Skip to content

1.1 Windows Installation Steps

Jump to bottom
Chris Mackey edited this page Jun 24, 2020 · 26 revisions

Windows Installation Steps

  1. Download the latest version of Ladybug Tools from Food4Rhino.

  2. Inside the download, you will find an installer.gh file. Open it in Grasshopper and set the first toggle to True. The component will tell you to install 3 other software packages. However, the only required package is the first, which is Python.

Run First Component

  1. Python is the computer language in which Ladybug Tools is written and is one of the fastest-growing programming languages. Ladybug Tools uses a special build of Python that can be downloaded from this link as a .zip file.

  2. Download the file and, before you unzip it, right-click it and select "Properties". Check the "Unblock" bok and then hit "OK."

Unblock Zip File

  1. Unzip the file INTO THE FOLDER NOTED IN THE INSTALLER.GH. This should be C:\Users\[USERNAME]\ladybug_tools\python but with your own username for [USERNAME]. At the end you should have something that looks like this:

Install Python Location

  1. Go back to the installer.gh file and set the second toggle to true:

Run Second Component It will take a few seconds to download the Ladybug Tools core libraries into the Python installation that you unzipped earlier. This component also downloads all of the Ladybug Tools Grasshopper components. Lastly, a library of default assets (Energy Constructions, Radiance Modifiers, etc.) will be downloaded to \ladybug_tools\resources\standards.

  1. You are almost donebut there's one more step that must be run WITH RHINO CLOSED! Close Rhino and you will see that there is a file named set_python_path.bat in your ladybug_tools folder:

set_python_path.bat

Double-click it and this will set Rhino to look for the Ladybug Tools core libraries in the ladybug_tools\python folder.

  1. Open Rhino and you should see the Ladybug Tools components available in new tabs. Congratulations! You now have a working version of Ladybug Tools.

Optional Steps

  1. Install OpenStudio - If you want to be able to run energy simulations, you must install OpenStudio. OpenStudio is a programming interface for EnergyPlus, which is the engine that Honeybee uses for building energy simulation. Check the compatibility matrix to determine which version of OpenStudio is compatible with your version of Ladybug Tools. Download that version of OpenStudio from the OpenStudio Github. Run the OpenStudio executable and accept all defaults.
  1. Install Radiance - If you want to be able to run daylight and solar simulations, you must install Radiance. Radiance is a physics-based rendering engine, which is what Honeybee uses for all daylight and spatial solar studies. Check the compatibility matrix to determine which version of Radiance is compatible with your version of Ladybug Tools. Download that version of Radiance from the Radiance Github Run the Radiance executable and accept all of the defaults.
Clone this wiki locally