For years I've used PHPP, Trisco and Therm for energy modelling and BIM and construction drawing sets. Trisco is not for the faint hearted I'll be glad to leave it behind. My girlfriend can attest with her boredom I am very excited at the news AC are bedding in EcoDesigner Star & moving towards a solution to let us designers do our diligence more quickly. It is remarkable.
It's been a continual gripe Graphisoft haven't carried out a complete overhaul of composites/skins to work flexibly with the model and this is now beginning to affect the energy evaluation tools. Objects can catch up later. It's a real shame as this seems so easy to achieve in comparison with other areas Graphisoft are making progress in. Does it really cost that much to sort out? I think it's a big problem.
Does anyone know if Graphisoft have plans to sort out composite skins so they sync with the renovation filter in AC17? For example new windows into an existing wall with new external insulation. Best i found was using lots of different .pln files or using Cadimage. I wondered if anyone had any better ideas?
Nearly every masonry wall from the last 100+ years requires external or internal insulation to get a modern U-value. In the UK we've got about 15 million homes that will need renovating to meet "zero carbon 2050." I need my composites to work, come on Graphisoft!
