🔔 New Plugin Release: ChameleonPCM – Define and Simulate Phase Change Materials in Grasshopper 🌡️

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Hello Ladybug Community!

Big thanks to dear @chris for the help!

We’re excited to share with you the release of a new Grasshopper plugin developed by me and Eng. Kiana Haghighatnejad Chobari— now officially available on [Food4Rhino] :tada:

:lizard: ChameleonPCM is a lightweight but powerful plugin designed to let you define custom Phase Change Materials (PCM) and generate EnergyPlus-compatible material definitions directly within the Grasshopper canvas — using inputs such as temperature-enthalpy curves, thermal conductivity, density, and more.

:wrench: Features:

  • :package: Define PCM materials with full thermophysical properties
  • :gear: Generate MaterialProperty:PhaseChange objects for EnergyPlus
  • :arrows_counterclockwise: Seamless integration with Honeybee workflows
  • :computer_mouse: Easy drag-and-drop installation (.gha file)

This plugin is especially useful for:

  • Energy modelers exploring latent heat storage
  • Thermal comfort simulations with dynamic mass effects
  • Researchers developing climate-responsive envelopes

:inbox_tray: Download & Try It:
:point_right:https://www.food4rhino.com/en/app/chameleonpcm

:speech_balloon: We welcome your feedback, suggestions, and use cases. If you’d like to collaborate or contribute ideas for future development, we’d love to hear from you!

Let’s work together to push the boundaries of energy modeling with smarter, adaptive materials!

Thanks,
Hamed Sangin & Kiana Haghighatnejad Chobari

15 Likes
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hi,@hamed.sangin

The plugin seems unable to load Honeybee directly in the Rhino8 general environment. I guess it’s because the virtual environment for obtaining the Ladybug Tools Python package wasn’t set up properly. Due to the way your code is encapsulated, I am unable to determine whether this is the cause or not.

Here is the program report.

1. Solution exception:
Failed to import honeybee:
	No module named 'honeybee'

best.
zhengrong

2 Likes
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Hi Zhengrong,

Sorry for the late reply.

First, please make sure you have installed Ladybug Tools version 1.8.0 correctly in Rhino 8. Once you confirm that, you should be able to use the plugin without any issues.

Also, there are example files included in the ZIP package—feel free to use them to test and better understand how the plugin works.

If you have any questions or need help checking your setup, don’t hesitate to ask me—I’m happy to help!

Best regards,
Hamed Sangin