Can Butterfly be still used?

Hello everyone,

I have been using Ladybug and Honeybee for a while. I need to evaluate the airflow and buoyancy/stratification for a project. I know that Butterfly once integrated OpenFoam into other plugins. However, it seems there has been no update since 2019. I wonder if I can still use the Butterfly v. 0.0.05 on Rhino 7 along with Ladybug Tools 1.6.0. If not, are you aware of any substitute for this plugin?

Thanks,
Habib

Hi Habib,
I usually tell these questions something similar before I answer them: Give it a try!
In fact, Butterfly is one of the best CFD plugins out there, and while it hasn’t been maintained for years. it doesn’t matter,All you have to tolerate is a few tips and reports that don’t affect your calculations.

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Thanks, Zhengrong,

I tried to install Butterfly and OpenFOAM on my university lab computer, which I use for my research. However, it seems Butterfly can not connect to OpenFOAM. I am unsure if the OpenFOAM and Butterfly should be in the same directory on the computer. I don’t have that much control over the directory of installation on this computer.

You should install BlueCFD-core 2017-1 Version. This version can connect to Butterfly Version 0.0.05.
http://bluecfd.github.io/Core/Downloads/#bluecfd-core-2017-1

Although according to the instructions, Home · ladybug-tools/butterfly Wiki · GitHub, the BlueCFD-core 2017-2 needs to be installed; I installed both 2017-1 and 2017-2. The problem should be something else. On my laptop, I installed Butterfly 0.0.05 and BlueCFD-core 2017-2. It works fine. But I still can not understand what is wrong with my university lab computer. There might be something related to the directory, I guess.
Thanks

You should post some details about your question. Butterfly only support simple user name,not support special symbol.You need to post the user name.

I‘m using butterfly with no problem. As @minggangyin mentioned above, you have to install the Blue-CFD core 2017.
I normally take the results after from paraview which will be installed automatically with Blue-CFD

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When I run the sample Butterfly file, it doesn’t,t work properly. It says I might not have run Rhino as administrative. However, when I run Rhino as an administrative, the Butterfly does not exist in the Grasshopper. And if I attempt to install the Butterfly again, it doesn’t let me drag and drop the Butterfly installer in the Grasshopper.

Maybe you need install Bluecfd-core 2017-2 Version for butterfly.

As I mentioned in the previous reply, I also installed Bluecfd-core 2017-2, which didn’t work.

Thanks anyway.