VI-Suite v0.7 – Testing required

Before anyone gets too excited I have not released v0.7 yet. Still working on some features. There is however a new installation procedure that requires some testing.

VI-Suite v0.7 no longer includes all the required Python libraries such as matplotlib and kivy, but uses pip to install them when the addon is activated. This has the advantage that the VI-Suite download is much smaller, but more importantly I don’t have to update all the libraries when Blender changes its Python version.

To test this new install mechanism with Blender 3.3 get the zip file from https://github.com/rgsouthall/vi-suite07/archive/refs/heads/master.zip and install from the preferences addon menu as normal. Assuming you have a live internet connection there will then be a pause as the libraries are downloaded. On a slow internet connection this can take some time although this only happens the first time the addon is activated. If you start Blender from a terminal, or show the terminal window on Windows, you can monitor the installation process.

Assuming install completes, then try a simple chart display to test matplotlib and a simulation that takes enough time to bring up the progress window to test Kivy. Any successes or failures, with platform information and any error messages, can be reported as a comment below.

Cheers

Ryan

11 thoughts on “VI-Suite v0.7 – Testing required

  1. Hello Ryan, I tried it and got this list of errors:
    Program Version,EnergyPlus, Version 9.6.0-f420c06a69, YMD=2022.06.10 11:00,
    ** Severe ** [BuildingSurface:Detailed][EN_COLLECTION_0][number_of_vertices] – “2.462300” – Expected number greater than or equal to 3.000000
    ** Severe ** [BuildingSurface:Detailed][EN_COLLECTION_0][number_of_vertices] – Failed to validate against child schema #0.
    ** Severe ** [BuildingSurface:Detailed][EN_COLLECTION_0][number_of_vertices] – “2.462300” – Failed to match against any enum values.
    ** Severe ** [BuildingSurface:Detailed][EN_COLLECTION_0][number_of_vertices] – Failed to validate against child schema #1.
    ** Severe ** [BuildingSurface:Detailed][EN_COLLECTION_0][number_of_vertices] – Failed to validate against any schemas allowed by anyOf constraint.
    ** Severe ** [BuildingSurface:Detailed][EN_COLLECTION_0][sun_exposure] – “WindExposed” – Failed to match against any enum values.
    ** Severe ** [BuildingSurface:Detailed][EN_COLLECTION_0][vertices][3] – Missing required property ‘vertex_z_coordinate’.
    ** Warning ** Version: in IDF=”9.5″ not the same as expected=”9.6″
    ** Fatal ** Errors occurred on processing input file. Preceding condition(s) cause termination.
    …Summary of Errors that led to program termination:
    ….. Reference severe error count=7
    ….. Last severe error=[BuildingSurface:Detailed][EN_COLLECTION_0][vertices][3] – Missing required property ‘vertex_z_coordinate’.
    ************* Warning: Node connection errors not checked – most system input has not been read (see previous warning).
    ************* Fatal error — final processing. Program exited before simulations began. See previous error messages.
    ************* EnergyPlus Warmup Error Summary. During Warmup: 0 Warning; 0 Severe Errors.
    ************* EnergyPlus Sizing Error Summary. During Sizing: 0 Warning; 0 Severe Errors.
    ************* EnergyPlus Terminated–Fatal Error Detected. 1 Warning; 7 Severe Errors; Elapsed Time=00hr 00min 0.05sec

  2. Looks like the Python library installation worked fine if you are trying to run an EP simulation.
    You seem to be using EP 9.6 whereas the VI-Suite comes with EP9.5. Try using the built-in version or change your local installation to 9.5.
    The forum at https://groups.google.com/g/vi-suite is a better place for this kind of question.

  3. I am getting the following error when using the Vi heatmap node to display Shadow map results.

    Python: Traceback (most recent call last):
    File “/home/eee/.config/blender/3.0/scripts/addons/vi-suite07-master/vi_operators.py”, line 2111, in invoke
    node.dupdate(context)
    File “/home/eee/.config/blender/3.0/scripts/addons/vi-suite07-master/vi_node.py”, line 2082, in dupdate
    self.x = self.x.reshape(dno, hno)
    AttributeError: ‘list’ object has no attribute ‘reshape’

    location: :-1

  4. Hi Randall, I just installed the current master-branch. All I had to do to before activating it was to add a symbolic link from my site-packages PyQt5 to Blender’s python packages. In my case with macports, this was (from within the directory /Applications/Blender.app/Contents/Resources/3.2/python/lib/python3.10):

    ln -s /opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/PyQt5 PyQt5

    It would be great if the add-on could also install PyQt as a prerequisite of cource.

    I also just tried the Radiance integration.

    What I realised was that while you start multiple rpict processes when I set the number of processors >1, there is no ambient file used. This means that the processes do not share the ambient data. Consequently, each process does the ambient calculation from scratch, rendering the advantage of having multiple processors more or less ineffective. With rcontrib and friends, you cannot use the ambient cache, but with rpict you could and probably speed up the simulation significantly.

    Once again, thank you for this amazing software!

    Lars.

      • Hi Lars.
        I did wonder.
        PyQt5 should get installed. Do you not have a PyQt5 folder in home/Library/Application Support/Blender/3.2/scripts/addons/vi-suite07/Python/darwin. If you do is there anything in it?

        • VI-Suite uses ambient accuracy of 0 by default as rpict then makes images that Blender can better de-noise, at least in my testing. This gives me the best image quality for the time taken.
          aa 0 makes the ambient file redundant so would only be used if the user set a custom aa parameter. rpict does however just ignore the ambient file if aa is zero so I may add it in anyway for cases where the user sets a custom aa.

  5. Hi Ryan, i just found this plugin, and it do spike my attention. Would it be possible to send you a email with some question directly, as i have some specific inquiries. I would like to see if i can implement this plugin into my line of work.

    • I find it more efficent to ask directly to your email, though it is not a privat manner. I can use the group google. I will find a way to articulate myself with inquery of a spesific workflow and future features.

    • I have opened up a tread in the google group. However, i had to cut my inquery short, as there is lenght requierment. As soon as the post has been approved to be shown, i can copy in the remaining text.

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