I wanted to use it for a client, really I can't since they will freak out about a weird version of Rhino being needed.
http://discourse.mcneel.com/t/scripting-blendsrf/24635
http://mcneel.myjetbrains.com/youtrack/issue/RH-29978
What you call trivial is the core of your business, the core of your product, meaning Grasshopper user ability to access serious commands or not. This is, after all, one of the most important commands in the entire Rhino universe. Without it, I have to just completely abandon NURBS and edit meshes since I can't join surfaces smoothly so I have to stop using fragments at all and only meshes afford local detail well compared to single NURBS surfaces. Only polysurfaces can mix in little high UV count blends to deal with tight local detail.
I guess I'll switch to the WIP now. Test that, and just tell clients, hey, that's life. It's not exactly easy to find the WIP download, being a hidden "Serengeti" topic on the main Rhino forum, but I can offer the membership link.
http://discourse.mcneel.com/t/how-do-i-actually-download-serengeti/23846
http://www.rhino3d.com/download/rhino/wip
I had to manually install IronPython 2.7.5 too, to fix a broken Python system:
http://ironpython.codeplex.com/releases/view/169382
Now, where on Earth do I find the Rhinocommon manual for Rhino 6 WIP?
I guess it's within the main Rhino EditPythonScript editor, though that can't be searched like a normal manual:
CreateBlendSurface(face0: BrepFace, edge0: BrepEdge, domain0: Interval, rev0: bool, continuity0: BlendContinuity, face1: BrepFace, edge1: BrepEdge, domain1: Interval, rev1: bool, continuity1: BlendContinuity) -> Array[Brep]
Makes a surface blend between two surface edges.
face0: First face to blend from. edge0: First edge to blend from. domain0: The domain of edge0 to use. rev0: If false, edge0 will be used in its natural direction. If true, edge0 will be used in the reversed direction.
continuity0: Continuity for the blend at the start. face1: Second face to blend from. edge1: Second edge to blend from. domain1: The domain of edge1 to use. rev1: If false, edge1 will be used in its natural direction. If true, edge1 will be used in the reversed direction.
continuity1: Continuity for the blend at the start. Returns: Array of Breps if successful.
Now I have normal, productive homework, of figuring out how to specify edges from a Python script.
I'll just sell this extra special capability of Rhino 5 WIP from Grasshopper as a cutting edge advanced new feature other lowly consultants can't match, assuming I can get it to work first.
The initial strategy is to Grasshopper create discrete surfaces, blow holes in a parent surface, scale down and move the little surfaces away, and just blend everything together into a polysurface. Then a client won't freak out so badly when I show them how to use meshes instead, since at least there's an alternative straight from NURBS, that maybe isn't as creatively open ended, but will get them out of a bind if their own client freaks out about meshes converted to NURBS via ZBrush ZRemesher run through T-Splines to get a smooth NURBS polysurface surface that looks like odd patchwork.
Alas, the above Rhinocommon blurb is incomplete, lacking info about what values for continuity are defined as, such as position, tangency, or curvature. I guess I'll just use try numbers.
…
curve or locus] of a segment AB, in English. The set of all the points from which a segment, AB, is seen under a fixed given angle.
When you construct l'arc capable —by using compass— you obviously need to find the centre of this arc. This can be easily done in GH in many ways by using some trigonometry (e.g. see previous —great— solutions). Whole circles instead of arcs provide supplementary isoptics —β-isoptic and (180º-β)-isoptic—. Coherent normals let you work in any plane.
Or you could just construct β-isoptics of AB by using tangent at A (or B). I mean [Arc SED] component.
If you want the true β-isoptic —the set of all the points— you should use {+β, -β} degrees (2 sides; 2 solutions; 2 arcs), but slider in [-180, +180] degrees provides full range of signed solutions. Orthoptic is provided by ±90º. Notice that ±180º isoptic is just AB segment itself, and 0º isoptic should be the segment outside AB —(-∞, A] U [B, +∞)—. [Radians] component is avoidable.
