Weaving in Grasshopper

Sept 12

Annie Albers on Weaving

Algorithmic Weaving essay

1. Our first step was to create the points to make the first petal. We made them based on the circumference of a circle and added points to them.

After we learned how to make a weave pattern by hand on paper we then used Grasshopper to create the digital weave. While I understand paper weave drafts, I had a hard time understanding this process.

Digital weaving in Grasshopper

• binary
• boolean logic
• data management

In class, we did two demos of various parametric design strategies for branching out from a line, radial patterning/organization, and surface division/design. Each demo is an example of coded algorithms transferred to three-dimensional objects through different methods which can then be used for multiple machining options.

First, we set up the grid with a rectangle grid function. Then through lists and tree statistics, we made the warp. For a plain weave, this is 0, 1 as the warp, and for the weft is -1, 1. We put them in the series of algorithms seen above to make each point alternate between the -1 and 1’s as in a real weaving. Then, they were attached to an interpolate curve to make a the pipe look like yarn!

In trying to make a twill, I realized I still don’t know how to manipulate the warp, but the weft is easily changed by adjusting the -1,-1 panel sequence.

The next day I went to Open Works to recreate this by myself, and I was happy to be successful. I can follow but not yet create things myself from scratch in Grasshopper.