Loading Forever? Is there a progress indicator?

I find my primary frustration with grasshopper lies in the seeming inescapable forever loading workflow blockages.

My Team and I wonder if there is a way to add an progress/loading status indicator to grasshopper...

...so we can know if it is worth waiting another few minutes or if we should abandon ship and start over.

I have learned several tricks to avoid these situations as I gain familiarity and greater understanding of grasshopper.

Tips:Use the five minute rule if u feel it could be worth waiting otherwise abandon after a minute.

Consider the depth of information processing before connecting a component, can you simplify it first.

Open a new file and test definitions on smaller parameters before using it on your project file.

Save your file before doing potentially hazardous connections of components.

...any further suggestions?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 19, 2014 at 8:08am

Hi Timothy,

"loading"? Or solving?

It would be possible to display a progress bar for solving, but only in the sense of "45 out of 82 components done". Nobody knows how long a solution will take.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Permalink Reply by Timothy Goheen on April 19, 2014 at 3:07pm

Thanks David,

I know it depends mostly on the computer that is used for operation and the extent, magnitude, and precision of your definition. So it would be mostly intuitive to know the time to solve based on these.

With your comment that it is possible to display the number of components completed is this already existing? If so, could you point me to where to access it?

Thanks again,

Tim

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 19, 2014 at 5:21pm

It doesn't exist yet. Since the Grasshopper solution runs on the main application thread, there are actually no processor cycles left over to update the UI while the solution is running. If I have to start updating the UI then those cycles will no longer be available to the solver, which means each solution will take longer. So at the moment this is not a feature I'm planning on adding.

Making solution multi-threaded and background-threaded is pretty high priority for GH2. When (if) that all works I can start with a progress indicator.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Permalink Reply by Timothy Goheen on April 19, 2014 at 6:49pm

Understood. Thanks.

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