The CAD Insider

Trelligence, IES Announce Partnership at Greenbuild

by Ed Goldberg AIA, NCARB

CHICAGO, IL (Greenbuild 2010 Int'l Conference and Expo) - Trelligence Inc. and Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) announced a partnership at Greebuild. The planned integration between these industry pioneering software tools will enable architectural teams to conduct sustainability analysis based entirely on program data, prior to schematic and detailed design.

See press release (pdf)

The ability to extend analysis to the earliest stage of building projects, maximizes the benefit of sustainable analysis to firms and helps the entire architecture team maintain focus on the sustainability and environmental impact of a project from the beginning to the end of its lifecycle. Already in development, the planned connection between Affinity and IESVE software tools will provide architecture teams with the ability to capture program data and auto-generate conceptual floor plans and stacking diagrams in Affinity, then run sustainable analyses using IESVE. Using either VE-Tools embedded within Affinity or exporting to the VE for access to the full range of analytical tools, designers will be able to determine the most efficient floor-area-ratio before room layout is considered, and can continue sustainable analysis into the schematic design phase. Using the fast iterative design capabilities of Affinity and the VE, design teams can run various design layouts and scenarios with clients and project team members, while simultaneously conducting real-time analysis against energy and other performance metrics for optimal sustainability. Using Affinity’s bi-directional integration with ArchiCAD and Revit, designers are able to load the schematic design into BIM and continue to track the detailed design as it progresses against initial requirements.

About Trelligence
Trelligence is a US-based software company that is uniquely focused on enhancing the early architectural design process with real-time design analysis tools that enable early compliance analysis and enhance project team collaboration. Trelligence Affinity patent-pending software integrates with ArchiCAD,Revit Architecture, and SketchUp to extend the benefits of BIM – faster planning, less costly rework, and enhanced collaboration – to the early design phase of complex building projects.
 
New IES VE-Gaia early stage analysis additions double capabilities for architects at no extra cost! The 4 tiers of the IES increase in level of detail, but all have the same rigor and analysis engine behind them.  The capabilities of VE-Ware, VE-Toolkits, VE-Gaia and VE-Pro cover a wide variety of sustainable tasks and analysis that you need to undertake at different stages of a building’s design and lifecycle. 

VE-Gaia now provides in-depth sustainable analysis across the following:

• The Architecture 2030 Challenge
• Climate Interrogation/Bio-Climatic design
• Energy Use/Carbon Emissions
• Peak Building Loads
• Low/Zero Carbon Technology Feasibility
• Solar Shading/Daylight
• Natural Resources/Water
• Building Metrics/Materials Review

VE-Gaia sells for $1,000, and is the perfect early energy analysis tool for the Architect.

For more information on VE-Gaia go to VE-Gaia.  A free 30 day download trial version is available here.

This author also recommends the VE toolkits for LEED, and the SketchUp analysis tools. All these can be downloaded at http://www.iesve.com/Software/VE-Ware

For more info:
Integrated Environmental Solutions – IES
http://www.iesve.com/NAmerica

Trelligence
http://www.trelligence.com

 

GreenBuild 2010 - Pt 2: Autodesk

by Ed Goldberg AIA, NCARB

CHICAGO, IL (Greenbuild 2010 Int'l Conference and Expo) - I am constantly amazed at Autodesk’s ability to create new products from its existing portfolio of existing software. At GreenBuild, Autodesk displayed its Vasari product being developed by Autodesk Labs. Basically, this product brings together computer code from Revit Architecture, Ecotect, and Green Building Studio to create an “early” energy analysis and modeling program. This product contains a modeler (based on Revit), sunlight and analysis tool from Ecotect, and finally a Green Building Studio Analysis and report connection – all built into one integrated interface. VASARI can be downloaded free from www.Autodesk.com/labs

GreenBuild 2010 - Pt 1

by Ed Goldberg AIA, NCARB

CHICAGO, IL (Greenbuild 2010 Int'l Conference and Expo) - While attending Autodesk University last year, I kept hearing about GreenBuild. So this year, instead of going to AU, I attended GreenBuild which took place in Chicago on November 17th. GreenBuild is hosted each year by the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable building design and construction, and developer of the LEED building rating system. What a surprise. I have been going to conferences such as the National AIA conference, Siggraph, and AU for over fifteen years, but I have never before seen a conference that appeared this big. Unless one has been on the planet Mars for the past few years, one should realize that “green” is the hottest subject in the building industry today, and as it should be since our buildings consume over 40% of our total yearly energy consumption.

