AEC Free Software directory: (https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=AEC_Free_Software_directory)

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  • I added Ladybug Tools. https://www.ladybug.tools/
    It doesn't currently connect to an open source CAD software but it is open source itself and might be able to be connected to Blender through Sverchok. I see that @bitacovir asked about this connection in the past and got a positive response. github.com/ladybug-tools/butterfly/issues/64
    With everything nodes potentially coming to Blender there might be possibilities there as well. https://developer.blender.org/T67088
    Or with FreeCAD through pyFlow. https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?t=36299
    Having the ability to do solar analysis in Blender or FreeCAD would be a big feature for me.

    Jesusbill
  • I know that Ladybug is moving towards a platform agnostic set of tools, but until that happens, a disclaimer should be put on the wiki to inform the user that using the tool is not possible without proprietary software. Perhaps it can be moved to a separate directory of open source extensions to proprietary software.

    Meanwhile, since that Github issue was closed I've made a new one: https://github.com/ladybug-tools/butterfly/issues/406 ping @bitacovir and @nikitron who can hopefully fast track it. If architects get to use Ladybug tools in Blender, that will garner a huge amount of interest, I believe.

    Currently, to do solar analysis requires a thorough understanding of Radiance and other add-ons like Sun Path. This can be improved for sure.

    basweinbitacovir
  • Updated to include note about proprietary software.

  • If architects get to use Ladybug tools in Blender, that will garner a huge amount of interest, I believe.

    Yes. Enviromental simulation + BlenderBIM + Sverchok would be a strong alliance. I already wrote a comment in Github.

    baswein
  • Hi all,

    Before I comment here I should probably should introduce myself. I'm the one who started Ladybug Tools project. @ReD_CoDE brought this conversation to my attention (Thanks for that) and I thought I should share my thoughts on the topic.

    First of all thank you for considering to add Ladybug Tools to the list. I also think it should be there! :) Yes we have plugins for proprietary software but that's a choice not a requirement to use our libraries.

    @Moult said:
    I know that Ladybug is moving towards a platform agnostic set of tools, but until that happens, a disclaimer should be put on the wiki to inform the user that using the tool is not possible without proprietary software. Perhaps it can be moved to a separate directory of open source extensions to proprietary software.

    I think Ladybug Tools libraries and Ladybug Tools plugins are two different entities that are all under the umbrella of Ladybug Tools. I also want to make a distinction between the legacy plugins (Ladybug-legacy and Honeybee-legacy) and the new libraries which are platform agnostic. Some of the libraries have been like this from 2016 (https://github.com/ladybug-tools/honeybee#tentative-road-map). I assume we have not communicated this change well with the community but anyways.

    If you go to (https://github.com/ladybug-tools/) any repository that doesn't have Rhino, Revit or Grasshopper and Dynamo in their name and is not a legacy library needs no proprietary software to run. For starters you may want to try ladybug from here: https://github.com/ladybug-tools/ladybug#installation

    Meanwhile, since that Github issue was closed I've made a new one: https://github.com/ladybug-tools/butterfly/issues/406 ping @bitacovir and @nikitron who can hopefully fast track it. If architects get to use Ladybug tools in Blender, that will garner a huge amount of interest, I believe.

    That's an interesting idea and we have discussed it a couple of times with different users. The issue is that noone on our team or in our community knows Blender good enough to start the effort. Otherwise, we have currently re-written all the libraries to make porting to other platforms very easy.

    For instance this is all the code that is need to be recreated for Blender to be able to have a full-fledged Ladybug and Honeybee in Blender repository and documentation. It is basically a group of translators from Rhino geometry and objects to Ladybug Tools geometry and objects and from there the core libraries will take over which is reusable between all the platforms.

