Grasshopper can be a very intimidating software to learn. The tool requires you to look at architecture as geometry and physics rather than as strictly form. This can be challenging because it requires a different mindset; however, if you can get past this hurdle, the tool can be extremely powerful. With Grasshopper, we can iterate infinite possibilities of our designs and strategies in a non-destructive way.

When I was first getting started with grasshopper I recognized all of this possibility but had no idea where to start and was turned off by the complexity every time I opened up the program and tried to learn. Eventually, I gave myself a project to do and committed to somehow bringing grasshopper into the process. Over time, I became more comfortable with the program but I definitely learned some lessons along the way.

There are a ton of resources online, use them.

The only way you’re going to learn is by doing so I recommend either finding a project to do like a design competition or craft object; or, by finding some tutorials online to run through for practice. In addition to the official tutorials, Youtube is a great resource for videos but there are also lots of great learning websites with more robust plans. Below are a few that I have tried and liked.

• Think Parametric
• Lynda.com
• Designalyze
• ModeLab

When starting do not try to create everything in grasshopper

Use rhino with grasshopper to simplify the process when just beginning to learn. Some actions are more difficult and less efficient to do in grasshopper.

• example : creating a unique curve shape to use in a pattern. Sometimes with complex curves, it is easier to create them in rhino and then manipulate them in grasshopper. This can also be said for curves that will create a lofted surface. The benefit of this is that you can freely edit the shape of the curves in Rhino without having to come up with a mathematical solution for reshaping the curves.

Say what you’re trying to do out loud if you get lost

With Grasshopper, you need to really understand what you’re components are doing because you are working on a more granular scale than with other modeling software. For this reason, it is easy to get lost along the way and by saying out loud exactly what you are trying to accomplish step by step it will be easier to locate the correct component. If you’re not much for talking to yourself then making a list or mind map will suffice.

• example: you want to array a curve (shaped line) along a surface at various points. When modeling you can simply draw the curves (lines) on the surface wherever you’d like and be done with it. This is easy but limiting. Say you don’t know how many instances of the curve you want on the surface, or you’re not sure what the curve shape is yet. This is where grasshopper comes in; however, to do so you have to understand all the steps to
  1. draw the curve
  2. create a grid on the surface
  3. move the curve to the surface grid points using a translation vector
  4. orient the curve to lie flat on the surface using planes or other methods

Catalog your scripts into an organized library so they can be reused when needed

Often we are using the same definitions to do many different projects. When first learning grasshopper you will most likely be doing small tutorials that teach you how to accomplish a specific goal. When doing so it is good practice to save the definition into a folder with an associated image so that you can come back to it later and recognize what the definition is doing for when you want to reuse it in another project. In doing this you will soon have a library of basic definitions that you can reuse over and over again to make future projects much quicker.

Surround yourself with inspiration and motivation to make you think about practicing as often as possible

A few ways to do this are:

• Find online resources that you like and bookmark the page so you see it in your bookmarks bar regularly
• add the site as an additional homepage to open everytime you open up the internet. Next time you aimlessly open the browser the blog will be present and you’ll be more inclined to check up on what the latest is if you’re looking for somewhere to start.
• subscribe to the channel on youtube
• my favorite, change the background on your desktop to something related to the goal so everytime you sit down at the computer you think about working on something or getting to a certain point.