ClimateStudio — Advanced Daylighting, Electric Lighting, and Thermal Analysis

ClimateStudio is the fastest and most accurate environmental performance analysis software for the Architecture,  Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector. Its simulation workflows help designers and consultants optimize buildings for energy efficiency, daylight access, electric lighting performance, visual and thermal comfort, and other measures of occupant health.

FAST AND ACCURATE

Built on EnergyPlus and a novel RADIANCE-based path tracing technology, ClimateStudio is the fastest and most accurate simulation software on the market. Yes, faster than cloud-based tools. Finally, reliable results at 1000x the speed.

4D BIM – Simulate the Work Schedules of Projects Within Revit

From the Autodesk App Store:

Description

Simulate the work schedule of your project (4D) in Autodesk® Revit®. Now you can create a S-Curve graphic of your project. 

Also you will be able to save drafting views with you Gantt graphic.

Export your 4D programming from Autodesk® Navisworks® or create it in Revit from scratch

Option 1:

In any Navisworks project, define your Planning 4D. Now you can export the 4D schedule of your project from Navisworks to Revit and view the execution of your project in your source BIM model:

Step 1: Export the information from Navisworks.

Step 2: From Revit load the information to your project.

Step 3: Simulate the schedule of your project and visualize the items in the form of a table and Gantt chart (4D)

Pollination – The Complete Building Performance Simulation Platform

From the Pollination website:

Stop redrawing analytical models from scratch!

Pollination is the complete building performance simulation platform that helps you generate models, run simulations, and deliver trustworthy results. From the creator of Ladybug Tools!

Revit Plugin

Do you spend hours of your valuable time re-creating Revit models from scratch just so you can use them for energy and daylight simulation? If you answered yes, then you will fall in 💖 with the Pollination Revit Plugin.

The Revit Plugin allows you to extract analytical models directly from your design model to get real-time insight on energy consumption, daylight, and thermal comfort. Use the Revit Plugin as a stand-alone application or combine it with Pollination's cloud-computing capabilities, verified simulation recipes, and collaboration features for the ultimate environmental analysis experience.🚀

Autonomous HVAC CFD — Converts Building Models to “CFD Computational Models”

From the Autodesk App Store:

Description

The application converts the real building model to the “CFD computational model” autonomously and does not need any CFD expertise or prior CFD knowledge. 

AHC is a cloud-based CFD SaaS product that generates accurate CFD results without any CFD inputs asked from the user. CFD model is built automatically while creating the BIM configuration using an in-build BIM designer.  Users can define design configurations and scenarios and quickly do a design exploration to estimate thermal comfort for each situation. The product is validated against many test cases.

App is powered by Autodesk® Forge. Revit IO powers the BIM model creation. We will be also supporting Autodesk Revit import and export in the upcoming version

Free Carbo Life Calculator — Automatically Interpret Models' Embodied Carbon

From the Autodesk App Store:

Description

Carbo Life Calculator is the perfect tool to calculate the embodied carbon in a building with a single press of a button. Using data from EPD's or self-defined materials & values, the Carbo Life Calculator automatically interprets your Autodesk® Revit® model and presents you its embodied carbon.

Using this tool allows anybody to calculate the embodied carbon of a design while giving full freedom to the user to select materials, edit or expand the material database to report and optimize the embodied carbon. As a Revit plugin, you will also be able to create "heatmaps" from the calculation results, making it just a press of a few buttons to create some great 3D visualizations to show the embodied carbon. You can also export the embodied carbon values back as a parameter into the Revit elements and use in-Revit-schedules in ways of your liking. Or why not export the entire database to excel and create your own graphs and reports as you please. There are many ways the Carbo Life Calculator can be of use:

Carbo Life Calc is flexible, and can help assess your project in many ways:

• It’s a full embodied carbon calculator;
• Use it as a simple quantity snooping tool;
• Keep it as a database for your embodied carbon values;
• Optional by comparing various design options;
• Use it as a tool to study in-depth what embodied carbon is;
• Optimize materials to find low-carbon solutions, and present their impact;
• Various export methods take your calculation and visualizations to a new level.

Give it a go, good luck!

PlanIT Impact Addin — Meet Your High-Performance Goals

From the Autodesk App Store:

Description

PlanIT Impact makes meeting your high-performance goals easier... AGAIN.

