Getting a Revit model into ECOTECT?

[mwiggins121466]

This task may get easier.

Autodesk Enhances Sustainable Design Capabilities With Acquisitions of Ecotect and Green Building Studio Analysis Tools

Autodesk Completes Acquisition of Assets of Square One Research and Green Building Studio

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., June 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As part of its on-going commitment to support the practice of sustainable design and green building in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced two acquisitions to improve building performance analysis in the building information modeling (BIM) process. Autodesk announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets related to the Ecotect software tools for conceptual building performance analysis from both Square One Research Ltd. and Dr. Andrew Marsh. Autodesk also announced that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Green Building Studio, Inc., a provider of web-based whole building energy, water and carbon-emission analysis software. Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed.

"Buildings are a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, so to combat climate change it is critical for the building industry to rapidly adopt sustainable design practices that will lead to buildings which are appreciably more efficient and eventually carbon neutral," said Jay Bhatt, senior vice president, Autodesk AEC solutions. "The addition of these tools to our technology portfolio will help make it easier for architects, engineers and designers to understand the impact of their design decisions on building performance earlier in the design process so they can optimize for reduced environmental impact."

The acquisitions of Ecotect and the Green Building Studio assets will support Autodesk's vision to deliver software that enables architects and engineers to design more sustainable projects. With improved building performance analysis capabilities, Autodesk will be uniquely positioned to offer a comprehensive suite of software solutions for sustainable design and analysis, enabling a BIM process that can facilitate cost-effective design and delivery of high-performing, resource-efficient buildings and infrastructure.

Square One Research, Ltd. and Dr. Andrew Marsh, creator of the Ecotect environmental design and analysis tools, are based in Isle of Man. The Ecotect tools can measure how fundamental criteria, such as solar, thermal, shading, lighting, and airflow, will affect building performance in the conceptual and detailed phases of design. Their capability to forecast building performance over time better equips architects and engineers to deliver more energy efficient and sustainable building designs.

"Square One Research and Autodesk share a commitment to using technology to make the design and construction of sustainable, high-performance buildings easier and more efficient," said Dr. Andrew J. Marsh, Co-Founder and Head of Research & Development, Square One Research. "We are pleased to join Autodesk and look forward to helping develop and deliver simple and effective building performance analysis to architects and engineers around the world."

The Autodesk Green Building Studio analysis tools, now available at http://www.autodesk.com/greenbuildingstudio, provide improved design insight through whole building energy, water and carbon-emission analysis, helping architects and designers to maximize building economic and environmental performance. The tools are compatible with Autodesk design software as well as software from other industry providers through the Green Building XML (gbXML) schema and can now be directly accessed from within the Revit platform for BIM with a new plug-in now available for download. Green Building Studio Inc. launched the Green Building Studio web service in 2004.

To read more about how Autodesk and its customers are addressing sustainable design, please visit http://www.autodesk.com/green.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the impact of the acquisition on Autodesk's, product offerings and the performance of its business. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: difficulties encountered in integrating merged businesses; whether certain market segments grow as anticipated; the competitive environment in the software industry and competitive responses to the acquisition; and whether the companies can successfully develop new products or modify existing products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance.

Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Autodesk are included in the company's reports on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2008, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2008 which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit http://www.autodesk.com/.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, and Revit are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

© 2008 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved

[ron.sanpedro]

http://squ1.com/products/ecotect/version_5.60

Wow, for some reason I thought it was GBS that Autodesk had bought, not Ecotect. If this results in some really solid native import tools, with Generic model shading elements and other such nicities that gbXML ignores, it will be a very good thing.

Gordon

[sfaust]

Wow, for some reason I thought it was GBS that Autodesk had bought, not Ecotect.

According to the above, it's both...

Could be very good....

[ron.sanpedro]

According to the above, it's both...

Could be very good....

Bummer. Can't believe there was no crying about antitrust there. Autodesk seems to do better when they have a competitor breathing down their neck, and now they have bought two competitors, and have only IES to give them any incentive to get this right. I hope they can get off their duffs and make this work a little faster than the slothful pace we have seen with Navisworks. It actually matters, and NOT just for the quarterly profits they seem to care most (only?) about. I think we as users, especially users with a sustainability bent, need to find a way to hold Autodesk's toes to the fire and get some real results.

Gordon

[kyle.bernhardt]

Bummer. Can't believe there was no crying about antitrust there. Autodesk seems to do better when they have a competitor breathing down their neck, and now they have bought two competitors, and have only IES to give them any incentive to get this right. I hope they can get off their duffs and make this work a little faster than the slothful pace we have seen with Navisworks. It actually matters, and NOT just for the quarterly profits they seem to care most (only?) about. I think we as users, especially users with a sustainability bent, need to find a way to hold Autodesk's toes to the fire and get some real results.

Gordon

Gordon,
I'll be glad to hear your thoughts on the things that are important as we look to innovate these tools and their workflows with our applications. I just blogged about this very subject.

I know I'm just an individual at Autodesk, but I (as well and everybody I work with) very much care about the needs of you guys in the market. It would be bad business if we didn't.

Now that doesn't mean that that we do everything that everybody wants, although we would certainly want to do so. The reality is that different users, in different countries, with different use of our tools, means that there are a lot of desires for us. As a publicly traded company with shareholders as well, you're right, there is a need to continue growth as well. This means that difficult decisions have to be made all the time.

Nonetheless, all of your thoughts, especially concrete use cases, are always valued on our end.

