SURFACE-PANEL Mode Panel max Width-Height dimensions

Hi Usmi,

For some reason I can't reply to your posts in the previous thread. But since the questions have evolved anyways to some other areas of the tool I thought won't hurt to create a new post and repost your questions. See my answers below:

Hi Santiago,

I have watched your tutorial and this surface panel option has grown the power of Skindesigner by manifolds. Albeit that, there are two aspects on which I'd ask for your input:

1. The panel adopts the shape of the host surface but is there any way to restrict the panel dimensions (W*H) to a specific maximum number?

2. I see that now parameters (minimum panel height and width) do not work. And only the Minimum area can control the panels. Is there any way that I can control the panels by their minimum height and width?

I actually want to cover the maximum surface with the panels within certain dimensions of the panels.

Is that possible through Surface Panel Mode?

Thanks a lot!

That is not possible in SkinDesinger in Surface Panel Mode, just because this would require to cover a lot of use cases (ex. you need to handle width-height based on any given plane). The approach here is to leave all that to be handled before using SkinDesinger through other tools that can already handle that effectively.

For your case, you basically subdivide the surfaces using grasshopper components to meet those requirements and then send them to SkinDesinger. I did a quick search and I found this link for instance:

https://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/divide-a-surface-by-a-sp...

Once you have the resulting surfaces you can send them to SkinDeisgner. Hope that makes sense.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Santiago Garay on April 26, 2022 at 1:02pm

Actually now that you mentioned the Ladybug workflow, there is also another way I used there to get those surfaces using SkinDesinger. If you look at the gh file from Hydra you will find this solution around the mid/bottom of the script(see crop below).

This basically is doing what you are after, notice the panelGeo output in the last component, those resulting surfaces have the dimensions of the PBase panel created. These can now be plugged in into a new SkinDesigner component with SURFACE_PANEL MODE turned on. Check it out and let me know if you have any questions.

Permalink Reply by Santiago Garay on April 26, 2022 at 1:12pm

Ahh, one more thing. I was checking the tutorial related to the integration of skindesigner workflow with LadyBug to design the optimal window size by using window height as the variable factor driven by radiation.

Is there a way to change the dimensions of the panel itself (or hide the panel) based on the radiation values (where the values are lower than a certain limit, there should be no panels). I am trying to make a PV system.

I am really sorry for throwing too many questions at you. But this plugin is very helpful and it holds a lot of potential as well as it confuses sometimes. So, I would be very grateful if you could share your advice on it at your convenience.

Thanks a bundle :)

Following the same idea, once you have the individual surfaces going through Ladybug, you can filter them based on their radiation values, sending the remaining surfaces to SkinDesinger with SURFACE_PANEL Mode on. Hope that makes sense.

Santiago

Permalink Reply by Usmi H on May 11, 2022 at 1:51am

Thank you so much, Santiago. Your comments and tutorials have helped me a lot. And of course, Skindesigner is a phenomenal tool (passing on the word to my colleagues and friends). It can be applied in a wide range of applications involving facades ranging from modular facade installation to insulative panels placement on the facade. I've begun to explore it and hopefully, I will be able to adapt it to the cases in which I intend to.

Cheers!

Bests,

Permalink Reply by Santiago Garay on May 11, 2022 at 5:33am

You are welcome. Btw, I’m glad you brought up all these good questions, will hopefully help many others in the future.

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