Grasshopper Flexhopper
FlexHopper offers very fast, particle-based physics simulation within Grasshopper. It let’s you simulate unconstraint particles, fluids, rigid and soft bodies, textile and spring system, inflatables and a combination of all these materials in one scene at unparalleled speed. You can add collision geometry, define custom constraints and emit new particles during runtime.
FlexHopper is based on FlexCLI, an open-source C++/CLI interface to access the physics engine NVidia Flex from within the .Net environment. FlexCLI and FlexHopper were developed by myself. It is built against NVidia Flex release 1.1.0 which is patented property of NVidia.
Related Lessons & Examples
Cloth Simulation
Flexhopper
Flexhopper Cloth
Fluid Particles
Fractal Solid
Particle Fountain
Particles Simulation
Download Flexhopper Plugin
Flexhopper Plugin
FlexHopper offers very fast, particle-based physics simulation within Grasshopper. It let’s you simulate unconstraint particles, fluids, rigid and soft bodies, textile and spring system, inflatables and a combination of all these materials in one scene at unparalleled speed. You can add collision geometry, define custom constraints and emit new particles during runtime.
FlexHopper is based on FlexCLI, an open-source C++/CLI interface to access the physics engine NVidia Flex from within the .Net environment. FlexCLI and FlexHopper were developed by myself. It is built against NVidia Flex release 1.1.0 which is patented property of NVidia.
FlexCLI runs on x64 architectures only. It was built against .Net 4.5.2. It was tested with Rhino 6 64bit and Grasshopper 1.0.0076
Find the code here:
https://github.com/HeinzBenjamin/FlexCLI
And videos with tutorials here:
https://vimeo.com/showcase/4988713
and here:
Contact info:
[email protected]
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-felbrich/
https://twitter.com/BFelbrich
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS NVIDIA FLEX
A dedicated NVidia and AMD graphics card supporting DirectX11 and running one of the following drivers:
Nvidia Geforce Game Ready Driver 372.90 or above
AMD Radeon Driver version 16.9.1 or above
Onboard graphic chips like Intel HD Graphics 4000 are not supported and might crash your system
INSTRUCTIONS
Please follow the instructions under one of these options:
Make sure your machine fulfills the hardware requirements (see above).
Make sure you have the latest version of Rhino 6 64bit along with the latest version of Grasshopper installed (in Rhino click “Help” > “Check for Updates”)
Download latest version
Unzip the package and go to the Libraries folder. It should contain:
FlexHopper.gha
FlexCLI.dll
NvFlexExtReleaseD3D_x64.dll
NvFlexReleaseD3D_x64.dll
amd_ags_x64.dll
unpack all files into your Grasshopper Components Folder (usually in ‘C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\AppData\Roaming\Grasshopper\Libraries’)
… if you can’t find that folder, open Grasshopper, click “File > Special Folders > Components Folder”
(Alternatively to food4rhino you can download the necessary files from the “/bin/Release” folder on this very website)
Unlock all .dll and .gha files (Right click each of them individually -> Properties -> Tick Unlock)
Start up Rhino 6 in 64bit Mode and start using FlexHopper
Check out the example files in Example files/Flexhopper. But don’t rely too much on them, they may be outdated (sorry)
COMMON ERRORS
FlexHopper only works with Rhino 6 64bit.
If you receive an error message saying that FlexCLI or one of its dependecies could not be loaded, make sure to:
A. Unlock all FlexHopper related files in the Library folder (Right click -> properties)
B. Update your Rhino 6 to the latest version.
C. Start up Rhino 6 in 64bit mode
If your machine crashes upon resetting the FlexHopper engine:
A. Make sure your computer fulfills the hardware requirements (see above)
B. Consider reducing the memory your FlexHopper requires by adjusting the memQ input in the Flex Solver Options accordingly
