Grasshopper 0.8.0050 available for download

Hello All,

a new, fairly major, update is now available for download. This release features breaking changes to the Grasshopper SDK and component libraries compiled against older versions may no longer work.

Be aware, this release breaks file-forwards compatibility. You will not be able to open gh and ghx files saved with 0.8.0050 on previous versions, though of course you should be able to open old files without problems. If this is not the case, please yell loudly.

If you're having trouble loading Grasshopper, note that you must have the latest Microsoft C++ Runtimes installed on your machine. They can be downloaded from the microsoft website.

The new release can be downloaded from the usual location.

Here's a list of changes, additions and fixes since 0.8.0013:

File format forwards compatibility has been broken. You will not be able to open files saved with 0.8.0050 on earlier versions.
This release contains many breaking changes and GHA libraries compiled for older version may not work anymore.
Grasshopper Binary files (*.gh) are now saved as compressed data.
Grasshopper Binary files (*.gh) are now the default format.
Support for ancient versions of the Text Panel (still called Post-It from back then) has been removed.
Support for ancient versions of the Path Mapper (still called Path Lexer from back then) has been removed.
Placeholders for ancient versions of the Graph Mapper have been removed.
Gradient input parameters now show state tag icons (Reversed, Flatten etc.).
Geometry Cache name changes are now updated on every key press.
Geometry Cache name changes can now be cancelled with Escape.
Geometry Cache name changes can now be undone.
Mesh|Mesh intersection component now uses a different algorithm. The old behaviour is still available from the component menu.
Warning and Error balloons are now drawn as part of a Canvas Widget and will no longer show up in the Hi-Res image export.
Galapagos now accepts multiple fitness values. The true fitness will be the average of the collection.
Galapagos wires are drawn much fainter when the Galapagos object is unselected.
Medium fast redraw mode in Galapagos now immediately redraws instead of at the end of each generation.
Redesigned all Grasshopper file format icons and added larger size icons for high-dpi explorer views.
Redesigned the Most Recently Used files menu, it should now display much quicker.
Compass widget has been rewritten in an attempt to increase display performance.
Added preferences section for Compass widget.
Added preferences section for Align widget.
Added preferences section for Default Preview colours.
Added preferences section for Document Preview colours.
Added preferences section for the Most Recently Used files menu.
The Area component now accepts Breps, Meshes and Planar Closed Curves.
The Area Centroid component now accepts Breps, Meshes and Planar Closed Curves.
The Volume component now accepts Breps and Meshes.
The Volume Centroid component now accepts Breps and Meshes.
Added Merge Faces component (Surface.Util panel).
Added a Mesh Smooth component (Mesh.Util panel).
Added a Curve Seam component (Curve.Util panel).
Added Interpolate Curve With Tangents component (Curve.Spline dropdown).
Added GrasshopperFolders command to open Settings, Components and UserObject folders without loading the core plugin.
The window that reports on certain Loading Errors now has a Copy button.
Added Simplify post-process filter to parameters (in addition to Reverse, Flatten and Graft).
Parameter post processes (Reverse, Flatten, Graft & Simplify) can now also be assigned to output parameters.
Version History window now has formatting (not happy with this, I'm working on something better).
The Process Info window is gone.
Main menu has been redesigned.
Canvas toolbar has been redesigned.
Canvas context menu has been replaced by a Radial Menu.
Canvas now has a radial menu which will pop up on Middle Mouse Button clicks.
It's possible to switch between Radial and Legacy menus in the Preferences (Interface.Canvas section).
'Save As Copy' feature has been replaced by 'Save Backup' which is a GUI-less save including date+time stamp.
Added a 'Show in Folder' item to the File menu.
AutoSave settings are no longer available from the File menu, you now need to use the Preferences.
Selection shifts now also modify the view so you can use Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right to navigate up and downstream.
Mesh Edge display can now be toggled with Ctrl+M.
Preview modes now have shortcuts (Ctrl+1 = no preview, Ctrl+2 = wireframe, Ctrl+3 = shaded).
Solution States now have a default name.
Data Viewer window now responds to all required events.
Data Viewer window can now handle input and output parameters as well.
Canvas Navigation pane can now be dragged using the icon in the upper left corner.
The Persistent Data Editor has been redesigned.
It's now possible to select multiple items in the Persistent Data Editor list and edit their properties.
It's now possible to drag multiple items at the same time in the Persistent Data Editor list.
Item addition to the Persistent Data Editor is much improved.
The Persistent Data Editor is now non-modal.
The Canvas would remain black upon maximizing the Rhino window, this is fixed.
Sliders would cause multiple updates under certain conditions, this is fixed.
Digit Scrollers would cause multiple updates under certain conditions, this is fixed.
Pipes were inside out. This is fixed.
The curve component would not adjust invalid nurbs degrees, this is fixed.
Curves referencing Brep edges failed to load, this is fixed.
Points referencing Brep edges failed to load, this is fixed.
Referenced dlls in the VB/C# components sometimes resulted in invalid imports statements, this is fixed.
Pasting geometry in Rhino would cause a recompute of the Grasshopper solution, this is fixed.
Importing a file into the Rhino document would cause a recompute of the Grasshopper solution, this is fixed.
Galapagos would trigger superfluous solutions, this is fixed.
Mesh Solid Difference had a wrong name and description, this is fixed.
Several menu items were not greyed out despite not being usable, this is fixed.
The position and size of the Grasshopper window failed to get stored on Rhino shutdown, this is fixed.
The Persistent Data Editor would crash on parameters that did not support data proxies, this is fixed.