    If we are going to use Sverchok as the interface we can automate the process of creating all the nodes/components too. This is also how I did it for Dynamo and this can be modified to be done for Blender:

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=UVMwuBM4cns

    The heavy lifting is done by a small library that I wrote: (https://github.com/mostaphaRoudsari/dyfpy). Basically we export the component as an object which can be translated to other tools. If we develop the libraries that I linked above the same methods will work from inside Blender. We can also add a JSON representation of all the nodes so one will not need Grasshopper to star the conversion process. This is all assuming that every node/component in Sverchok can be generated as a text-based file/object.

    Finally, IMO, Butterfly is not the best library to get started with. I have not supported or developed it for a number of years. The runmanager should be re-written and the way it extends the interface for supporting CAD interfaces should also be refactored. I suggest to start with Ladybug and Honeybee and then we will see how we can move to Butterfly.

    Currently, to do solar analysis requires a thorough understanding of Radiance and other add-ons like Sun Path. This can be improved for sure.

    We are working on a new version of honeybee-radinace (https://github.com/ladybug-tools/honeybee-radiance) which will work with radiance-folder structure (https://github.com/ladybug-tools/radiance-folder-structure) and will make it as easy as honeybee radiance annual-radiation folder [options] but meanwhile have you seen this example: https://github.com/ladybug-tools/honeybee#examples

    We are also working on an effort to separate execution of simulations from creating the model and folders which make it even easier to use Ladybug Tools from any platform. See here (https://github.com/ladybug-tools/queenbee).

    I know this was just about adding ladybug tools to the list but I felt it is a good opportunity to give an update on what's going on with Ladybug Tools. Cheers.

    PS: Also I'm a newcomer here and should not bring it up as part of my very first reply but has anyone brought up the idea of using Discourse for this forum? It might be just that I'm very new to this interface but I would take Discourse over this platform any day.

    bitacovirCyrilJesusbillMoultReD_CoDEhtlcnnbasweinduncannikitrontlangand 2 others.
  • edited May 2020

    Thanks for this update of your project @mostapha
    Definitely, I think this is a good moment to think how to bring ladybug technology into Blender. With BlenderBIM and Sverchok as partners this could be an very interesting project. Sverchok is currently a tool that could be useful to work with environmental simulation/analysis in the world of artists and designers. No sure if Sorcar developers could be also interested in this project.

  • @mostapha great work! It seems I am out of date :) I was aware of the movement towards platform agnostic libraries but didn't realise they were ready! Even better that the node generator code example is available! Thanks for the advice about Butterfly, and I agree that starting with Ladybug and Honeybee is a good idea. Ladybug has already been added to https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=AEC_Free_Software_directory - but please do register on the Wiki, and update the wording (and remove the proprietary requirement note, if it is outdated), add/reorganise the entries relevant to your tools on that wiki page - that can help people discover the new updates too :)

    Ping @nikitron as he is the most qualified person to implement the Ladybug libraries. Is this something you're interested in? I could probably take a stab at it, but I am frying a few other fish right now :)

    For the P.S, I am not a fan of Discourse's inflexible server requirements (particularly the port :80) which doesn't sit well with my network setup.

    nikitron
  • edited May 2020

    I also had no idea ladybug had moved so far out of dependency of proprietary platforms!!! That's really very interesting. I'd be very interested in exploring how to integrate this with FreeCAD as well. We have a stub of a nodes system in FreeCAD with pyflow, but I wonder if using a nodes system would be absolutely necessary, given the core package seem to have a nice python interface? Maybe we could also find a way to dynamically create needed interface panels?
    Edit: Started looking at it here: https://gist.github.com/yorikvanhavre/0e7ab25d077263a25e1dac0a3c974d28

    bitacovirMoultbasweinReD_CoDE
  • I moved the Ladybug entry to https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=AEC_Free_Software_directory#Extensions_to_proprietary_software which I'm guessing wasn't there when Ladybug was first added. It sounds like there is a discussion of where it should be, so maybe someone will move it again soon and change the description so it better describes reality.

