Step-by-step guide

Through the Forma Site Design—Rhino connection, a Rhino proposal can be sent to Forma to leverage its capabilities. For example, area metrics for the Rhino proposal can be viewed and edited to perform detailed environmental analyses on it in Forma.

In this example, a Forma Site Design project is open in Rhino. All the Rhino model geometry has already been tagged, and all the layer information has been verified.

To send the proposal to Forma Site Design:

In Rhino, in the Forma Site Design panel, click Send Layers to Forma.

In Rhino, the project for this example is open in the Perspective view; and in the Forma panel, all Rhino geometry is tagged, the layer information is verified, and Send Layers to Forma is selected and highlighted in red.

In Forma, in the Navigator, select the proposal just sent from Rhino—in this case, Rhino Empty site.
If the data does not appear immediately, refresh the page.

In Forma, the proposal sent from Rhino is selected, the data is not yet visible on the canvas, and the Refresh button is called out with a red arrow.

The Rhino model displays on the Forma canvas.

In the right panel, click Area Metrics to see the site data, including the gross floor area, rentable area, and floor area ratio.

On the Forma canvas, the Rhino model is displayed, and in the right panel, Area metrics is called out and is being selected.

For example, expand GFA to see the gross floor area data for each of the layers.
Hover the cursor over each to see its percentage of the total GFA.

In the right panel, with GFA expanded, the cursor is hovering over Commercial, and on the canvas, the relevant geometry is highlighted.

Zoom in on the site and pan the model.
From the Navigator, click Settings.

The Forma canvas, displaying a panned and zoomed-in view of the site, and in the Navigator, Settings is called out and is being selected.

To customize the area metrics to suit the project:

In the Settings dialog box, click Area metrics.
Expand one of the panels, such as RA in this example.

To change the rentable area multiplier for each of these layers:

Next to the Commercial layer, click Edit.

In the Settings dialog box, Area metrics is highlighted in red, and in the expanded RA panel, Edit is being selected next to the Commercial layer.

Change the multiplier value to 0.8.
Repeat this to change the value for the Hotel layer to 0.75.
Click Apply changes.

The Settings dialog box, RA panel, with the multiplier values changed for this example. Apply changes is highlighted in red and is being selected.

Collapse the RA metric panel by clicking a different one.

To create area metrics based on the defaults:

Adjacent to the Metrics heading, click Add new metric (+).
From the drop-down, select a Factor metric or a Ratio metric. In this example, Ratio metric is selected.

In the Settings dialog box, Add new metric is being selected, and in the drop-down, the Ratio metric is highlighted in red.

A New ratio metric panel is added to the list of metrics, with two drop-downs between a division slash.

To create the expression:

Expand the left drop-down to set the first term, such as GFA.
Set the second term to Site area.

In the added New ratio metric panel, GFA selected for the first term, and in the second drop-down, Site area called out and being selected.

Click Apply changes.
Close the Settings dialog box.

In the right panel, the New ratio metric is now listed with the other metrics.

Expand the new metric to see the Rhino layers, and that Forma has performed the ratio calculations.
Pass the cursor over each to see that the corresponding geometry is highlighted on the canvas.

In the right panel, the expanded New ratio metric is highlighted in red, and the cursor is hovering over the Office layer; and on the canvas, the relevant geometry is highlighted.

Forma Site Design – Rhinoceros Interoperability

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