Extracting Mesh Faces according to Ecotect Data

Hi Everyone,

I have just started using Geco so this may be quite simple. I have exported part of a topography mesh from Rhino to ecotect using Geco. Once in Ecotect I did a solar access calculation, displaying the results as a colour range across the terrain for the total number of sunlight hours.

Following the example files in this group I brought the values back into grasshopper and added the attributes to the mesh.

My question is can I select faces in the mesh based on the amount of sunlight the faces receive (either by value or by colour)? I want to use the faces with the most light to inform the placement of solar collectors later.

I have attached the grasshopper definition (apologies the rhino file is too large) and some screenshots.

Thanks for any help anyone can give, I will happily explain further if needed.

Attachments:

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Martin Dembski on March 16, 2012 at 2:53pm

Hi Michael,

for this you just need to compare the values in an if-statement.

In this image I added this functionality to your attached definition.

Best,

Martin.

Permalink Reply by Michael Clarke on March 16, 2012 at 5:11pm

Thanks a lot Martin,

Very helpful. I adjusted it slightly to cull the faces from the joined mesh (see the image) instead of from the colour addition. I was getting a null value from the culling pattern output in the set up above although I'm not sure why.

The sunlight hours slider now works as a great control to quickly visualise which parts of the mesh are receiving more sunlight than others. I have attached images of two culled results for anyone who is interested.

Attachments:

sunlight hours greater than 1000.png, 52 KB
sunlight hours greater than 500.png, 72 KB

Permalink Reply by Joseph Heath on March 16, 2012 at 7:21pm

An alternative would be to sort the list and select the first x-number of items. Martin's is the correct way but if you wanted to place a specific number of solar panels in the best positions rather than anywhere that receives a certain number of daylight hours then I would sort it instead

Permalink Reply by Michael Clarke on March 16, 2012 at 7:28pm

Thanks Joe,

Currently I have a kind of combination. I have taken all the mesh faces that are above a certain number of daylight hours. I have then taken the closest face/s to a target point that I am aiming to direct the sunlight towards as a way of sorting the list. You are right, otherwise I have faces all over the terrain that are not too helpful.

RSS