IBI Quantum Explorer tutorial

IBI Quantum Explorer - Quick Guide

Populating and Visualizing data on the Design Explorer interface relies on 3 basic items:
structured CSV file, 2D images, and 3D Spectacles JSON files. The latter two are optional...
Below we desribe the steps that will allow you to create and prepare a data set that you want to visualize on the Quantum Explorer

Process

IBI Quantum Explorer tutorial


This platform allows you to visualize, compare and evaluate different design alternatives. This presupposes developing a parametric model that allows the generation of design alternatives by changing specific design parameters as well as defining a set of design performance metrics that can vary based on the design at hand.
In order to create design data sets that are compatible with the Quantum Explorer the use of Grasshopper within Rhinoceros 3d is recommended. Specifically the Colibri plugin allows users to easily turn their Grasshopper definitions into Quantum Explorer - compatible data sets. Here you can find a video from the developers on how to use Colibri. However, as long as the files are compiled in a structured .csv file as described below then they can be generated by any 3d modelling or BIM software

CSV File Preparation

IBI Quantum Explorer tutorial


The Comma Separated Value (CSV) file is what populates the Quantum Explorer interface with each design iteration within the design space. The top row of the CSV file should be used only for naming and tagging each type of data.
The subsequent rows should each represent a single design iteration per row.


The formatting of the file should follow these tags:
Top Row: Tagged titles to specify what data gets displayed where in the interface.
Using the following prefixes to distinguish the type of data each column contains.

  1. A. Names: (For naming each design iteration) 'name:'

  2. B. Inputs: 'in:'

  3. C. Outputs: 'out:'

  4. D. 2D Images: (a full url to each image) 'img'
  5. E. 3D Images: (a full url to each Spectacles JSON file) 'threeD'

2D/3D File Preparation

The 3D models for each design iteration can be created and displayed using Spectacles which has exporters for Revit and Grasshopper for Rhino.

-3d Models should be exported as .json file type

IBI Quantum Explorer tutorial
IBI Quantum Explorer tutorial

The 2D images are used in the image grid to allow for sorting by input types and ratings.
Images may be .jpg, .png, or .bmp file types:

-The image size should be large enough to fill 2/3 of your screen, but they should not be very big in size (max 1920x1080 px)

-Images must be hosted somewhere online with an accessible URL(i.e. OneDrive, Dropbox, GoogleDrive). Make sure that the last parameter from the created URL is 1 and not 0 (i.e. https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjqz3k881jasez0/DesignIterator1_Parallel.png?dl=0 -> https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjqz3k881jasez0/DesignIterator1_Parallel.png?dl=1)

View Settings


The Design Explorer interface allows you to flip back and forth between 2D and 3D representations of each design iteration.

IBI Quantum Explorer tutorial

Sorting and Filtering Options


Design alternatives can be sorted based on design parameters or performance

IBI Quantum Explorer tutorial