sphereneRHINO Documentation

• Rhino V7 or later
• Internet connection
• Windows 10+ / MacOS X 14+, 32GB RAM

Installing sphereneRHINO:

1. Open Rhino3D and enter packagemanager in the command line.
2. Search for sphereneRHINO, select the plugin, and click the "Install" button.
3. Restart Rhino

Updating spherene:

1. For updates, revisit the packagemanager, select the Installed Tab, select sphereneRHINO and check for new versions, install if available.
2. Restart Rhino.

Project Structure
Projects are contained in layers. A Rhino scene can contain multiple projects.
You can switch between projects using or by entering sphe_project_select in the command line.

Projects are structured as follows:

• PROJECT NAME
  • MESHES
    • ENV
    • DFENV
    • BOUNDARIES
  • FIELDS
    • DENSITY
    • THICKNESS
    • CAVITY
    • SURFACE BIAS
  • SPHERENES (Results)
    • PARTNAME
      • SINGLE SURFACE (si)
      • SOLID SURFACE (SO)
      • COMMENTS
      • MESSAGES

• If no Thickness Field Points are present, DRT defines the wall thickness.
• If no Thickness Field Points are present and the Density Field Points has only one point (Default), the volume fraction of the solid corresponds to the density value stated in the density field point.
• The higher the DRT, the less complex (Less genus) is the result.
• The lower the DRT, the more complex the surface becomes and the computation time rises.

Re-create input project by selecting a result mesh in your scene.

Use this to re-create the project of a specific result, including all settings.

Download results not yet in your scene.

Use this to retrieve computed results in case you have closed Rhino during computation or when Rhino has crashed before you receiver a computed result.

Paper thin, minimal surface / 2D ADMS:

A solid derived from a surface. Appears (almost) identical to the surface, but has added wall width:

ADMS is a unique geometry approach employed by spherene, representing a novel class of minimal surfaces. It enables the generation of structures with localized adjustments to density and thickness while retaining the properties of a minimal surface (zero mean curvature). This geometry adapts to the surrounding geometry and provides two independent chambers (labyrinths) without enclosed spaces, making it suitable for all 3D printing methods. The key advantages of ADMS include easy powder/resin evacuation, support-free 3D printing, high stiffness with little material use, reduced energy consumption, and a lower carbon footprint.

spherene is the metamaterial structure computed using the ADMS technology.

There is an infinite amount of spherenes, each spherene that you create is unique.

• The primary input geometry from which spherene is generated.
• Describes the outermost surface of the geometry.
• Only one env can exist per project.
• Is a triangulated solid used for trimming the raw ADMS.

• A simplified shape completely encompassing env.
• Utilized to grow ADMS further outside of the env to vary the target connection angle from being perpendicular to arbitrary, resulting in different looks.

• One or multiple meshes used as a triangulated surface or a triangulated solid.
• Ideally follows env surface or is part of a trimmed env.
• Can be positioned freely and grows and thickens ADMS towards that surface, applying a wall thickness and a blend distance. Labyrinths can be selectively be closed.

• A function calculated at a particular point in space, with different types such as density field, thickness field, cavity and surface bias field.
• If only one field point for density, thickness, cavity or surface bias is set, is will be evaluated as a constant field.
• More field points will be interpolated between the point locations.

• Defines the wall thickness if no Thickness Field is present.
• If no Thickness Field is present and the Density Field has only one point, the volume fraction of the solid corresponds to the density value stated in the Density Field point.

• The process of generating spherene based on the defined parameters and geometry, resulting in two kinds of surfaces: Single Surface (si) and Solid Surface (SO).

• Effective density/volume fraction is based on an estimate, with a precision of about +/- 10% when using a constant density field.

• The cloud computation is limited to a maximum of 45 minutes of runtime, limited by the cloud provider. If the maximum time is expected to exceed, we'll halt the computation and inform you with an error message.

• The cloud computation has a memory limitation, limited by the cloud provider. If the memory needed for your computation is expected to exceed the maximum memory we can allocate, we'll inform you with an error message.

• Ensure the density you set is within the range of 2 to 32. Densities below or above this range may result in empty results or system crashes due to memory limitations.

• Make sure your envelope mesh is clean, closed and well-structured without intersections or flipped normals.

• If your internet connection is lost before delivery of the computation result, or if you have shut down your computer or quit Rhino3D, you can retrieve the computed results later using the command sphe_restore_output. Note that all currently undelivered results are loaded into the Rhino window from which you invoke the sphe_restore_output command, even if they were created from different instances of Rhino.

• Noticed anything else? Please get in touch on our Discord bug reporting channel and open a thread.