hey there
This post will hopefully generate some discussion about what workflows people are using to do load calculations for their buildings which are modeled in Revit.
My goal is to leverage the computer's ability to automate tasks as much as possible while doing our load calculations in Trace700. The .gbxml export process is on it's own way too cumbersome to be worth doing 10+ times for a project.
After trying many different ways of getting information about spaces into Trace this is what I've come up with:
1) add spaces to the model according the thermal zone layout guidelines.
2) Use the automatic space namer to transfer the room names from the architectural model to your spaces. (Check in a schedule that the names make sense)
3) Export the .gbxml file, ignoring the exterior walls and volume aspects
4) Using a basic .xml file editor, delete all of the extra information in the file that does not immediately pertain to spaces, ie anything not in the </Building> or the </Campus> sections
5) Use Trace700 to run the calcs, then export that information back to the .gbxml and into Revit where it is available to be put in a space tag etc.
That is the best process I've come up with so far. It obviously requires a few different tools, but it speeds up getting the basic room area geometry into Trace, and still allows you to export the results back into the Revit model.
Does anyone have a different process they prefer? Can anyone see (or make) a way to add basic exterior wall geometry as well, besides keeping the .gbxml data, which I think we can all agree, is too detailed/cumbersome for repeated quick modeling.