Organizing GH documents

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 6, 2013 at 4:42am

It's a good question, but not one I can point you in the direction of a single answer.

I think if everyone contributes what they do here then we can maybe come up with a guide as to best practices.

I'll post mine in a bit

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 6, 2013 at 5:42am

Create a Template File.

I like to have a template that gets opened each time I create a new document. That way I can have my "signature" already there. Also you can set preview settings like "high quality" or "wireframe preview" for example that will always be there by default.

Note the pointers are a just dressing so that I could get an example saved.

To set your template go to File > Preferences > Files > Template File

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 6, 2013 at 6:32am

Collect all User defined Variables and Referenced Geometry in one place:

I typically have every possible "variable" component in the top left hand corner to allow a "user" to only have to focus on one part of the canvas when making changes.

The outputs of the User group are always "TEXT" with a meaningful variable name. I then copy these to the locations on the canvas where they will be used and connected by Hidden wires. 

Permalink Reply by Scott Sommerville on November 4, 2016 at 3:07pm

I know this is an old thread, but:

From a relative newbie to Grasshopper - how do I make the tags that your input parameters are fed into?

Permalink Reply by Scott Sommerville on November 8, 2016 at 10:02am

Solved my own question. It's just a parameter of the same type as its input, with the display setting set to "Always draw name".  Boy, do I feel slow!

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 6, 2013 at 6:37am

Compartmentalisation/modularisation:

Similar to Programming Functions and Sub-Routines I like to have inputs and outputs. All the relevant components are grouped together under a meaningful title.

These Modules can be turned into Clusters and therefore User Components for use in other Definitions

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 6, 2013 at 6:47am

Consistent Wire Types:

I like to use Hidden Wires when passing User Variables around the Canvas and Faint when passing Objects/Results from one Module to another

The Hidden Wires can be highlighted when selected to see their source

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 6, 2013 at 7:15am

Use States:

I always like to save the STATE of a definition that way I can restore previous settings and flip between different setups with out having to remember specifics.

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 6, 2013 at 7:25am

Personal Preferences:

As a matter of choice I have:

View

Canvas Toolbar

Components Tab

Panel Separators

Obscure Components

Display

Draw Icons

Fancy Wires

Draw Full Names Un-ticked

Preview Mesh Settings - High Quality 

Bump Preview Un-ticked

Shaded Preview

Point Flavour Cross

Preview Mesh Edges Un-ticked

Component Aliases

I like to have

Construct Point as XYZ

Deconstruct Point as pComp (old school)

I like to have the create a line as Line so that it defaults to this instead of the Param Line

Numerous others I cannot think of at the moment

Permalink Reply by javier zaratiegui on December 21, 2013 at 1:18am

bravo!

I think this post is great.

Thanks

Permalink Reply by djordje on December 21, 2013 at 2:49am

Agree.
Very nice replies, Danny.

Permalink Reply by Alexander on March 24, 2014 at 12:32am

A dead thread, but I just wanted to say:

This is actually spot on how I teach students (as a student who runs workshops) to organize their documents and how I organize all mine. How convergent.

Modules (subroutines), headers, a control panel, faint wires between modules and hidden wires to jump around. Perfect. Helps so much with reading the overall flow of a script. 

I'd be very curious to see other users' versions of a highly curated definition since one thing I find in GH is that while poorly written code is often manageable, a poorly organized gh document can be absolute hell.