3D Bottle Parametric Textures in Rhinoceros Grasshopper 3D Tutorial

3D Bottle Modeling with Parametric Textures in Rhinoceros & Grasshopper: A Guide for Industrial Designers

In today’s fast-paced design industry, creating high-quality, production-ready 3D models is crucial. Rhinoceros 3D, coupled with Grasshopper’s parametric capabilities, offers industrial designers the tools they need to develop complex forms efficiently while maintaining flexibility for rapid iteration. This tutorial will walk you through the process of modeling a 3D bottle with parametric textures, ideal for product visualization or prototyping.

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By following this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn essential surface modeling techniques, explore parametric design in Grasshopper, and produce a high-quality 3D model ready for rendering or manufacturing. The tutorial includes downloadable resource files for quick reference or customization, ensuring that you can adapt these techniques to fit your workflow.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Modeling Curves in Rhino Using a Reference Image

We’ll begin by tracing the bottle's outline using a reference image. Start by importing the reference image into Rhino and use Degree 3 curves to trace the outline. To ensure smooth, high-quality curves, enable the Curvature Graph for real-time evaluation.

• Trace the main outline of the bottle using individual curves.
• Use Trim to clean up any intersecting curves.
• Add fillets to the corners to create smooth, rounded edges.
• Create two circles in the Perspective View—one at the top and one at the bottom of the bottle.

Step 2: Creating the Surface with Sweep Two Rails

Once the curves are finalized, we’ll create the surface using the Sweep Two Rails command:

• Select the two outline curves as the rails.
• Use the top and bottom circles as the cross-sections.
• Create a single surface sweep.
• After the sweep, Rebuild the surface to simplify the control point distribution on the NURBS surface, which will make it easier to adjust.
• Adjust the surface seam and move it away from the area where you’ll apply the texture later, ensuring a clean, single-trimmed surface for texturing.

Step 3: Converting the Model into a Solid and Preparing for Texturing

Next, we’ll convert the surface into a solid:

• Use the Cap command to close the top and bottom and form a solid.
• Create interior curves to mark sections of the bottle (e.g., the cap, the main body, and the textured portion).
• Use the Boolean Split operation to separate these parts based on the interior curves.
• Explode the geometry to isolate the textured portion, then Offset the boundary and trim it once more to refine the area for texturing.

This will give you the final surface that will be imported into Grasshopper.

Step 4: Applying Parametric Texture in Grasshopper

Now that the surface is prepared, it’s time to apply a parametric texture using Grasshopper:

• Import the trimmed surface into Grasshopper and shrink the trimmed surface to reduce unnecessary extensions.
• Use the Lunchbox Diamond Panel component to create a texture pattern.
• Scale the pattern appropriately and Pull it onto the trimmed surface.
• Trim the surface using the pulled curves to create the final texture pattern.
• Extrude the textured surface in the normal direction (both sides) to give the pattern some thickness.
• Finally, Bake the geometry and integrate it back into the remaining parts of the bottle.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you've successfully modeled a 3D bottle in Rhino, applied a parametric texture using Grasshopper, and integrated all parts to create a complex design. With this method, you can experiment with different textures and surface designs to create a variety of bottle models.

Don’t forget to download the resource files and share your results!