CliDApp4Rhino 1.0

CliDApp4Rhino is a graphical user interface tool for the Rhino 3D CAD software.

CliDApp4Rhino

Overview

CliDApp4Rhino package is a Python package with the plugin for the Rhinoceros program developed by CliMA that enables users to download weather files into the Rhinoceros environment from the CliDApp API.

Requirements

Before installing the CliDApp4Rhino plugin, ensure that you have the follwing:

• Rhinoceros 5 and above
• Python 3 or later installed on your device
• Internet connection: to download weather files

Installation

To install the CliDApp4Rhino plugin, follow the steps below:

1. Close Rhinoceros (Rhino) if opened
2. Navigate to the terminal and enter the following to install the package

pip install CliDApp4Rhino

3. After run the following command to install the package to the correct directory.

clidapp4rhino

4. Open Rhino and enter the following in the command-line

CliDApp4Rhino

If Rhino suggests this command, then you have successfully installed the plugin.

Usage

After installing the plugin and launching the CliDApp4Rhino command, you will now see the dialog box below:

Begin by selecting a city from the dropdown

Then select a weather file from the following three options:

• Typical Meteorological Year (TMY)
• Future Meteorological Year (FTMY)
• Actual Meteorological Year (AMY)

The start/end-year ranges will differ depending on the weather file selected. Currently, for AMY and TMY files, the start-year and end-year range starts from 1979 and ends in 2022. For FTMY files, the start year is 2050, and the end year is 2070.

Afterwards, select your desired file type. Then, enter the path where you want to download the file. If the text box for Download Path is left empty, the default path will be Downloads/clidapp/epw. Lastly, click on OK to begin downloading the weather file.

Example

An example of using the CliDApp4Rhino plugin is downloading the EPW weather files to visualise data in wind rose charts.

As shown in the form inputs below, the following file was downloaded.

We get the following chart using a Panel, the ImportEPW Ladybug module, and the WindRose Ladybug module.