Architects use CAD to help them visualize their ideas. Parametric design is a fast-growing development of CAD that lets architects and designers specify the key parameters of their model and make changes interactively. Whenever changes are made the rest of the model updates automatically. Through a detailed description of various parametric, generative and algorithmic techniques, this book provides a practical guide to generating geometric and topological solutions for various situations, including explicit step-by-step tutorials. While the techniques and algorithms can be generalized to suit to any parametric environment, the book illustrates its concepts using the scripting languages of one of the most powerful 3D visualization and animation design software systems (Autodesk 3ds Max MAXScript), one of the most popular open-source Java-based scripting environments (Processing), and a brand new language specifically tailored for parametric and generative design (Autodesk DesignScript). This clear, accessible book will have a wide appeal to students and practitioners who would like to experiment with parametric techniques.

Pushed by practices wanting to produce novelty, computer-aided design systems are increasingly parametric - they represent designs that change with their input data. Such systems give more control and capability to designers, but require much more comprehensive understanding to be used effectively. This book teaches what new knowledge and skills designers need in order to master the parametric and how they can learn and use them.

Parametric Design for Landscape Architects provides a sequence of tutorial-based workflows for the creation and utilization of algorithmic tools calibrated toward the field of landscape architecture. Contemporary practice and projective theory in landscape architecture require the processing and design of data associated with complex systems to adequately represent composite, emergent scenarios. Aligning to both traditional and nascent processes of analysis and digital modeling, this book unpacks and decodes the characterization of algorithmic-based automation, leveraging software that is widely accessible in both academia and professional practice. Curated throughout are workflows that apply to a multiplex of computation programs that widely support the design, analysis, and production of landscapes, primarily concentrated on digital modeling tools Grasshopper and Rhinoceros. It is a much-needed, visually accessible resource to aid in more efficient understanding and creation of tools that automate and re-examine traditional calculations, analyses, drawing standards, form-finding strategies, fabrication preparations, and speculative assessments/simulation. This primer provides professionals and students with multifaceted skill-sets that, when applied in practice, expand and expedite conventional and speculative design workflows applicable to spatial design, and more specifically landscape architecture. The book includes over 200 full-colour drawings, images, and tables to illustrate and support examples throughout.

Due to its comprehensive tool-set and great potential for 3D modeling, more and more architectural design and interior design firms are adapting Autodesk Maya and integrating it into their practice. There has been no book aimed at architects and designers who wish to harness the opportunities presented by this software, until now..... The book promotes parametric design. It integrates the theoretical research of computational design and Maya non-linear modeling techniques associated with simulation, animation, digital fabrication and form-finding within 2D & 3D design. Readers will learn: How to use Maya polygon and NURBS modeling tools to create non-linear procedural model. How to use Maya driver keys and relationship tools to generate parametrically negotiable solutions across various design professions. The design logic and generative processes, as well as the potential of parametric thinking as a resourceful tool for achieving diversity and complexity in form generation and fabrication. How to use Maya to prepare files for rapid prototyping and the integration of Maya into various fabrication techniques such as laser cutting, CNC milling, and 3D printing. How to create a digital simulation to simulate all aspects of surface properties and dynamic forces with Maya physics engine. How to use Maya skeleton system and animation tools to control complex architectural forms. How to create photo-realistic renderings with Maya lighting, material and texture mapping. Using several real projects as examples, the book will go through the entire rendering process step by step. How to combine Maya with various CAD/BIM tools to create an efficient design pipeline. How to use Maya MEL script to create customized tools and interface. The book includes case studies from Zaha Hadid Architects, Greg Lynn Form, Gage Clemenceau Architects, Tang & Yang Architects, as well as step by step exercises, demonstration projects and crucially a fantastic online resource which includes video tutorials, scripts, and Maya source files.

Digital And Parametric Architecture explores the development of the latest digital tools including advance modeling software and computer aided design in the production of architecture. It is a journey through the most fascinating projects, digitally designed and fabricated, during the second decade of the 21st century. The book highlights the use of these technologies to explore tectonic operations such as sectioning, folding, contouring, and tessellating. A wide variety of projects that range in scale and location offer an insight into the architecture of the future.

Codify: Parametric and Computational Design in Landscape Architecture provides a series of essays that explore what it means to use, modify and create computational tools in a contemporary design environment. Landscape architecture has a long history of innovation in the areas of computation and media, particularly in how the discipline represents, analyses, and constructs complex systems. This curated volume spans academic and professional projects to form a snapshot of digital practices that aim to show how computation is a tool that goes beyond methods of representation and media. The book is organized in four sections; syntax, perception, employ, and prospective. The essays are written by leading academics and professionals and the sections examine the role of computational tools in landscape architecture through case studies, historical accounts, theoretical arguments, and nascent propositions.

Automation, a mixture of algorithms, robots, software, and avatars, is transforming all types of jobs and industries. This book responds to one critical question for the design and construction industry: “how are architects, engineers, and contractors using information technology to further automate their practices?” Addressing the use of new digital technologies, particularly parametric automation for design and construction in the building industry, this book looks at how technologically advanced architectural and engineering practices are semi-automating their design processes by using sophisticated algorithms to transform their workflows. The book also documents a set of firms that are further advancing automation by using pre-fabrication, modularization, and custom designs via robotics.