"at first glance it looks like trying to pull my tooth out with no numbing agent."

I totally hear you

I had the same issue....So i was lucky enough to aatend david ruttens workshop in seatlle.,..

He made a big difference

I think scripting will change your thought completely about modeling. It opens doors to modeling in a way that you might have thought to be impossible. With Rhinoscripting it seems like everything ;s possible

as for what schools
I can not ansewr, since I have no definite answer

I totally give scriptinng an A++

i give scripting a C++....that was too easy. ;)

actually i think i'd love it quite a bit if i could do it, im still waiting for the CA rhino workshop.

difficult fix-- do you know of any other training session like that on the west coast any time soon? im interested in taking the plunge soon and this would be a boost for sure

As of right now I have not heard anything. But if you call or email jody mills at Mcneel Seattle she could give you a heads up on whats happening

jody@mcneel.com

So just hit her up

i emailed jody in august and she said that in addition to david (who is in finland) they have access to a stateside instructor (i presume marc fournes) - she said they are working on workshops in LA, NYC and chicago, but no word since...

My school wants to start incorporating scripting and parametric design into the cirriculum but lack the faculty to teach it. In one of the advance course elective, it is part of the class workflow. Essentially we are doing our own research in how to script and what it can do. I'm a part of that studio and it has been a bit intense. My experience with scripting is that it is numbing. Staring at lines of codes and thinking in algorithms starts to make you go blind. But once your script is fully functional, you are on a high.

Here's my advice for those brave enough to tackle it on your own, here's how I got started. I downloaded the handout on Rhinoscripting and read it, it proved useless because it has so much information that you'll forget it as you read it. I had some experience in VB so I understood the logic of programming. I then downloaded sample scripts and broke them down. Understanding how other people scripted taught me what I can do and how to do it. Also, Rhino has a help index of all the rhino commands for script. So bouncing between the handout, sample scripts, and the index I was able to compile a bunch of scripts over the last few months. You don't necessarily need to have the school teach you, you can learn it by yourself.

You should ask yourself why am I scripting? The amount of time you'll invest in writing these scripts is a lot. So, if the script actually improves your workflow and generation of ideas then go for it. But if it takes a month to write a script and it takes you a month to work it out manually, then there's no reason in writing the script. Just my two cents.

"I downloaded the handout on Rhinoscripting and read it, it proved useless because it has so much information that you'll forget it as you read it."

I have to dissagree...

If you forget it its because you are not fully understanding, which was the same issue I was having prior to the workshop. Another thing if you are trying to write scripts with just the rhino vb script editor....then its like trying to write scrips off memory. Use the Monkey script editor. Which brings all the help script index directly into your editor. Which gives you the opportunity to have all the scripting knowledge in front of you

The Minkey Script editor will make your scripting experience much, much easier

I mean "Monkey Script editor"

if you're like me and you have trouble retaining things you read and you learn better from actually seeing and doing you may want to just try some already written scripts, apply them, study what they do and then start changing variables to see how that will change the outcome. some good scripts can be found here that you can play and experiment with:
http://www.opensys-log.com/

March....

On a seperate subject

What do you think about revit 2010..I did not get to see the image from harold......

What r your thoughts on that..

I am really curious about it

well to be honest it's hard to tell from a screen shot what it is i was looking at or how easy and intuitive the surface harold showed was to generate. but it was a lofted surface with holes cut out of it - something similar to what you could generate in rhino using the paneling tools. so that fact on its own was pretty cool. but you know, until im doing it myself it's hard to evaluate. rhino is just so damn easy to use and the commands are very intuitive. i like the direction revit is going - at least they are trying and recognize what is important in the next release. but autodesk also has a tendency to make things more difficult and convoluted than they need to be. but the screen shot certainly showed that the potential is there...

There is an image of Revit 2010 here on this revit up blog. It does not show much but a curved surface type structure.

I am always curious about softwares... I have used revit for some time..But have never been a fan - because its a drafter tools not a designers tool.

yale has a mandatory class for all m.arch's that covers generative components and rhinoscripting... but only fairly briefly. they have the resources to do whatever you want with it but you really have to be ambitious on your own...

i know columbia penn and pratt, mit, while big enough to offer different veins on the thought of form generation, have a pretty significant faculty presence and instructional presence when it comes to algorithmic design. (scripting)

just finished a studio that was heavily centered on .rvb srcipting... i view it as a valuable tool to possess... it is not exactly my cup of tea, but i figure if im attending one of the aforementioned schools, i should probably add scripting to my arsenal. also even if you arent necessarily convinced by the argument of scripting, there are certainly aspects of the design process, and just the general knowledge of being able to write code when programs dont do what you want them to do for you, that is fairly empowering.

University of Melbourne but I think they went into Generative Components for the most part

i taught myself how to script and i am nooo genius
u can find loads of resources online
kassels has a nice rhino script workshop site that gives u all the basics to be on your way
plus there s grasshopper now so u don't really need to spend money and do a workshop...just if u really want.

cheers

If the classes are intended to broaden the general knowlegde of being able to write code, then these classes have a good value. However, those schools where scripting is mandetory, in my opinion, are doing this to stay ahead of the competition with other shools. This increases a school "WOW" factor when they show off the students porfolios.

At presents, there isn't any demand for such script magicians in any firm unless there is a way the script up 100 variations of the traditionla brick colonials in 5 minutes. In Europe where these structures are more likely to be built, ironically, they don't teach these classes at the colleges.

There is a week long rhinoscripting/pythonscripting/maya workshop offered in Calgary through some of the university's digital faculty's Laboratory for Integrative Design. 5-axis mill. 3d printers. Rendernodes. Scheduled to happen over spring break (so people can hit the slopes plus get some work done) and another during the summer.

well, there are studios here at Penn that focus on it. particularly Sabin. but the trend is really dying and parametric work such as that done in grasshopper design project is considered more valid as a design approach to skins. in any case, Penn doesn't teach any of this in the architecture program. it is only taught in the landscape department. if you teach it to yourself, there are studios where you'll be able to use that work though.

learn to waterproof!!!!!

workshops are the way to go, may I recommend the Live Architecture Network with the disclosure of my participation of said group.

pixelwhore - LAN looks very interesting. Thanks for the link...

just the general knowledge of being able to write code when programs dont do what you want them to do for you, that is fairly empowering.

this alone is perhaps the best reason to learn how to script.

SCI-arc, Pratt, and UCLA I believe have classes that focus on it, though I'm not positive.

Does anyone know if UT at Austin offers any courses like this? It'd be great if they did, the possibilities seems endless with scripting.

If you are looking for M.Arch programs that incorporate scripting, UMass Amherst is one. He is somewhat of an anomaly in the program, but Prof. Skender Lurasi is very interested in RhinoScripting and focuses on it a great deal in his A+R classes, as well as generally being available to work with students independently.