Would it be possible to implement Rhino.Inside with Powermill? I know Autodesk at one point was working to develop a link between Powermill and Dynamo, but I’m not sure how far that got. It seems like Rhino.Inside tied to Powermill could introduce some really interesting ideas for generative or parametric toolpathing development.
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Hi @bsmith,
Well, it looks like can write plug-ins for Powermill.
And it looks like there is a .NET API to write plug-ins:
So there is a good chance that you could run Rhino inside of Powermill. Obviously, nobody knows for sure until they try.
– Dale
Hi @dale, Do you have some reference sheet which I can look at which lists the requirements of an API in order to successfully integrate ? Something that a highly technical Product Manager, or Product Owner could understand… before engaging an engineering team ?
Hi @scott.green,
No, nothing like that yet. However, the the target application is extendable via .NET, there is a good chance you can get Rhino.Inside to work with it.
It might be helpful for your team to review the sample projects on GitHub. I’d start some something simple, such as Rhino running inside of a console application.
– Dale
Thanks @dale. dont want to hijack the thread, but based on your answer i might start a new one.
Lets say I have a CAE or modeling application which has support for Mesh, B-rep, Curves, and various geometry representations…
It has Python scripting interface and its extensible, has a structure for managing customization as plug ins…
It seems reasonable to beleive that i can establish a connection to Rhino, pass varaibles to Rhino & Grasshopper,… create and return some collections of uniqely patterned Curves, or Bodies ( mesh or CAD )… all at the script level ?
Does this CAE or modeling application have a name?
– Dale
Absolutely ! Geomagic Wrap. Not sure if you had ever heard of it.
I was inspired by another forum poster asking about Geomagic Design.
Right now I have a couple projects that would where the connection would be pretty powerful.
Its actually Geomagic scripting platform ( through Geomagic Wrap ) to Rhino Inside For curve and structure generation then downstream mesh / voxel / for print processing inside Wrap framework
Our documentation is inside the Help directory of the installer… soon to be posted online for easy access.
Hi @scott.green,
Ideally, the host application would have a plug-in (or extension) architecture. In the case of Rhino.Inside, the plug-in would load and manage the Rhino DLL, which provides access to Rhino’s API, Grasshopper, etc.
I have heard of Geomagic (Studio and Wrap). If Geomagic Wrap only has a scripting language, I don’t know if it’s a candiate to use Rhino.Inside. We’d need someone to dig into it a little more (as I can only speculate).
– Dale
Success… able to Generate curves through Rhino from my Wrap python scripting environment, and return then back to Wrap model manager, see them in Wrap.
If I want to take it a step further, and send some meaningful points from my Wrap environment to a Grasshopper script, with Grasshopper paramters, and let the script generate a meainguful pattern of curves or structure…
Do you have a pointer or a reference for how to do in Python ?
Hi @scott.green,
There are ways to automate Grasshopper in the manner you describe. I don’t think anything is written down, as this is fairly new stuff. About all I can suggest right now is to search this category to see what others have done using other languages.
– Dale
Hi Dale, I found the way… Generally it works so far.
Rhino.RhinoApp.GetPlugInObject( ‘Grasshopper’ )
then load and show editor… and work from there.
and it looks like I can work though these two to get what i need.
https://developer.rhino3d.com/api/grasshopper/html/T_Grasshopper_Plugin_GH_RhinoScriptInterface.htm
https://developer.rhino3d.com/5/api/RhinoCommon/html/N_Rhino_Commands.htm ( possibly command interface as a back up )
Will update you when i have a proof of concept.
Is that something that you would be willing to share?
The development is internal in my company, I’m sorry, I use my own API to interact with Powermill, the rest is .NET development, you can try interacting with Powermill with your API (https://github.com/Autodesk/PowerShapeAndPowerMillAPI)
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That’s okay, no worries. Looks like a pretty impressive and useful plugin. We definitely will start working on developing our own.
Hi ,
any news yet ?
are you planning to sell it ?
Best regards , Andrea Tisselli
I’m sorry, development is internal to the company where I work
Thanks anyway for your answer
Andrea