More compact versions can be achieved by using [F3] component. You can choose among different expressions the one you like the most as long as performs counter clockwise rotation of vector AB, by 180-β degrees, around A; or equivalent. [Panel] is totally avoidable.
Solutions in XY plane —projection; z = 0—, no matter A or B, are easy too. Just be sure about the curve you want to find the intersection with —Curve; your wall— being contained in XY plane.
A few self-explanatory examples showing features.
1 & 5 1st ver. (Supplementary isoptics) (ArcCapableTrigNormals_def_Bel.png)
2 & 6 2nd ver. (SED) (ArcCapableSED_def_Bel.png)
3 & 7 3rd ver. (SED + F3) (ArcCapableSEDF3_def_Bel.png)
4 & 8 4th ver. (SED + F3, Projection) (ArcCapableSEDProjInt_def_Bel.png)
If you want to be compact, 7 could be your best choice. If you prefer orientation robustness, 5. Etcetera.
I hope these versions will help you to compact/visualize; let me know any feedback.
Calculate where 2 points [A & B] meet at a specific angle is just find the geometrical locus called arco capaz in Spanish, arc capable in French (l'isoptique d'un segment de droite) or isoptic [curve or locus]
of a segment AB, in English. The set of all the points from which a segment,
AB, is seen under a fixed given angle.…
peuvent se diviser une surface avec ne importe quel motif imaginable. 3. Ici, je fournir un moyen de le faire via Lunchbox ... cela fonctionne mais il est fixe et donc nous avons besoin de jouer avec des arbres de données afin de créer le motif approprié par cas. 4. L'autre composante est un joint C # qui fait beaucoup de choses autres que de diviser ne importe quelle collection de points avec de nombreux modèles (voir le modèle ANDRE que je ai fait pour vous). 5. Vous devez décomposer une polysurface en morceaux afin de travailler sur les subdivisions. 6. Je donne une autre définition ainsi que pourrait agir comme un tutoriel sur la façon de traiter des ensembles de points via des composants de GH standards et des méthodes classiques.
Avertissez si tous ceux-ci apparaissent floue pour vous: Si oui, je pourrais écrire une définition utilisant des composants de GH classiques - mais vous perdrez les variations de motifs de division.
mieux, Peter
…
ers can be applied from the right click Context Menu of either a component's input or output parameters. With the exception of <Principal> and <Degrees> they work exactly like their corresponding Grasshopper Component. When a I/O Modifier is applied to a parameter a visual Tag (icon) is displayed. If you hover over a Tag a tool tip will be displayed showing what it is and what it does.
The full list of these Tags:
1) Principal
An input with the Principal Icon is designated the principal input of a component for the purposes of path assignment.
For example:
2) Reverse
The Reverse I/O Modifier will reverse the order of a list (or lists in a multiple path structure)
3) Flatten
The Flatten I/O Modifier will reduce a multi-path tree down to a single list on the {0} path
4) Graft
The Graft I/O Modifier will create a new branch for each individual item in a list (or lists)
5) Simplify
The Simplify I/O Modifier will remove the overlap shared amongst all branches. [Note that a single branch does not share any overlap with anything else.]
6) Degrees
The Degrees Input Modifier indicates that the numbers received are actually measured in Degrees rather than Radians. Think of it more like a preference setting for each angle input on a Grasshopper Component that state you prefer to work in Degrees. There is no Output option as this is only available on Angle Inputs.
7) Expression
The Expression I/O Modifier allows you change the input value by evaluating an expression such as -x/2 which will have the input and make it negative. If you hover over the Tag a tool tip will be displayed with the expression. Since the release of GH version 0.9.0068 all I/O Expression Modifiers use "x" instead of the nickname of the parameter.
8) Reparameterize
The Reparameterize I/O Modifier will only work on lines, curves and surfaces forcing the domains of all geometry to the [0.0 to 1.0] range.