    MoultReD_CoDE
  • edited May 2020

    @yorik I know that in your view "visual programming" is inefficient (and in your view hard to learn) and causes messy nodes (spaghetti) however, the industries nominate nod-based/domain-based/feature-based/... solutions more and more and I think PyFlow could have a great future
    (today its community is small and less advanced but maybe things change)
    However, its dependency on Qt is an issue (a small issue?)

    nikitron
  • Of course! In the FOSS world everyone basically has the right to eat the food with their own sauce ;) i'm not against it at all, but more interested in looking directly at the python api of ladybug first...

    Jesusbill
  • Added:
    Gmsh: Gmsh is an open source 3D finite element mesh generator with a built-in CAD engine and post-processor. Its design goal is to provide a fast, light and user-friendly meshing tool with parametric input and advanced visualization capabilities. Gmsh is built around four modules: geometry, mesh, solver and post-processing.

    Salome: SALOME is an open-source software that provides a generic Pre- and Post-Processing platform for numerical simulation. It is based on an open and flexible architecture made of reusable components.

    blastFoam: A CFD solver for multi-component compressible flow with application to high-explosive detonation, explosive safety and air blast.

    Next in line in simulation: Elmer, Fenics

    trb198
  • Added:
    SAGA GIS: GIS System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses designed for the easy and effective implementation of spatial algorithms. I use SAGA Algos though QGIS and The solar insolation tools in SAGA itself. They seem to be focused on terrain raster analysis. A good talk about them:
    Open Drone Map Generate maps, point clouds, DEMs and 3D models from aerial images. I have been using this to make high resolution georeferenced othro imagery and melty looking 3D models from drone images.

    ReD_CoDE
  • Added:
    QField An android app that syncs your QGIS projects to a mobile device and allows for in the field GIS data viewing and entry.

  • I am absolutely amazed by how much FOSS is actually already out there in the AEC industry ... it wasn't until this directory was started that I truly realised the extent!

    basweinnikitronJesusbillbitacovir
  • Added PDAL
    PDAL (Point Data Abstraction Library) is a C++ BSD library for translating and manipulating point cloud data. In addition to the library code, PDAL provides a suite of command-line applications that users can conveniently use to process, filter, translate, and query point cloud data.
    And MDAL
    Mesh Data Abstraction Library (MDAL) is a C++ library for handling unstructured mesh data released with MIT license. It provides a single data model for multiple supported data formats. MDAL is used by QGIS for data access for mesh layers.

    When mesh data was introduced to QGIS it was a whole new data type (beyond the usual GIS vector and raster).
    Here is a good overview:
    https://docs.qgis.org/3.10/en/docs/user_manual/working_with_mesh/mesh_properties.html
    I haven't found a good way to get my raster or vector data into a mesh format to really utilize the possibilities.
    Not sure if they both should have been in software development because they are libraries but I put PDAL in the Scanning and Processing section because it dealt with point clouds.
    Next GDAL

    nikitronbitacovirMoult
  • @mostapha said:

    Meanwhile, since that Github issue was closed I've made a new one: https://github.com/ladybug-tools/butterfly/issues/406 ping @bitacovir and @nikitron who can hopefully fast track it. If architects get to use Ladybug tools in Blender, that will garner a huge amount of interest, I believe.

    Hi, @mostapha
    If any tool can be installed with pip, we use sverchok - extra repo with own nodes. If sverchok has no deps, sverchok-extra have dependences and allow installing libs directly into blender python directory by one button.
    Never used this lib, so not sure what to start with.
    For now i'm trying to implement genetic algorithm into monad and have some difficulties concern to this task. So, if someone can handle sverchok-extra implementation, we are wellcome.

    bitacovir
  • @baswein the interesting part to me in the lecture you shared was about "histories" because I shared the same idea for IFC through using IfcOwnerHistory but maybe I couldn't explain the approach as simple as possible that everyone could understand

  • @ReD_CoDE I agree with you it is very helpful to know where the data came from and how it was created and I wish QGIS had a similar feature to SAGA. GIS data often has metadata and QGIS has a metadata editor https://www.northrivergeographic.com/archives/qgis-3-2-metadata as well as a processing history log https://docs.qgis.org/3.10/en/docs/user_manual/processing/history.html but the processing log is not automatically added to the metadata.

