Grasshopper 0.6.0043 available for download

Hi All,

as I'm leaving tomorrow morning for SmartGeometry, this is the last chance for about 2 weeks to upload a new version. I don't think we're quite ready to release a new version, but I don't want to wait even longer.

The usual warnings:

1. DO NOT overwrite old files. Makes copies of old files first. Files written with the new version will not be readable by older versions.

2. DO NOT use this version on critical projects. If something is seriously wrong there won't be time to fix it until mid-december.

Download EXE installer

Download ZIP Installer

A brief overview of changes (not complete):
- Settings are no longer stored in the registry, but instead in xml files in a special folder. This makes it easier to delete them (in case you want to revert to factory defaults), copy them, edit them, share them etc. etc. The folder which contains the settings files can be opened via the [File->Open Settings] menu. Note that many settings files are written when grasshopper closes.

- Toolbar panels have been shrunk. Not all components are now visible on the panels, you have to open up the dropdown to see them all. Not sure yet if this is a good way to go...

- Buttons on toolbar panels are now more logically grouped together.

- New Save on Exit dialog for unsaved files.

- Autosave has been added. By default autosave kicks in just prior to a number of predefined 'risky' operations. You can alter the autosave behaviour via the [File->AutoSave] menu.

- Objects can now be fully disabled. There are new buttons on the Canvas toolbar for this as well as new menu items everywhere. Disabled objects will not collect data and they will not compute solutions. Usually Disabled objects are drawn in dark grey.

- New colour scheme for the GUI. If you're seriously unhappy with the new scheme and you don't mind messing around with xml, feel free to edit the grasshopper_colours.xml file in the Settings folder.

- Gradient object now has custom presets and a custom default. New options available in the Gradient Object Menu.

- Path Mapper object has been replaced. If you're using the old one it will still load correctly, but you'll no longer be able to create a new instance of the old version.

- Remote Control Panel is being reworked. This version contains a semi-functioning one, but I recommend you don't use it at all yet.

- Bunch of new components.

- Bunch of bug-fixes (unfortunately not all reported bugs have been fixed yet)

I probably won't be able to read the forum or my email for a while, so if you're running into serious problems, please revert to the 0.6.0019 build.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Robert McNeel & Associates
Poprad, Slovakia

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marc Syp on November 25, 2009 at 2:45pm

Tore -

I agree, I prefer the old toolbars that expanded to fill the amount of space available. I like using the toolbars but I don't like using the drop-downs, that's just an extra click that shouldn't be necessary, since I work with my GH window in a landscape mode. I don't see the logic behind restricting them, when the previous system was working just fine.

Marc

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 25, 2009 at 4:08pm

Marc -

Whilst I agree with you about preferring the old toolbars I think David is currently banging his head against the wall as to how to include the thousands of Rhino functions that are not included in GH at present. I would like to see the ability to resize a section in a tab across the screen or even down the screen to a third row. As I work with large multiple monitors these would not get in the way, but I'm sure someone working on a laptop is thankful that the complex numbers isn't intruding as much as it could. As I have no knowledge of developing GUIs I don't know if what I suggest is even easy to implement, but I would like to see David develop his idea about Markov chains (mentioned earlier) and accessing the options from a radial toolbar brought up using the mouse wheel.

Danny

Permalink Reply by Marc Syp on November 26, 2009 at 2:23pm

Yeah, I hear you. Fit-to-available space + Markov chains + flexible toolbar layout would be good. In the meantime, maybe the toolbars can be restored while the number of components is still relatively small and a new system is under development...

Permalink Reply by to] on November 25, 2009 at 2:19pm

hi david

first thanks for the new components and the color scheme really nice, you did a perfect job (as always ;) )

just saw that the grasshopper extension is not set to .rhp(it is .dll)
so if someone want to install it @ the rhino 5 beta just drag and drop the grasshopper.dll inside the rhino canvas (so you have not to search for the rhp)

to]

Permalink Reply by Carlo Beltracchi on November 25, 2009 at 5:19pm

Thanks David!

There's a lot of new components, that's great.
But in my opinion there's something that keep this version very slow...I don't know why.

Don't forget that the power of the gh is the lightness and potential of the program,and not only the number of components (cause this is what the user have to do!)

Thank you for your precious work!

Permalink Reply by to] on November 26, 2009 at 6:04am

Hi David

bug report
sin cos isn't available in vbnet direct .....same problem like pi

to call pi, sin,etc.. just type math.*** to get access to the math class

best to]

Permalink Reply by Vicente Soler on November 26, 2009 at 6:07am

I don't think that's a bug. Afaik, it's always been that way in earlier releases.

Permalink Reply by to] on November 26, 2009 at 6:14am

hi vicente

i just test all my def and just realized that i wrote in some vbnet components just sin
and not math.sin(it was possble before)
sure it is much clearer to write math.***
i just wrote that for all that may have that problem

Permalink Reply by Vicente Soler on November 26, 2009 at 6:26am

weird... i have two computers here, one with xp and one with win7 and both with GH 0.6.0019. On the win7 computer i have to write math.sin, on the win xp computer i can simply write sin. Maybe it has to do with the dotnet version?

Permalink Reply by Damien Alomar on November 26, 2009 at 6:37am

I'd say its the version of dotNET. I think I have 3.5 and have to prefix everything with Math. Its possible that only having 2.0 installed (which is all Rhino/GH needs) doesn't require as much explicitness. If its really that important, then I think you can just import the system.math namespace...

Permalink Reply by Maurice Martel on November 26, 2009 at 1:25pm

Hi David,
I've installed the version 0.6.0033 that you gave to me at the Acadia Workshop in Chicago last month and it makes always problems when I open a definition. Some links are missings and also some functions...
Is it a problem from the version or from my definition?

thanks
Maurice

Permalink Reply by Roberto Vackflores on November 27, 2009 at 7:42am