Rhino, or Rhinoceros, is a powerful 3D modeling software used in various fields like architecture, industrial design, and product design for its ability to create precise, freeform shapes. It specializes in NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) curves, surfaces, and solids, allowing for complex designs with high precision, and also supports polygon meshes and point clouds. Rhino can be integrated with its visual scripting add-on, Grasshopper, to create complex generative designs and is compatible with hundreds of other CAD, CAM, and rendering programs.

Bringing Giraffe into Rhino as editable geometries requires some scripting.

We have created a set of scripts to help you convert Giraffe GeoJSON to Rhino geometries. While some basic knowledge of Python is helpful, the necessary scripts have been created and provided by the Giraffe team to streamline the process.

For Rhino compatibility, we recommend exporting as a GeoJSON (in longitude, latitude or the project defined coordinate transform)

Access the export menu via the main menu (☰) → Export -> Projected GeoJSON

Giraffe to Rhino projected - Python script

The file ‘giraffeToRhino_projected’ accounts for XY Euler/Cartesian coordinates

Giraffe to Rhino - Python script

The file ‘giraffeToRhino’ accounts for longitude and latitude coordinates

Giraffe is much simpler than Rhino. Rhino deals with all sorts of geometries while Giraffe only uses extrusions defined by a format called geojson.

To bring a Rhino file into Giraffe as editable geometries, you should convert your Rhino model to GeoJSON, then Upload the GeoJSON as a layer or simply copy/paste the JSON into your Giraffe window.

The following script reads in a Rhino Geometry, sections it to create polylines, adds the correct attribution and exports the polylines as a geoJSON.

Alternatively, use a plugin like ShrimpGIS to create the GeoJSON.

Export as GLTF from Rhino, then upload the 3D model.