9) Invert
The Invert Input Modifier works in a similar way to a Not Gate in Boolean Logic negating the input. A good example of when to use this is on [Cull Pattern] where you wish to invert the logic to get the opposite results. There is no Output option as this is only available on Boolean Inputs.
…
ing the maps to the broader community.
At the moment, there are just a few known issues left that I have to fix for complex geometric cases but they should run smoothly for most energy models that you generate with Honeybee. Within the next month, I will be clearing up these last issues and, by the end of the month, there will be an updated youtube tutorial playlist on the comfort tools and how to use them.
In the meantime, there's an updated example file (http://hydrashare.github.io/hydra/viewer?owner=chriswmackey&fork=hydra_2&id=Indoor_Microclimate_Map) and I wanted to get you all excited with some images and animations coming out of the design part of my thesis. I also wanted to post some documentation of all of the previous research that has made these climate maps possible and give out some much deserved thanks. To begin, this image gives you a sense of how the thermal maps are made by integrating several streams of data for EnergyPlus:
(https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2PwDvkjovJaTMtWDRHMExvLUk/view?usp=sharing)
To get you excited, this youtube playlist has a whole bunch of time-lapse thermal animations that a lot of you should enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLruLh1AdY-Sj3ehUTSfKa1IHPSiuJU52A
To give a brief summary of what you are looking at in the playlist, there are two proposed designs for completely passive co-habitation spaces in New York and Los Angeles.
These diagrams explain the Los Angeles design:
(https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2PwDvkjovJM0JkM0tLZ1kxUmc/view?usp=sharing)
And this video gives you and idea of how it thermally performs:
These diagrams explain the New York design:
(https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2PwDvkjovJS1BZVVZiTWF4MXM/view?usp=sharing)
And this video shows you the thermal performance:
Now to credit all of the awesome people that have made the creation of these thermal maps possible:
1) As any HB user knows, the open source engines and libraries under the hood of HB are EnergyPlus and OpenStudio and the incredible thermal richness of these maps would not have been possible without these DoE teams creating such a robust modeler so a big credit is definitely due to them.
2) Many of the initial ideas for these thermal maps come from an MIT Masters thesis that was completed a few years ago by Amanda Webb called "cMap". Even though these cMaps were only taking into account surface temperature from E+, it was the viewing of her radiant temperature maps that initially touched-off the series of events that led to my thesis so a great credit is due to her. You can find her thesis here (http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/72870).
3) Since the thesis of A. Webb, there were two key developments that made the high resolution of the current maps believable as a good approximation of the actual thermal environment of a building. The first is a PhD thesis by Alejandra Menchaca (also conducted here at MIT) that developed a computationally fast way of estimating sub-zone air temperature stratification. The method, which works simply by weighing the heat gain in a room against the incoming airflow was validated by many CFD simulations over the course of Alejandra's thesis. You can find here final thesis document here (http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/74907).
4) The other main development since the A. Webb thesis that made the radiant map much more accurate is a fast means of estimating the radiant temperature increase felt by an occupant sitting in the sun. This method was developed by some awesome scientists at the UC Berkeley Center for the Built Environment (CBE) Including Tyler Hoyt, who has been particularly helpful to me by supporting the CBE's Github page. The original paper on this fast means of estimating the solar temperature delta can be found here (http://escholarship.org/uc/item/89m1h2dg) although they should have an official publication in a journal soon.
5) The ASHRAE comfort models under the hood of LB+HB all are derived from the javascript of the CBE comfort tool (http://smap.cbe.berkeley.edu/comforttool). A huge chunk of credit definitely goes to this group and I encourage any other researchers who are getting deep into comfort to check the code resources on their github page (https://github.com/CenterForTheBuiltEnvironment/comfort_tool).
