[Radiance-general] su2rad update for SketchUp 2014

[Thomas Bleicher]

Hi Maria

Thanks for giving su2rad a try. I have recently updated the installer
package and it's now available as a SketchUp extension as well. It's not
available in the Extension Warehouse yet but you can download it here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pewocv4df0i2i05/su2rad_2014.0.0.rbz

I think that all the features that you require are already in the "alpha"
release although they are not fully tested. Now to your questions:

1) *By layer vs. by color vs. by group*: The "by layer" mode is useful for
models that have been imported from a CAD application and have the elements
separated by layers. You don't need to reorganize your model to separate
the model components like floors and walls etc. "By color" separates the
elements based on their SketchUp color or material. You would use this for
models created in SketchUp to separate the building elements for Radiance
to study for example different wall reflectivity values. Finally the "by
group" option keeps the SketchUp scene structure with groups and components
and translates it to nested *.rad files. This is the most efficient way to
export complex scenes that have many detailed components like chairs or
other furniture. The simplest option is probably "by color".

2) You can create a single file by passing the scene *.rad file that is
created for a scene through xform:

xform scene_1.rad > scene_1_expanded.rad


Xform reads all the referenced files and combines their content into a
single file, including any optional transformations.

3) To create an analysis grid you have to create a layer called "numeric".
Then create a polygon on this layer to represent your work plane (for
example copy the floor to the work plane height, then "shrink" the boundary
with the offset tool and delete the outer ring). Create a group for this
polygon (or more than one) and give it a name. That's the name the *.pts
file will get. During the export this polygon will be exported to a *.pts
file with points in the global coordinate system (i.e. suitable to use in
Radiance). The grid spacing is fixed to 0.25m in x an y and the direction
of the ray is fixed to (0,0,1).

4) I don't know how you could "optimize" the results. You can optimize the
rendering time but that depends largely on your scene and the purpose of
your calculations. You can ask on the Radiance mailing list for
optimization tips. Please provide details about your scene and your render
settings. In terms of modeling you should avoid large differences in scale.
If you are modeling an entire building don't go into too much detail, just
make holes for the windows and a rough shape for the window frames, but
nothing too sophisticated. A simple rectangular section will do. Also try
to model a clean and well structured SketchUp model. It's good to model the
interior walls of a room separate from the exterior to avoid any issues
with interpolation. To avoid issues with surface materials I would group
elements with the same material together and apply the color to the group
and not an individual polygon. That will avoid problems where surfaces can
have different front and back materials. Radiance can only use one.

In general the exporter does not care about the quality of the model. It
will take whatever there is in SU and export it to Radiance as accurate as
possible.

Regards,
Thomas







On Tue, Jun 10, 2014 at 9:50 AM, María Beatriz Piderit <mpiderit at ubiobio.cl>
wrote:

> Dear Thomas,
>
> Thank you for the information provided in your website, it has been very
> helpful.I am attempting to run Radiance simulation via Sketch Up 8 pro
> (instead of doing it through Ecotect). I installed the Sketch Up to
> Radiance plugin (su2rad_1.0.alpha version), and there are some doubts about
> the exporting process I wish to ask if you can help me with. First I’d
> like to ask, how would you recommend exporting the files to radiance in
> order to achieve the best results (by colour, by layer or by group)?.
> Related to that, I wish to ask if there’s a way to obtain a single file
> that contents all the geometry in it, because so far I have found the best
> way is to export by layers but it creates multiple files that content the
> geometry (basically one file per layer) in the objects folder.
>
> Also, I’m struggling to find a way to create the analysis grid in Sketch
> Up (or within the plugin) in order to obtain a grid. pts file, so if you
> know how to do that it would be extremely helpful.
>
> Finally, if there were any guidelines that you could provide of how to
> optimize the results, whether it is related to the model building or the
> exporting process, it would be much appreciated.
>
>  Thank you for your time.
>
> Beatriz
> Arquitecta UBB, MA, PhD UC Louvain
>
> Departamento Diseño y Teoría de la Arquitectura
> Universidad del Bio-Bio Concepción, Chile
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Radiance-general mailing list
> Radiance-general at radiance-online.org
> http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-general
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.radiance-online.org/pipermail/radiance-general/attachments/20140610/f0e21d44/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Archivo adjunto al mensaje.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 5939 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www.radiance-online.org/pipermail/radiance-general/attachments/20140610/f0e21d44/attachment.jpeg>