Structural

Geotechnical

Mechanical

Environmental

Water

Electrical

Energy

Sustainability

Building

Architecture & Planning

Civil

Rhino

Grasshopper

Grasshopper, with its visual programming capabilities integrated into Rhino, is a game-changer for numerous disciplines. Designers, architects, engineers, and artists can unleash their creativity and explore boundless possibilities through incredible parametric designs. Its user-friendly node-based approach, extensive plugins, and vibrant community make it the ultimate tool for parametric modeling across fields, from architecture and engineering to art and fabrication. With Grasshopper going web-based, users can expect a whole new level of collaboration, scalability, and accessibility.

## Why use a Grasshopper web app?

Here are some key advantages of using web applications with Grasshopper models:

- **Easy Distribution**: Web apps can be accessed across different devices and platforms, ensuring widespread accessibility within your organization.
- **User-Friendly and Easy to Operate**: The user-friendly interface of web apps simplifies interaction and operation, making it accessible even to non-technical users. Meanwhile, script access is granted to developers!
- **Security:** By hosting your Grasshopper models on secure servers, you can safeguard your valuable code and data from unauthorized access or theft.
- **Easier Maintenance with Version Control:** Web applications benefit from streamlined maintenance through version control systems, facilitating updates, changes tracking, and effective collaboration.
- **Integration Capabilities:** Web apps can seamlessly integrate with various software pieces, enhancing interoperability across different software ecosystems.

## Your Grasshopper scripts in a web app

VIKTOR offers a solution that fulfills all these possibilities. By connecting the VIKTOR app to your Grasshopper model running on a server using Rhino Compute, you can create a real-time connection between the web app and the Grasshopper script.

![compute.png](https://cms.viktor.ai/uploads/compute_9f1242a818.png)

The advantages of using VIKTOR for this purpose are:

- **Use the plugins you need:** VIKTOR seamlessly integrates with the necessary Grasshopper plugins you require for your projects.  
- **Host it on your own server/computer:** Retain full control over your data and ensure the security of your models by hosting them on your server or computer.
- **Integrate it into a bigger workflow:** VIKTOR smoothly fits into your existing workflow, accommodating other disciplines. For example, integrating Architects, Structure Engineers, and Geotechnical Engineers on the same app.
- **Advanced visualizations of Grasshopper results:** VIKTOR provides advanced visualization capabilities, allowing you to present your Grasshopper results in an engaging and informative manner.

## Demo app: Twisting tower and environmental analysis with Grasshopper!

Grasshopper finds common applications in both geometrically configuring architectural designs and conducting environmental analysis for these designs. This workflow heavily relies on the powerful capabilities of [Ladybug](https://www.ladybug.tools/) environmental analysis and simulation plugins within Grasshopper. With our new Grasshopper integration, we have made it possible to run this complex analysis behind a simple UI on a web app. The demo app offers a parametric twisting tower set in an urban context. Moreover, it includes a Direct Sun Hour Analysis, revealing which areas are exposed to sunlight and for how long throughout the year.

<iframe height="600px" frameborder="0" src="https://demo.viktor.ai/embed/grasshopper-sunlight-analysis" style="
    transform: translate(-50%);
    width: 90vw;
    max-width: 1028px;
    margin-left: 50%;
    box-shadow: 0px 0 2px 0 #888;
    "></iframe>

Understanding the areas with the most sun exposure proves incredibly valuable! It enables efficient placement of solar panels, identification of potential shading opportunities, and informed decisions on façade engineering systems to optimize energy usage and environmental impact.

## More Grasshopper plug-ins

Users have the freedom to integrate more robust plugins (like Karamba3D for structural analysis), it becomes feasible to create a comprehensive cloud app capable of providing performance analysis for various aspects of the design. This all-in-one solution allows users to access multiple functionalities within a single platform, streamlining their workflow and enhancing overall project efficiency.


## Ways to build your app!
There are 2 ways to integrate VIKTOR with Rhino/Grasshopper:
1. Connect to Rhino/Grasshopper on your local computer via the Hops component and a Generic worker
2. Connect to a Rhino Compute Server

We recommend using the worker (1) when you don't have a Rhino Compute server yet and you want to get started quickly. You can go for setting up a Rhino Compute server (2) when you want to go for production with your app.

![Grasshopper pic 1.png](https://cms.viktor.ai/uploads/Grasshopper_pic_1_a8d58be1d5.png)

## Do it yourself!

Do you want to turn your Grasshopper script into a VIKTOR app? Start now with a [VIKTOR free account](https://www.viktor.ai/start-building-apps), then explore the open-source demo app from our [GitHub](https://github.com/viktor-platform/sample-grasshopper-analysis/tree/main) page. Or this [GitHub](https://github.com/viktor-platform/Sunlight-Hours-Analysis-with-Grasshopper-and-Ladybug) for connecting to a Rhino Compute server. For developers eager to dive in, our comprehensive [documentation](https://docs.viktor.ai/docs/getting-started/tutorials/grasshopper-tutorial/) provides elaborate explanations to create your own app. Curious how web apps are reshaping AEC? Our vibrant [community](https://community.viktor.ai/tags/c/inspiration-gallery/9/grasshopper) page is the ultimate hub for passionate minds to share questions, ideas, and experiences. Let's create together and elevate design to extraordinary heights! 



## Let's Innovate together!

Through close collaboration with [McNeel](https://www.rhino3d.com/), this near real-time integration is made possible through the Hops component for Rhino Compute. We are working together to provide AEC professionals with secure web-based abilities by Grasshopper/Rhino and VIKTOR. Thank you for making this possible! 

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Turn your Grasshopper models into web apps 15x faster with our new integration. Share 3D models, enhance collaboration, and make complex scripts user-friendly.

Enable Instant Collaboration: Easily Turn Grasshopper Models into Web Apps with VIKTOR Integration

Easily Turn Grasshopper Models into Sharable Web Apps with VIKTOR

1. What is parametric design, and how is it evolving
2. Collaborative parametric design: working together for better results
3. How to make tools available to others
4. Active collaboration on parametric design tools
5. Parametric design in a billion-euro project
6. What collaborative parametric design means for you



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WP_white

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Parametric design is a design approach that uses flexible models that can be adjusted and solved quickly. The goal is to see the effect of specific choices on your design by just changing the input variables. 

The benefits are:

- **Flexibility:** Parametric design allows you to react quickly to changes at a low cost. Always generate the best solution for your project no matter the time pressure.

- **Better decisions:** Automatically calculate thousands of different solutions, get deep insight, and mitigate risks. Make better decisions and provide more added value to clients.

- **Digital Assets:** Create models and data that are reusable in new projects. Improve them over time, building up digital capital

This white paper is for engineers, architects, project leaders, and innovation and business managers. You will learn how collaborative parametric design in the cloud helps organizations get better results with real study cases such as a billion-euro infrastructure project.
 
Additionally, we talk about how you can transform Python, Dynamo and Grasshopper scripts into user-friendly web apps and significantly impact your organization performance. 

Learn how collaborative parametric design models allow you to work together for better solutions.

Download the white paper and get INSPIRED

This white paper is for engineers, project leaders, and innovation and business managers that want to learn more about what collaborative parametric design can mean for them. Discover more about this new way of working in which stakeholders collaborate to find the best solution for a project.

The Future of Parametric Design is COLLABORATION

VIKTOR Blog

Easily Turn Grasshopper Models into Sharable Web Apps with VIKTOR

VIKTOR Blog

Easily Turn Grasshopper Models into Sharable Web Apps with VIKTOR

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White Papers & Guides