How to bring BSDF with proxy geometry to HB+

Hi everyone,

I have a question regarding BSDF proxy geometry and HB+, was wondering if @mikkel or anyone else can help me with this.

I’m creating a BSDF file with proxy geometry for venetian blinds using genBSDF and want to bring it inside HB+ and run a 5-phase simulation. I have to use HB+ since I plan to later link it to another plugin.
I have been following this tutorial to create BSDF with proxy geometry using genBSDF: https://www.radiance-online.org/learning/tutorials/fivephasetutorialfiles/Tutorial-FivePhaseMethod_v2.pdf

My question is: How do I bring the proxy geometry to HB+? I know with HB+ 3-phase it is a matter of simply linking the xml file to RADMaterial but how to do this with proxy geometry?

Also, as shown in the linked tutorial, I have a tensor tree BSDF and a Klems basis BSDF, both xml files. How to connect them both to HB+?

My main goal is to be able to see the solar patches from the blinds in the contour plot after running the 5-phase simulation in HB+, for which I needed to use proxy geometry.

Any help/suggestion will be much appreciated!

Best,
Manal

Checking back in to see if anyone has any suggestions regarding this?
I’m still unable to figure out how to bring the proxy geometry to HB+.

Hi @manal,

I am sorry about the late answer.

In HB+ you cannot use proxy geometry – to my knowledge. I don’t know if @sarith remember any hidden implementation in HB+.

The 5-phase method in HB+ is using the Klems BSDF for both the 3-phase and 5-phase calculation. The recipe is not set up to use a tensor tree BSDF for the direct sun light calculation in the last part of the 5-phase recipe.

It is probably not the answer you want to hear, but for what you are trying to achieve, it is easier to run it outside Grasshopper using your own command line scripts. When I did my master’s thesis back in 2019 I also learnt this as I was trying to use tensor tree BSDFs. I had to learn how to use Radiance using command line so I could run it exactly as needed – I used Sarith’s tutorial that he linked to in the other topic, also mentioned under Advanced Tutorials here.

Thank you Mikkel. Yes, although that might not have been the answer I was hoping, it’s still helpful to know so I don’t spend time looking into HB+!

I have started to use Radiance using command line but I was hoping to link HB+ to another program, but I see now that I have to think about some other way to do this.

Thank you so much! This helps a lot.

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