Some energy-related ideas for SketchUp

alexschreyer

Just wanted to show some of my recent SketchUp work:

Turns out SketchUp is not only great for realistic texturing. If you have a thermography camera (and you are doing building performance analysis), then you can also use it to present its images in 3D. The link below elaborates on this in a paper, video and a VRML version:
http://www.alexschreyer.net/projects/interactive-3d-visualization-of-building-envelope-systems-using-infrared-thermography-and-sketchup/

If you have SketchUp and Revit 2010, then you can do nice solar studies with the new free mini-Ecotect plugin.
http://www.alexschreyer.net/cad/sketchup-to-revit-to-solar-study/

Cheers,
Alex

olishea

thanks for sharing, good idea

Mike Lucey

Thanks for this info Alex. I am sure there will be a lot of interest here in relation to this subject.

Mike

pbacot

Yes, thanks for the post. It made me look into this sort of work again. Perhaps you are aware that there is an energy analysis free plug-in for SU (among other related options): http://www.iesve.com/Software/Model-Building/SketchUp-plug-in

... if you are not fortunate enough to have Revit. Thought I'd add this in for those reading the post who may have not heard about this.

Mike Lucey

I imagine in these times of drastic unemployment in the architectural / engineering sectors this could be an employment possibility. Actually seeing were the energy leaks are, adds a new perspective in the awareness department! And seeing this via SketchUp interactive interface

I wonder is there much capital involved in setting up equipment / training wise?

Mike

JuanV.Soler

Thank you for the links and information ¡

alexschreyer

@pbacot said:

Yes, thanks for the post. It made me look into this sort of work again. Perhaps you are aware that there is an energy analysis free plug-in for SU (among other related options): http://www.iesve.com/Software/Model-Building/SketchUp-plug-in

Yep, you are right, this can be done without Revit. Another option is to import a 3D model into Ecotect directly. I just wanted to show how one can re-use a SketchUp model in Revit for such a thing.

@mike lucey said:

I imagine in these times of drastic unemployment in the architectural / engineering sectors this could be an employment possibility. Actually seeing were the energy leaks are, adds a new perspective in the awareness department! And seeing this via SketchUp interactive interface

Yes, now is a good time to strengthen "green capabilities"...

@mike lucey said:

I wonder is there much capital involved in setting up equipment / training wise?

I am not 100% sure on the cost of the IR (FLIR) camera that I used but I believe it is around $12,000. Not cheap equipment, I know. I believe these cameras can be rented, too, but I don't know where.

Cheers,
Alex