SkinDesigner is a Grasshopper plugin that enables the rapid generation of facade geometries from building massing surfaces and repeating, user-defined panels.
To install:
1-Make sure you have Rhino 5 and Grasshopper installed, or Rhino 6. 2-Install GHPython from here (Rhino 5 only). 3-Select and drag all the userObjects (downloaded here) onto your Grasshopper canvas. 4-Restart Rhino Grasshopper.
Check out our example files to get yourself familiar with typical SkinDesigner workflows. Also SkinDesigner Tutorials will be posted in this YouTube playlist as they become available.
You should also feel free to post any questions, feature requests, or bug reports to the SkinDesigner Grasshopper Group as discussions. Finally, SkinDesigner is an open source project and all of the project’s source code is visible on SkinDesigner’s Github site as well as within the Grasshopper components (by double-clicking on them).
A user was asking specific information about the Skin Generator parameters ("SkinDesigner Skin Parameters v0.5" dropdown). Even though most of them can be seen in action throughout the tutorials, they may not always give you a clear picture of their precise functionality. I thought this may be an issue with many users so I decided to use this opportunity to list all the parameters with my quick take at describing their functionality. Here it goes:
DEFAULT VERTICAL SHIFT -- Number - Shifts panels vertically creating a custom-sized panel with height of the specified dimension at first row of skin.
DEFAULT HORIZONTAL SHIFT -- Number - Shifts panels horizontally creating a custom-sized panel with width of the specified dimension at first column of skin.
DEFAULT SKIN CHAMFERED CORNER--True/False - If "True" wraps panels around surface corners. If '"False" creates a custom-sized panel if necessary to complete the skin surface at the shared edge, defining this way a sharp corner.
RESET BAY AT POINTS-- True/False - When using Panel Bays (Group of Panels) this option restarts the panel bay at a surface corner.
FLOOR HEIGHT-- Number - The Floor To Floor value of the Skin generated. If Panels are shorter than this value, a leftover 'gap' will be seen at top of panels.
MINIMUM PANEL WIDTH -- Number - If the width of a panel (standard or customized) created during the skin generation is less than this value, the panel won't be created and the placement will be skipped.
MINIMUM PANEL HEIGHT -- Number - If the height of a panel (standard or customized) created during the skin generation is less than this value, the panel won't be created and the placement will be skipped.
MINIMUM PANEL AREA-- Number - If the area of a panel (standard or customized) created during the skin generation is less than this value, the panel won't be created and the placement will be skipped.
PANEL PROFILE TOLERANCE-- Number - If a resulting panel shape is within the specified tolerance value to any already created panel, this panel is used instead of creating a new panel shape. The tolerance specifically tracks the distance between each corner of the new panel and the corresponding corners of the existing panels. This parameter is mostly used in "SURFACE PANEL MODE'', where a large number of custom-shaped panels can be generated, to reduce the number of unique panels created.
GENERATE PANEL TYPES ONLY-- True/False - This parameter allows the Skin Generator to discard the creation of scene geometry but still have the grasshopper panel data being generated. The skin panels can be retrieved as grasshopper geometry using SkinDesinger's Display components.
RESET DF BETWEEN SURFACES-- True/False - When "True", the Design Controllers (Design Functions in v.01) resets to its initial values each time it starts a new skin surface. Used for instance to restart a layout pattern at every new surface.
SURFACE PANEL MODE-- True/False - The "SURFACE PANEL MODE" is used to generate panels matching the shape of the surfaces included in the "skinSurfaceList" input.
SURFACE PANEL ORIENTATION -- Orientation Type - When activating the "SURFACE PANEL MODE'', this parameter defines the orientation of the panel generated relative to the normal of the surface that defines its shape. The acceptable values (found in the "Surface-Panel Mode Orientations" dropdown) are: RESET FLIP ROTATE 90 ROTATE 90 FLIP ROTATE 180 ROTATE 180 FLIP ROTATE 270 ROTATE 270 FLIP
I hope this helps but feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
SkinDesigner
91 members
Description
SkinDesigner is a Grasshopper plugin that enables the rapid generation of facade geometries from building massing surfaces and repeating, user-defined panels.
