Creating Components

Hey All,

Ok I'm hoping this is a simple question but it may not be. I am in the process of designing a complete systems based community (down to food and energy production per person) and I am hoping to use GH to a)calculate my ratios and b)draw the flow chart for the system. TO do this I was hoping to create a number of components which have the icons I have designed which represent various things as protein air, etc as the icon for the component with a programmable ration built in. For example Air:

A component with the air icon i've drawn on the front, open it up, type in the amount needed for whatever its being connected to (Human 50mL/breath).

My problem is the only components i've ever made are by simply editing the VB button or clusters which arent technically components. Is it possible To make a simple button like this without much scripting, delving into the SDK and what not? Can anyone that's done this Give me a place to look for information?

Many thanks!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nathan Miller on July 14, 2011 at 9:45am

If you are looking for a quick solution without remaking your VB/Clusters from the ground up....

A solution might be to make your VB components/clusters into "User Objects". You can assign the icon and the components will appear in your GH tabs under a category of your choice. Without close inspection, they will look just like any other component or plug-in.

I have a package of user objects (VB and Clusters) that I distribute to people in my studio. It works quite well.

Otherwise here is a short guide to creating plug-in components using Visual Studio (anyone know if there have been updates to this?): http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/guide-to-creating-custom

Permalink Reply by Nels Long on July 14, 2011 at 9:56am

Nathan,

Thanks for the reply. Extremely helpful. Its also good to hear about someone using GH in a studio to such a capacity that there are custom toolbars distributed similar to the acad toolbars we are all so familiar with. What studio do you have? I would be interested to see some of your work.

Permalink Reply by Nathan Miller on July 14, 2011 at 2:00pm

I work for an architecture firm called NBBJ (LA studio).

you can check out my blog: http://nmillerarch.blogspot.com

Some of the professional work I do: http://nmillerarch.blogspot.com/search/label/NBBJ

Permalink Reply by Zhengyu Xue on November 16, 2015 at 7:46am

Dear Mr. Miller,

I am now doing my graduation work which requires me to make some components in Grasshopper, functioning as connecting GH with another FEM analysis software called Femap.

I tried to follow the guide you published here but met some errors. Can you please give me some other guides or examples about how to make components?

Sincerely,

Xue Zhengyu

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on November 16, 2015 at 9:42am

Hi Zhengyu,

you should get the Grasshopper plugin wizard and add it to Visual Studio. It will set up all references and build events.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on July 15, 2011 at 2:51am

You can assign custom icons to any component in Grasshopper (including scripting components) simply by dragging a 24x24 pixel image file onto the component. The new icon will be stored inside the ghx file so it's permanent and never responds to changes to the original image file.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

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