GreenSpider Translator - The easy way to GreenSpider

Today I released GreenSpider Translator, a little piece of software developed by me as well as Greenspider, my Autodesk Revit 2012 plug-in written to acquire point clouds as native elements.

The Translator can be downloaded here and installed in order to directly convert XYZ vertex files with no normals into the correct file format used by GreenSpider plugin into Autodesk Revit.The installer is written for Windows 7 (.NET framework 4.5), although a WinXP installation was performed successfully too.

The Translator's interface is pretty revealing: GreenSpider 2.0 is already quoted, as it is expected to be released in 2013 with lots of new features for Autodesk Revit 2013. However, this converter was proficiently used on some test cases as documented in this paper, using Revit 2012 and GreenSpider 1.0.2.

GreenSpider 1.0

GreenSpider release 1.0.2 is officially out for beta-testing, it can be downloaded here.

GreenSpider is a plugin developed by Simone Garagnani for Autodesk Revit 2012, taking advantage of .NET libraries 3.5 and C# programming code. Once installed through downloaded file, GreenSpider can be accessed in Revit mass modeling environment.

In order to import geometries, especially from Rhino+Grasshopper or laser scan segmented and decimated point clouds, a file called points.gsp has to be prepared and copied in GreenSpider directory (C:\greenspider, by default installation). GSP is a plain text file format where XYZ numerical values representing geometric vertexes are separated by semicolons, while commas are used for decimal marks.

This plugin operates Metric conversion for Revit so GSP values are required in centimeters.GreenSpider is still a prototype so it’s possible to run two commands identified by two different icons in Revit: GSpoints and GScurves. The first import the vertex point cloud, while the second traces a spline interpolation among imported points, in order to build surfaces after several points.gsp imports.

GreenSpider searches for points.gsp file in proper directory. A little piece of software, called GreenSpider Translator and developed by Simone Garagnani as well, can be downloaded and installed in order to convert XYZ vertex files with no normals into the correct file format used by GreenSpider plugin into Autodesk Revit. GreenSpider Translator opens files, recognizes them, then parses them in correct format, copying a translated file renamed points.gsp into C:/greenspider, where the plugin can easily find it. Importing different set of point clouds is now easier since the Translator can be reset each time, erasing previous GSP files already acquired by Revit.

Here’s the GreenSpider introductory page.

Release Note for old systems: GreenSpider r1.0.2 has been coded for Autodesk Revit 2012 running on Windows 7 machines. The installer could fail copying files on old computers running WinXP (not supported by GreenSpider but working flawless with its features). In case of troubles, please continue the installation process until the end, regardless of warnings and error messages. Then copy this file in your C:\Documents and Settings\USER\AppData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\2012 directory, this should fix GreenSpider icons into Revit 2012.

GreenSpider by Simone Garagnani is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribuzione – Non commerciale – Condividi allo stesso modo 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.tcproject.net.

GreenSpider - Some bug fixes and a new feature

My homemade Revit plugin codenamed "GreenSpider" is still under development but some interesting features are already working fine!

_{New GreenSpider experimental prototype. Now GS can generate splines through reference points in Revit.}

Read some news about GreenSpider 1.0.

Day 60 - Journal activities delayed

I scheduled for today my blog page writing about CalDay, last April 22nd, but I preferred to keep my attention focused on GreenSpider v1.0, leaving my Berkeley chronicles for another day. I spent a couple of days figuring out how to make my Revit plugin work and I found some satisfactory help on priceless Jeremy Tammik pages. Even Dermott Mcmeel video has been inspiring. It took me several years to decide learning some C and Berkeley's scientific spirit, favouring a deep curious look into things, made my day!

Here's my first GreenSpider introductory page.

GreenSpider - Grasshopper 3D models streamlined to Revit

I’m often very impressed by the huge potential expressed by Rhino’s Grasshopper plugin applied to architectural design, but it’s getting really frustrating when such cool morphologies cannot be properly managed by software aimed to prepare engineered buildings.

In fact, I believe it’s crucial having interchange tools aiding architects and engineers to talk seamlessly to each other. And as I always repeat, BIM is the key.

Here’s the GreenSpider introductory page.