Kangaroo

Information

THIS FORUM IS NO LONGER ACTIVE. PLEASE POST ANY NEW QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSION ON:

https://discourse.mcneel.com/c/grasshopper/kangaroo

The discussions here are preserved for reference, but new questions posted here are likely to go unanswered.

Kangaroo is a Live Physics engine for interactive simulation, optimization and form-finding directly within Grasshopper.

Website: http://kangaroo3d.com
Members: 3024
Latest Activity: yesterday

You can read an introduction to the ideas behind Kangaroo here:

http://spacesymmetrystructure.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/kangaroo/

Kangaroo2 is now available for testing (see full announcement here). Please bear in mind this is still a work-in-progress, and features are still subject to change.

Kangaroo2 is now included with Rhino6, you do not need to install it separately.

You can download it for Rhino5 from here:

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

This thread contains some troubleshooting tips if you have problems getting it installed and working:

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/kangaroo/forum/topics/kangaroo-2

The main source of example files for the latest version is here:

https://github.com/Dan-Piker/Kangaroo-examples

Some further example files for version 2.0 can be found here:

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/kangaroo/page/kangaroo2-additional-examples

with more to follow - if there is some particular feature you would like more examples of information on please ask there.

The Kangaroo2 solver library is now separate from the Grasshopper components, and can also be referenced and used in scripts, either in the GH VB/C#/Python components, or in RhinoScript/PythonScript in Rhino. Questions about these can also be posted on:

http://discourse.mcneel.com/c/scripting

Kangaroo2 is a complete rewrite, and the main solver/goal/force components are not cross-compatible with the previous version. However, you can keep both versions installed together allowing older definitions to be opened, and for now this is recommended, as there are also several utility and mesh processing functions relevant to both versions.

While v2 introduces many new features and improvements, not all the features from the old version currently have equivalents in the new version, but the plan is to add them all over time.

The links below are for the old version. More documentation and videos for the new version to appear soon.

example files(for version 0.099):

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/kangaroo/page/example-files

manual(for version 0.099):

http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddpv

getting started video:

http://vimeo.com/20308963

demo videos:

http://vimeo.com/album/199263

Some more tutorial videos from EXLAB:

http://vimeo.com/exlab/videos

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News and Updates

Force polygons of equilibrium structures

I have recently been exploring some reciprocal force diagrams using Kangaroo. From the 1869 paper by James Clerk Maxwell On reciprocal figures, frames and diagrams of forces : …to construct the Polygon of Forces, by drawing in succession lines parallel and proportional to the different forces, each line beginning at the extremity of the last. If the forces acting at the […]

Minimal surface puzzle

The top row shows three different minimal surfaces from the same boundary curves. The bottom row shows the same 3 surfaces rotated and in a different order. Which number corresponds to which letter?

Orthogonal Clustering

I’ve always aimed to make Kangaroo a specifically architectural physics engine. While it shares many characteristics with similar engines used for other purposes, such as games and animation, it has some features that are uniquely suited to designing buildings. Form-finding and physics-based-modelling often result in curved shapes, with an elegant and natural appearance which is something […]

Variation from Uniformity

All of these triangles are identical and equilateral: In architectural geometry over the last few decades, a common topic of research has been how to build and clad doubly curved surfaces in an efficient way. While computer aided manufacturing has made it possible to make buildings where every panel has slightly different dimensions, there are […]

MeshMash!

As regular readers of this blog will know, I’m passionate about the use of relaxation and force-based methods for optimizing geometry in a very interactive way. There is a great variety of form-finding that can be done by assigning physical forces as interactions between sets of particles. However, in my investigations so […]

More…

Comment Wall

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Comment by Kristoffer Negendahl on April 18, 2011 at 6:04am: Hi Daniel

Everything works in R4, but not in R5. Is this a known issue?

Just another thing. Do you prefer to put special plugins in (C:\Program Files\Rhinoceros 4.0\Plug-ins\Grasshopper\Components) or under ...AppData\Roaming\Grasshopper\Libraries). Does it matter where the custum .gha files are located?

Comment by Daniel Piker on April 18, 2011 at 5:09am: Hi Kristoffer,

Kangaroo 0.051 is working with GH 0.8.0009, but you should only have one kangaroo gha installed. This includes in your grasshopper components directory,

(C:\Program Files\Rhinoceros 4.0\Plug-ins\Grasshopper\Components)

and the special components folder

(C:\Users\Daniel\AppData\Roaming\Grasshopper\Libraries)

and any other custom search paths you may have set via the GrasshopperDeveloperSettings command

Comment by Kristoffer Negendahl on April 17, 2011 at 4:05am: After updating to GH 0.8.0009 all Kangaroo functions are gone. Kangaroo Physics 0.051 on Food4GH doesn't seem to work. Am I doing it wrong or should I be patient and wait for a kangaroo update. All components are unblocked. And btw. I have two kangeroo gha-files in my component-folder "kangaroo-physics-0-0-5.gha" and "KangPhys0044.gha" do I need both?

Comment by Daniel Piker on March 26, 2011 at 5:29pm: You're welcome.

Daniel

Comment by Wiktor Kidziak on March 26, 2011 at 5:18pm: Thank you David, yes unblocked the file and it works back again :)

Comment by Daniel Piker on March 26, 2011 at 5:12pm: To unblock, right click the .gha file in windows explorer, and go to properties and make sure it is not blocked

Comment by Wiktor Kidziak on March 26, 2011 at 4:56pm: this is what I get when I open file with kangaroo

I installed it by placing it into components folder. What do you mean by unblocking the file?

Comment by Daniel Piker on March 26, 2011 at 4:32pm: Hi Wiktor - It should be running on the latest Rhino5 WIP.

Have you made sure the file is unblocked ?

Can you provide more details - does grasshopper start normally or do you get error messages