To install:
1-Make sure you have Rhino 5 and Grasshopper installed, or Rhino 6.
2-Install GHPython from here (Rhino 5 only).
3-Select and drag all the userObjects (downloaded here) onto your Grasshopper canvas.
4-Restart Rhino Grasshopper.
Check out our example files to get yourself familiar with typical SkinDesigner workflows. Also SkinDesigner Tutorials will be posted in this YouTube playlist as they become available.
You should also feel free to post any questions, feature requests, or bug reports to the SkinDesigner Grasshopper Group as discussions. Finally, SkinDesigner is an open source project and all of the project’s source code is visible on SkinDesigner’s Github site as well as within the Grasshopper components (by double-clicking on them).
Skin Generator Parameters v0.5
by Santiago Garay
Aug 30, 2021
Hi,
A user was asking specific information about the Skin Generator parameters ("SkinDesigner Skin Parameters v0.5" dropdown). Even though most of them can be seen in action throughout the tutorials, they may not always give you a clear picture of their precise functionality. I thought this may be an issue with many users so I decided to use this opportunity to list all the parameters with my quick take at describing their functionality. Here it goes:
DEFAULT VERTICAL SHIFT -- Number - Shifts panels vertically creating a custom-sized panel with height of the specified dimension at first row of skin.
DEFAULT HORIZONTAL SHIFT -- Number - Shifts panels horizontally creating a custom-sized panel with width of the specified dimension at first column of skin.
DEFAULT SKIN CHAMFERED CORNER--True/False - If "True" wraps panels around surface corners. If '"False" creates a custom-sized panel if necessary to complete the skin surface at the shared edge, defining this way a sharp corner.
RESET BAY AT POINTS-- True/False - When using Panel Bays (Group of Panels) this option restarts the panel bay at a surface corner.
FLOOR HEIGHT-- Number - The Floor To Floor value of the Skin generated. If Panels are shorter than this value, a leftover 'gap' will be seen at top of panels.
MINIMUM PANEL WIDTH -- Number - If the width of a panel (standard or customized) created during the skin generation is less than this value, the panel won't be created and the placement will be skipped.
MINIMUM PANEL HEIGHT -- Number - If the height of a panel (standard or customized) created during the skin generation is less than this value, the panel won't be created and the placement will be skipped.
MINIMUM PANEL AREA-- Number - If the area of a panel (standard or customized) created during the skin generation is less than this value, the panel won't be created and the placement will be skipped.
PANEL PROFILE TOLERANCE-- Number - If a resulting panel shape is within the specified tolerance value to any already created panel, this panel is used instead of creating a new panel shape. The tolerance specifically tracks the distance between each corner of the new panel and the corresponding corners of the existing panels. This parameter is mostly used in "SURFACE PANEL MODE'', where a large number of custom-shaped panels can be generated, to reduce the number of unique panels created.
GENERATE PANEL TYPES ONLY-- True/False - This parameter allows the Skin Generator to discard the creation of scene geometry but still have the grasshopper panel data being generated. The skin panels can be retrieved as grasshopper geometry using SkinDesinger's Display components.
RESET DF BETWEEN SURFACES-- True/False - When "True", the Design Controllers (Design Functions in v.01) resets to its initial values each time it starts a new skin surface. Used for instance to restart a layout pattern at every new surface.
SURFACE PANEL MODE-- True/False - The "SURFACE PANEL MODE" is used to generate panels matching the shape of the surfaces included in the "skinSurfaceList" input.
SURFACE PANEL ORIENTATION
-- Orientation Type - When activating the "SURFACE PANEL MODE'', this parameter defines the orientation of the panel generated relative to the normal of the surface that defines its shape. The acceptable values (found in the "Surface-Panel Mode Orientations" dropdown) are:
RESET
FLIP
ROTATE 90
ROTATE 90 FLIP
ROTATE 180
ROTATE 180 FLIP
ROTATE 270
ROTATE 270 FLIP
I hope this helps but feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Santiago