Partial Developer Absence

Dear GH users,

over the next 3 weeks (till November 12th) I'll be in Seattle at McNeel headquarters discussing the road ahead for Grasshopper 2.0. I'll probably have very little time for support and discussions during this period.

The major topics discussed for GH2 during this period will be:

Documentation/Help
GHA/Cluster/VB/C# App-Store
Localization (i.e. languages other than English)
Constraint Engine implementation
Improved VB/C#/Python development tools
Multi-threading the solver
Building a Mac version

If you feel something important was left out, please let us know here. Note that incremental improvements and bug-fixes are not worth discussion as we'll try and get around to them no matter what. Topics on this list have to fit the "Are we going to try and do X?" format.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Tirol, Austria

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Thibault Schwartz on October 11, 2013 at 5:10am

Hi David,

I would have a few suggestions...

GH multithreading and a Rhino constraint engine are definitely missing, but also:

- Having a dynamic loading/previewing system like in Catia (you activate the loading of the geometry by double clicking on objects, otherwise it's just a raw preview that was pre-computed) --> allows to run huge models without killing your computer + unlimited complexity of the model.

- I know Rhino is a surface modeler, but would it be possible to have more robust solid operations? (the boolean ops are much better than in rh4 but it is still randomly working...). Any chance to move progressively towards exact solid modeling?

- A very light version of rhino with a minimal interface to allow to pack it with a specific set of plugins to run as a compact software environment (for industry-oriented applications or else, for example on computers running groups of machines).

I don't know if these are feasible or interesting for McNeel though, so...

Have a good trip!

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 11, 2013 at 5:35am

Aren't those all Rhino wishes?

I realize I mentioned Rhino6 in my post, but that was only in relation to including GH1 in Rhino6. I'll amend that.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Tirol, Austria

Permalink Reply by martyn hogg on October 11, 2013 at 6:13am

Free Rhino upgrades for GH users.

Because it makes sense.

Permalink Reply by Michael Pryor on October 14, 2013 at 8:11am

It makes no sense, businesses need to make money. It is not some charity.

Permalink Reply by Vicente Soler on October 14, 2013 at 9:14am

Americans, we don't need your capitalist propaganda.

On a more serious note, free software and profits are not mutually exclusive, there are indirect ways of making money, but unlikely to be applicable in this case.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 14, 2013 at 9:55am

You think European or Asian businesses aren't focused on making money?

Increased Rhino sales due to Grasshopper is what funds Grasshopper development.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Seattle, WA

Permalink Reply by Vicente Soler on October 14, 2013 at 10:35am

I thought their only goal was the welfare of society and only Americans acted on their rational self interest.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 14, 2013 at 10:41am

Seattle is very close to Canada...

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com