<div>Sketchup was purchased by Trimble years ago. </div><div>Their purchase agreement with Google required the maintenance of a free version. You can download Sketchup 8 (free, non-Pro version) from here: <a href="http://www.sketchup.com/download/all">http://www.sketchup.com/download/all</a></div>
<div>The GUI for energy plus that interfaces with Sketchup is called OpenStudio and is being actively developed by NREL. (Also free). <a href="https://openstudio.nrel.gov/">https://openstudio.nrel.gov/</a></div><div><br></div>
<div>To respond to the original question/comment about eQuest 3.65 -- I haven't updated to the latest build. Thank you for bringing the revisions the my attention. </div><div><br></div><div>- Matt Hein</div><div><div>
<br></div><br><br>On Saturday, March 29, 2014, Bruce Easterbrook <<a href="mailto:bruce5@bellnet.ca">bruce5@bellnet.ca</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
I'm a little disappointed to hear Sketchup is no longer free. I was
planning on doing some experimenting/learning with energy plus and
from what I know sketchup was an integral part of the new graphical
front end for that program. It doesn't do the energy efficiency
movement much good if the free analysis engines require $5,000 to
$10,000 in associated software to use them. This is fine for the
power users because they have this software already and use it
extensively throughout their normal business. Google has made some
other moves in this area by buying Nest and shutting down another
free monitoring/control system they had in their stable. It does
make it tough for the little guy to need a $4,000 AutoCad seat to
get a basic 2D DWG footprint to start an eQuest analysis. Then M$
comes along with a new OS and with a little collusion your $4,000
program is obsolete. Luckily DWG is no longer proprietary.
DraftSight is a free 2D DWG program released by Dassault. Now they
aren't entirely benevolent either as it is a lead in to their
SolidWorks 3D but don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It is
great, stable and supported with free updates. There is a version
that runs on Linux. It will give you a free DWG footprint to get
started in the eQuest wizards and keep you out of the proprietary
software wars.<br>
I suppose I should conclude this with 4 pages of legal boilerplate
identifying all the trademarks mentioned, legal disclaimers,
economic disclaimers, etc, etc, etc. That stuff makes my head
hurt. I need to get back to engineering and trying to make our
planet a safer, better place. So basically, a free tip in the
running battle of conflicting business models. BTW support ends for
XP April 8, 2014.<br>
Bruce Easterbrook P.Eng.<br>
Abode Engineering<br>
<div>On 28/03/2014 2:44 PM, Chris Baker
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">I have not used
equest until about 2 weeks ago but I’ve experimented with
some of the other platforms and equest is by far the most
reasonable to work with.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">The older
release of version 3.65 was a little buggy but those have
since been worked out from what I’ve seen so far.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">But I will say
that it depends on what your existing design files are
(Autocad or Revit).
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">If you have
your project already drawn up in revit there is a revit
add-on that you can install for energy plus that will
recognize windows, zones, building shell, etc.. (you have to
specify each with the add-on). You then export a file to
energy plus and continue the energy modeling process.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">There is also
an add-on for “Sketchup” that does the same thing. If you
already have a 3d model in revit, sketchup is unnecessary.
If you have a 3d model in Autocad, you can export that to
sketchup, then use the sketchup add-on to specify the shell,
zones, windows and doors, you would then use the add-on to
create the file for energy plus.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Sketchup (which
is by google) would require you to draw the building in 3d
from scratch if you don’t have a 3d model drawn yet.. I
wasn’t happy with that.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Plus, sketchup
is no longer FREE as it was in the past. The newest version
of the Sketchup allows you to install and use the energy
plus add-on. However, Sketchup now has a brief trial period
after which you are required to pay a few hundred dollars to
purchase the software (which you would likely only use once
for the purpose of exporting to energy plus). I didn’t like
that either!<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Thus, If you
have a 3d model or BIM drawn up in Autocad, energy plus is
probably the easiest way to go. Otherwise, eQuest is
probably the best alternative.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">eQuest is very
straightforward and easy to use. It does have its quirks!
But any issues I’ve had were quickly resolved through this
usergroup. And this is my first time doing the energy
modeling.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Chris Baker<br>
CCI CAD Drafter<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Fort
Wainwright, Alaska<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #b5c4df 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">
<a>equest-users-bounces@lists.onebuilding.org</a>
[<a>mailto:equest-users-bounces@lists.onebuilding.org</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Demba Ndiaye<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, March 27, 2014 2:42 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a></a></span></p></div></div></div><pre>_______________________________________________
Equest-users mailing list
<a href="http://lists.onebuilding.org/listinfo.cgi/equest-users-onebuilding.org" target="_blank">http://lists.onebuilding.org/listinfo.cgi/equest-users-onebuilding.org</a>
To unsubscribe from this mailing list send a blank message to <a href="javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','EQUEST-USERS-UNSUBSCRIBE@ONEBUILDING.ORG');" target="_blank">EQUEST-USERS-UNSUBSCRIBE@ONEBUILDING.ORG</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote></div><br><br>-- <br>- Matt Hein<br><br>