Hello,
I am trying to use VisualARQ within Tekla Structures via the Tekla grasshopper component. Via the Tekla live link it works perfectly but with the Rhino Inside Tekla component visual ARQ is not loaded. How can I solve this?
I am trying to extend my Tekla Structures with some architectural stuff, doors, windows etc… If Visual ARQ works within Tekla Structures then I am interested in buying Visual ARQ.
I suggest to ask in Tekla forum. Sebastian who is the author of the Live link and the Tekla Grasshopper component usually is very helpful.
Hi, indeed it seems the VisualARQ plugin isn’t loaded when GH is opened from Rhino.Inside. This is whether or not you have the Tekla link installed.
Can’t see any error messages or relevant exceptions anywhere though, so hard to tell why it fails. Some reasons could be
I think the VisualARQ team needs to look at this. I used the code below to test:
var rhinoCore = new RhinoCore(new string[] { "/NOSPLASH" }, Rhino.Runtime.InProcess.WindowStyle.NoWindow);
var grasshopperInstance = (Grasshopper.Plugin.GH_RhinoScriptInterface)Rhino.RhinoApp.GetPlugInObject("Grasshopper");
grasshopperInstance.DisableBanner();
grasshopperInstance.LoadEditor();
grasshopperInstance.EnableSolver();
var loadedLibraries = Grasshopper.Instances.ComponentServer.Libraries.ToList(); // VisualARQ missing from this list.
Cheers,
Sebastian
Thanks Sebastian,
I sent an email to Visual ARQ support.
Yes, VisualARQ requires an active document, but I think Rhino itself does. Are you sure there is no active document?
No, our license system allows VisualARQ to work in Rhino.Inside.
Consider that VisualARQ is first a Rhino plug-in, not a Grasshopper add-on, so VisualARQ Grasshopper Compnents are not loaded until VisualARQ plug-in is loaded. To load VisualARQ, the user needs to open a document with VisualARQ data or execute any VisualARQ command.
Is it possible in Rhino.Inside.Tekla to run the command vaInit ?
Another option: in the script you posted, try to load VisualARQ plugin by calling the LoadPlugIn RhinoCommon function before checking the loaded Grasshopper libraries:
PlugIn.LoadPlugIn(Guid.Parse("9F93914A-7D70-4ee5-A134-39CAF822389B"));
Enric
Hi Enric,
Thanks for the suggestions but unfortunately no luck 
.
First I created an empty headless Rhino doc and set that as the active doc.
Even so, the “vaInit” doesn’t seem to do anything, at least the way I’m calling it:
Rhino.RhinoApp.RunScript("-_vaInit", false); //seems nothing happens
Plugin.LoadPlugin in turn shows this dialog when it’s called:
Full test code below:
var rhinoCore = new RhinoCore(new string[] { "/NOSPLASH" }, Rhino.Runtime.InProcess.WindowStyle.NoWindow);
Rhino.RhinoDoc.ActiveDoc = Rhino.RhinoDoc.CreateHeadless(null); // create an active Rhino doc
Rhino.RhinoApp.RunScript("-_vaInit", false); //seems nothing happens
Rhino.PlugIns.PlugIn.LoadPlugIn(Guid.Parse("9F93914A-7D70-4ee5-A134-39CAF822389B")); // shows error dialog
var grasshopperInstance = (Grasshopper.Plugin.GH_RhinoScriptInterface)Rhino.RhinoApp.GetPlugInObject("Grasshopper");
grasshopperInstance.DisableBanner();
grasshopperInstance.LoadEditor();
grasshopperInstance.EnableSolver();
var loadedLibraries = Grasshopper.Instances.ComponentServer.Libraries.ToList(); // VisualARQ missing from this list.
Cheers,
Sebastian
OK, I think the problem is that Rhino (or Rhino.Inside) is running in a different schema or profile, where VisualARQ is not registered. Do you know if that is true? I know that VisualARQ works in Rhino.Inside.Revit, so I guess this is something specific to Rhino.Inside.Tekla.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any Tekla license to check what’s going on. Can I download the trial version of Tekla and install Rhino.Inside.Tekla on it?
Regards,
Enric
Hi,
This shouldn’t be dependent on Tekla I think, the code doesn’t have any Tekla references. It’s just loading Rhino and Grasshopper in the background. Maybe it’s the way that’s done that’s different from how they do it in Rhino.Inside.Revit?
I’ve put the code snippet into this example project where there’s some boilerplate code to resolve the Rhino assemblies when the program is started (by the way, this resolve code does not get hit when the VisualARQ plugin is asked to load, so doesn’t seem to be anything to do with that).
VisualArqLoadingTest.zip (4.6 KB)
Are you or someone on your side able to run this with a debugger and see what’s going on when the VisualARQ plugin is called?
We don’t refer to any specific schema in the code and I’m not sure how you would do that. Not sure why that would be required though?
Cheers,
Sebastian
Thank you gentlemen for your research. So at the moment it is not yet possible to use Visual ARQ components Inside.Tekla. I will hear when there is more news.
Is it possible with Visual ARQ to link many 2D drawings to a 3D model? Sometimes I have projects with almost 100 linked 2D drawings. In Tekla I can easily manage them with the document manager.
Is it possible to do this with Visual ARQ? It is for an environmental permit and all sections and views should be on a separate layout.
Hi @Jan_Van_Loy,
You can link 2D drawings using Rhino features. Take a look to this site (PDF (.pdf, ai, eps) import | Rhino 3-D modeling) and get in touch with the Rhino support team for more information about it.
