Autodesk continues to expand its analysis capabilities, with
the addition and improvement of the Insight 360 tools, heating and cooling load
analysis, lighting analysis and solar analysis. I’ve been seeing more trends of
users taking advantage of these tools, but encountering errors that at first
glance seem un-explainable. The lighting analysis tools have had a rush of
support questions lately, so let’s clear up the air on this tool, and help you
get it working for you.
First, refer to this document that was provided by Autodesk
in October, 2017 by Krishnan Gowri, Ph.D. FASHRAE, LEED AP, Principal Engineer,
Generative Design Group:
Here are my tips to help you get the best results:
The lighting analysis should be conducted early in the
design process, prior to a lot of heavy modeling that adds content such as
furniture, equipment, structure, MEP systems and more. The more complex
geometry can cause the model to fail, especially with the addition of highly
detailed components containing small surfaces. This includes content modeled to
LOD 350 and above. If you want to include it, keep it in separate models that
can be easily removed, or in worksets that can be turned off.
Make sure your model includes all of the bounding elements,
including floors, ceilings, and roofs, in addition to walls and openings
(including doors and windows). Keep the detail level at a minimum – for
example, if you are placing curtain walls, avoid panels and mullions that
include complex shapes, such a louvers, or frames that include the caulking
(yes – this has happened. Great for detail but lousy for analysis). Avoid using
extra surfaces like wall sweeps – these can cause a known issue with the
lighting analysis tool. One additional tool – don’t make items like column
enclosures room bounding – at least not during the early stages of design,
where you’re using this tool. The few the surfaces, the more like the tool is
to work.
Assign materials from the material library to the bounding
elements that include surface settings for color, reflectance and more. As with
the bounding elements, keep this simple. You’re trying to gain a general
knowledge of the lighting conditions for illuminance and LEED credits, and how
altering these materials can affect the overall energy and lighting performance
of the building. but not drill down to
the specific foot-candle levels at 2” intervals.
Rooms. Rooms. Rooms. You have to model these and do it
correctly. Every area of building that is going to be analyzed must have a room
object, with Height assigned. I recommend at a minimum to set the room upper
limit to the next bounding floor level above. When a ceiling is placed and set
to be room bounding, it will automatically cap the room to that level. It will
pick up the materials assigned to the ceiling, and as the ceiling is moved, the
room height will automatically update. Take the time to assign the room name
and number, even if it’s preliminary. You’ll need this for the schedules the
tool produces, since the analysis is primarily based on room properties.
Fix your errors – avoid overlapping elements such as walls,
deleted unplaced rooms, and find/fix
voids. For example, don’t model your interior walls 8’ tall, if they
should extend 6” above that 10’ ceiling you just placed. If you build a crappy,
half finished model, you’re going to get failures every time – and this
includes all of the other analysis tools too. You can find your list of model
errors on the Manage Tab, Inquiry panel – click Warnings, and you will get a
list you can export and review.
Speaking of levels – make sure you’re using these correctly
as well. Floor datum levels should not be used to define the height of a
countertop – use a workplane instead, or use a level that does not defined a
story. This can affect your upper limits on the rooms if you’re setting them to
be bound at the next level – you don’t want 42” tall rooms that match the level
you added for the countertops.
Leverage the Insight energy model first. This tool is great
for checking your model and making sure it’s well defined for analysis. The
heating and cooling load tool also includes tools for reviewing the room and
space volumes, as well as each analytical surface for walls, doors, windows,
floors, etc. You can review this first before perform any analysis, and get a
good idea of how well formed your model is defined.
Make sure you have all of the available updates for Revit
installed, and the latest build of Insight installed. There have been a lot of
updates that fix earlier issues, so don’t stick around on Revit 2016 and try to
do this – get on 2018.3.1 (the latest build as of this article date for 2018)
or 2019, and you should reduce the number of potential errors.
Worse case – you do all of this, and still don’t get the
results you need – start a support case at support.autodesk.com, and make sure
you include this information – your version of Revit, a link to the Revit model
and any linked files.
Thanks – David B.
UPDATE - Autodesk is hosting a series of online classes all about Insight 360 - for more details, follow this link - the sessions are offered on June 14, 2018"
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-access-the-Learn-everything-about-Autodesk-Insight-webinar-series.html
UPDATE - Autodesk is hosting a series of online classes all about Insight 360 - for more details, follow this link - the sessions are offered on June 14, 2018"
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-access-the-Learn-everything-about-Autodesk-Insight-webinar-series.html
