A Wishlist - with appreciation for David's hard work.

I've been using grasshopper a ton over the past year or so, and I've noticed a few things that I think could be really helpful. But I want to preface my suggestions with an enormous appreciation for David--this software is a pleasure to use, and David, you have done an amazing job. I also want to acknowledge it takes a lot of work to edit the software, and I understand that it can take a while before any changes are made.

Okay so here are some ideas:

Subcurve - just like subsurface, but based on 1-dimensional intervals
Map Values to Interval - a single component that could take a list of values, an interval, and would scale the list of values to match the input interval.
A Dispatch component that could dispatch according to a list of output indices. Instead of just True/False, you could output things based on a pattern using 0/1/2/3/4, etc. This component would be the inverse of Weave.
A text object parameter and data type, with some basic ways to edit it.
More string manipulation operations, allowing for easy editing with string subintervals, and character counts, and basic text formatting (line return, etc.).
I really really really wish the List Item component had a default index value of "0". That is what I input into it 80% of the time.

That's all for now. If any of these ideas are already adequately addressed, please let me know. Thanks.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 27, 2010 at 2:14am

1. Already done, SubCurve has been available for a while now.
2. Ok, I'll add this for 0.7
3. I agree, would be useful, but I'm not sure I'll manage it for the first 0.7 release
4. yeah... some day, some day soon.
5. Ok, I'll add some easy string manipulation components for 0.7.
6. Just changed that, it will be available in the next release.

Thanks for testing and the feedback (and the praise). I can safely say that writing Grasshopper is the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Benjamin Golder on April 27, 2010 at 2:20am

Thanks!!

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 27, 2010 at 6:03am

(2) and (5) are done.

I added:

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Benjamin Golder on April 27, 2010 at 6:17am

Thank you David!! You must be some sort of ninja--a ninja that with heightened user-feedback awareness, and the ability to transform interfaces quickly and silently.

Permalink Reply by Ángel Linares on April 27, 2010 at 7:22am

Great :) That capture smells like a great 0.7 :)

Permalink Reply by Ángel Linares on April 27, 2010 at 2:55am

With the same points, I wil post a wish that my students says to me:

- Is it possible to add the possibility of rotate or change inputs/outputs orientation in nodes?

It will be great. Now, definitions always grows from left to right and in some cases this is not good enough to organize de canvas. I know that receiber has maked a really good work with this. Students suggest some king of circular component (like pie chart) that let you rotate inputs and output or a standart rectangular component with some orientations capabilities.

Amazing work with this great software anyway. You are changing the way students think about geometry :)

Best Regards.

P.D.: I don't Know if could be better open another post for this...but I thinks that is better have all wishes in one post.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 27, 2010 at 3:07am

That is actually pretty difficult. I'd have to add quite a lot of code to define the 'mapping' from parameter order to display order, not to mention a good interface for doing this.

There's also a plan to hide/show certain parameters, I think these two will go great together when I get around to it.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by kipodi on April 27, 2010 at 6:57am

if I may add..
1. a group geometry. it is really usefull..I"ve made models where I duplicated the whole script a dozen times..each time for a differrent curve.
2.which is just an idea =I'm not sure if it's possible..reversing a battery..so if I found somehting I need, but the other way around,I can make the input become an output and the output will become an input. it will open alot of options..

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 27, 2010 at 7:52am

1. Yes, this would indeed be useful. But I don't think I'll manage it for 0.7.0001, it will have to wait a bit longer.

2. This is not possible with most algorithms. You can't uncook eggs. A lot of components are two sides of the same coin, but it wouldn't work for so many others.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by robert cervellione on April 27, 2010 at 9:36am

i think all of those are great. i dont know if this is what #4 was referring to but a way to build a drop down list where the values were a string with a data property would be great. it would be good if you can allow any type of data to be mapped to an option like "option 1" could return a point or a surface.

Permalink Reply by Thomas J. Mrokon on May 3, 2012 at 9:06am

I use this thread just to add a new wish...

While working with large definitions I often need to zoom in just to pick a "battery-instance", because all nodes have their absolute size and it is hard to click an output or input from a great distance. Even moving small items is very hard when you are out of sight...

What about a scaling feature for all of those small batteries? Just like you have your font-size...