GluLamb v1.3

Changes / fixes

• More support for Structure objects.
• New Joint class ecology which replaces Connection objects. Includes a collection of joint subclasses and methods of finding joints in structures. Developed and used extensively in the HH DAC project.
• Some project-specific classes and methods for defining machining variables with .cix export for Biesse machines.

GluLamb v1.2

This is primarily a bug fix release.

Changes / fixes

• Reverted back to old method of generating Breps for Glulams for speed. The new method was arguably a bit more precise, but way slower and trickier.
• Consolidated the Create GlulamData and Create GlulamData (WH) components into one. The two different behaviors can be toggled with the component menu. Lamella method allows you to specify lamella sizes and counts, Section method allows you to define section width, height, and curvature, and approximates the appropriate lamella sizes accordingly.

GluLamb v1.1

New features

• Structure, Element, ElementGroup, and Connection classes. These replace the Network and Network2 classes that were used in previous tasTools and tasTools versions. These are not exposed yet as Grasshopper components, however this is on the to-do list. A Structure holds references to many Element instances, as well as ElementGroup objects, which are basically just a list of Element with a Name property, for now. Connection objects refer to the two Element objects they connect, and each Element has a list of multiple Connection objects. This permits a relational / graph model to be constructed as before: Element replaces Node and Connection replaces Edge.

Changes / fixes

• StraightGlulam.ToBrep() now works. The bug was caused by a change in the way the other glulam types generated their cross-section data and cross-section corner points.

GluLamb v1.0

First official release of GluLamb, a toolkit for modelling free-form timber structures in Robert McNeel & Associates' Rhinoceros 3D.

Current features

Features include:

• Creating straight, single-curved, and double-curved glulams with specific cross-section dimensions.
• Different options for orienting the cross-section - a single vector, multiple vectors, a rail curve, a surface, etc.
• Tools for analyzing the amount of bending in a glulam.
• Tools for analyzing the wood fibre direction with respect to the surface geometry of a beam element.
• Tools for extracting specifications from the glulam model such as sizing and count of lamellae, volume, etc.
• Tools for extracting specific features from the glulam: surfaces that follow the cross-section orientation, edges, cross-sections planes at specific points along the glulam, etc.

Requirements

GluLamb is built for Rhino 6 (RhinoCommon v6.22.20028.13281) and will not work with previous versions of Rhino.

Known issues

This is an initial release. As such, some features might not work completely as expected while some bugs are ironed out. Please use the issue tracker to submit bug reports.

Future features

As more features are ported over from existing research code, this toolkit will expand to also include:

• A Workpiece model for combining the glulam blank model with design geometry and associated driving geometry for fabrication.
• Tools for finding possible intersections and joint locations in glulam assemblies.
• Tools for generating parametric joints based on the type of intersection between glulam elements.
• More tools for precisely specifying the cross-sectional composition of the glulam, including wood species of specific lamellae.
• Tools for interfacing with centreline-based CAE for glulam structures.
• Tools for discretizing heterogeneous materials for interfacing with FEA for individual glulams or joints.