Developer tools

Hundreds of enhancements to the Rhino developer tools including the scripting tools, the C++ SDK, the .NET SDK, the rendering SDK (RDK), and the openNURBS toolkit.

Scripting Tools  ( new, enhanced)
Rhino supports both macros and RhinoScripts. Macros are a series of Rhino commands accessed from a button, an alias, or a shortcut key. RhinoScript is a VB like scripting language that can add new commands to Rhino or be included in macros.

• Alerter - Sounds an alert when a command finishes. Adds an option to perform an operation if a specified command takes longer than a user-specified duration.
• CommandList - Displays a list of all Rhino commands in a text window that can be copied, saved, printed. A nice reference tool for script and tutorial developers.
• Drag & Drop - Drag & drop a RhinoScript .RVB file onto Rhino's main window to load the script.
• RhinoMail - Sends email from inside Rhino.
• RhinoScript - More than 130 new methods.
• RhinoScript - More 20 existing methods enhanced.
• MacroEditor - edit Rhino macros.
• Macros - If the first character in a toolbar script is not "!" and the last character is" \", the script runs on the command line without Enter, so more information can be added.  This feature is useful for building a command string out of parts like digits, decimal points, angles (like "<45") that are on buttons, making a "numeric keypad" on the screen.
• Viewport - Commands are now scriptable.
• WebBrowser - Open a "stay on top" web browser window that you can read while working in Rhino.

[Print version]

C++ SDK ( new, enhanced)
Requires Microsoft Visual Studio 2005

• Third-party developers now have full access to the Rhino core functionality.
• Debugging tools - Find plug-in memory leaks and error conditions when working with Windows.
• Unicode - All plug-ins are Unicode to ease support for multiple languages.
• Access new technology including:
  • UDT
  • History
  • Drafting tools
  • Graphics pipeline
• Create and edit more object types including grips, clipping planes, cage, layouts, and details.
• More routines are exposed including Intersection, mass properties, Booleans, Loft, Sweep1, and Sweep2.
• Drag & drop manager provided.
• Texture manager includes texture per surface in a polysurface.
• Customize display or printing modes per object or per viewport.
• Custom display or printing engines supported.
• CommandHelp supports plug-ins.
• Custom toolbars, menus, and docking dialogs.
• Plug-ins can skin Rhino to control how the Rhino user interface appears to the user including Rhino's icon, splash screen, menu bar, application title bar, about box, and toolbars.
• Enhanced event watchers notify third-party plug-ins when something in Rhino changes.
• Third-party plug-ins can extend RhinoScript with new script functions. There is no longer a need for each developer to have their own scripting tools.
• Other Windows applications now have access to Rhino third-party plug-ins via their extension to RhinoScript.

.Net SDK ( new, enhanced)

• The .NET SDK is a wrapper around the C++ SDK that allows plug-in development with any .NET language including VB.NET and C#.
• Most of the C++ SDK functionality is available in the .NET SDK.

Renderer Developer Kit ( new, enhanced)
These tools include:

• A fully extensible Material, Environment and Texture Editor.
• A full frame buffer implementation with post and channel handling.
• A pre-process custom mesh provision interface for 3rd party developers.
• Displacement mapping. Procedural textures. An improved render pipeline.
• A Rhino Sunlight.
• Texture mapping support for Rhino 3.0 (already built into Rhino 4.0).
• Property animation registration for Bongo 2.0 and other 3rd party animators.
• Automatic shader UI support for 3rd party Material/Environment/Texture providers.
• UI widgets for developers.

openNURBS ( new, enhanced)
The tools provided by openNURBS include:

• Specification and documentation for the Rhino 1.0-4.0 3DM file format.
• Royalty-free C++ source code libraries to read and write the Rhino 1.0-4.0 3DM file format.
• Windows, Windows x64, Mac, and Linux are supported.