Just curious…
I use Rhino to design commercial windows and doors of various shapes and sizes, relying mainly on CRLawrence/US Aluminum extrusions and also wood.
It would be nice to have a way to draw up one common window, that I could then just enter numbers for width, height, and depth, and it would automatically adjust the geometry, similar to how Fusion 360 has their built-in ‘User Parameters’ that are totally customizable.
Is there any way to accomplish this efficiently? I’m sure this is where grasshopper would be useful, but I’m not very familiar with how to go about it in GH…
Yes, GH would be ideal for this - you would just have to build the definition once, then whatever profile you reference could be turned into a window/door. Alternatively a scripted solution could also be fairly easily done. There are no native tools in Rhino to do this.
–Mitch
Thanks for your input, Mitch. That’s what I was afraid of. I’m not sure that I’m ready to dive into GH, but it might be worth a shot. Seems fairly straightforward, but GH is so intimidating. I’m scared LOL. I had looked at VisualArc, but it seems like overkill for what we need. A nice little python script would be nice. Any developers interested in helping a brother out?
Not gunna lie, I actually impressed myself today…
I was able to use GH to create the base window dimensions and laid out correctly.
I just now figured out how to use the sliders to snap to eighth inch or sixteenth inch increments!
Set up the remote panel to adjust dimesions right in Rhino…
Pretty happy with it so far…
Now to add mullion and muntin subdivisions and the ability add in custom moulding for the glass stops.
Save that for tomorrow.
3 Likes
What’s the best way to miter these trim pieces (in GH) in the corner pictured here?
Currently, the trim pieces (glass stops) run all the way to the interior edge of the window frame. Do I need to create a 45deg angled plane and use that to ‘trim’ the pieces, or is there an easier/more efficient way?
I’m realizing in GH there’s a million ways to skin the proverbial cat, but I’d like to create these miters the ‘right’ way.
Thanks in advance!
Well, to answer my own question, since nobody else would…
For all of you that are just dying to know…
I was able to miter these trim pieces using the Boolean Split code snippet, which is part of the Milkbox plug-in,
found here: http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/milkbox/forum/topics/boolean-split-surface
It’s probably not the cleanest GH code, but it got the job done!
1 Like
Just a tiny little addition: to download the component @greevedogg mentioned , one needs to do these two simple steps:
- Register to the Grasshopper forum.
- Join the Milkbox group.
If these two steps are not fulfilled, then you won’t even be able to open the upper download link:
http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/milkbox/forum/topics/boolean-split-surface .
1 Like
Glad you’ve decided to go the “GH” way, build your own scripts to do the job for you, that’s the most pleasant thing to do (in my case at least). GH community usually has answers for most of your questions already, good luck!
Hey greevedogg, I’d created a simple grasshopper script for this purpose but then I realized that in my case, simply using command SolidPtOn was enough to change a x b of the window. Do you change more parameters of the window?
Yes, we make custom windows which vary in width, height, depth, top rail, bottom rail, stile widths, glass thicknesses, glass stop profiles, glass stop reveals on both interior and exterior. Aluminum extrusions and wood.
I have been using SolidPtOn and control points to make changes to these properties, but I figured I’d experiment with GH to see if I could automate it a little more. I’m on the right track for sure! I’m working on adding in all my dimensions and section views in one GH definition so that all I have to do is input the correct dimensions>>window gets ‘built’>>bake it>>2D drawing with section views and dimensions automatically generates on the top viewport in Rhino.
Then all I have to do for our shop drawings is create the layout view with 1 detail, and add annotations, title block, and poof! I’m done! What used to take me an hour or two will take me literally minutes.
That’s marvelous! Good luck!
1 Like
For all those interested, I posted the GH definition up for this in the Grasshopper forums!
http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/window-designer-parametric-2d-shop-drawings-composer
Please check it out. I welcome all questions, comments, feedback and constructive criticism.
1 Like