Mesh to surface - terrain (relatively large size)

[hoganchan113]

Hi all,

I would like to do flow analysis for a terrain model so that I want to convert a mesh terrain to a surface, in which I tried to use the “patch” command but it seems to be too large. Is there any way to convert it to a surface?

Best,
HC

[wim (Wim Dekeyser)]

Hi HC -
A terrain is typically best represented by a mesh and, generally, software that is used to analyse terrains are mesh-aware. Which plug-in are you using to perform the analysis?
-wim

[hoganchan113]

hi @wim,

I am using Mosquito and Kangaroo for flow analysis and it seems that it only supports surface.

HC

[wim (Wim Dekeyser)]

Hi HC - Kangaroo supports meshes but perhaps it depends on the specific application here. Can you post your Grasshopper definition file?
-wim

[AndersDeleuran]

You could also implement the GHPython script I link to here:

Water Flow on Surface

Not sure if this is helpful, but might inspire some ideas: I recently re-wrote a simple “particle descending down a surface/mesh drainage”-type script (that looks like a similar approach to your first example) for use on a project, and extended it with what is essentially a heat map visualisation of the drain polylines density (second image in the Instagram post): I basically snap the drainage polyline vertices to the nearest face center in the heat map mesh, and then count how many points a…

Or the terrain analysis components from Gismo:

GitHub - stgeorges/gismo: Gismo is a free Grasshopper plugin for GIS...

These both work with meshes.

[hoganchan113]

It requires a surface to perform the simulation. Thanks

BasicRainRunoff_I.gh (9.2 KB)

[hoganchan113]

Thanks! I haven’t tried to do python in rhino (because I am also new to python) and hence I would like to fix the problem in Grasshopper first due to the deadline of my project is very soon.

[AndersDeleuran]

Here’s a quick minimal implementation example, just in case:

190311_MeshDrainagePaths_00.gh (410.5 KB)

[hoganchan113]

Very impressive!!! I should try this script on my terrain. Thanks!

-HC

[wim (Wim Dekeyser)]

Hi HC - you didn’t internalize your surface so no one else will see what you are seeing on your screen…

… but a bit into the definition, you are converting the surface to a mesh to feed it into the Kangaroo component. So, you should be able to use a mesh as the base input here.

At any rate, it looks like @AndersDeleuran’s definition should work for you. There’s also the Bison plug-in (and probably others) that have a flow analysis component…

Bison

-wim

[hoganchan113]

Hi Wim,

Sorry about that. The attached files are what I am trying to do but it failed at the last. I am trying to simulate the rain runoff path (like the picture) so that I project some points (raindrops) on my terrain. But the result doesn’t like what I want.

HC

Terrain_FlowAnalysis.3dm (5.2 MB) Terrain_FlowAnalysis.gh (14.8 KB)

[hoganchan113]

Hi @AndersDeleuran

I have tried the script in my terrain but I can’t get the result you showed. I am not familiar with Python so that I am not able to find out what is going on It would be grateful if you can take a look at my model.

Thanks!
HC

Test_MeshDrainagePaths_00.gh (6.1 KB)

[hoganchan113]

@AndersDeleuran

test.3dm (4.7 MB)

[AndersDeleuran]

I’m afraid I don’t have Rhino 6 on my personal laptop, so I can’t check your file. That said, based on Daniel’s reply here, I’d guess you probably need to increase the StepSize value, such to better match the unit/dimensions of your file/mesh.

[PeterFotiadis (Pfotiad0)]

@hoganchan113

mesh terrain to a surface

If you are familiar with C# (mid to advanced level) I could provide some hints on that matter … but is a rather slow procedure: 1000+ ms for the captured example [using a pathetic i5 on a pathetic laptop].

[hoganchan113]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will change the unit to meter.

HC

[hoganchan113]

I did not learn about C# but I actually want to do it. (because it looks nice) Is there any method to do that?

-HC

[PeterFotiadis (Pfotiad0)]

@hoganchan113

I actually want to do it.

Prepare to spend several years in order to master the art. So it’s out of question to be soon in some level to effectively convert any(?) mesh into a nurbs solid via C#,

So here’s some abstract hints (focus on an approach via patch on mesh vertices):

1. Patch is a balance between speed (and patch settings) VS the N of points used (mesh vertices), So is paramoutnt to mastermind some method to work with a user controlled N of “equally spaced” vertices (say some percentage) while measuring the max deviation: for instance if the terrain is big and you are after some preliminary status of study then … a deviation of, say, 0.5m is rather OK (if not you should add more vertices to patch and/or change the patch settings). This trial and error approach is the only way to do it in real-life (and in some acceptable elapsed time) with big N of vertices.

2. Patch is done via 2 RhinoCommon Methods, The “simple” one (i.e. the 1st pass) usually yields an untrimmed surface (the transparent one shown above). The other accepts variables ( flexibility, surface pull strength, point spacing etc etc) that allow for a better mesh “approximation”.

3. No need to go for a trimmed result (a BrapFace, that is) since you can do help/tmp solids (using projections of the mesh boundary polylines [inner/outer “holes”] and then get the desired nurbs terrain solid (a closed polysurface) via various boolean ops (these are quite slow since Rhino is a surface modeller).