Method to Turn "Bake" Option OFF for Skindesigner

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Santiago Garay on March 2, 2022 at 10:16am

Hi Hashir,

I believe what you are looking for can be done with the component/workflow described in the link below:

https://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/skindesigner/forum/topics/grass...

Check that out and let me know if you have any questions!

Permalink Reply by Santiago Garay on March 2, 2022 at 10:33am

Just make sure the SkinDataViewer drawPanelElements input is set to False. You can use the panelGeo output to extract the rectangles for the entire skin layout.

 

Permalink Reply by Usmi H on March 9, 2022 at 7:53am

Hi Santiago,

Thank you so much for your response. This is exactly what I have been looking for.

I have one more question. Is there any way I can try to make panels attach to the edges? For instance, I have a (facade) width of 5000 mm and I am placing panels of 2200mm. So two panels should be placed on this facade with a 600mm distance between them instead of two panels placed together and leaving a distance at the end. As I observe that the panels have a built-in tendency of attaching (so the Skindesigner will place the panels attached and leave a distance of 600mm at the end). I am aware that we can offset panels by a certain distance. But I just want the panels to not attach to each other as I show in the diagram. 

If there is some way please let me know.

Thanks a lot again.

Bests,

(Two scenarios divided by the red line)

Attachments:

• Screenshot 2022-03-09 195308.jpg, 40 KB

Permalink Reply by Santiago Garay on March 9, 2022 at 11:26am

Hi Hashir,

So, there are a couple of ways to  achieve that though it requires an extra step or two and you might find that one works better than the other for your particular needs.

One is to break the skin surface in two, having one surface with 5000 width on one side and the remaining width on the other.

A bit more complex one is to create a panel of three panels, these are called panel bays and there is a tutorial about them on hydra. Basically you can create a panel bay that has two 5000mm-width panels on the ends and a 600mm-width "dummy" panel in the middle to create the void. This approach makes sense if you have this condition in multiple locations throughout your design. It's cleaner than the first but required more work.

Let me know if any of these work for you or if you have any issues with them.

Santiago

Permalink Reply by Usmi H on April 1, 2022 at 7:46am

Thank you so much, Santiago for your response.

I have another query. I have some surfaces and I am trying to place the panels on them with certain parameters. Logically, the panels should not be placed where the surface does not have sufficient space. But the panels are placed in one space which is not sufficient (exceeding the boundary) and some other spaces are empty which could be potentially host for the panels. Could you please look into this?

Thanks a lot!

Bests,

PV1.gh

Permalink Reply by Santiago Garay on April 1, 2022 at 8:47am

I believe the problem is that your surfaces look like they are not SkinDesigner "friendly" so SkinDesinger is taking their bottom edge to generate a friendly surface.

To fix this you need to create surfaces by extruding 2d curves. So in your example you can create several curve extrusions to compose the final shape of your façade.

Alternatively, you can work with one single extrusion and exclude some areas of this surface by creating regions (again as 2d curve extrusions) and plugging them in a layout controller that should use a void panel instead of your default panel. 

You would probably understand this approach better if you watch Tutorial#1 in the YouTube channel. Hope this helps, give it a try and let me know if you have any issues.

Permalink Reply by Usmi H on April 21, 2022 at 7:44am

PV2.gh

Hello Santiago,

I have followed your advice and worked based on it. I am pleased that it is working for the most part of it. Thanks a lot for that. However, when I am trying to avoid the region where there shouldn't be any panels (light pink). Some surfaces have panels there. If I play with the regiondistanceTH in Layout Controller, it makes a difference but it is hit and trial thing, not a parametric approach. Could you please share some insight into what could be causing this?

Looking forward to your response at your convenience.

I can't thank you enough for this tool and the guidance you've been providing!!!

Bests,

Permalink Reply by Usmi H on April 22, 2022 at 8:20am

Hi Santiago, 

I have solved the problem using another way where I do not have to use Layout Controller and I am only giving the host surface for the panels. Although, I have tried some other geometries and it seems that the layout controller has some issues or maybe it is just me who couldn't understand its functionality in a good way. However, I'd very much appreciate if you just share your remarks on it or what you think could be the issue. 

Your suggestions/comments will be very helpful for the future work!

Thanks again :) 

Permalink Reply by Santiago Garay on April 22, 2022 at 10:32am

Hi Usmi,

For what I could see in your solution I believe it is important to clarify that in its default mode, SkinDesigner uses the first panel size as the x/y dimensions of the panel grid to be used throughout the façade. In this mode it only allows for one panel size, so in fact your void panel is sized to that same dimensions to follow this module size.

In this scenario, the layout controller only looks at the center point of each cell of the grid (and its surrounding area based on the distanceTH) and, if it "hits" a region, then it will trigger the panel change. Since your regions are at different locations relative to the cell center some of them are placed outside of these target areas. 

For what I see in your model I suspect you were looking to create variable panel/void sizes based on these regions. If that's the case (without knowing what was the workaround you came up with) I would suggest using the SURFACE-PANEL MODE. This allows you to get the variable panel size arrangements. If you are interested, there is a tutorial in the YouTube channel explaining this workflow.

I hope this helps, though much of what I said above is based on assumptions, hope I did not miss by much!

Santiago

 

Permalink Reply by Usmi H on April 23, 2022 at 3:14am

Thank you so much, Santiago for your prompt response.

Yes, in fact, my whole purpose is to place variable-sized panels in order to cover the maximum surface. I was using Galapagos for that by providing different size inputs using Genepool. I'd love to check this tutorial on your channel as I want to have maximum surface coverage with panels and it'll definitely include variable-sized panels. 

I will share the updates.

Thanks again!

Usman

 

Permalink Reply by Usmi H on April 26, 2022 at 4:46am

Hi Santiago,

I have watched your tutorial and this surface panel option has grown the power of Skindesigner by manifolds. Albeit that, there are two aspects on which I'd ask for your input:

1. The panel adopts the shape of the host surface but is there any way to restrict the panel dimensions (W*H) to a specific maximum number?

2. I see that now parameters (minimum panel height and width) do not work. And only the Minimum area can control the panels. Is there any way that I can control the panels by their minimum height and width?

I actually want to cover the maximum surface with the panels within certain dimensions of the panels.

Is that possible through Surface Panel Mode?

Thanks a lot!

Permalink Reply by Usmi H on April 26, 2022 at 7:32am

Ahh, one more thing. I was checking the tutorial related to the integration of skindesigner workflow with LadyBug to design the optimal window size by using window height as the variable factor driven by radiation.

Is there a way to change the dimensions of the panel itself (or hide the panel) based on the radiation values (where the values are lower than a certain limit, there should be no panels). I am trying to make a PV system.

I am really sorry for throwing too many questions at you. But this plugin is very helpful and it holds a lot of potential as well as it confuses sometimes. So, I would be very grateful if you could share your advice on it at your convenience.

Thanks a bundle :)

Bests,

Usman