The keynote speaker for GreenBuild this year, was Retired Gen. Colin Powell.(photo courtesy of Green Building Council)

Energy Analysis and the BIM

Buildings are key to achieving climate stabilization, representing roughly 40% of global energy consumption and 25% of global carbon emissions. In addition, energy efficiency retrofits represent a massive latent market, projected to reach an estimated worth of $400 billion by 2030 in the U.S. alone. It has become apparent to this analyst that energy analysis of the BIM (Building Information Model) is becoming very important with respect to Sustainable Building Design, and a potential profit stream as well as marketing tool. Autodesk, Graphisoft, Bentley and IES have, for several years, distributed energy analysis tools for the BIM. Now things are heating up in this arena, as evidenced by their being at GreenBuild, and that they are beginning to expand their products’ capability. Except for IES, most of the products are aimed at the architect and early design decisions, and not at the energy and mechanical engineers.

How do the energy analysis programs work?

Most of the BIM Energy Analysis tools work in a similar manner by combining input information concerning a BIM model with external information such as Sun angle, weather, wind, etc, and creating an analysis report. Once the report is made, the inputs, such as window and wall types, can be varied and new reports compared to base line reports. 

 

Steve Fong Top DAUG at AU2010

To be at Autodesk University as a CAD user is to be in awe. The bright lights of Las Vegas, the big stage, the crowds...everybody seems to know where to go, knows which classes are good, knows more about AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor than you do. You may have been the big fish back home, but at AU, you are among sharks.

Steve Fong, winner of Top DAUG at AU2010, with first prize of HP netbook computer

This is Steve Fong's 2nd AU. He's holding his own against the sharks. He has taken a battery of certification exams, and passed. That by itself would put Steve a cut above the home crowd. But he's not done. He enters the Top DAUG contest, which will, after a brutal multiple choice test and a cold-sweat soaked 15-minute live test, crown one AutoCAD user as the best.

Steve is a CAD/BIM manager for Overland Partners Architects in San Antonio, Texas. He has been an AutoCAD user since 1985 with AutoCAD R2.09 and kept his skills sharp. But as he sits down at a workstation for the live test, he is not exactly brimming with confidence. He has managed to answer 25 out of 45 questions correctly on the multiple choice test. He has not expected to be among the finalists*. Thank God there was a curve, he thinks. He braces himself. Looking around, he sees only 4 other contestants... that's all that have made it this far from over 400 who took the multiple choice test. Maybe he has a chance...let the games begin!

So for 15 minutes, Steve blots out the crowds, the doubts. He focuses on the screen, which has him find answers to 10 AutoCAD questions. This time he's allowed to flip to AutoCAD to answer them. When its over, the contestants stand around as the scores are tallied.

Finally, AUGI president Mark Kiker calls Steve's name as the winner, and in that instant, an unbelieving Steve rises to the top of the Autodesk University crowd. To be recognized as a top user at the biggest CAD user meeting in the world... can it get any better than this?

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*What Steve didn't know was the test has been designed to be impossible, to stratify even the top power users. "We don't want anyone to score a 100%," says Donald Schwartz, president of CADLearning, creators of the test.

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More from the Top DAUG contest:

From left, Top DAUG Steve Fong, AUGI president Mark Kiker, Donald Schwartz of CADLearning.com, makers of the test, and Frank Deming of HP, who donated the netbook computer prize.

Dave Harrington, AUGI Sr VP and previous winner of Top DAUG at AU. 

Bill Adams, AUGI secretary and winner of "Longest Badge" unofficial contest at Autodesk University.