PlanIT Impact is the quickest way to achieve high-performance buildings and landscapes that meet your financial goals. With this first-of-its-kind web application, you can introduce costs and estimate ROI during preconstruction, helping your clients exceed their corporate social responsibility goals. Schedule a demonstration: https://planitimpact.com.

The PlanIT Impact Plugin for Autodesk® Revit® automatically determines the following:

• Exterior wall area by orientation
• Window area by orientation
• Overall window-to-wall ratio
• Total building area 

Users can quickly review and refine results with the following features:

• Automatic assignment of window/wall properties
• Isolation mode for windows and walls to easily check out the model
• Manual override for any inconsistencies
• Quick Export button to easily move from drawing to energy modeling

ElumTools 2020 v2020.3, 2019.9, and 2018.14

From the Autodesk App Store:

About This Version

Version 2020.3, 2019.9, 2018.14, 9/11/2019

• Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) calculations for Horticulture lighting applications.
• Layout Assistant for Horticulture lighting.
• Fix issue with daylighting categories in Material Mapping, occurring in certain cases.
• Fix Material Mapping error with linked documents containing period characters in the file name.
• Add luminaire validation to Calculate View commands.
• Fix error occurring with photometric file names exceeding Windows character limit.
• Fix error occurring when calculating materials with names containing invalid characters.
• Fix error occurring when calculating materials with long names.
• Add ability to switch from "points mode" to "spatial maps mode" without a valid license.
• Line offsets of Calculation Points now respect project length units.

Description

ElumTools™ is the first fully integrated lighting analysis Add-in for Autodesk® Revit®. Leveraging content that is already present in the Revit model such as geometry, material properties and lighting fixture families, ElumTools can calculate illuminance on any surface or workplane using the lighting industry’s standard radiosity calculation method.

An interactive visualization is provided during the calculation process allowing detailed navigation of the illuminated scene. Numeric results are visible in any Revit view and all statistics are available to Revit schedules.

Ladybug-Dynamo – Import and Visualize Weather Data Using Dynamo

From GitHub:

ladybug-dynamo

Ladybug-dynamo is the ladybug plugin for Dynamo to import and visualize weather data from and EnergyPlus Weather file (EPW).

Ladybug-dynamo is developed in IronPython and uses Revit API and Dynamo libraries to take inputs from Revit model or create geometrical outputs. For core functionalities it uses ladybug core libraries which is developed in Python 2.7.

Ingrid Cloud – Smart Wind Simulations

From the Autodesk App Store:

Welcome to a new way to analyze the effects of urban design on pedestrian comfort! Ingrid Cloud allows anyone to run accurate Wind Comfort simulations on Autodesk® Revit® projects. Our software is a cloud-based computational tool that automates the entire process of flow simulation and design optimization by building the computational model without human intervention.

FenestraPro Premium V4.0

From the FenestraPro website:

AVAILABLE NOW – FENESTRAPRO PREMIUM FOR REVIT VERSION 4.0

September 18, 2017
By Grainne Stone

It’s a very exciting time for us here at FenestraPro, as we are celebrate the launch of FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 4.0!

FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 4.0 has a wealth of new features, functionality, and improvements including

• Improved User Interface.
• Integration of the Autodesk Forge viewer platform.
• Choice of Building Elements and Spatial Elements calculation methods within the detailed Revit model to ensure support for your model at any stage.
• Enhanced Curtain Wall / Panel Type Identification
• Improved Generative Design capabilities, on window penetrations and curtain walling.

Free Honeybee[+] V0.0.3 for Grasshopper and Dynamo

From the Grasshopper website:

Honeybee[+] 0.0.3 Release Notes for Grasshopper and Dynamo

August 23, 2017
By Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari

Dear Ladybug community,

After more than a year of development, we are very excited to finally have a public release for Honeybee[+]. As most of you already know by now, Honeybee[+] is one of our [+] developments, which is an attempt to make Honeybee platform-agnostic, cloud-compatible, scalable and more flexible for development. It currently consists of a core python library  and the plugin libraries for Grasshopper and Dynamo.

You can download the plugin for Grasshopper from food4Rhino and install the Dynamo plugin from the package manager. You must install the latest version of Radiance to use Honeybee[+].

