Modeling a Hive in Sketchup

In 2001 I used to keep track of each frame of a super, using a paper form I made in AutoCAD, and which allowed me to quickly map out the face of each frame as I pulled it out of a super. Here is a blank copy of one of the versions:

I was interested in being able to do a calculation of the numbers of brood and how it changed over time. But I only did it for a few months, and wasn't sure what to do with the data, so I stopped.

However, I saw that what I was really interested in, was being able to "visualize" the interior of a hive, and to "see" the shapes of the different components inside. For example, a typical brood chamber might have a core of brood, surrounded by an arc of pollen and honey, which we see all the time in 2D when we look at frames.

But frames are like CT scans of a hive- section cuts of something more dynamic and organic, like a brain maybe, and frame to frame, more related (maybe) then one expects. Certainly its possible that its random, that the queen doesn't lay in any 3D pattern- but in fact, she does. Brood is generally together, in a mass. Not always, but often.

Then last summer I thought it would be interesting to try to model the data I had learned to take into Sketchup, which is a simple 3D modeling program with lots of power. Unfortunately, my old computer back then wasn't powerful enough, and bogged down with the data in one only comb- it couldn't keep up. So I had to give up- until now, with a new computer, which handles the data easily.

So last week my beekeeper friend Betsy and I went through a small hive and mapped out two supers worth of comb. I then transferred this data to SU, and below is what I was able to do.

To start with- here is the original comb I built. I did this last summer, and measured a comb, and installed made a hex cell, and duplicated it a ton of times:

Then I placed 20 of these side by side, in the same fashion as the form above. I then went through each comb and "reassigned" the cells to their appropriate "layers" to match our notes, which changes their color, and allows them to be turned "on" or "off" individually. This is where something like Sketchup excels, but it takes a lot of figuring out and tweaking. 

 Here is a supers worth of brood comb (note similarity to paper form):

Closer up- you can assign any cell to any type quickly, even if mixed:

Then I modeled wood frames, and inserted all the combs into each frame, just as they occurred in the hive.  First comb on upper right goes in first frame, with the second comb, at left, back to back with it. 

So below you see a set of 10 frames, and you see the front of the first frame, which you can also see in the illustration above on the upper left. All the other combs are also there:

Then the fun begins- I turn "off" the wood frames, so you are just seeing the comb:

I turn "off" the empty cells:

I turn "off" the pollen, eggs, and capped honey:

And finally, turn off everything but a single layer, in this case, the capped brood, which in 3D, looks like this:

With the frames for reference:

Another view:

You can do this with any of the components, of course, and see their shape, I just chose capped brood for this example.

What I hope is interesting is the idea of seeing a hive in 3D- and visualizing the shapes of masses within it of the various components and how they might be modeled over time, without too much work. A great project would be to take a package hive from the beginning, and map this weekly.

Two final images - the combs less empty cells, then a section: