karambaToSofistik

A Grasshopper plugin which takes a Karamba Model and converts it to a .dat file readable by Sofistik.

Features

• Takes as input a Karamba model and outputs a .dat file into CADINPUT language;
• Converts beams, materials, cross sections and loads;
• Covered cross sections types: box profile, circular, I profile, trapezoidal;
• Covered load types: line-load, point load, gravity, pretension, temperature load;
• Takes Grasshopper's ID system into account.

Installation

To install the plugin follow these steps :

• Download the plugin. If you have downloaded the whole project, the file you want is in Bin/
• Place the GHA file into your Grasshopper plugin directory. You may find it in "%APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries".

NOTE:

To find the %APPDATA% folder just open the Run window (hit WIN+R) then type "%APPDATA%" and then OK.

Usage

This component is very simple to use. You can find it in the Karamba tab in the section "Extra". You have to plug in an input model, that's all!

You will get the data with "Output". The "Status" output is for debugging purposes.

Optionnaly, you can set a input path: the .dat file will be automatically saved and updated to this location.

NOTE

The directoy must exist in order to save the file into it.

A simple use of this component

Building it from source

As an alternative you can build this plugin from the source and tweak the code if you want. You will need Microsoft Visual Studio with the Grasshopper Assembly (you can download it directly from Visual Studio in "Tools > Extensions and updates...").

• Either download the source zip or fork the repo.
• Open the Source/karambaToSofistik.sln project file with Visual Studio.
• In the project tree check that all the references are available. If not, fix them (the required libraries can be found in the Source/Libraries/ directory).
• Build the solution (Ctrl+Shift+B). You should get the GHA file in the Source/bin folder.

NOTE

Visual Studio may give you a warning which says that it can't copy the GHA file to the Grasshopper plugin directory. To change this, edit the project properties and go to Build Events.

Replace these lines:

Copy "$(TargetDir)$(ProjectName).gha" "C:\Users\alberic\AppData\Roaming\Grasshopper\Libraries" Copy "$(TargetDir)$(ProjectName).gha" "E:\karambaToSofistik\Bin"

With this one:

Copy "$(TargetDir)$(ProjectName).gha" "YOUR\GRASSHOPPER\PLUGIN\DIRECTORY"

With this setup, you will not have to copy again and again the GHA file with every build.