Session: CP422-2
Title: Autodesk® Ecotect® to Microsoft® Excel® to Revit®: A Computational Approach to Sustainable Design
Instructors: Mario Guttman with Ajla Aksamija, Tim Meador and Hari Priya Rangarajan
Course Description: Analytical data from Autodesk Ecotect has become an important driver for the parametric geometry of sustainable design elements in Revit, such as sun shades. This can be done qualitatively, but evaluating multiple options with many variables is time consuming. Moving quantitative data from Autodesk Ecotect into a Revit model can resolve this. This class will look at some examples in Autodesk Maya® and other software, and suggest the advantages of working in Revit. Some mathematical concepts that underlie sun shading geometry, and how this can be implemented in parametric Revit families, will be reviewed. A sample workflow, including some basic instruction in Autodesk Ecotect and how data can be exported to Excel, will be examined. A strategy for importing data from Excel into Revit families, based on customizations that utilize the Revit API will be described in detail. Some samples of the associated C# code will be examined.