Do you know Rhinoceros software? Rhino is a 3D computer-aided design software that has many Plugins and can help you be more effective and efficient in modeling, animation, texturing, and lighting. It is becoming more popular in the recent years. And so, there are a lot of plugins and extensions added to Rhino to make your work even more easier. Here are some lifesaver Rhinoceros extensions that every architect needs to know.
Fluid ray
Rhino is almost unfamiliar with Renders. But with this plugin, you can get a great real time render in rhino. Fluid ray helps architects get stunning visuals of super high quality in seconds. It is very important for architects to take advantage of it especially in times when there isn’t a lot of time such as meetings to apply the changes needed and review the editing directly.
Bull ant
Do you need to assess the structural and surface mechanics? Bull ant helps architects and engineers to make the work flow easy and simple with tools like Mech relaxation (minimal surfaces), Mech inflation (ETFE cushions), symmetry automation, and structural modeling. It aids in creating structural beams, for example.
Grasshopper 3D
There will be hardly anyone who do not have heard about this plugin. It is the trendiest plugin of Rhinoceros to date. It is a great tool to create parametric forms. It is a graphical algorithm which offers intuitive features to control and manage 3d modeling, generate geometries, automate a repetitive process and edit complex models easily without any immense scripting or programming knowledge.
Ladybug
Sustainability and energy efficiency has become imperative in today’s design process, and so Ladybug is gaining a lot of traction these days. Ladybug imports standard Energy plus weather (EPW files) into grasshopper 3D and gives users multiple graphics in 2D and 3D to conduct an accurate environment study relative to the form and the shape of the design. It automates all the calculations to be done within the process.
Karamba
Karamba is an absolute lifesaver for architects, who often become tired of doing structural calculations. This plugin is used to analyse structures, calculate loads, and also to combine complex parametric forms. For example, Karamba enables us to analyze the response between 3D beams and shells under arbitrary loads.
Section tools
Rhino has a feature of Make 2d to create sections. But when it comes to heavy models, it becomes almost impossible to wait for hours to get a section done. This plugin makes this process simple and effective. Section tools is a perfect plugin to create a 2D section from a 3D model, with the drawing synchronised with the model. If any change is applied to the model, the lines and curves of the sections also alters accordingly.
Evolute tools
Architects largely apply parametric design to building facades nowadays. They use uniquely designed panels in the facades which creates an image to the building. Evolute tools help design these panels based on an intuitive design using multi-resolution Mech modeling and Mech optimization, these Mechs can be optimized for closeness to a reference surface, and smoothness of the polylines.
Paneling tools
For those who are in the field of manufacturing and fabrication of panels, these tools are a boon. It basically generates the 2D and 3D patterns and populates them over a rectangular grid. In another way, it also helps rationalize complex geometries into a simple format to be able to analyze them and send them to be manufactured.
Kangaroo
This plugin is often used by structural engineers to get an intuitive real time simulation of their projects. It is available inside grasshopper. It also helps to analyse and optimize structural components and generates complex forms.
Visual Arc
This plugin makes architects’ life easier and the workflow more smooth. It comes with a library of parametric architectural objects along with the necessary tools to create 3D, and 2D models easily. You can get plans, sections and elevations all related to the project and has a set of parametric assets such as walls, windows, stairs, beams, etc.