    ReD_CoDE
  • A heads up that the OSArch wiki now lets you contribute without an account for convenience :)

    It also asks you a fiendishly difficult set of questions before able to make any changes for inconvenience ... for the inconvenience of spammers, that is - of which I've just had to block about 15 spam accounts and bulk delete all their trash.

  • for the inconvenience of spammers, that is - of which I've just had to block about 15 spam accounts and bulk delete all their trash.

    Isn't there a plugin for anti-spam detection? For instance in wordpress there is Akismet...

  • @bitacovir yes, I have also set up anti-spam plugins. As with most anti-spam, you kinda set it up, see how it goes, tweak it if it doesn't work well, and continuously monitor. The captcha question is one of those tweaks.

  • Just stumbled in here, maybe I miss the point, but when it comes to environmental analysis in blender: what about VI-Suite (https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/visuite / https://github.com/rgsouthall/vi-suite06) ?
    Certainly more modest in scope than ladybug-tools, but probably nearer to usable state (in blender, of course).
    And IMO SolveSpace (http://solvespace.com / https://github.com/solvespace) - although not very active recently - still looks appealing when it comes to parametric modeling.

    basweinMoulttlang
  • @khad said:
    Just stumbled in here, maybe I miss the point, but when it comes to environmental analysis in blender: what about VI-Suite (https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/visuite / https://github.com/rgsouthall/vi-suite06) ?
    Certainly more modest in scope than ladybug-tools, but probably nearer to usable state (in blender, of course).
    And IMO SolveSpace (http://solvespace.com / https://github.com/solvespace) - although not very active recently - still looks appealing when it comes to parametric modeling.

    wow! I did not know this one. Even it is running on Blender 2.8

  • @khad I completely forgot about vi-suite! I didn't know it was updated for 2.8.

    Those look great! Can you please add them to the wiki? You don't need an account to do so :)

  • edited May 2020

    Good to hear about Ladybug from Mostapha and VI-suite from Khad. I've been using the following tools, free to use but not open source. Not exactly a software package, but the author of Ecotect has recreated some of the tools online:

    urban massing and daylight studies
    http://andrewmarsh.com/apps/staging/shading-box.html
    input room geometry and weather files, exports to local and loads settings from local, dynamic daylight analysis, exports Radiance, DIVA/DAYSIM files.
    https://drajmarsh.bitbucket.io/daylight-box.html
    sunpath projection for given location, exports SVG
    https://drajmarsh.bitbucket.io/sunpath2d.html

    MoultbrunopostleReD_CoDE
  • I believe vi-suite can accomplish the same as those online tools - should do some online tutorials sharing about it!

  • I saw before some of his projects and I like what he does these days, especially related to web viewer, this shows that he knows about the near future
    Indeed, he shares his practices publicly, but in reality, tries to solve the whole puzzle ;)

  • edited May 2020

    @tlang said:

    Good to hear about Ladybug from Mostapha and VI-suite from Khad. I've been using the following tools, free to use but not open source. Not exactly a software package, but the author of Ecotect has recreated some of the tools online:

    These tools are beautiful, thanks for this.
    My Urb::Field::Occlusion module has some over-optimised and completely unvalidated code to calculate sunlight hours and overcast CIEsky daylighting using occlusion masks and raytracing.

    ReD_CoDE
  • @brunopostle I like your projects, especially when I see some articles about pattern language from 2011! It seems that it's procedural! Something like Shape Grammars?
    Do you have a recent demo?

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