Geodesic Dome from Script

s_k_e_t_c_h_y

Hi,
First time SketchUcation poster so I thought I'd show what I'm working on. I've started teaching myself Ruby and have recently been interested in Geodesic domes and buildings made from them so I've written a script to generate them.

Here is where it is at currently. You can specify the dome frequency (4 pictured) and I do a geometric decomposition from an icosahedron to a radius specified. I'm tinkering with different hub types so I've included an image of the type it generates. The struts are dimensioned lumber (2x4 in this case).

4 Frequency Dome, 40' across

zoomed in view of hub

I've had 3 days vacation from work so this is how far I've got. I'm pretty pleased given its my first Ruby script.

Paul.

Bryan K

Impressive!

jpalm32

Interesting! Very!

pbacot

Excellent!

Elibjr

Wow this is nice! Can't wait to try this out!

s_k_e_t_c_h_y

Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on framing out the triangles at the moment, but the compound corners are proving 'fun' algorithmically. I'm getting close, perhaps by the end of the week I'll post another pic. I'll also want to clean up the code before sharing as I'm sure I'm violating any number of good module practices while I get the implementation initially working =).

s_k_e_t_c_h_y

Made some framing the dome today. I've been trying to work out how to automatically frame the dome and I finally got it. The harder part was finding the intersection points of each frame strut with the other side of the triangle. As each strut is tilted in 2 dimensions I had a few false starts to get them right.

Secondly is the orientation of each of the frame struts within a triangle. There can be 3 orientations obviously, but I had to write a small algorithm to find the 'most vertical' so that it was more like a traditional square-home's struts and if you lived there you had a chance of finding them once drywall was up. It is also more aesthetically pleasing (to me at least).

Now to go back and fix the hub side plates which took some damage in the rewrite (you can see they're missing in the image).

Dome with frame.png

Paul.

Gubermensch

Very impressive! Can't wait to try out this plugin.

mitcorb

Hi, s_k_e_t_c_h_y:
It would be nice to see this in Sketchup. Also, check out this link:

http://www.cadreanalytic.com/cadregeo.htm

Edit: changed the google search string to the website link.

s_k_e_t_c_h_y

Thanks for the link mitcorb, i hadn't seen that software before. I'm hoping to have the first version of the Plug-in released this weekend if I can get it connected to the HTML interface properly.

The Cadre system looks nice, but it isn't free ;P.

s_k_e_t_c_h_y

I'm getting close to having it so I can share it. I'm working on the UI currently. It has an accordion expanding menu. Here is a sneak peak.

Menu for Geodesic Dome Creator

I'm still targeting making the first version available today, but I may not have all of the option exposed yet.

Paul.

pilou