Creating a pattern based system

Start by creating a new "curtain wall pattern based" family.  Next we want to bisect two opposite sides of the rig with a point, so place a new point at the midpoint of each line and assign an equidistant dimension to each point. (You may want to make the reference planes always visible)

 Creating a pattern based system

Next host an additional point on top of the new points and move them upwards by assigning an offset parameter.  Next connect all the points with a reference line (turn 3D snapping on) and host a new point on the midpoint of the connecting. Next set your work plane to the newest created point and create two lines, one horizontal, and one at a slight angle (turn 3D snapping off) and assign an angle parameter to the two lines. line of the vertical points and apply an equidistant parameter.

Now, Set your work plane to the angles line and load in your previous curtain panel model be sure to select the "Place on Work Plane" button and place the loaded component on the center of the point.

Now select your panel and edit its properties click the little square next to each of the parameters to create a new parameter in the system family (this links the parameters so you can adjust the parameters of the panel)

Curtain Panel parameters

Now is the tricky part, we want to be able to control the rotation each panel individually, while also being able to control the rotation of the entire system at once to animate the system, so we need to get a little creative with parameters.

Start by setting your the angle parameter you created earlier to an instance parameter (I named this parameter "A").  Next create 2 new angle parameters and name them "Rotate" and "Input"(Instance) The "Rotate" parameter will be used to rotate the entire system, and the "Input" parameter will rotate the panels individually.  Now create another new parameter this time choose integer and name it "Multiplier".  This parameter will make it easy to adjust the steps of the rotation.

Now under Formula for the "A" parameter put "(Input * Multiplier) + Rotate)
Now that the parameters are set its time to finish the model for a little extra detail I extruded a sweep to create a frame, however this is'nt really necessary

Step 3: Test your system

Start by creating a new conceptual mass, create a box and divide the surface of one side.  Edit the grid layout to "Fixed Distance", and specify the size of your panels (I used 6').  Now load in your system and edit the properties and adjust the size of your panel to match the size of the grid.  You should get something like this:

Now this is where it gets tedious you must individually select each panel and adjust the input to create the pattern you want.  To select a panel hover over it and press the "Tab" key. (You can hold control to select multiple panels to speed up the process).  I would advise using 1º intervals for the input values of the panels (these can be adjusted by changing the multiplier parameter)

Adjusting a single panel

Adjusting multiple panels

 

The pattern I used for this example is having each column increase its "Input" value by 1º to create a wave form.  Now as you can see the 1º interval isnt very exciting, but if you increase the multiplier it increases the interval.

Now to animate just adjust the "Rotate" parameter to rotate all the panels at once
To create an animated GIF set your pattern then export an image of the system, change the "Rotate" parameter by 10º and export the image again, do this 36 times to create a full loop (tedious I know) and create the GIF using these images.

Pattern at 1º Intervals

Pattern at 5º Intervals



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