Direct Data Output

In Grasshopper, when you want to output data from the model to be visualized in the ShapeDiver platform or used in a web application, you can use the Direct Data Output component.

Download a Grasshopper definition containing all types of data supported by the Direct Data Output component here.

Usage in the model view page

In some cases, the data sent to the Direct Data Output component will be displayed in the model view page of the ShapeDiver platform. Read more about direct data outputs in the platform here.

Usage with the ShapeDiver API

This data can be accessed through our API and will help you with algorithms you may need to create to get pricing lists, material lists, or any other documentation.

This component supports the following data types: scalar, string, guid, point, vector, color, box, interval, line, ray, plane, transform, nurbs curve, and surface and the viewer API will output the data as a Javascript object which preserves the tree structure. Importantly, the component also supports JSON outputs, created with the ShapeDiver plugin and some other third-party ones that support the JSON format.

It is important to give this component a unique name, which will allow you to identify the corresponding output on the API.

Download an example model containing all the types of data outputs here.

Component Name for the API
The data output is most likely destined to be read using the Viewer API. It is important to give the Direct Data Output component a unique name, based on which the web developer can identify it. This is particularly crucial if the Grasshopper model contains several output components.

The size of the data you can output using a single direct data output component is limited to 400kB. Should you need to output more data, use multiple direct data output components, or a text download export component.