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<p class=MsoNormal>Hello Dr. Finlayson,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>For whatever reason, I’m having a lot of difficulty
searching for answers to my Demeter inquries through google sketchup groups / bldg-sim
archives / Demeter forums (are they even up?)… and it occurred to me there
simply might not be much discussion out there to look for! This email should
go a long way to remedy that!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I have some feedback for your team in the form of
constructive criticism and issues I’ve had, along with a few related questions.
Overall, I really like what I see so far, though I understand the project is
still under development (the current version hosted on the website is 0.8.9.2,
for anyone following along). I’ll throw out that my feedback is
colored from the perspective I’ve gained after some successful
experiences working with the free plugin from IES, which ties into their commercial
energy modeling software packages in much the same way that Demeter is tied to
Green Building Studio. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I’m also copying this feedback to the [bldg-sim]
mailing list to spark some further Demeter discussion/feedback and to request
other end-users’ workarounds/experiences for our collective benefit.
It’s my hope that the IES VE-Ware sketchup plugin development team will
also review these points as both tools have some key things to learn from each
other… Any responses you’ve got addressing these points would
be good to post on [bldg-sim] as well, I’d imagine.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Feedback/Issues encountered:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ As
you may be well aware, one cannot have the IES Sketchup plugin and the Demeter plugin
installed at the same time without sketchup crashing at every startup. While
one might speculate that you two development teams might want that, being “competing”
products (?), I think it would be appropriate to recognize that users like
myself who might wish to explore Demeter/GBS vs. IES/IES-VEWare get annoyed
when we have to uninstall/reinstall software to do our jobs. Ideally I’d
like both installed at the moment anyway – see my next point…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ Something
to note: There is a real and interesting contrast in the manner of
defining spaces between the IES and Demeter plugin. Demeter’s
capability to “check contiguity” for enclosed volumes, and to
highlight planes that are out-of-whack for ease in correcting the issue is
wonderful. The IES plugin’s approach of “find spaces”
on the other hand is MUCH less tedious than having to manually select every
plane enclosing a space, without an opportunity to correct one’s
selection if you accidentally miss or include a stray plane. Ideally, I
think both plugins ought to learn from each other and create a “find
spaces” command that, perhaps with an option ticked, might perform that
function while additionally subsequently highlighting any and all
non-contiguous planes to the defined volumes. Wouldn’t life be
grand? =)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ The
cube user interface is altogether nifty and functional. One major
improvement however, for those of us without large displays (Mine runs at
1280x1024), would be to have the option to have the interface “auto-hide”
until one mouses-over the top of the window. As it is the model interface
window uses up half of my working space, making it kinda difficult to
manipulate my model views to correctly select/de-select faces for defining the
spaces.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ I
cannot get the “energy analyse” cube-face to operate correctly with
GBS. It gives me an error consistently telling me “Webserver Logon
Failed.” Any thoughts?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ (Nitpick)
Whenever I export an xml file using the interface or plugin drop-down feature, the
resulting file has no extension. Adding .xml however allows GBS desktop
to recognize the file for importing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ (Nitpick)
The installer I have tries by default to install to a Google Sketchup 6
directory. I’m using version 7 (this may be the root of some of my
other issues). It’d be nice/convenient if the installer could
figure that out on its own what is the appropriate directory.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ Once
the exported .xml file is selected in the appropriate GBS desktop field, I
cannot successfully complete a run. Trying to view the model in VRML
results in an error reading “geometry is not a field of Material.”
I suspect incompatible versions of sketchup/GBS/Demeter is the root of this
issue…?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ Back
to the UI: The “Space Definition” face of the cube has three
buttons whose function I have not been able to figure out, nor find
documentation explaining their purpose. Plane Up / Plane Down / Plane
Tool. If they are intended to be some alternative to manually selecting
each face of a volume, that would be a step in the right direction for ease of
use (see above).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ Regarding
the “Surface Definition” face of the cube… here I have to get
more critical. The first model I tried this out on has something like
600+ faces. Your interface does not allow one to define more than one
face at a time. One should be able to first select and change an entire
space’s face properties as a group, and subsequently be able to select
multiple faces at a time to change their properties. I hate to sound
partial to IES but it sure is nice that the IES plugin figures out what is a
floor vs. a roof vs. an interior/exterior wall automatically (though to what
degree of accuracy I’ve not ascertained)… Something that both
automatically guesses (with some accuracy) surface definitions, while allowing
the end-user to easily review and edit those properties would be ideal for both
plugins.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ While
I obviously am having trouble getting GBS to play nicely with Demeter, I’m
very hopeful that a successfully created .inp file from GBS, originating from a
Sketchup/Demeter model, will correctly and accurately be importable into eQuest,
where a good number of us energy modelers get a lot of “post-preliminary-design-stage”
work done. That would bridge a long-desired path I’ve had regarding
establishing a workflow from Sketchup --> eQuest. Previous mailing
list postings have indicated this is a possibility, but as it stands with
whatever combination of compatibility/end-user (me) issues exist, I’ve
yet to see this pull through with my own eyes. I hope GBS’s ties
with Autodesk’s Ecotect product won’t impair this possibility in
the future.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ On
that note, could you clarify for myself and others the relationship that exists
between the development teams for Demeter (Green Space Research) Green Building
Studio, and Autodesk’s Ecotect software? To what extent might the
goals of one group influence/restrict the others?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>+ Is
there a mailing list one can join to be notified if/when new versions of Demeter
are developed?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I hope this feedback is useful to many, and would encourage
other users of Sketchup/Demeter/IES/GBS to chime in with their thoughts and
experiences! <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>~Nick<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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