This current release introduces Radiance-based workflows for daylighting simulations and supports the following simulation types:

• Point-in-time illuminance (a.k.a grid-based)
• Point-in-time luminance (a.k.a image-based).
• Daylight coefficients (both grid-based and image-based)
• Three-Phase Method (grid-based implemented, image-based to be added soon)
• Five-Phase Method (grid-based implemented, image-based to be added)

Getting Started with Butterfly in Dynamo

From GitHub:

Getting started with butterfly in dynamo

June 14, 2017 (6 revisions)
By Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari

1. Introduction

Butterfly is python library to create and execute OpenFOAM cases. This page discusses how you can use butterfly from the Butterfly plugin for Dynamo. We appreciate your comments. Let us know your thoughts on github.

 Follow Ladybug Tools on twitter or like the page on Facebook to get the latest updates.

In order to use butterfly you need to install OpenFOAM for Windows separately before installing butterfly. If you already haven't installed OpenFOAM check the installation page for OpenFOAM and come back here once you have OpenFOAM installed.

2.1. Installing Butterfly

You can install butterfly from Dynamo package manager. In Dynamo click on Packages tab and select Search for a Package....

Read more on GitHub »

Anticipation: FenestraPro Premium V4.0

From the FenestraPro website:

Coming Soon – FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 4.0

August 11, 2017
By Kimmy Tuttle

FenestraPro Premium Version 4.0 sees huge advancements in the façade design tool, while still maintaining our core mission to allow all designers design better performing buildings easily, quickly, and dynamically within the Revit platform.

Opinion: FormIt + Revit + Insight = Bye Bye SketchUp & Sefaira

From LinkedIn:

Published on April 5, 2017

By Jarod Schultz
B4B/AEC Technologist & Consultant | Workflow/Process Strategist | Software Development & Technical Writer

In the past, working in the schematic design phase, there were usually two major tools being used: SketchUp and Sefaira. From the stand point of trying to use Autodesk tools at this stage we just didn’t have the tools to get the job done. Today, time has changed, using FormIt + Revit + Insight = a comprehensive Autodesk solution from schematic design tools that includes an energy model performance life cycle.

Xinaps Suite (Updated)

From the Autodesk App Store:

Xinaps is setting the standard for data qualityvalidation within Revit. By automating the process of analysis, tools are allowing to ensure compliance with local building regulations in early stage of project development. From the inception of a building design, five aspects need to be taken into consideration. Xinaps Suite dedicates a tool to support each of these equally important themes, helping an architect to streamline building regulation process.

• Ensure compliance with local building regulations
• Customizable to all building types and supporting different local standards
• Visualize data as 2D or 3D overview
• Full synchronization with latest design iterations
• Instantaneous feedback
• Report the results to relevant institutions or building owner
• Enhance internal collaboration and external communication

Free Butterfly Plugin for Computational Fluid Dynamics for Grasshopper and Dynamo Beta Released

From the Grasshopper website:

Butterfly beta release for Grasshopper and Dynamo

Posted by Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari on March 20, 2017

We are very excited to finally release the Butterfly plugin for both grasshopper and dynamo on this lovely first day of Spring! After several rounds of development, testing, and modification, Butterfly has finally metamorphosed to have all known major bugs fixed and is ready to be used by a larger number of people in our community.

Product Roundup – Add-ins from Xinaps (Updated)

Originally published on July 17, 2015.

Updated on January 18, 2017

• Updated branding from Vabi to Xinaps
• Added company description from the Autodesk App Store
• Added Accessibility Evaluator
• Added Fire Safety Assessor
• Removed Artificial Lighting Organizer
• Removed Thermal Comfort Optimizer

From the Autodesk App Store:

We have been developing our plugins with architects in mind since the foundation of Xinaps. Our Apps analyze and visualize data from Revit® models in order to facilitate making better-informed design decisions. International building regulations are getting stricter and BIM is becoming the industry standard in more and more countries. Staying up-to-date with these trends, we put flexibility at the heart of our software. The apps help you meet local building standards in early design stage right within Revit®. It is also time to automate some parts of your workflow. You can now do that more easily, faster and yet just as reliably as with traditional methods. With Xinaps you design better-performing buildings, one app at a time.

Founded in 2015, we are a forward thinking team that creates smart building checking tools within design software because we believe the building design process needs to be simplified and optimized. Our clients play an active role in tailoring the features of all of our products. Hand in hand, we work hard on shaping innovative architectural tools right within Revit®. Enriching design solutions for AEC professionals.

