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First steps

Run your first Wrengler study: group your geometry, choose a study, and read the heatmap in the viewport.

Tutorial · 2 min read

Every study follows the same pattern: organize the geometry, pick a study, set its parameters, run, read the viewport. We'll use Sunlight Hours.

Every study follows the same six steps.

Open the panel#

Type Wrengler in the Rhino command line. The panel opens docked on the right, on Projects. Switch to Systems at the top of the panel; the Systems tabs across it switch between studies and the grouping view.

Want the file's work kept together? On Projects, link the file to a project first. See Projects.

Organize your geometry#

A study runs over a group of Rhino objects or an ad-hoc selection. For a first run, separate two roles:

  • Target: the geometry you want results on: a facade, a site plane, a set of sensor surfaces.
  • Context: geometry that blocks rays but needs no results of its own: neighboring massing, terrain.
Sun rays that reach the target facade count as sunlight on its sensors. Rays stopped by the context count as shade. The context gets no results of its own.

To create a group, select the objects in the viewport, then create a named group in the panel and assign the selection to it. Repeat for context if you want the roles kept distinct.

Tip

In a hurry? Run against whatever is selected in Rhino. Groups pay off once you re-run studies: see Geometry grouping.

Choose a study#

From the Systems tabs, pick Sunlight Hours, the study that runs end to end in Rhino today, and point it at your group or selection.

Set the period#

  1. Period: a representative day, a season, or a date range.
  2. Location: drives the sun's path. Wrengler reads the geo-location set on your Rhino document, so set that in Rhino first if you haven't.
  3. Resolution: finer sensor grids give smoother heatmaps at the cost of compute.
Worth knowing

Check the location before the first run. A study at the wrong latitude still draws a convincing heatmap.

Run#

Press Run. The engine traces sun rays against target and context, accumulating direct-sun hours per sensor. It picks the fastest backend your machine supports and falls back on its own, so a driver problem never blocks the run.

Read the heatmap#

A heatmap appears on your target geometry, warmer where sensors receive more cumulative direct sun. Sunlight Hours also reports min / avg / max hours.

Orbit to inspect the distribution. Change the period or move context geometry and run again to compare.

Next#