mike m oz Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 ...and Import from. It has all of the environmental analysis tools that will be necessary for architecture in the 21st Century. http://squ1.com/products/ecotect Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 (edited) That is definitely a cool product. They need to port it to Mac OS X. Does it handle IFC files? More on a Mac version here: http://squ1.com/node/1457 Edited February 14, 2008 by Christiaan Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 (edited) Not surprisingly ArchiCAD is already in the game: http://squ1.com/node/1585 I see a comment on this page that Nemetschek is too (although that doesn't necessarily mean NNA is talking to anyone): http://squ1.com/node/1697 Edited February 14, 2008 by Christiaan Quote Link to comment
brudgers Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Looks like VW can export to it as 3ds or dxf. Quote Link to comment
Jeffrey W Ouellette Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 The latest version of Ecotect, v5.60, is purported to support IFC 2x3. Our intent is to pursue this avenue of data exchange, once we can get someone from Square1 to return our inquiries.\ Quote Link to comment
billtheia Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I'd love to be able to use Ecotect with VW on my Mac. Quote Link to comment
J Lucas Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 Has anyone used Ecotect with a building model exported from VW Architect? Quote Link to comment
J Lucas Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 From the Ecotect website: "ECOTECT meets ArchiCAD As part of the ArchiCAD "Working Smarter" series ECOTECT and ArchiCAD are getting together in the UK & Ireland for a series of FREE seminars, entitled "The Easy Way to Building Performance Analysis". For full details visit http://info.graphisoft.co.uk/AABR. ECOTECT meets ArchiCAD... "The Easy Way to Building Performance Analysis". ECOTECT & ArchiCAD working together With ArchiCAD's unique ability to generate and export spatial/thermal zones, it is now possible to extract exactly the information required by ECOTECT for detailed thermal, lighting and acoustic analysis, as well as compliance with the latest Part L of the UK building regulations. This integration is achieved through the full support of gbXML by both programs. This marks a significant breakthrough that allows designers to effortlessly incorporate performance analysis in their typical design/CAD work flow." Has Vectorworks met Ecotect? Quote Link to comment
Jeffrey W Ouellette Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 Has Vectorworks met Ecotect? Yes. As I said earlier, with IFC support by both programs, we're pursuing an exchange workflow/mechanism. It's just a matter of time... Quote Link to comment
dcont Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 What it should be is embedded in VW. Even a simplified version such as HEED would be great if it could be done inside of VW without any exporting. Afterall the building info is already there, its just a matter of plugging it in a few more equations. http://mackintosh.aud.ucla.edu/heed/ Quote Link to comment
J Lucas Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 That is a great idea dcont. I have the HEED program and plan to use it for passive solar modeling. I had hoped to be able to use the building modeling data from VW, but I have not been able to find a reasonable way to do this. Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted June 26, 2008 Author Share Posted June 26, 2008 Autodesk have bought both Ecotect and Green Building Studio. http://pressreleases.autodesk.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=433%3C%2Ftd%3E That opportunity went begging and the Nemetschek group missed the boat. Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Oh crap. This is bad news. No doubt if NNA have anything up there sleeves it won't be any use to those of us outside the U.S. Quote Link to comment
Kaare Baekgaard Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Not that I would know the difference, but doesn't http://www.nemetschek.net/ThermoRender do at least some of the job? Perhaps a show of interest would provide an international version of this software. Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Kaare, there is nothing else around with anything like the comprehensive capabilities that Ecotect has. It provided many of the capabilities required for the design of sustainable buildings. Even if Autodesk leave it as a stand alone package it will have gained a significant strategic advantage over all of the other CAD programs. More likely though is that it will morph into becoming part of the Revit suite. Quote Link to comment
Ariel Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 After checking out Ecotect's discussion forums in its own website, I'm not surprised by this turn of events. Problems and inquiries are rarely replied to --- it gave me an impression that it's a poorly supported product. I couldn't even find any explanation for the buyout which would appease the fears or concerns of current users. Unless Autodesk is already censoring the forums, there isn't even one post showing any opinion about the news. This would more likely than not only add to the frustrations of the Revit community. This isn't only a blow to Nemetsheck but to the overall BIM community where data exchange is the main objective. Ariel Quote Link to comment
brudgers Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Some of the reasons NNA has not pursued support for Ecotect are now pretty obvious. I would suspect that Nemetschek AG (not NNA) could have been or was a suitor, but NNA probably doesn't keep that kind of cash on hand. The other salient point is that Autodesk made two purchases in the same market segment at the same time...this was a major strategic move. These things don't happen overnight. Quote Link to comment
billtheia Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Doesn't ArchiCAD currently have some kind of "connector" for Ecotect that allows use of existing model to run energy simulations? I wonder what this means for ArchiCAD users. Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 I know that ArchiCAD has a plugin for GreenBuildingStudio (now also owned by Autodesk). From Autodesk's announcement of the acquisition of GBS: A note to Graphisoft users, the ArchiCAD add-on is temporarily unavailable while we are making updates to our new servers. We do expect availability soon and apologize for the inconvenience. That was posted on May 1, 2008 and still no plugin for ArchiCAD. I think that explains what this means for the rest of us non-Autodesk customers: Resistance is Futile. Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted June 28, 2008 Author Share Posted June 28, 2008 Some good might come out of this. It might actually jolt the decision makers at Nemetschek AG into realising that if they want their business's to survive a bit more is required than motoring down the autobahn in cruise control. Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 That was posted on May 1, 2008 and still no plugin for ArchiCAD. I think that explains what this means for the rest of us non-Autodesk customers: Resistance is Futile. Or they've probably broken some competition laws and could be taken to the cleaners for it. 1 Quote Link to comment
brudgers Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 That worked so well for Apple in the early 90's... Quote Link to comment
Tobias Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Being able to use info from a VW model (or better yet, from within VW) seamlessly into HEED (or a non platform specific program like HEED) would be great. Good for NNA, good for designers, and good for the client. Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted June 29, 2008 Author Share Posted June 29, 2008 Energy analysis of buildings is intrinsic to today's workflow and therefore the best option is to have it integrated into the program. The need is for immediate feedback so you can make adjustments to your design and evaluate them by real criteria rather than fly by the seat of your pants, or waste time and money having it done by a third party person or process. Tomorrows CAD programs will have to become smarter in ways like this. Those that don't probably won't survive. 1 Quote Link to comment
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