Xinaps Accessibility Evaluator
Xinaps Accessibility Evaluator™ App automates accessibility model checking of the indoor floor area your building, including spatial adjacency analysis | Trial
☆☆☆☆☆ (0 reviews)

Xinaps Daylight Ratio Evaluator Version 1.3.0 Released

From the Autodesk App Store:

Xinaps Daylight Ratio Evaluator™, working as a plugin within Autodesk® Revit®, automates daylight area ratio checking of your BIM model. As a result optimal design decisions can be made regarding floor areas, glazing, glass area, windows, lighting, comfort, brightness, darkness – better working and living spaces are produced. It is especially relevant to architectural designers and building engineers but also useful to all the design team.

The Daylight Ratio Evaluator™ App:

• Scans the BIM model and reports daylight ratio compliance against required minimums
• Accepts input of required minimum daylight area ratio per room area
• Uses floor areas of rooms and glass areas of windows, doors, and curtain walls.
• Synchronizes with Revit units of measurement.
• Automatically adds and saves the daylight area ratio values per room in the Autodesk Revit® model.
• Displays your daylight ratio results
• Creates a Daylight Performance Indicator in the Building Performance Dashboard.

Webinar – Using FenestraPro Premium 3.0 to Optimise Façade Design and Performance

From the FenestraPro website:

FenestraPro will be running a series of webinars to educate viewers on optimising facade design and performance and to also showcase the new features of FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 3.0 - choose from two dates in either US or EU/UK timezones:

Webinar 1: EU/UK Timezone
December 1st* | 12:30PM - 1:30PM GMT *Rescheduled Date

Webinar 2: USA Timezone
December 1st | 12:00PM - 1:00PM CST

Time Zone Converter

WEBINAR OVERVIEW:

FenestraPro Premium 3.0 for Revit

Using FenestraPro Premium to Optimise Façade Design and Performance

Content:

Discover how to enhance your workflow and design better performing buildings using FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 3.0, with additional functionalities including supporting project environment modelling alongside conceptual design environment to iterate designs from concept to detail stages. Additional topics covered: Compliance checking tool, data snapshots and generative design options.

Time:     1 hour

CPD:      1 LU/HSW Credit TBC

Structure:

• Revit models and guidance around modelling to bring designs from conceptual massing through to detailed modelling.
• Navigation of FenestraPro through Project Manager, Building Manager, Performance Manager, and Façade Manager to optimise thermal, solar and daylighting performance.
• Using Compliance Checking to understand the implications of regulations and standards on the aesthetic design of the façade.
• Using Generative Design to configure façade based on performance characteristics.
• Generating snapshots and design options to carry out comparative analysis on different options.

Please fill in the contact form on our website and specify which webinar date suits best. We will follow up with an email with more information.

FenestraPro Premium Version 3.0 Released

From the press release:

NEW RELEASE OF FAÇADE PERFORMANCE SOFTWARE FENESTRAPRO PREMIUM FOR REVIT

FenestraPro has released Version 3.0 of their innovative façade performance software, as an add-in to Autodesk Revit, that helps architects design more energy-efficient buildings. Founded by specialist architects David Palmer and Simon Whelan, FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 3.0 will support the use of the platform at any point in the design process, starting from the conceptual massing tools through to the detailed project environment.

According to CEO David Palmer, “As well as providing key design parameters early in the conceptual and detailed design, Version 3.0 now provides our users with real time performance indicators demonstrating the impact of design decisions throughout. This reduces the need for design iteration, improving the design process and providing proven cost benefits to our users.”

FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 3.0 will also look at curtain walling, glazing and shading in even more detail than ever before by giving the user the ability to create and resize windows via user input, or driven through FenestraPro Premium’s calculations. It will read different shading devices and provide dynamic analysis on shading via the existing web service. FenestraPro continually strives to advance their software with the enhanced ability to design more sustainable buildings and reducing time spent redesigning to meet ever increasing performance requirements. By also giving the architect aesthetic control while also improving the design process by eliminating costly late stage redesign fees, FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 3.0 can help you optimize façade design for better building performance. Discover more at www.fenestrapro.com or contact FenestraPro for a demo of FenestraPro Premium for Revit Version 3.0 at info@fenestrapro.com today!

And from the product brochure:

FenestraPro Premium for Revit is an intuitive and easy to use add-in that enables architects to design energy efficient building façades to comply with building regulations and required performance, without compromising the aesthetic of the façade. It integrates building design with performance, and allows the Architect to maintain control of the aesthetic of the building and improves the design process by eliminating costly late stage redesign. FenestraPro Premium is easily used within Revit to engage and understand the implications of design for improved compliance checking from the earliest point in the process, while optimizing façade performance.