algorithmic modeling for Rhino

Octopus

Information

Octopus is a plug-in for applying evolutionary principles to parametric design and problem solving. It allows the search for many goals at once, producing a range of optimized trade-off solutions between the extremes of each goal.

Also see octopus.E for custom evolutionary algorithms.

Download the latest version on food4rhino

It is part of a range of tools developed at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and Bollinger+Grohmann Engineers.

search for single goal + diversity of solutions
search for best trade offs between 2 to X goals
improve solutions by similarity-goals
choose preferred solutions during a search
change objectives during a search
solutions' 3d models for visual feedback
recorded history
save all search data within the Grasshopper document
save a solution as a Grasshopper State
export to text or text files

Octopus introduces multiple fitness values to the optimization. The best trade-offs between those objectives are searched, producing a set of possible optimum solutions that ideally reach from one extreme trade-off to the other.

Based on SPEA-2 and HypE from ETH Zürich and David Rutten's Galapagos User Interface. Developed by Robert Vierlinger in cooperation with Christoph Zimmel, karamba3d.com and Bollinger+Grohmann Engineers.

To install:

Copy the .gha and .dll file into the Grasshopper components folder
Right-click the file > Properties > make sure there is no "blocked" text
Restart Rhino and Grasshopper

Some examples are provided here.

New commented examples and a brief manual are provided in the download of octopus on food4rhino.

Location: Vienna
Members: 460
Latest Activity: Apr 4

Discussion Forum

How to minimize or maximize our objectives? 13 Replies

hello everybodyi have a question. how can i adjust octopus for two objectives that one of them should be maximized and the other one should be minimized? and what are the other settings to do the…Continue

Started by leila pasandi. Last reply by Michael Fluer Apr 4.

Convergence error 10 Replies

My objective values are no problem. But why do the convergence graphs change little?Continue

Started by Dan Hou. Last reply by Michael Fluer Mar 16.

Running octopus iteration every time quelea agent's lifetime has finished 7 Replies

Ok so I have made this 5 parametric lofts (pic 1). In this case only 2 of them work has environment for quelea agents to move on them (pic 2).The agents generated by this agent-base component Quelea…Continue

Tags: agent-base, octopus, quelea

Started by Javier Andres Garcia Perez. Last reply by Michael Fluer Feb 25.

Automatically run solver and output best solution after N generations 5 Replies

Below is a schematic of what I want to do, namely:Trigger a solver like Octopus or Galapagos from within a definition (not by double-clicking the component), run the solver for a fixed number of…Continue

Tags: loop, optimization, evolutionary, Galapagos, Octopus

Started by Max Marschall. Last reply by Michael Fluer Feb 19.

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Comment Wall

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Comment by Jesus Galvez on November 19, 2013 at 9:02: Hi,

I downloaded version 3.1 and I can't get it to work. I have put files HelixToolkit.Wpf.dll and Octopus.gha in C:\Users\"username"\AppData\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\5.0\Plug-ins\Grasshopper {B45A29B1-4343-4035-989E-044E8580D9CF}\0.9.64.0\Components\

Octopus appears in the ribbon, and the example files load correctly, but when I click start (calculation), it does nothing.

Thanks

Comment by Rob on October 27, 2013 at 12:02: Ok, solved that issue. The .gha and .dll were in:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Grasshopper for Rhino 5\Components

but they need to be in:

C:\Users\Rob\AppData\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\5.0\Plug-ins\Grasshopper {A4.....CF}\0.9.61.0\Components

Octopus is running perfectly now. What a cool plugin. Thanks!

Comment by Rob on October 27, 2013 at 11:00: I'm having trouble getting Octopus 3.0 or 3.1 to run in GH 0.9.0061. I believe I have it set up correctly, but double-clicking on the component seems to have no effect whatsoever. The file isn't blocked... Any thoughts anyone? Does Octopus run in 0.9.0061?

Thanks.

Comment by Luis García Lara on May 8, 2013 at 14:17: i restart rhino, and now it works, thanks!

Comment by Luis García Lara on May 8, 2013 at 14:14: Djordje, i did it, but i still have the same error...

Comment by djordje on May 8, 2013 at 14:03: If your Octopus file is already in appropriate folder (File -> Special Folders -> Components folder), then try unblock it (Right-click on it -> Properties > unblock it).
Will that help?

Comment by Luis García Lara on May 8, 2013 at 13:47: R5 & Gh 0.9.0014

Comment by djordje on May 8, 2013 at 13:45: Are you using Rhino4?
Octopus works only on Rhino5.

Comment by Luis García Lara on May 8, 2013 at 13:42: why i´m getting this error when i try to open some of the example file...
octopus component is in the grasshopper components folder, like the other plugins...
thanks

Comment by djordje on April 17, 2013 at 3:13: Hi Nick,
For now you will have to define the range within the slider. So yes, you are right.
Not sure I understood you about the second question. You will get the pareto frontier as a result of your octopus "analysis".