The assistant in Rhino
What the chat in the Rhino panel can do in your model and your project, what waits for you, and how to undo it.
Built and tested; final checks in live Rhino before general release.
In the Wrengler panel in Rhino, the assistant doesn't describe how you'd do something. It does it. Ask it to color the south-facing facades, run a sunlight study on the podium for the winter solstice or save that study to the project, and it uses the same code the panel's buttons use.
It has a fixed set of actions and never writes or runs code. It works as you: signed in, on Pro, with your access to the project, and only while your organization has AI features on. On the web the chat has no Rhino file to act on, so it tells you where to do it instead.
What it can do in the model#
Each action works on the objects you name, a group or a layer. With none of these, it works on the current selection.
| You can ask it to | What happens |
|---|---|
| Read the selection, the groups, the site or the study on screen | Reads only |
| Measure floor, facade and roof area and GFA | Reads only |
| Find the objects that face north, south, east, west, up or down | Reads only |
| Tell you where the sun is at the site, for a date and time | Reads only |
| Say how big a study would be before running it: the area, the sensors, and whether your plan allows it | Reads only |
| Select, color, hide, show or isolate objects | Runs at once |
| Make a group, add or remove its objects, or remove a group (its objects stay) | Runs at once |
| Set the study site | Runs at once |
| Build the geometry a test or a quick study needs: a floor, a wall facing a direction, a tilted panel or a massing block, named and on a layer, then group and study it in the same request | Runs at once |
| Copy the faces of a solid that face one direction, as separate surfaces (the solid stays) | Runs at once |
| Run a sunlight, view or radiation study, on groups, named objects or the selection | Runs at once |
| Clear a study from the viewport | Runs at once |
| Set a sunlight or view study's legend: fixed limits or automatic, and the number of color bands | Runs at once |
| Show or hide the sun HUD, the sun-path arc or the inspector, and set their time and date | Runs at once |
| Delete objects | Highlighted in Rhino first, and waits for Approve |
The areas and the group list come from the same code as the panel's, so the two can't disagree about a number.
What it can do in the project#
For the project the open file is linked to, as you, with your access:
| You can ask it to | What happens |
|---|---|
| Tell you what's in the project: the link, saved studies and their documents (and whether one is out of date), files and tags | Reads only |
| Read the project's files, so it can quote them | Runs at once |
| Link the file to one of your projects, or create a project and link it | Waits for Approve |
| Save the study shown in Rhino, as Save to project does | Waits for Approve |
| Save the measured areas and group values as tags, as Add from Rhino does | Waits for Approve |
| Save a saved study as a result document, or update its document to the newest run | Waits for Approve |
A study saved from the chat and one you save by hand with the same settings are the same study, so the project keeps one document for it, not two.
What waits for you#
- Anything it would save to the project shows a card with Approve. Nothing is saved until you press it. Dismiss runs nothing.
- Deleting is previewed first, as below.
- A plan with steps in order, or one with a step for you to do, shows the whole plan and waits for Start.
- Instant commands, such as select the podium, color it red or hide the context, run straight away. Studies, saves and deletes never do.
Deletes are previewed#
- The objects are highlighted in Rhino, and the card says how many will be deleted.
- Approve runs it. Dismiss runs nothing.
- If the model changes between the preview and your approval, nothing runs. The chat previews again and asks again.
- Rhino refuses a delete that arrives without your approval.
Undo#
A change to the model is an undo step in Rhino named Wrengler: assistant program. A plain request is one Ctrl+Z. A request that also saves to the project, runs several studies or runs a list of checks is a few steps, one for each stretch of work in Rhino. There's no undo button in the chat.
Not part of Rhino's undo: selecting, a study's display, the legend and the overlays. Clear or change them again. What was saved to the project isn't undone by Ctrl+Z either; change it on the project page, as you would something you saved by hand.
Studies#
- View and radiation need Pro, as their commands do.
- Sunlight needs a site. Without one, the chat says so; ask it to set one, or set it in the panel.
- Several studies in one request run one after another. Each can take up to about five minutes, and the result shows in Rhino as if you had pressed Run.
- Radiation from the chat is at one instant, in W/m², with direct and diffuse reported separately. Radiation over a period is run from the panel.
- After a run, the assistant reads the study's settings, sensor count, minimum, mean and maximum, and the results for up to 40 surfaces.
Procedures and checks#
Paste a procedure, or a list of checks, and ask the chat to run it.
- A procedure is shown as a plan and waits for Start. A step only you can do (orbit to the south elevation) shows a card with Done and Stop, and the plan waits there.
- A check compares something the assistant read with what you expected: about a value within a tolerance, at least, at most, or equal to it. A failed check doesn't stop the run.
- The answer is one table: the step, what was expected, what it observed, and whether it passed.
A request holds up to 12 steps, or 24 for a procedure or a list of checks.
What stays with you#
The chat will tell you where, but it won't do these:
- Signing in or out, and settings.
- Deleting a project, and deleting or moving the project's files.
- Your organization's members, roles, knowledge approvals and housekeeping.
- Drawing in the Image Studio, and setting goals. It can propose an image; you press Generate.
Not yet#
- Moving, rotating, scaling or editing geometry. It can add simple geometry and copy faces; it can't change the shape or position of what's there.
- A radiation study's legend, and radiation over a period.
- Other design software. Rhino only.
Tip
Start with what's in this project? It reads the link, studies, documents and tags, so the next request can name them.