A Foundation for Success

Frameworks are the foundational module of Nodes. They are what makes everything else possible, they are literally the framework that every other module revolves around.


Frameworks are designed to allow you to build structures larger than a shoebox, and smaller than a large bookcase. It is designed to encapsulate all the other modules, and allow all of hte other modules to attach to it, thus creating a glue that can bind any module together.

Disclaimer: Nodes is not designed to build dwellings, or shelters, housing, or anything designed with architectural standards. Please do not build anything that is taller than yourself, nor anything that would go above your head. We recommend keeping your creations under 5ft in height. If you're interested in learning more about our building with nodes, check out our building guide here <Link to building gudie>

  • The Perfect Fit

    Tailor every build to your exact space, your exact needs, build your world to your exact specifications. Because your organization should revolve around you, not the other way around!

  • Reusable by design

    Every module can be disassembled and rebuilt into something new, so nothing ever goes to waste.


  • No 3rd Party Parts

    Designed to be completely 3D printed. Framework requires no 3rd party parts, and still remains strong using our patented pending layering technique.

How it Works

Frameworks is where we start to see the true power of the Omni Node and Omni Connector, this is what they were designed for, allowing different components to be seamlessly connected. No mismatching pieces, no small parts to insert, not a billion different pieces to put together, just simply line the connectors up, and press, that's it. If the piece fits, then you can do it! If it doesn't, then you can't do it, it's that simple.

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Components

Framework has different pieces that can be combined together to form structures. These pieces are known as components. There are two types of components, internal and external. Internal components are designed to be stacked on top of each other using the Omni Connector, eventually terminating with an external component.

  • Brick

    Bricks are the most fundamental piece of nodes. They are designed to be the core of the building system.

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  • Veneer

    Veneer are designed to be the wrapper that holds the core pieces into place. They are designed to combine core units such as Bricks together.

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  • Mortor

    Mortor are another core unit. They are designed to allow you to increase the size of the core by layering them on top of nodes.

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  • Corners

    Corners are another core unit, they are designed to allow you to create structurally sound intersections.

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  • Grout

    Grout is the filling that fits between the connectors, ensuring maximum structural integrity.

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  • Brackets

    Brackets allow you to securely connect intersections without the additional material associated with Corners

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  • Internal Components

    The internal components come in various sizes, and are designed to be stacked on top of each other. Their sizes are 0.5mm, 1.0mm, and 2.0mm. They are designed so that when stacked, they will count in those increments, ensuring that when you stack them, that they can always be stacked in a way that will fit back into the Nodes coordinate system.

    The internal components are Bricks, Mortor, and Grout.

  • External Components

    External components only have the Omni Connector on one side and are thus only connectable on that side. On the other side is usually a flat surface, which is usually what we expect from storage containers. This component is known as Veneer, and it is the terminal point for the Framework module.

    However, there may be additional external components in other modules, as these external components are the pieces that we will end up seeing. Themes <link to themes> will add more external components to allow you to style Nodes to your liking, and Pegboards <link to pegboards> gives another external component that turns the shell into a pegboard.
 

Bricks

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Bricks are the core of Nodes. They are the skeleton that holds everything together. They are the Omni Node fused together in a grid to form the most basic building block in Nodes

They are designed to be connectable on all 6 sides, ensuring that Nodes doesn't lose any strength when combining components together to make larger panels.

They can come in a variety of sizes ranging from 1x1x1 up to 10x10x10 and even larger! However, larger pieces will need to be custom generated, as the file sizes become enormous.|

The base unit size of Nodes is 2.0 x 2.0 x 2.0cm

 
 
 

Mortor

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Bricks can get bigger, but they can't get smaller. That's where Mortor comes in, it's designed to fill the size gap between Bricks and Containers, and to help you layer on top of Bricks and increase strength, without doing a full 2.0cm increment step.

They are designed to be connectable on the top and bottom, ensuring that they can be combined with other modules such as Bricks to create a layering system to add strengths to your builds.

The come in a variety of sizes ranging from 1x1x1 up to 10x1x10. Larger pieces are available upon request, however, they will need to be custom generated.

