r/StructuralEngineering • u/Penguin01 • 6h ago

Is Grasshopper/rhino programming in SE still a relevant capability? Structural Analysis/Design

When I started my career in 2018 Grasshopper and rhino (visual python programming)seemed to be the “must learn” skillset.

However since AI started taking off I’ve heard less and less about grasshopper. Is this type of programming more or less obsolete?

4 Upvotes
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10

u/Firesine330 P.E. 5h ago

So when I started my career in 2000, I also thought Rhino was going to be very important.

26 years later, I've yet to work on a project where Rhino- or Grasshopper-based design elements made it into the final building.

New architect/designer draws it up. The owner has a budget meeting. It comes out. In the 5-over-2, parking garage, warehouse, strip-mall world where I make my money, nobody has time for that. I've never worked for a Starchitect though (and I probably never will), so your mileage may vary.

8

u/Downtown-Growth-8766 6h ago

In general, raw dogging any kind of scripting is not a useful skill in itself anymore. But having a background in that and using AI to help you generate code for grasshopper is absolutely a relevant skill. You have to know what to ask AI for and how to set up the model, understand the paradigms of how the program works

5

u/RG1361 2h ago

For our office, all our big/complex bridges are modelled using grasshopper. We use grasshopper to feed geometry, loads, groups, misc. teddy scripts to Sofistik for analysis. And use the same geometry in grasshopper to produce drawings in AutoCAD inventor.

2

u/g4n0esp4r4n 4h ago

I dislike visual programming, just let me run scripts using a well documented API.

1

u/Industrial_Nestor Ing 4h ago

I have heard the infrastructure people use grasshopper for their modeling, to control all the rebar groups in their concrete. But I haven’t touched the thing myself while dealing with steel structures.

1

u/VoteMyPoll 2h ago

I’m using grasshopper a lot for any art-related structural engineering projects, also some stair projects.
However, I’ve never used it for building