I'll add some additional information regarding some of the new UI features in subsequent posts.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by taz on August 1, 2011 at 7:31pm

New favorite icon...

PS What was the default color green settings for selected geometry? I can't choose a new one...

Permalink Reply by Michael Pryor on August 1, 2011 at 8:51pm

Duplicate still makes me lol.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on August 2, 2011 at 5:40am

Go into the grasshopper_kernel.xml settings file (when Grasshopper is not running) and erase the entries for:

DocDefaultPreview

DocDefaultPreviewSelected

if you want to reset either colour. The defaults I picked were:

190;153;0;0

255;255;162;0

specified in ARGB order.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by taz on August 2, 2011 at 7:08pm

thx

Permalink Reply by Andrew Heumann on August 1, 2011 at 11:07pm

Great update! Love having simplify built in to either end of every component - will clean up definitions a lot! And the recent files menu is WAAAY faster - this used to drive me crazy.

A couple thoughts on some of the UI changes. I'm unable to use the radial menu because most of the time I'm using a trackpad without a middle button , so I've had to enable the legacy menu. When I AM using a 3-button mouse it would be nice to revert to the radial menu with the middle mouse button, but I don't want to swap my preferences every time I plug in my mouse.

From a teaching standpoint, I would also like to have the option to return the buttons to the toolbar; It's not as though we're really gaining any screen real estate by moving them, and it's an easier interface paradigm for students to grasp. Furthermore, all nostalgia for "old ways" aside, there is already a wealth of training material available for grasshopper on the web, and this change is a bit of a hurdle for students trying to take advantage of those materials.

The new Data Viewer component is great, but it's a little counter-intuitive when selecting components with multiple inputs or outputs. Clicking near-and-to-the-left of an output parameter causes it to show properly in the data viewer, but clicking directly on the letter triggers the interface to drag out a wire. Perhaps the clickable area for dragging a wire from a component be made a bit smaller? Or some kind of minute delay to help the interface distinguish between direct clicks and click-and-drag motions.

All in all a fantastic update!! Thanks for your continued hard work on improving a tool that's already the best one out there, as far as I'm concerned.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on August 2, 2011 at 5:54am

"...but I don't want to swap my preferences every time I plug in my mouse."

So what, as soon as I detect a Middle Mouse button press I revert to the Radial menu? The next release should also display the radial menu on Space-bar press, hopefully it will make this all academic.

I suppose there's no harm in having both menus active all the time. I wonder why I didn't think of that before...

"From a teaching standpoint, I would also like to have the option to return the buttons to the toolbar; It's not as though we're really gaining any screen real estate by moving them..."

The toolbar icons are now bigger than before, and especially people who run Grasshopper and Rhino on a single screen (which is the most common set-up for workshops and lectures) will run into cases where the toolbar is too short to accommodate all the icons.

I do agree with you that the current toolbar is specifically designed for high-end users, and it features preciously few buttons useful for your average beginner.

The toolbar issue needs some serious thought...

"The new Data Viewer component is great, but it's a little counter-intuitive when selecting components with multiple inputs or outputs."

Yeah it blows. I already improved the picking (it works anywhere within the bounds of parameter, regardless of what the mouseclick does next), but I want to provide a wholly different mechanism to targeting parameters, one that will allow you to target multiple objects at once and work without having the viewer retarget all the time.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Martin Dembski on August 2, 2011 at 12:52am

Great, just have to go through all changes once.

Thanks a lot and keep on working like this.

Permalink Reply by djordje on August 2, 2011 at 6:26pm

does this newest Grasshopper version works on Rhino SR8?

I tried to run it after installing, but I got an error message. Maybe it is still problem with my Microsoft Visual C++ ?

I do not know which one of these three I need to download from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26347

vcredist_IA64.EXE, vcredist_x64.EXE, vcredist_x86.EXE ?

I am using x32 bit system so which one do I need?

Permalink Reply by Julius on August 2, 2011 at 6:31pm

The download page urges you to install you to always update to the newest Service Release for Rhino. If it doesn't run, try updating Rhino. That should work.

Permalink Reply by djordje on August 2, 2011 at 6:32pm

So for this newest version I definitively need SR9 or Rhino v5? I can not run it on my SR8?

Permalink Reply by Julius on August 2, 2011 at 6:52pm

Seems so. If I remember right, I had to update Rhino too.

Using Rhino SR9 with GH 0.8.0050 on Win7 x64.

Permalink Reply by Michael Pryor on August 2, 2011 at 6:36pm

I'm running service pack 8 on windows 7 64bit. Newest GH runs fine here.