Octopus

Information

Octopus is a plug-in for applying evolutionary principles to parametric design and problem solving. It allows the search for many goals at once, producing a range of optimized trade-off solutions between the extremes of each goal.

Also see octopus.E for custom evolutionary algorithms.

Download the latest version on food4rhino

It is part of a range of tools developed at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and Bollinger+Grohmann Engineers.

search for single goal + diversity of solutions
search for best trade offs between 2 to X goals
improve solutions by similarity-goals
choose preferred solutions during a search
change objectives during a search
solutions' 3d models for visual feedback
recorded history
save all search data within the Grasshopper document
save a solution as a Grasshopper State
export to text or text files

Octopus introduces multiple fitness values to the optimization. The best trade-offs between those objectives are searched, producing a set of possible optimum solutions that ideally reach from one extreme trade-off to the other.

Based on SPEA-2 and HypE from ETH Zürich and David Rutten's Galapagos User Interface. Developed by Robert Vierlinger in cooperation with Christoph Zimmel, karamba3d.com and Bollinger+Grohmann Engineers.

To install:

Copy the .gha and .dll file into the Grasshopper components folder
Right-click the file > Properties > make sure there is no "blocked" text
Restart Rhino and Grasshopper

Some examples are provided here.

New commented examples and a brief manual are provided in the download of octopus on food4rhino.

Location: Vienna
Members: 461
Latest Activity: Mar 20

Discussion Forum

Octopus window issue! 5 Replies

Hey all,I've been trying for hours to open the octopus window by clicking on it!(screenshot attached), the window isnt even minimized somewhere on the screen, i searched a lot.I removed it and copied…Continue

Started by fares. Last reply by BerniceKDaniels Mar 20.

Octopus Loop - How to use 3 Replies

Hello everyone,very new to grasshopper, I want to repeat a process taking place on a grid multiple times using a Loop. I did it using the Anemone Loop which was great and easier for me to understand,…Continue

Tags: octopusloop

Started by Theodora Georgopoulou. Last reply by Sabrina Morris Jan 22.

Automatically run solver and output best solution after N generations 4 Replies

Below is a schematic of what I want to do, namely:Trigger a solver like Octopus or Galapagos from within a definition (not by double-clicking the component), run the solver for a fixed number of…Continue

Tags: loop, optimization, evolutionary, Galapagos, Octopus

Started by Max Marschall. Last reply by GabrielaSullivan Dec 18, 2023.

Ronysservices

I had an excellent experience with this https://ronysservices.com/ wooden floor laying service in New York. The team was…Continue

Started by Jack56 Jul 26, 2023.

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Comment Wall

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Comment by Hairault on July 10, 2015 at 3:23: Hi Octopus users,

I've been using Octopus in several problems, trying to test many possibilities, and I end up with many GH files exceeding 200 Mo, which are hard to manipulate.

Is there any mean to compress/reduce gh files size ?

Is there any technique to store the data out of octopus and re-load it if needed ?

For the moment, I am deleting genetical history I don't need, and deleting outer solutions. I also reduced the population size when the big population is diverse enough, of course trying to maintain diversity. But I don't think I will get a good set of solutions in the end.

Thanks for any clue, any help, any direction toward which I should seek !

Gaëtan

Comment by Robert Vier on June 6, 2015 at 5:31: A WIP-version of the looping component used in octopus.E is now available as an explicit loop, with the same functions as Anemone, a bit less well to use but much faster [up to 1000 times due to internal calculation]:

http://www.food4rhino.com/project/octopusloop

Comment by Israa El-Maghraby on April 15, 2015 at 1:16: Hello Robert Vier, hope you are doing great

I have a little serious problem, my optimization collapsed at the11th generation, where it should continue till 15 generation. The octopus saved my last 10 generations "no problem about that" but corrupted my 11th, any way I can start from generation 10 and re continue my optimization process , THANKS IN A MILLION

Comment by Israa El-Maghraby on March 1, 2015 at 12:09: I have another conern my simulation does not go far than ZERO generations .. Despite i made it 3 and population size 4 .. just as a test ... Could you think what might be the problem !

Comment by Israa El-Maghraby on February 28, 2015 at 13:01: I have a question concerning EVALPOOLSIZE ... what does determine its values.. i made population size 4 and max number of generation is 3 ... does the values of these parameters affect it !.. I really don't understand it clearly

Thanks in advance

Comment by Israa El-Maghraby on January 28, 2015 at 13:33: Ok (Y) , Thanks a lot :)

Comment by Robert Vier on January 28, 2015 at 13:27: Israa,

you are in generation 0. The graphs will be shown in the next ones.

Best

Comment by Israa El-Maghraby on January 28, 2015 at 12:44: Hello Robert, Hope everything is great with you, I have a little problem that the Convergence Graphs and Hypervolume Graph don't appear in the optimization process ... I designed an office unit with a shading element. The parameters are the geometrical properties of the shading element. The targeted performance is DAYLIGHT AUTONOMY, PMV AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION , I used DIVA for that. So What do you think might be the problem.
P.S. when I run the GH files came with the OCTOPUS . it works just fine and both graphs appear. Thanks in advance