Rhinoceros

Rhino and Grasshopper resources: definitions, parametric tools, modelling courses and scripts for mullions, context generation and repetitive placement.

Rhino earns its place where geometry is the problem — curved surfaces, complex roofs, facade systems with hundreds of variations that would be intolerable to draw individually. Grasshopper extends that to relationships: define the rule once and the geometry updates when the input changes.

The trap is building a definition more complicated than the problem. If a facade has three panel types, three panel types modelled directly will finish faster than a parametric system that generates them. Parametric work pays off at the point where you need to test options, not where you need one answer.

See Rhino versus Revit, computational design in practice and architectural visualisation.