? Is scripting or a macro a better choice or some combination of all three tools the way? Any guidance on a logical work flow or relevant tutorials would be greatly appreciated!
If you post an example file of a hull then it will be easier for people to help.
It looks like you are taking a section plane through the hull as a starting point for each frame. Then each frame has a flange with a hole set a certain distance inboard and down from the deck and a set width. Etc etc.
Grasshopper could help automate this if you work out the process of creating each component of the hull from inputs of the hull surfaces and a section plane. Then pass a list of section planes into your GH file.
Alternatively you could move the input plane to each position if you want to create the frames one by one.
HullSectionsExample.gh (22.5 KB)
Above is just a simple example, I appreciate not exactly what you need. As a complete beginner you will need to get familiar with how to do Rhino things in GH but you can do pretty much everything you can do in Rhino in GH. Hopefully you can get the idea from this example and work out how you want to construct your specific frame.
Simple example.
Personally, I would move the vertices of the contour, not offsetting the contour. But don’t have time, and just want to do this fast for you, so may you can start with this. But always depending on which parameter you have. Is an offset distance of the curve given, or distance from verticies or whatever. I mean, in my example every rib is the same, but on a curved surface, you have to decide, is your hole center always in the middle or has a specific distance from the contour or whatever. Sorry for the bad description, but as said no time at the moment. 
Hope it’s something to start 
shiphull.gh (13.1 KB)
Thank you Tim and Martyn!!!
These guys posted solutions with .GH files in less time than it took me to type up my question!!!
Now it’s time to sink my teeth into these examples and get this figured out!
Thanks guys you rock!!!
