1.1: Installation
Last updated
Last updated
These are the prerequisites for installing Karamba3D:
Rhino 5.0, Rhino 6.0 or Rhino 7.0
Grasshopper (version 1.3.3 of Karamba3D was tested on GH 1.0.0007)
In case you do not possess Rhino, download a fully featured, free trial version. Grasshopper for Rhino5 is free. It is already integrated in Rhino6 and Rhino7.
Download one of the installers and double-click on the msi-file. Make sure to choose the right bitness (32 or 64) of the installer when working with Rhino5. The 64-bit version of Rhino5 is entitled “Rhinoceros 5 (64-bit)”. Rhino6 and Rhino7 come as a 64-bit applications only.
The installation procedure lets you set the physical units used for calculation. By default Karamba3D assumes input to be in SI units (e.g. meters for point coordinates). You can switch to Imperial units either on installation or later on by editing the “karamba.ini” file. Coordinates will then be interpreted to be in “feet”, force in “kips”, material strength in “ksi” and so on.
Make sure to install the FULL version of Karamba3D if you wish to activate a PRO or EDU license at a later stage.
Upon successful installation you should see a Karamba3D tab when you open Grasshopper in Rhino. Additionally, as a default setting a shortcut to the installation folder will be placed on your desktop.
If Karamba3D does not show up, please refer to our troubleshooting guide.
Karamba3D can be installed with a cloud or network licenses (standalone licenses are only valid for workshops or Rhino5 users):
You can install the Rhino5 64-bit version of Karamba3D alongside the the Rhino 6 and Rhino7 versions. Simply run the installers one after the other.
It is however not possible to mix the Rhino5 32-bit version of Karamba3D with any of the others.
In order to install Karamba3D on remote machines “msiexec.exe” provides options to circumvent the graphical user-interface of the installer. Start the Windows CommandPrompt, navigate to where the Karamba3D-installer lies and type e.g.
msiexec.exe /i karamba3d_1_3_3_RH6.msi /passive ADDLOCAL=DLLs,LicensePlugin,FullFeatures,SIUnits,LicensePublicKey,Tables,Examples
in one line to install the full version of Karamba3D (“FullFeatures”) with SI-Units (“SIUnits”), cross section and material tables (“Tables”) and the example definitions (“Examples”). In order to get the free version and Imperial units substitute “FullFeatures” with “FreeFeatures” and “SIUnits” with “IMPUnits”.
The static license can be supplied without graphical user interface (GUI) by renaming the license-file to “licensePRO.lic” and copying it to the “License”-folder under ...\Rhino\Plug-ins\Karamba.
The following files and folder will be copied to your machine during installation:
“karamba.dll” and “libiomp5md.dll” to C:\Windows.
“karambaCommon.dll”, “karamba.gha” and the Karamba-folder to the “Plug-ins”-folder of Rhino. The Karamba3D-folder contains material- and cross section libraries, examples, the karamba.ini- file and the license-folder. This is typically C:\Program Files\Rhinoceros 5 (64-bit)\Plug-ins or C:\Program Files\Rhino 6\Plug-ins.
If not already present the C++ runtime libraries of Visual Studio 2019 will be copied to your machine.
Karamba3D is installed for all users by default. In order to get Karamba3D running without the installer simply copy the above files and the Karamba3D-folder from one machine to the next. Unless deselected, the installer places a Karamba3D-icon on the desktop. Double-click on it to open the Karamba3D-folder.
Unfortunately Karamba3D is currently only available to Windows users. If you have a Mac you can run Karamba3D if you have a Parallels or Bootcamp Windows installation.
