WISH : more control over geometry pipeline

Grasshopper Human
1

I’m using the geometry pipeline to reference block instances on large models and I find 2 main issues :
-First, I think it lacks an optional trigger because, since it’s the only “Human” way to reference InstanceObjects in Grasshopper, it would be practical to make it look for blocks only when needed.
-Second, I find that the component runs three times… No idea why, but this causes a lot of downstream components to run multiple times uselessly.

Pipeline runs 3 times
Pipeline runs 3 times1430×509 42.3 KB

EDIT : I tried on a smaller model and find that the component runs only once, which should be the case, whatever the file size / number of blocks.

Pipeline runs once
Pipeline runs once1107×327 30 KB

2

Maybe try Metahopper to selectively enable/disable it.

3

Hi Patt,

this doesn’t work because when disabled, there is no more output, and the definition can’t run without that data.
I’m trying to work my way around the problem using the Elefront component “Reference Block By Name” which I find is is extremely useful, although it outputs a special class of objects.
I get the GUIDs and from that, extract useful data :

ReferenceBlocks By Name
ReferenceBlocks By Name1296×702 125 KB

4

Thanks for sharing your workaround.

If you wanted to persevere with Human and Metahopper, you might be able to use a data recorder. Instead of the built in one, I think the one they include with the fologram plugin might be a bit easier to incorporate into program flow.

5

Hey, thanks ! I realize that you had already suggested this, but I overlooked it.

6

You’re welcome! I’m always replying on my phone so am normally unable to test my guesses or send screenshots unfortunately, so it’s easy to miss!

7

I checked out the Fologram plugin page on Food4Rhino.
It’s a Rhino plugin and GH plugin ; I’m not sure I want to make my loading times longer just to get one improved component…
How does their Data Dam improve over Gh’s ?

8

Here’s the C# component by the way :
Block data from GUID.gh (1.4 KB)

I use it a lot in my definition, so I need to compile it to make it execute faster ; any help / advice for doing that would be greatly appreciated.