The release of Rhino 7 is the most significant in the 30 years since Rhinoceros3D was first introduced. At its heart, RhinoCommon offers a powerful geometry engine with high mathematical accuracy, and with new features like SubD modeling and Clash Detection, it is only getting better.
If you haven’t already purchased a license of Rhino 7, I hope that by the end of this article you are convinced that it provides huge value out-of-the-box and great potential in the future.
Rhino3d.com/7/new/ lists all of the new features and capabilities of Rhino 7. For ease of navigating, links to some of the best features are listed below:
Grasshopper was packaged as part of Rhino 6, and now with the GH Player, Plugins can be built to receive User Defined Inputs without the need to open and run the Grasshopper definition.
A full list of all of the new Commands that are available. For quick reference and similar to past versions, there is a tab called New in V7 which has some of the best new commands.
In addition to all of these new and enhanced features that come with Rhino 7, there is much effort afoot to bring the capabilities of Rhino into almost any environment (Rhino.Inside).
The foundations of Rhino are ready for broader and deeper applications of its capabilities. As plugins for Rhino have been developed over the years, it has spurred a thriving developer community with advanced tools for data and geometry manipulation.
In Version 6, Rhino was made into a Dynamic Link Library (DLL), which allowed for a couple of things to happen in the development of Rhino 7:
A. Plugins (particularly C++) developed for Rhino 6 will work with Rhino 7 and possibly later versions without breaking the SDK.
For scripters, this provides a more solid footing for the development and support that would be necessary for plugins.
For Firms and BIM/VDC Managers, this gives more long-term reliability in the tools that are incorporated into certain workflows
B. Rhino can be run as a plugin within other applications
Standalone Console Apps / .NET Web Servers (Rhino Compute)
CPython
Revit (Rhino.Inside.Revit)
Rhino Compute lets Rhino run on a .NET Web Server, effectively bringing Rhino to the cloud. Startups such as Hypar are working to bring Grasshopper scripting and much more to the web browser, allowing for design input to come from anyone, anywhere.
The most popular flavor of the Rhino.Inside technology is Rhino.Inside.Revit (beta, free), which has effectively made Rhino 7 the largest possible plugin for Revit. Not only is it the full version of Rhino running within Revit’s memory space, but all of the plugins are compatible with Rhino 7 as well. Plugins that had been developed for Rhino 6 remain compatible, so the functionality that is part of many scripts and workflows can endure.
There are new Grasshopper Components found in V7, with the majority available within Rhino.Inside.Revit, in the Revit Tab.
Rhino 7 provides a framework with minimal barriers to entry. From the lone wolf coder to the multi-national firm, Rhino 7 can be very powerful if leveraged properly. A great conversation with Steve Baer, Luis Fraguada, and Will Pearson of Robert McNeel & Associates can be found on ProArchitect’s Youtube page. They discuss the rationale and forward-thinking concepts behind Rhino 7 and the Rhino.Inside technology, but for the most part, opine on Rhino Compute.
McNeel has developed a new technology that allows Rhino 7 to run in pretty much any Windows Application, with open-source developments underway for Unity, AutoCAD, and even Revit, enabling seamless access to the API and model data. This new capability is called Rhino Inside. It means that Rhino/Grasshopper can now be used inside Revit as a direct plug-in.
To try Rhino.Inside.Revit you will need Rhino 7 installed along with Rhino.Inside.Revit Beta, which is the Add-on for Revit. Rhino.Inside Revit allows you to link both platforms and avoid all need to import or export geometry. This creates an unprecedented integration between these applications. It is now possible to:
Start Rhino and Grasshopper as an add-in to other applications.
Drive the host application with Grasshopper definitions.
Use the host’s APIs in a Grasshopper and Rhino plug-in.
Use Rhino’s APIs in the host’s plug-ins.
Create native objects in the host application with Rhino and Grasshopper.
In typical McNeel style, the technology was quietly uploaded to GitHub to be tested and to see what the community thought of it. Through requests from testers, the feature set grew and it’s really only been this summer that McNeel folks and Microsol Resources have been openly presenting it in public.
To get an introduction of Rhino.Inside and hear from those early testers of its capability, check out these following videos:
Introduction to Rhino.Inside Revit
Have you ever wondered how to get Rhino models into Revit? Watch this introductory video by Scott Davidson from McNeel about one of Rhino’s 7 new technology: Rhino.Inside Revit, a project that allows you to access Rhino and Grasshopper core functionalities from within another application; in this case, Autodesk Revit and learn where to find the information and how to install it.
From Rhino into Revit
Watch how to transfer information from Rhino to Revit, creating Revit objects from Rhino geometry. See how editing objects in Rhino affects its counterparts in Revit, through this live link without any need to import or export! (3’41“) Download the sample files for this video.
From Revit into Rhino
In this video, you will learn how to transfer geometry from Revit into Rhino. This is a common workflow used for manufacturing purposes or for 3D printing the model. (3’56”) Download the sample files for this video.
Using Grasshopper Parameters in Autodesk Revit
In this video, Scott Davidson will show how to use parameters in Revit through Rhino’s generative design plugin, Grasshopper. You’ll also learn how to use Human UI, a Grasshopper plugin, to create your own dialog boxes that can interact with Autodesk Revit. (5’31“) Download the sample files for this video.
Interacting with Revit Objects
Watch this video to learn how to reference Revit elements using Grasshopper parameters and output Revit objects. You can edit these objects in Revit and have the Grasshopper freeform geometry update accordingly. (4’10”) Download the sample files for this video.
Revit.Inside is a work in progress but is already generating a lot of excitement among its target user base. It opens up a whole new level of integration between the McNeel ecosystem of applications and Revit data.
McNeel’s Rhino 6 and Chaos Group’s compatible V-Ray for Rhino upgrade are now available. We’ve gathered below a few of Rhino 6’s latest features:
Grasshopper – Grasshopper is now a full-fledged part of Rhino and provides the solid foundation of many incredible third-party components ranging from environmental analysis to robotic control.
Presentation – McNeel improved Rhino with the aim of helping you present your work: be it “quick and dirty” or “high-res glossy”. With major changes to Rendering, Materials, or just plain capturing the viewport, it’s now easier and faster to present, discuss, make decisions, and iterate.
Display – Rhino’s new display pipeline is faster, more stable, and uses features found on modern graphics hardware, like GPU-sensitive shaders and memory optimizations. This results in fewer GPU-specific display glitches and more consistent, beautiful, and frequent frames, even with large models. In some conditions, the display speed can be up to 300% faster.
Documentation – McNeel has refined the documentation workflow; from a completely reworked annotation-style interface to better DWG support, and Rich Text throughout. It’s now easier to convey accurately and clearly the what and the how of your design.
Licensing & Administration – Rhino is now easier to install, license, and configure. There’s a great new option to license Rhino using the Cloud Zoo.
Interested in upgrading or getting a new Rhino 6 license? Want to upgrade your V-Ray for Rhino seat? Contact us at info@microsolresources.com today!
The latest V-Ray for Rhino now supports Rhino 6.2 and above. Chaos Group has also implemented overall improvements to make your rendering workflow faster, smoother and more productive.
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