Finch Guide
  • Overview
    • Welcome to Finch!
    • New Features
    • About
    • FAQ
    • Roadmap
    • Sign Up Here
  • First Steps
    • Create an account and Install Plug-ins
    • Upload your first building - Rhino
      • All about Rhino
    • Upload your first building - Revit
      • All about Revit
    • Upload your first building & context - Forma
    • Advanced: Uploading Walls
  • Massing Studio
    • Customize your mass
    • Calculate Data
  • Floor Plate Studio
    • Generate Unit Mix & Stairwells
    • Generate Unit Mix & Corridors
    • Generate Unit Mix around Circulation
    • Algorithm Theory
  • Unit Plan Studio
    • Adaptive Plan Library
    • Assign Adaptive Plans
    • Enterprise - Generate Unit Plan
  • Fundamentals
    • Tools & Commands
    • Iterate with variants
    • Add context geometry (Rhino)
    • Export
  • Grasshopper
    • Grasshopper - Upload
    • Grasshopper - Download data
    • Grasshopper - Advanced
  • Resources
    • Keyboard shortcuts
    • Feature Bank
    • Video Tutorials
  • Account Details
  • Contact Us
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On this page
  • Finch Layers in Rhino
  • Building Location
  • Updating the plug-in
  • Plug-in settings
  • Centerline Positioning
  • Override geometry check
  1. First Steps
  2. Upload your first building - Rhino

All about Rhino

Everything you need to know about the Rhino-Finch Plug-in

Finch Layers in Rhino

Layer Structure

When you load a Finch project in Rhino, the layer structure for exchanging geometry is automatically imported as well. Make sure to place your geometry on the right layers for Finch to recognize and import everything correctly.

Finch acts as the parent layer and should be left empty.

Below is an overview of the layer structure used:

Layer name
Description

building mass

Stores closed building masses (mesh, polysrf, extrusion, brep)

centerline

Stores lines which controls the placement of generated corridors.

grid lines

Stores multiple open polylines that affect the Custom Core algorithm

building interior block

Interior parent layer, empty

programs

Stores interior program data / geometry

structure

Stores interior structural data / geometry

custom geometry

Overwriting Layer Geometry

When a different Finch variant is loaded into Rhino, the previous geometry in the Finch layers is overwritten and replaced with the new geometry. The sync does not affect any geometry outside of the Finch parent layer.

Building Location

Try to keep your building within 1 kilometer of the Rhino origin point. Use the Rhino command What to find the xyz coordinates of your geometry.

Updating the plug-in

Issues with updating the plug-in?

Rhino package manager has issues with updating plug-ins. If your plug-in version hasn't updated after restarting Rhino try the following:

  • Uninstall the Finch Plug-in

  • Restart Rhino

  • Install the newest version of the Finch plug-in

  • Restart Rhino

The update notification can be toggled on/off under the advanced tab of the plug-in.

Plug-in settings

Auto-receive changes

If Auto receive changes from web app is checked, any updates made in Finch will be automatically synced to Rhino. If it is not checked, after working in the web app the Rhino file will need to be synced before making any further edits in Rhino. Otherwise, the Finch and Rhino versions of the project will contain different data and the user will be prompted to choose which version to override when syncing new changes.

Centerline Positioning

If you are uploading or adding a centerline, be sure that it is one joined line that does not intersect itself or stick outside of the building.

Override geometry check

If you are having trouble downloading geometry from finch to rhino containing invalid geometry, try holding down Ctrl while pressing Sync to override the geometry check.


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Last updated 1 month ago

Stores custom geometry in sub-layers used for

context