Supported Structural Elements and Mapping¶

The following table provides an overview of geometric elements in Rhino and the corresponding supported structural elements by the SOFiSTiK Rhino Interface:

Rhino Geometry Entity Structural Element Notes
Point
SPT

Structural Points
A Point can be attributed with structural properties to map to a structural point in SOFiSTiK.

A Point can hold properties like: Mesh parameters, Directions, Boundary Conditions and Mechanical Couplings.
Point Clouds No Point clouds are not mapped as such to any structural element. Please use the Rhino _Explode command to access the individual points to assign them with structural properties.
Line
SLN

Structural Line
A Line can be attributed with structural properties to map to a structural line in SOFiSTiK.

A Line can hold properties like: Mesh parameters, Group assignment, Directions, Cross Sections, Boundary Conditions and Mechanical Couplings.
Polyline
SLN

Structural Line
A Polyline can be attributed with structural properties to map to a structural line in SOFiSTiK.

A Polyline will be represented as a NURBS curve of degree 1 (equivalent to a polyline). Depending on the mechanical
intent it might be necessary to explode the polyline to individual lines (_Explode command).
Curves, Circles, Arcs …
SLN

Structural Line
Rhino offers a variety of modeling tools for curves or analytical shapes (e.g. a circle).

All these type of curve entities are mapped to a structural line in SOFiSTiK, formed either by NURBS, lines or arcs … accordingly
Surface
SAR:

Structural Area
A Surface can be attributed with structural properties to map to a structural area in SOFiSTiK.

A Surface can hold properties like: Material, Plate Attributes, Mesh parameters, Group assignment, Directions, Boundary Conditions and Mechanical Couplings.
Polysurface
SAR:

Structural Area
A Polysurface can be attributed with structural properties to map to a structural area in SOFiSTiK.

In general we recommend not to work with polysurfaces if possible and rather use the Rhino _Explode command, to decompose the polysurface into their individual surfaces.

A polysurface will be decomposed automatically into individual structural areas during export and thus, a one-to-one mapping from structural IDs in Rhino to the IDs
in the SOFiSTiK database is lost.
Solid
No

(SAR: Structural Areas)
A Solid by itself is not yet mapped to any solid structure in SOFiSTiK. However, solids formed by polyfaces in Rhino are treated like regular polyfaces and will be decomposed into structural areas (SAR) in SOFiSTiK.
Polygon Mesh
SAR:

Structural Area
A Polygon Mesh is mapped to a structural area (SAR) in SOFiSTiK, where the given mesh will be directly converted to SOFiSTiK finite elements.