Cheers,
Kyle B

[ron.sanpedro]

Nonetheless, all of your thoughts, especially concrete use cases, are always valued on our end.

Cheers,
Kyle B

Kyle,
thanks for the reply. One that I will throw out now is the Generic Model issue. When we worked with IES, either direct export or gbXML, it basically ignored Generic Model items, and yet that is exactly how we often do shading elements. It also seems to turn any window into a single totally exposed surface, ignoring any shading elements that are built into the family, perhaps as an extended Frame. My understanding is that gbXML does the simplification, so it really doesn't matter what app you will be importing into, you loose those items. I can understand the need to simplify things for analysis, but when the shading element that basically is what needs analyzed is the part that is simplified out, you run into trouble. I can send you a family that we are using, with three different orientation options, to see what I am talking about as far as our modeling approach. We would gladly modify that approach if it meant better buildings came of it. In the end, that is what matters.
It would also be nice if Revit, either via export to EcoTect or natively, could do opaque to transparent ratio calculations, based on orientation. Sure I can add all sorts of data to walls and such, and export some great data to Excel, but Revit knows what walls and doors and windows are exterior, and what direction they face, and what is transparent. The intelligence is already there, the tool should be able to do the early SD calcs on its own. And daylighting and view LEED points. Etc. If this was possible in very early SD via Ecotect, then fine.
Also, there is the timeline issue. Revit still doesn't do anything useful with DWF. Sure, I can red mark in Design Review, but I can't round trip that process, I can't highlight what has been picked up, what hasn't, and what I have questions on, and send that back into the DWF for further comment by the QC folks. You know, the red line process as it has been in place in the analog world for as long as the highlighter and red pen have existed.
(EDIT) Discovered today that DR does do some of this stuff, as long as you don't use DWFx, which is what everything defaults to. But at least there is progress, and that deserves acknowledgment. But the other DWF stuff mentioned below certaiinly still allies, as well as my sense that a DWF integration pace for Ecotect/GBS would be unfortunate in the extreme.(/EDIT)
And I certainly can't use a DWF as an underlay like I can in AutoCAD, nor can I print from Word to the DWF printer, and then place that text on a sheet, as I can in AutoCAD. And this is many years after Revit became an Autodesk product. The integration between Revit and NavisWorks is equally troublesome. If the integrations of GBS/Ecotect takes the same slow, milk the customer, bean counter driven approach, then I think people will stop doubting Autodesk's commitment, and instead be sure of it's absence.
Being the tree hugger I am, and listening to Autodesk say 'sustainable' about a hundred thousand times at AU last year (an unbelievably NON sustainable conference, I might add) I would expect some FAST results on the sustainability tools. On the order of direct export to Ecotect, with 100% fidelity of those items designated as important (because I want my Generic model light shelves, but not my highly detailed generic model in place family fountain in the interior courtyard . And I would expect to see those (export) tools as free tools for subscription members before AU this year. I will probably catch some flack for this, but anything less looks a lot like green washing, or marketing drivel. The world needs and deserves better.
I know you folks at the factory take this seriously. Last year at AU, there where exactly two places in the whole conference where you could talk to some folks who actually understood and cared about the issue; the AEC Lounge, and the tiny little Autodesk Sustainability booth. Everywhere else you had people with no real clue or passion saying 'sustainability' every third word on Marketing's orders. All while the catering staff refused to refill a wine glass, because the only answer in Vegas is to throw it away and get another?! And Autodesk just let it happen, while talking about how green they where. Very frustrating. Oh, and those Chinese made (vinyl?) bags with 'go green' stitched into them where a little off the mark too.
But, on the bright side, the badge holders where wonderful. Biodegradable corn based plastic, no metal clips, nice soft and comfortable cotton cord with a knot. Fully established sourcing. Simple. Cool! Too bad there was no place other than that Sustainability booth to hear just how much coolness and effort was to be found there.
Anyway, I really do hope that Autodesk is more action than talk, but thus far I have not seen it. There is a wonderful opportunity here for Autodesk to step up and act. And with a commitment and zeal beyond the minimum necessary for the next quarterly report. We'll all be able to judge soon enough.

Best,
Gordon

[rhector]

In Ecotect v5.6 you can import gbxml although it's titled Green Building XML.

File
--Import
---- Model/ Analysis Data
------ Files of Type: Green Building XML

Revit model must be drawn perfectly though. ie. No overlapping room volumes.

[iandidesign]

Hi Kyle,
Revit Architecture users need access to all the components found in MEP (and visa versa). Specifically I am thinking of Spaces. Why was this feature, new to 2009, added only to MEP? Clearly architects doing early-design energy modeling need thermal zones, which as you know are not the same as rooms.

[ron.sanpedro]

Hi Kyle,
Revit Architecture users need access to all the components found in MEP (and visa versa). Specifically I am thinking of Spaces. Why was this feature, new to 2009, added only to MEP? Clearly architects doing early-design energy modeling need thermal zones, which as you know are not the same as rooms.

Autodesk has been told this, probably many hundreds of times. If ever there was an example of Autodesk not listening, this is it, because not only have they not addressed the problem, they haven't explained why, nor explained their rational for why they have done what they have done. But be assured, this is NOT news to them. In fact, it has been brought up in at least the last two, and probably the last three betas. So not only do they know, they have known for years.

Gordon

[jon.gardzelewski.217169]

If anyone is still reading this old post, try here:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.ph...86#post1010686