6) And, last but not least, a huge share of credit is due to Mostapha and all members of the LB+HB community. It is because of resources and help that Mostapha initially gave me that I learned how to code in the first place and the knowledge of a community that would use the things that I developed was, by fa,r the biggest motivation throughout this thesis and all of my LB efforts.
Thank you all and stay awesome,
-Chris…
/www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/vb-vs-c-vs-python
http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/which-programming-language-should-i-focus-on-vb-or-python
VB.Net and C#
VB.Net and C# both belong to the ".Net" family of languages, and the things you can do with them in Rhino/Grasshopper are nearly 100% equivalent. Grasshopper itself was written in a combination of VB.Net and C#. Some advantages/comments, in no particular order:
Performance - VB.Net and C# scripts tend to execute faster because they are "Just-in-time" compiled as opposed to interpreted.
Autocomplete - both VB.Net and C# have rich autocomplete functionality in their respective script editor components - significantly more so than the python editor. This can be helpful for beginners since you can "hunt" for methods and properties by just typing a "." after an object name and looking at the list of available methods/properties.
Native Component development - If you eventually want to develop GHA assemblies/plug-ins for grasshopper, as of Rhino 5 you will have to use one of these two languages. However, there are plans to introduce python-based plugins in Rhino 6. Even so, the resources around plug-in development are very rich in the C# and VB.Net environments (with c# seeming to be the more popular of the two).
"Strong Typing" - VB.net to some degree, and C# especially, are less "forgiving" languages than python - they require you to know about the data type of the objects you're operating on. This can sometimes result in more verbose code - as you explicitly convert from type to type - but it also promotes good programming practice and helps make errors more understandable.
.Net ecosystem - using a .Net language means you have access to the thousands of libraries publicly available, and the process of referencing these libraries and making use of them is comparatively straightforward relative to python. More on this in the following section.
Resources/Support - At least as of 2012, VB and C# turned up more results on this forum than python, and I think you'll find slightly more expert-level coders in those languages able to help you here.
Which one between the two? C# or VB.Net? - Personally, I greatly prefer C# - I find it to be cleaner and clearer to use. I also have some programming background in C++/Java/Processing so I found the "C family" approach to be more familiar. As David and Damian point out in some of the posts linked above, C# is more popular than either python or VB.net in the rest of the coding world. However, if you are learning without any prior programming experience you may find VB.net to be a bit easier to learn.
Python
Python is, without a doubt, a beautiful and elegant language, which is probably more than can be said for VB.Net/C#. It is very popular with beginner coders, and its syntax is more readily understandable.
Syntax - Python is beautiful to read and write. Its syntax is very clear and free of extraneous punctuation (for example the ";" line endings in c#). It has many very nice language features that make common tasks more concise, like its loop syntax, list comprehensions, list "map" and "filter."
Multiple ways to talk to Rhino/Grasshopper - Python enables two general approaches to interacting with the Rhino/Grasshopper environment: RhinoCommon and RhinoScriptSyntax. If you have prior experience with Rhinoscript, you may find RhinoScriptSyntax to be preferable - it adapts many of the methods you're familiar with to the python language, and simplifies some tasks. A word of caution though - working with Rhinoscriptsyntax can introduce a performance hit relative to RhinoCommon operations. C# and VB.net by contrast can only work with RhinoCommon.
"Goodies" - The Python environment in Grasshopper has some "special features" that the other languages lack. In particular, the "GHPythonLib" library enables the ability to call most Grasshopper components from within your code, and the ability to easily enable parallel processing to improve performance. (A word of caution though - these two features do not seem to "play well" with each other, there may be bugs causing memory leaks that result in increasingly worse performance with each execution).
Cross-Platform - Unlike C#/VB.net, Python can be used natively in Rhino for Windows and Rhino for Mac.
Direct scripting in Rhino - You can also use Python directly in the Rhino environment without the need for Grasshopper if you desire, using the Rhino Python editor.