Mortor comes with two base unit sizes, 2.0 x 1.0 x 2.0 cm and 2.0 x 0.5 x 2.0 cm

 
 
 

Veneer

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Veneer are the skin that holds it all together. Veneer are the decorative outer shell.

They are designed to be connectable from one side, and are meant to terminate the layer stack and be the surface that your interface with.

They come in a variety of sizes ranging from 1x1x1 up to 10x1x10. Larger pieces are available upon request, however, they will need to be custom generated.

Veneer comes in many styles, however, the most basic one is just a flat surface. Themes/skins <link to themes> will add more types of Veneers, Pegboards <link to pegboards> are another variation of Veneers, and other modules such as Corners, may have specialized Veneer that are purpose built for them.

The base unit size of Veneer is 2.0 x 3.125 x 2.0. And the actual thickness of the Veneer panel not including the connector is 2.5mm.

 
 
 

Grout

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Grout are an optional internal component. They do not directly use the Omni Connector, however, they indirectly use the Omni Connector. They are designed to fit around the Omni Connector. They are designed to add another layer of strength to your creations while not increasing the overall mass.

They come in a variety of sizes ranging from 1x1x1 up to 10x1x10

The base unit size of Grout is 2.0 x 3.1 x 2.0. It is designed to be the same height as the connector, to fit perfectly in between the connection grooves.

 
 
 

Corners

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Corners are an internal component that is designed to help add structural integrity when connecting panels at 90 degree angles. They are specifically designed to help resist shearing loads, so that you creations can be more stable with only two sides, rather than the normal 3 sides.

Corners come in a variety of styles and sizes. The styles are for different types of intersections, and are named by letters,

  • L: Designed to connect two 90 degree surfaces at a corner.
  • T: Designed to connect a surface to another surface in the middle.
  • X: A 4 way intersection
  • C: A 3 way intersection

Along with various styles of Corners, there are also corresponding Veneer, that are meant to attach to the sides of the Corners to help provide a more secure connection.


Corners come in sizes ranging from 4x4x4 up to 10x10x10. Corners can also come in various thicknesses, however, this is currently unreleased, as we do not currently see a strong use case for them.

 
 
 

Brackets

Intersections are an internal component that is designed to help add structural integrity when connecting panels at 90 degree angles.

They are the next generation of Corners. Intersections drastically reduce the amount of material, and pieces required to connect surfaces. Intersections only have one piece, a universal joint that can mate at 90 degree angles, and can secure both the interior, and exterior angle.

Intersections use a combination of Omni Connectors, Grout, and a specially designed flexure to accomplish this never before seen piece of engineering.

Intersections have 3 pieces that enable them to do this.

1.) A universal joint that can connect two surfaces at 90 degrees

2.) A universal joint that can connect three surfaces 90 degrees when.

3.) A special shortened Veneer, that is designed to cover the core portion of Intersections. This piece is mainly cosmetic, so that you can hide the Omni Connector and only have flat surfaces visible.

IMAGE: INTERSECTIONS DIAGRAM

 
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How to use Frameworks

Internal components are designed to be stacked on top of each other. With each layer, as they are stacked on top of each other, they should overlap the gap left between on the previous layer, this is what gives Frameworks it's strength, this layering technique. We recommend trying to having atleast 2-3 connectors of overlap when you layer, but it really depends on the circumstance, we recommend using your best judgement to determine what is strong enough for your needs, as Frameworks is really designed to allow you to make the structures as strong as you need them without adding to much bulk.

Finally, after you have built the core, it's time to add the external components, the Veneer. Adding Veneer on top is what gives us the smooth surfaces that we expect from organizational structures. These components combined together make a panel.

The most fundamental panel that you can make has one Brick on the inside, and Veneer on the outside. However, you could make a panel the exact same size using a combination of Veneer and Mortor.

Check out our building guide

Join the Adventure

Got an idea? Want to share your imagination? Looking for some new features?

Don't suffer silently, let us know! Great ideas come from everywhere, and we're always on the lookout to figure out how we can make Nodes better.

Join us over on Patreon where you get exclusive discounts and you can share your ideas and vote on what comes next for Nodes.

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