Сверчок· 037 · SVERCHOK
— parametric design for Blender · forma ex numero —
Project Lavos · The Stack
PLATE XXXVII · CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE

Forma ex numero.

— FORM FROM NUMBER —

the parameter.

nikitron  ·  Linus Yng  ·  et al.  ·  Russian community · 2014

BLENDER ADDON · PARAMETRIC · CAD-LIKE · GRASSHOPPER-CONGENER · GPL

Animation Nodes asked: what does time become? Sverchok asks: what does a number become? A slider becomes a polygon. A polygon becomes a rotation array. A rotation array becomes a loft. A loft becomes a tower. The graph is parametric architecture in Blender — Grasshopper's open-source cousin, written by a Russian community whose name means cricket: the hidden chirper that builds geometry in the dark.

— Plate XXXVII · Helical Tower · One Parametric Sweep — after Vkhutemas drafting · n=12, h=24, twist=120°
— I · plan — N = 12 SIDES θ = 0° θ = 120° — II · elevation — h = 24 floors H = 24 · TAPER 12% · TWIST 120° — III · axon. — x z y FIG. I · sverchok output — a slider became a tower — EVAL TIME 12 ms VERTS 288 FACES 312 PARAM · TWIST = 120° · RECOMPILE 0.04s
— Sides — N = 12 · polygon
— Floors — H = 24 · vertical array
— Twist — 120° · linear
— Total Verts — 288 · parametric
— Parameter Bus — six numbers, one tower
N · sides
12 ·
324
H · floors
24
450
θ · twist
120°
0°360°
τ · taper
12%
0%50%
r · radius
4.0m
1m10m
z · height
36m
4m60m
— Construction Sequence · the graph at six stages — after Grasshopper / Sverchok pipeline
step i.
slider.
N = 12
A single integer enters the graph. The cricket begins.
N ∈ [3, 24]
step ii.
polygon.
N becomes a regular polygon. The cross-section.
P = polygon(N, r)
step iii.
array.
The polygon copies upward. Floor by floor.
array(P, z, H)
step iv.
twist.
Each floor rotates by θ × i. The helix begins.
θ_i = θ · (i / H)
step v.
loft.
A surface bridges between floors. The mass appears.
loft(P_0..P_H)
step vi.
tower.
The graph terminates as geometry. Output to Blender.
→ blender mesh

The cricket builds in the dark. Pull a slider — the entire graph re-runs. A new tower in twelve milliseconds. The number is the form. The form was always going to be that number.

Animation Nodes covered time; Sverchok covered structure. Different problem. Different graph. Same Blender.

Authorship & Provenance colophon — Сверчок · the cricket's graph
Authorship
Russian community
Nikitron · Linus Yng · et al.
since 2014 · GPL · open contribution
github.com/nortikin/sverchok
Architecture
Python · parametric DAG
real-time evaluation · per-edit
~600 nodes · CAD operations
booleans · lofts · NURBS · voxels
Congeners
→ Grasshopper for Rhino
→ Animation Nodes · Blender
→ Houdini SOPs
same idea, different host

— Lineage · the cricket's chronicle —

2007Grasshopper launches for Rhino. Architects, parametric designers worldwide adopt visual programming for built form.
2014Sverchok begins as a Russian-led Blender community addon. The name сверчок — cricket — is chosen.
2015Sverchok 0.5. Solid modeling, lofts, sweeps. Generative architecture in Blender becomes possible.
2017Sverchok 0.6 with NURBS support. Used by Russian, Polish, German parametric architecture schools.
2019Sverchok 1.0. Voxel and field operations. SVerchok-Extra plugin ecosystem grows.
2021Geometry Nodes arrives in Blender 2.92. Sverchok continues for advanced parametric / CAD workflows.
2024Sverchok ~600 nodes. Still maintained by the Russian community. The cricket still chirps.
∞Numbers in. Forms out. Forma ex numero.

number. form. lattice.

Pull a slider. The whole world recompiles.

— § I · Authoring · Procedural / Parametric —
Plate XXXVII · MMXXVI
projectlavos-bauhaus · 037