IronPython / Ecosystem issues - one frustration / potential downside to working with Python for Rhino/GH is that though there is a vast, amazing ecosystem of external libraries for Python, getting these to install/work properly in the Rhino/GH environment can be a real pain - largely because the language is actually "IronPython," a version of python designed to work closely with the .Net ecosystem. Many popular libraries like numpy and scipy are very challenging to get working in Rhino/GH.
Scripting in other programs - Especially in the AEC industry, Python is a popular scripting language for other applications. Tools like Revit, Dynamo, Blender, and ArcGIS all offer their own Python scripting interface - so learning Python in Rhino/GH can give you a leg up in eventually scripting in these other programs.
Python's Stock is Rising - there are currently a number of efforts to improve the "status" of python within the Rhino/GH ecosystem. The python editor in Rhino 6 has a number of improvements, not least of which is the ability to "compile" add-ons for Grasshopper written in python. I'm sure Giulio can speak to other upcoming improvements.
I hope this summary helps you find the right option for you. Ultimately you can't go wrong; concepts from any of the available scripting languages will make it much easier to learn the next one. In my day to day work I use a combination of both C# and python, where appropriate, and I love them both.
I hope others will feel welcome to chime in on this FAQ and add their own thoughts about advantages/disadvantages of these various options! If you have time, read through some of the other posts linked to at the beginning - there's lots of additional great information there. …
nts for Ladybug too. They are based on PVWatts v1 online calculator, supporting crystalline silicon fixed tilt photovoltaics.
You can download them from here, or use the Update Ladbybug component instead. If you take the first option, after downloading check if .ghuser files are blocked (right click -> "Properties" and select "Unblock").
You can download the example files from here.
Video tutorials will follow in the coming period.
In the very essence these components help you answer the question: "How much energy can my roof, building facade, solar parking... generate if I would populate them with PV panels"?
They allow definition of different types of losses (snow, age, shading...) which may affect your PV system:
And can find its optimal tilt and orientation:
Or analyse its performance, energy value, consumption, emissions...
By Djordje Spasic and Jason Sensibaugh, with invaluable support of Dr. Frank Vignola, Dr. Jason M. Keith, Paul Gilman, Chris Mackey, Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari, Niraj Palsule, Joseph Cunningham and Christopher Weiss.
Thank you for reading, and hope you will enjoy using the components!
EDIT: From march 27 2017, Ladybug Photovoltaics components support thin-film modules as well.
References:
1) System losses:
PVWatts v5 Manual, Dobos, NREL, 2014
2) Sun postion equations by Michalsky (1988):
SAM Photovoltaic Model Technical Reference, Gilman, NREL, 2014
edited by Jason Sensibaugh
3) Angle of incidence for fixed arrays:
PVWatts Version 1 Technical Reference, Dobos, NREL, 2013
4) Plane-of-Array diffuse irradiance by Perez 1990 algorithm:
PVPMC Sandia National Laboratories
SAM Photovoltaic Model Technical Reference, Gilman, NREL, 2014
5) Sandia PV Array Performance Module Cover:
PVWatts Version 1 Technical Reference, Dobos, NREL, 2013
6) Sandia Thermal Model, Module Temperature and Cell Temperature Models:
Photovoltaic Array Performance Model, King, Boys, Kratochvill, Sandia National Laboratories, 2004
7) CEC Module Model: Maximum power voltage and Maximum power current from:
Exact analytical solutions of the parameters of real solar cells using Lambert W-function, Jain, Kapoor, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, V81 2004, P269–277
8) PVFORM version 3.3 adapted Module and Inverter Models:
PVWatts Version 1 Technical Reference, Dobos, NREL, 2013
9) Sunpath diagram shading:
Using sun path charts to estimate the effects of shading on PV arrays, Frank Vignola, University of Oregon, 2004
Instruction manual for the Solar Pathfinder, Solar Pathfinder TM, 2008
10) Tilt and orientation factor:
Application for Purchased Systems Oregon Department of Energy
solmetric.com
11) Photovoltaics performance metrics:
Solar PV system performance assessment guideline, Honda, Lechner, Raju, Tolich, Mokri, San Jose state university, 2012
CACHE Modules on Energy in the Curriculum Solar Energy, Keith, Palsule, Mississippi State University
Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE) Version 2.0, Hammond, Jones, SERT University of Bath, 2011
The Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROI) of Photovoltaics: Methodology and Comparisons with Fossil Fuel Life Cycles, Raugei, Fullana-i-Palmer, Fthenakis, Elsevier Vol 45, Jun 2012
12) Calculating albedo: Metenorm 6 Handbook part II: Theory, Meteotest 2007
13) Magnetic declination:
Geomag 0.9.2015, Christopher Weiss…
,with OpenfoamV1612+ in Windows 10 64bit.The blockmesh worked good.And the snappyhexmesh crashed in the process.My computer memory is not enough? Or some settings wrong?Could you help me solve this question?/---------------------------------------------------------------------------| ========= | || \ / F ield | OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox || \ / O peration | Version: v1612+ || \ / A nd | Web: www.OpenFOAM.com || \/ M anipulation | |*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/Build : v1612+Exec : snappyHexMeshDate : Aug 27 2017Time : 09:39:54Host : "default"PID : 13443Case : /home/ofuser/workingDir/butterfly/outdoor_airflownProcs : 1sigFpe : Enabling floating point exception trapping (FOAM_SIGFPE).fileModificationChecking : Monitoring run-time modified files using timeStampMaster (fileModificationSkew 10)allowSystemOperations : Allowing user-supplied system call operations
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //Create time
Create mesh for time = 0
Read mesh in = 2.14 s
Overall mesh bounding box : (-241.5472 -241.4418 0) (496.4376 536.2438 144.8633)Relative tolerance : 1e-06Absolute matching distance : 0.001081851
Reading refinement surfaces.Read refinement surfaces in = 0.01 s
Reading refinement shells.Refinement level 3 for all cells inside around_buildings_area.stlRead refinement shells in = 0 s
Setting refinement level of surface to be consistent with shells.For geometry outdoor_airflow.stl detected 0 uncached triangles out of 120Checked shell refinement in = 0 s
Reading features.Read features in = 0 s
Determining initial surface intersections
Edge intersection testing:Number of edges : 1684728Number of edges to retest : 1684728Number of intersected edges : 5583Calculated surface intersections in = 1.68 s
Initial mesh : cells:554112 faces:1684728 points:576779Cells per refinement level:0 554112
Adding patches for surface regions
Patch Type Region
outdoor_airflow:
6 wall buildings
Added patches in = 0.03 s
Edge intersection testing:Number of edges : 1684728Number of edges to retest : 0Number of intersected edges : 5583Selecting decompositionMethod none
Refinement phase
Found point (127.4452 147.401 72.43167) in cell 402042 on processor 0
Surface refinement iteration 0
Marked for refinement due to surface intersection : 8820 cells.Determined cells to refine in = 3.87 sSelected for refinement : 8820 cells (out of 554112)Edge intersection testing:Number of edges : 1883850Number of edges to retest : 250376Number of intersected edges : 21198Refined mesh in = 1.77 sAfter refinement surface refinement iteration 0 : cells:615852 faces:1883850 points:652499Cells per refinement level:0 5452921 70560
Surface refinement iteration 1
Marked for refinement due to surface intersection : 38502 cells.Determined cells to refine in = 0.04 sSelected for refinement : 40392 cells (out of 615852)Edge intersection testing:Number of edges : 2787132Number of edges to retest : 1118049Number of intersected edges : 85655Refined mesh in = 3.17 sAfter refinement surface refinement iteration 1 : cells:898596 faces:2787132 points:990317Cells per refinement level:0 5432351 486812 306680
Surface refinement iteration 2
Marked for refinement due to surface intersection : 159213 cells.Determined cells to refine in = 0.1 sSelected for refinement : 168471 cells (out of 898596)Edge intersection testing:Number of edges : 6576117Number of edges to retest : 4737635Rhino Model and GH files is in t'he zip file.Please help me solve this question!~~…
ion of both Ladybug and Honeybee. Notable among the new components are 51 new Honeybee components for setting up and running energy simulations and 15 new Ladybug components for running detailed comfort analyses. We are also happy to announce the start of comprehensive tutorial series on how to use the components and the first one on getting started with Ladybug can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLruLh1AdY-Sj_XGz3kzHUoWmpWDXNep1O
A second one on how to use the new Ladybug comfort components can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLruLh1AdY-Sho45_D4BV1HKcIz7oVmZ8v
Here is a short list highlighting some of the capabilities of this current Honeybee release:
1) Run EnergyPlus and OpenStudio Simulations - A couple of components to export your HBZones into IDF or OSM files and run energy simulations right from the grasshopper window! Also included are several components for adjusting the parameters of the simulations and requesting a wide range of possible outputs.
