When a structural line with element type as cable is defined, the sofimsh file writes Styp C behind the lines. But it does not connect areas (here a membrane) with lines (here cables) as i could see in the animator. If I change the Styp C into CE manually in the sofimsh file it connects the cables with the lines. But how can I automate it with grasshopper? How can i reach, that Grasshopper writes CE?
Hi, yes, by default, cables are not intersecting with other elements. Instead of setting STYP CE you can control the intersection behavour in detail also with the parameter XFLG in the SLN command (see in the SOFiMSHC manual page 5-15 ff) which overwrites the settings at STYP. You could pass the options using the Text-Input in the StructuralLine Component.
Other workaround would be to use string replacement on the SOFiMSHC-output.
Regards, Andreas
Not sure if this works with rhino/grasshopper, but it is the approach inside teddy:
Another option is to define a structural point (SPT) at the instersection point.
The area (membrane) should automatically make a node there.
Then define the cable as going to/from a spt (rather then defining the cable with coordinates)
Hi Andreas,
the solution sounds nice, but in the manual pages you mentioned I couldn´t find what I was looking for. There are a lot of options mentioned how to disconnect the lines, but not how to connect them. Furthermore the options do not work for parallel connections…
What do you mean by the string replacement?
Are there some other ideas?
Thanks a lot,
Elisabeth
I understood the string replacement now. Thanks!
Hey everyone,
Thanks a lot for this thread. I was having the same issue as Elisabeth and was able to solve it using Andreas’ suggestion with the string replacement option on the SOFiMSHC output. Specifically, I used the text replacement component in Grasshopper to search for STYP C and replace it with STYP CE in case anyone else runs into the same issue. While this solution works, I would like to find out if there is a better way because this approach would replace all STYP C instances with STYP CE, which might not always be desirable. I tried using the XFLG approach, but I noticed that the documentation only gives you the option to deactivate certain intersection types using XFLG. Because STYP C already deactivates all of the intersection options, XFLG doesn’t provide a solution unless there is also a way to activate intersection options with it as well; in a sense reactivating the intersection options that STYP C deactivated. If anyone knows how to do this, I would really appreciate the help.
On a side note, I think this problem could be avoided altogether if the Element Type input on the Structural Line component simply accepted the STYP inputs that Teddy uses; i.e. N, B, O, L, T, C and E, X, Y, Z. This is already the case for fixation types (i.e. PP, LPXMX, FIX, etc.), so I don’t see why this one input should be restricted/simplified to only Beam, Cable, Truss.
Best,
Grant