Rhino 3D Tip: Reliable Rhino–Grasshopper to Excel CSV Pipeline

Need clean schedules, BOMs, measurements, or QA logs from Rhino/Grasshopper into Excel fast? Here’s a practical workflow that’s reliable, repeatable, and works on both small and very large models.

Direct from Rhino (quick wins)

• Export point data to CSV:
  • Select points or point clouds.
  • File > Export Selected > Comma Separated Values (*.csv).
  • Choose comma or semicolon delimiter based on your Excel locale.
• Use a lightweight Python exporter for object metadata:
  • Tools > PythonScript > Edit. Paste a short script to collect Name, Layer, Length/Area/Volume and write a CSV.

# Rhino Python - export selected objects to CSV
import rhinoscriptsyntax as rs, csv, os
objs = rs.GetObjects("Select objects to export", preselect=True)
if objs:
    path = rs.SaveFileName("Save CSV", "CSV (*.csv)|*.csv||", "", "RhinoExport", "csv")
    if path:
        headers = ["Id","Name","Layer","Type","Length","Area","Volume","UserText"]
        with open(path, "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f:
            w = csv.writer(f)
            w.writerow(headers)
            for o in objs:
                t = rs.ObjectType(o)
                length = rs.CurveLength(o) if rs.IsCurve(o) else ""
                area = rs.SurfaceArea(o)[0] if rs.IsSurface(o) or rs.IsPolysurface(o) else (rs.MeshArea(o)[0] if rs.IsMesh(o) else "")
                volume = rs.SurfaceVolume(o)[0] if rs.IsPolysurface(o) else (rs.MeshVolume(o)[0] if rs.IsMesh(o) else "")
                ut = rs.GetUserText(o) or {}
                w.writerow([str(o), rs.ObjectName(o) or "", rs.ObjectLayer(o), str(t), length, area, volume, repr(ut)])
print("Done.")

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Grasshopper to Excel: the robust CSV pipeline

• Structure your columns:
  • Create lists for each column (e.g., ID, Name, Layer, Length, Area, Volume).
  • Use Format/Expression to round numbers and append units if required.
  • Use Flip Matrix to switch between row-major and column-major layouts as needed.
• Build CSV rows:
  • Use Text Join (separator “,”) on each row to create one line per record.
  • Join all lines with a newline “\n”. Add a header line first for clarity.
• Write the file:
  • Set a File Path with .csv extension.
  • Use Stream Contents to write the text. Toggle overwrite vs append for logging runs.
  • Open the CSV in Excel (Data > From Text/CSV for clean import and delimiter control).
• Tip for attributes:
  • Pull object/Block attributes with Elefront or Human, then pass fields into your CSV pipeline.

Excel (XLSX) writers

• Plugins like LunchBox, TT Toolbox, Bumblebee (Windows) write native .xlsx, support worksheets and formatting, and avoid regional delimiter issues.
• Prefer UTF-8 and explicit number formats to keep Excel from auto-guessing data types.

Best practices

• Decide units and rounding up front (e.g., millimeters with 2–3 decimals).
• Use consistent headers and column order; archive a sample CSV with your project template.
• If your locale uses decimal commas, set the CSV delimiter to semicolon “;”.
• For large exports, write in batches (append mode) to avoid file locks and long single writes.
• Validate by re-importing the CSV back into Grasshopper and checking counts and totals.

Scaling up your workflow or standardizing exports across a team? The NOVEDGE team can recommend the right Rhino 8 plugins, license mix, and training resources. Explore Rhino options at NOVEDGE and streamline your data pipeline today.