2) Assign EnergyPlus Constructions - A set of components that allow you to assign constructions from the OpenStudio library to your Honeybee objects. This also includes components for searching through the OpenStudio construction/material library and components to create your own constructions and materials.
3) Assign EnergyPlus Schedules and Loads - A set of components for assigning schedules and Loads from the Openstudio library to your Honeybee zones. This includes the ability to auto-assign these based on your program or to tweak individual values. You can even create your own schedules from a stream of 8760 values with the new “Create CSV Schedule” component. Lastly, there is a component for converting any E+ schedule to 8760 values, which you can then visualize with the standard Ladybug components
4) Assign HVAC Systems - A set of components for assigning some basic ASHRAE HVAC systems that can be run with the Export to OpenStudio component. You can even adjust the parameters of these systems right in Grasshopper.
Note: The ASHRAE systems are only available for OpenStudio and can’t be used with Honeybee’s EnergyPlus component. Also, only ideal air, VAV and PTHP systems are currently available but more will be on their way soon!
5) Import And Visualize EnergyPlus Results - A set of components to import numerical EnergyPlus simulation results back into grasshopper such that they can be visualized with any of the standard Ladybug components (ie. the 3D chart or Psychrometric chart). Importers are made for zone-level results as well as surface results and surfaces results can be easily separated based on surface type. This also means that E+ results can be analyzed with the new Ladybug comfort calculator components and used in shade or natural ventilation studies. Lastly, there are a set of components for coloring zone/surface geometry with EnergyPlus results and for coloring the shades around zones with shade desirability.
6) Increased Radiance and Daysim Capabilities - Several updates have also been made to the existing Radiance and Daysim components including parallel Radiance Image-based analysis.
7) Visualize HBObject Attributes - A few components have been added to assist with setting up honeybee objects and ensuing the the correct properties have been assigned. These include components to separate surfaces based on boundary condition and components to label surfaces and zones with virtually any of their EnergyPlus or Radiance attributes.
8) WIP Grizzly Bear gbxml Exporter - Lastly, the release includes an WIP version of the Grizzly Bear gbXML exporter, which will continue to be developed over the next few months.
And here’s a list of the new Ladybug capabilities:
1) Comfort Models - Three comfort models that have been translated to python for your use in GH: PMV, Adaptive, and Outdoor (UTCI). Each of these models has a “Comfort Calculator” component for which you can input parameters like temperature and wind speed to get out comfort metrics. These can be used in conjunction with EPW data or EnergyPlus results to calculate comfort for every hour of the year.
2) Ladybug Psychrometric Chart - A new interactive psychrometric chart that was made possible thanks to the releasing of the Berkely Center for the Built Environment Comfort Tool Code (https://github.com/CenterForTheBuiltEnvironment/comfort-tool). The new psychrometric chart allows you to move the comfort polygon around based on PMV comfort metrics, plot EPW or EnergyPlus results on the psych chart, and see how many hours are made comfortable in each case. The component also allows you to plot polygons representing passive building strategies (like internal heat gain or evaporative cooling), which will adjust dynamically with the comfort polygon and are based on the strategies included in Climate Consultant.
