Pachyderm Acoustic

Pachyderm is a plugin largely used by Designers and Scientists alike to simulate acoustics in buildings, rooms, cities, and other settings.

  • Antonio Treglia

    Hi Arthur.

    First of all, thanks for release me the plugin. I'm trying to install it on rhino 5, but when I drag the .rhp file it shows me this message:

    Error
    Access to 'C:\Program Files\For Rhinoceros\Pach_Setting.pset' denied. Impossible load plug-in 'C:\Program FIles\For Rhinoceros\Pachyderm_Acoustic.rhp' 

    What is the problem? Instead, the plug-in for GH works. Is it a problem if I use Pachyderm v.1 (which works) on Rhino and the v.2 on GH?


     

  • Arthur van der Harten

    Hi Antonio,

    You will need the versions of the grasshopper and rhino plugins to be consistent, as they reference each other.
    The .pset file is generated the first time you run Pachyderm for Rhino. Could you please confirm for me that it is there? If so, please delete it (so that Rhino can make its own). Make certain you have installed everything from v2 in your installation folder. 
    Other than this, maybe your computer has locked the files, and you should go through the properties for each file and hit the 'unblock' button.
    Let me know if you have gotten it working or if I can be of further help. 
    Arthur
  • Antonio Treglia

    I didn't find the .pset file but moving the "For Rhinoceros" folder on the Desktop it works. Thanks.

  • Antonio Treglia

    Hi,

    I'm starting to learn the plug-in, but before going on, I would ask you if it'll be useful for my project: I'm using acoustic analysis to recover the Rotterdam Stadium, changing it in a multifuncional building. I need to create a model of the stadium in GH to simulate the acoustics for different functions (as concerts, motor ride...), so I could use the results to improve the design and optimize the structure for all of these activities.

    By the way, the literature about the acoustics of opened sport facilities is insufficient and I don't know if Pachyderm could help me in this research. Do you know if it works in a building with that dimensions?

    Thanks,
    Antonio 

  • Arthur van der Harten

    Hi Antonio,

    For large spaces like that, Ray-tracing programs like that in Pachyderm are the only practical way to simulate sound. Yes it will work, but you will probably need a very large number of rays to adequately sample the space. What amount of volume are we talking about?

    Arthur

  • Antonio Treglia

    The total volume of the stadium is very huge, around 1,5 million mq. 
    It will be minor than that, because I guess I'llconcentrate on the bleachers and the field, but it remains an high value.

  • Arthur van der Harten

    Hi,

    Try with 200,000 rays, and please post a screenshot of your impulse response. (You will find this on the third tab of the Hybrid method interface).

  • Antonio Treglia

    Hi Arthur,

    I'm sorry, I'm trying to set the model but I probably do something wrong. I saw that I need a source and at least one receiver for the simulation, but I don't know how to proceed. 

    First of all, I have a simplified model of the stadium, and obviously it's an opened structure (you can see a part of it in the image below). To  the plug-in works, I need to create a kind of closed box around the structure?

    Then, if it's possible, could you send me an example of a model where I can see how it works?

    I'm really sorry but I'm completely new in this kind of software and analysis, and nobody in the department knows how to use this plug-in. Thanks for the patiance and the availability.

  • Arthur van der Harten

    Hi Antonio,

    You do not need a closed box around the structure, though you will probably need a very high number of rays to get a good result from the model.

    It might make sense for you to use the Rhinoceros interrface before you use the Grasshopper interface. (type Pachyderm_Acoustic in the command prompt to get started. Follow the instructions on the Pachyderm website)

    There is an example in the Pachyderm RC12 archive:

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21521713/Pachyderm2.0.0.1%20RC1...

    Again, the Rhino and Grasshopper plugins talk to eachother, so you should have them both loaded, and you should have the Rhino model open before opening the grasshopper model.

    --Arthhur

  • Antonio Treglia

    Hi,

    I followed the instructions on the site, I assigned the material (using one of the default materials) and I use 200000 rays for the simulation, but when I launched it, Rhinoceros crashed.

    I tried to change the number of rays, the materials and other parameters, but the result is the same, the software crashes every time. What do you think is the problem?

  • Antonio Treglia

    Sometimes it works, even if it's very ustable, but when I go to "Analysis" tab I receive this message: "Index is outside the matrix" and I can't see anything. Then, when I select a parameter (for example T-30, the software continues to crash). 

  • Arthur van der Harten

    My colleages at the office and I use the plugin often. It shouldn't be unstable. The only times I encounter this with users is generally if they are running in Parallels on a Mac, and that is a Rhino issue. Another possibility is that you don't have enough RAM to do what you want to do, or you are running in 32 bit, in which case the RAM you can use is limited (try again in 64-bit Rhino). If that is not the case, here are a few things to try:

    1. check that none of the libraries are blocked. (right click all files in the installation and go to properrties, and if there is an unblock button in propertites, click it and apply.)

    2. delete the .pset file in the pachyderm directory. (Pachyderm will make a new one).

    3. Delete your Pachyderm directlory, and install again from the RC12 archive I provided earlier.

    As for the blank receivers dropdown, I had forgotten about that issue. Just click in the white space of the dropdown and type the number of the receiver you want, and press tab. Then uncheck and check a source. That should work as a temporary workaround. (don't put in a number that does not match a receiver in the model, or it will crash). This will be fixed in a later version.

  • Antonio Treglia

    I'm using the 64-bit Rhino in Windows, and I have 16Gb RAM, I don't think that is the problem. I noticed that the crash comes when starts "calculating image set..".

    I'll try to install again pachyderm and also Rhinoceros if it's necessary.