Sometimes, you may want to record the visual output of your script in a more controlled and repeatable way. While a simple screen recording can be a quick and convenient solution, adopting a programmatic approach offers greater flexibility. It allows you to easily tweak settings and re-record the same output without starting from scratch, ensuring consistent results every time.

If you're new to Grasshopper, you'll be pleased to know that with just third-party plugins, you can effortlessly set up a dynamic camera pipeline. For more experienced users, leveraging the Rhino API offers greater flexibility and enables the creation of more complex and customized implementations.

Configurators

To export the animations you can just use the default export animation pipeline. We are gonna take advantage of it with many occasions due to its convenience and ease of use. The 'Animate controls' window is part of the Grasshopper slider batteries. You need to place a slider on the canvas and 'right click' then select the 'Animate...' option. You will get the following:

Example script of the horser implementation

Now the panel offers you multiple options for optimising your exports. You can only export image frames (ie. png, jpg), not videos (i.e. mp4, avec)! After you get the image exports you will need to post process them using a video editing software such as Premier Pro or Davinci Resolve.

Example script of the horser implementation

Ubiquity and Portability

Vim is virtually everywhere¹. It's available on all major platforms, and because it's lightweight and terminal-based, it can be used on remote servers through SSH, making it an indispensable tool for sysadmins and developers working in a cloud-based environment.

The ability to use the same editor across different systems without a graphical interface is a significant advantage for those who need to maintain a consistent workflow across multiple environments.

Example script of the horser implementation