3) Solar Adjusted MRT and Outdoor Shade Evaluator - A component has been added to allow you to account for shortwave solar radiation in comfort studies by adjusting Mean Radiant Temperature. This adjusted MRT can then be factored into outdoor comfort studies and used with an new Ladybug Comfort Shade Benefit Evaluator to design outdoor shades and awnings.
4) Wind Speed - Two new components for visualizing wind profile curves and calculating wind speed at particular heights. These allow users to translate EPW wind speed from the meteorological station to the terrain type and height above ground for their site. They will also help inform the CFD simulations that will be coming in later releases.
5) Sky Color Visualizer - A component has been added that allows you to visualize a clear sky for any hour of the year in order to get a sense of the sky qualities and understand light conditions in periods before or after sunset.
Ready to Start?
Here is what you will need to do:
Download Honeybee and Ladybug from the same link here. Make sure that you remove any old version of Ladybug and Honeybee if you have one, as mentioned on the Ladybug group page.
You will also need to install RADIANCE, DAYSIM and ENERGYPLUS on your system. We already sent a video about how to get RADIANCE and Daysim installed (link). You can download EnergyPlus 8.1 for Windows from the DOE website (http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/?utm_source=EnergyPlus&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=EnergyPlus%2Bredirect%2B1).
“EnergyPlus is a whole building energy simulation program that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model energy and water use in buildings.”
“OpenStudio is a cross-platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux) collection of software tools to support whole building energy modeling using EnergyPlus and advanced daylight analysis using Radiance.”
Make sure that you install ENERGYPLUS in a folder with no spaces in the file path (e.g. “C:\Program Files” has a space between “Program” and “Files”). A good option for each is C:\EnergyPlusV8-1-0, which is usually the default locations when you run the downloaded installer.
New Example Files!
We have put together a large number of new updated example files and you should use these to get yourself started. You can download them from the link on the group page.
New Developers:
Since the last release, we have had several new members join the Ladybug + Honeybee developer team:
Chien Si Harriman - Chien Si has contributed a large amount of code and new components in the OpenStudio workflow including components to add ASHRAE HVAC systems into your energy models and adjust their parameters. He is also the author of the Grizzly Bear gbxml exporter and will be continuing work on this in the following months.
Trygve Wastvedt - Trygve has contributed a core set of functions that were used to make the new Ladybug Colored Sky Visualizer and have also helped sync the Ladybug Sunpath to give sun positions for the current year of 2014
Abraham Yezioro - Abraham has contributed an awesome new bioclimatic chart for comfort analyses, which, despite its presence in the WIP tab, is nearly complete!
Djordje Spasic - Djordje has contributed a number of core functions that were used to make the new Ladybug Wind Speed Calculator and Wind Profile Visualizer components and will be assisting with workflows to process CFD results in the future. He also has some more outdoor comfort metrics in the works.
Andrew Heumann - Andrew contributed an endlessly useful list item selector, which can adjust based on the input list, and has multiple applications throughout Ladybug and Honeybee. One of the best is for selecting zone-level programs after selecting an overall building program.
Alex Jacobson - Alex also assisted with the coding of the wind speed components.
And, as always, a special thanks goes to all of our awesome users who tested the new components through their several iterations. Special thanks goes to Daniel, Michal, Francisco, and Agus for their continuous support. Thanks again for all the support, great suggestions and comments. We really cannot thank you enough.
Enjoy!,
Ladybug + Honeybee Development Team
PS: If you want to be updated about the news about Ladybug and Honeybee like Ladybug’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LadyBugforGrasshopper) or follow ladybug’s twitter account (@ladybug_tool).
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