Diver’s Log

Welcome!

ShapeDiver is a web service for publishing parametric 3D data. It is run by ShapeDiver GmbH, a limited liability company registered in Vienna, Austria. Alexander Schiftner, Mathias Höbinger and Mathieu Huard founded it in 2015.

Our motivation is to bring parametric modelling to the web, and to make it a smooth, convenient and exciting experience for both designers and viewers. We want to offer the flexibility of mass customization to every company, big or small, in a simple web browser. Read more about our mission.

Our responsibility is to do it in a way that respects every...

Welcome!

ShapeDiver is a web service for publishing parametric 3D data. It is run by ShapeDiver GmbH, a limited liability company registered in Vienna, Austria. Alexander Schiftner, Mathias Höbinger and Mathieu Huard founded it in 2015.

Our motivation is to bring parametric modelling to the web, and to make it a smooth, convenient and exciting experience for both designers and viewers. We want to offer the flexibility of mass customization to every company, big or small, in a simple web browser. Read more about our mission.

Our responsibility is to do it in a way that respects every...

Hi! 

Welcome to ShapeDiver! Is this the first time you visit us? Check out what we do, take the time to look around, why don't you even sign up and try to upload a model yourself? 

The reason I'm asking is that we are looking for a new member in our team, and if we could only require one thing from you, this is what it would be: to believe in what we do. If you do, it means you love working at ShapeDiver. It means you bring new ideas to the table and help us realize our full potential. It also means that if we take the wrong path, if we need to change the way we think and the choices we...

A little background

There are different schools of thought when it comes to defining parametric design. By schools of thought, I mean ferocious armies fighting to death on a desolate battlefield. At this point, the only safe move in attempting a definition would be to go for the most conceptual one. Fortunately, it might also be a good vantage point for developing a healthy discussion on the topic.

Greg Lynn provides a satisfying answer in that regard: The processional model of the subject as either the animating force or as the occupant of privileged points of view assumes that architecture...

Hi Grasshopper designers,

in this blog post we provide you with an overview of the controls recognized by ShapeDiver in Grasshopper models. In case you can’t wait and want to give it a try right away, go ahead: download and experiment using one of our example models, or have a look at our demonstrator model, which makes use of all supported types of controls and outputs.

Sliders

The most common type of input parameter. ShapeDiver supports all sliders settings, like minimum and maximum value, real or natural number, number of digits, etc. The sliders’ name is used to present the...

Hi Grasshopper designers,

in this blog post we provide you with an overview of the material settings recognized by ShapeDiver in Grasshopper models. In case you can’t wait and want to give it a try right away, go ahead: download and experiment using one of our example models. 

There are two ways to assign materials to the outputs of your Grasshopper definitions. If you are an experienced user, you might already be familiar with the combined use of the Material component with the Custom Preview component. We will start by giving a little reminder for this method. We will then mention our...

Designers Corner is the place where ShapeDiver designers talk about their work. There is a story behind every model, and who better to tell the story than the designer herself? Introducing the series is Elissa Ross, a mathematician fascinated by the tight relationship between science and art.

The Designer

I'm a geometer working as a consultant in the digital design industry. MESH Consultants is a small team of mathematicians, who work on all kinds of projects that involve both challenging geometry and computation. We love to work on architecture projects, but we also do a lot...

Hi Grasshopper designers,

in this blog post we provide you with an overview of the Grasshopper outputs supported by ShapeDiver. In case you can’t wait and want to give it a try right away, go ahead: download and experiment using one of our example models, or have a look at our demonstrator model, which makes use of all supported types of controls and outputs.

Which outputs get displayed by our viewer

ShapeDiver will display everything that’s visible in your Grasshopper definition’s preview. That means you should deactivate the preview option on all components except the ones you...

Designers Corner is the place where ShapeDiver designers talk about their work. There is a story behind every model, and who better to tell the story than the designer himself? Our second episode introduces Dani Abalde, a jewelry designer working with bio-inspired algorithms.

The Designer

Daniel Abalde is an artisan jeweler in training at the Escuela Atlantico in Vigo, Spain. But Daniel really considers himself an algorithmic designer. He is one of the few creators who both develop computational tools and later use these tools to create a design and eventually a product.

When...

The logic of your models can only be defined within Grasshopper before you upload them to ShapeDiver, and through material settings within your Grasshopper definition you can also influence the way they look here on ShapeDiver.

For even more options such as the background color, initial view angle or the order of parameters in the control menu, you will be brought to the ShapeDiver Model Edit Page after you have uploaded a new model. If you want to adjust your settings later, you can access it from two places:

• by clicking “Edit” on the regular model view page for one of your own models

Grasshopper designers, 

we are happy to announce a long-awaited new feature to you – support for textures. The ShapeDiver plug-in for Grasshopper has been extended with components enabling you to specify texture images to be displayed in ShapeDiver's viewer. In the following we explain how to make use of this feature. 

Principle

Texture images are specified by means of publicly accessible URLs. You are not required to embed the images into your Grasshopper model – simply make your texture image available for download at a publicly accessible URL. ShapeDiver's material component in Grasshopper...

A 3D product configurator is a great upgrade for an eCommerce platform, but to make sure it generates more customer conversions, there are some marketing questions that need to be addressed early. Here are a few tips to make sure your configurator is used in the optimal way.

The Two First "Moments of Truth":

In traditional marketing, the First Moment of Truth refers to the first few seconds after a shopper encounters a product, on a store shelf or in a WebShop. It is the moment when a company has the best chance to convert shoppers into buyers by appealing to their senses and...

The ability to provide a scalable sales platform for custom products is called mass customization, and it essentially comes with two necessary elements: on the one hand, a...