Tuesday 22 February 2011

GH to GSA Finite Elements from Area and Regions


A feature that I added earlier this year was the ability to generate Structural Areas and Regions for Oasys GSA from Grasshopper.  You then mesh the structural areas within GSA.

Here's the associated models to try yourself.

Rhino model  Grasshopper Definition

Sunday 20 February 2011

SCIA and Grasshopper

Thanks to the Scia Open Interface (which is a library for reading and writing XML data files for Scia) I'm pleased to present a new plugin for exchanging data with Nemetschek Scia.  Thanks in particular to Mark Flamer and Peter Zalman for their assistance with this.

Here's two example files to start with, the popular 3 pin truss generation

Rhino Model    Grasshopper Model   Scia XML Export
and generating a mesh model:

Rhino Model   Grasshopper Model   Scia XML Export

The Scia open interface is still work in progress, it's not allowing me to open models yet and I see node restraints are generated in xml but do not seem to be acknowledged by scia in the latest version.  So please use with care.  But if you would like to see these improvements and more in the tools, the more interest I can demonstrate I'm sure will encourage fixes and support for this development.

Installation instructions are here: http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/geometrygym/forum/topics/installing-geometry-gym  I'd recommend installing StructDrawRhino as it is also used in some sample models.

Friday 4 February 2011

IFC Generating Quantity Measurements

I've just returned from two weeks of visiting various architecture and engineering firms in Paris and London, and one of the latest features that generated lots of interest is the new developments to generate quantity and
planning information within Grasshopper and Rhino3d.



Not only can you have real time response of these quantities, but also export these downstream to your other BIM software for use in schedules, reports etc etc.  I have set it up so the property sets and element quantities are fully customizable, so that you can ensure the attributes are tagged as your BIM software will recognize it (In the attached example, I've based this on a Revit sample file provided to me).

There's a lot more that I can enable with this including building services, costing, building performance etc etc, so if you have ideas or requests, please send them through.

Please test this out for yourself on this sample tower model, you'll need the latest IFC plugin.  Installation instructions: http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/geometrygym/forum/topics/installing-geometry-gym

Grasshopper Model
IFC Model Data