What was the development timeline and timespan for Grasshopper 3D?

As a developer, I am really impressed with the Grasshopper3D tool, and how many intricacies it has. From the way it handles errors, and the many conditions you've set to tools, for example, there would be a preset condition for empty-inputs. And since it's also developed in C#, you had to pay attention to all the input types and not to mix that up in development. It's made by someone that really understands both UX and programming - so nice job David.

How did you do it? What was your development timeline and timespan for Grasshopper3D? Was it a full-time development or only a part-time?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on November 18, 2013 at 2:46pm

Hi Jacky,

core Grasshopper is actually written in VB.NET, not C#, but Grasshopper 2.0 will be written entirely in C#.

There wasn't really an up-front plan or timeline, I basically just kept writing until it felt like we wouldn't be embarrassed calling it 'Grasshopper 1.0'

The plan now however is extremely tight:

Move Grasshopper 1.0 development into the Rhino6 WIP source database (done)
Build and distribute Grasshopper 1.0 Betas as part of Rhino6 WIP/Beta cycles.
Finish the Remote Control Panel, then stop adding new features.
Keep on fixing bugs, but switch development to Grasshopper 2.0
Every Rhino6 (be it WIP, Beta or finished product) will include Grasshopper 1.0
Grasshopper 2.0 may be developed as part of Rhino6, Rhino7 or maybe as a separate product at first, we're not entirely sure yet.

There are a lot of poor decisions in the GH1 code, partly because Grasshopper is now used in ways that were completely unpredicted. And of course I just made a lot of mistakes, this was after all my first ever open SDK kind of project. There will be plenty of new mistakes in GH2, rest assured.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Tirol, Austria

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on November 18, 2013 at 3:00pm