Revit -> Speckle -> Rhino -> Daylight Analysis

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1

Hi all,

I have a workflow that I wanted to test out, where I have created a model in Revit that I want to run a daylight analysis on.

My idea is to push the model from Revit to Speckle and then pull it down in Rhino.
That works out of the box, but I’m having two issues:

  • Windows/glazing from Revit are created as boxes in Rhino
  • Rooms are created as boxes as well.

Ideally I want windows as single mesh surfaces and rooms as single floor surfaces as well.

I want to avoid processing the model in Grasshopper, so I’m looking for ideas on how make it all go seamlessly.
Previously I have heard/read about Kits, but the topic is old and I can’t find any option to use a custom kit in the Rhino plugin.

Is Kits still the recommended way of customizing the conversion of Speckle data to Rhino geometry?
Or is there a new and better way?

Cheers,
/Christian

2

Hey @chrk, welcome back.

It would be, but only the Grasshopper Connector currently supports them.

What is the eventual geometry that your daylight analysis script/package/plugin requires?

3

Thanks @jonathon :slight_smile:

So a daylight model, fx. one you would create with Ladybug Tools, consists of surfaces - which can be either mesh or brep surfaces in Rhino/Grasshopper.

So when you pull down a model from Revit you get walls, roofs, floors, etc. comes down as “boxes”, because they are modeled with a thickness in Revit - daylight models doesn’t care about your wall thickness.
Ladybug Tools doesn’t care that your wall is a “box”, it will explode it into single surfaces.

The problem is that glass “boxes” will also be exploded into surfaces. Which means that in the daylight model, light have to travel through two surfaces of glass instead of one.

That means that you have to clean the model - typically done i Grasshopper - to remodel the glass into single surfaces.

I wanted to find a way to avoid the remodeling of glass in Grasshopper and instead do it when Speckle pulls down the geometry.

4

This is helpful context - thank you.

5

Is there any plans for more connectors supporting kits?

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Not in the immediate term - the Kits principle is in place, but other moving parts must settle first.

7

In addition to what Jonathon said, kits might be a bit of a slipper slope for this specific use case…

I’d say processing in GH (maybe via grasshopper player?) is still a better option. A new feature we’re working on will also enable you to automatically run custom logic on your commits (see the speckle functions hackathon idea)…

2 Likes
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Hi @chrk,

Thanks for making your post, you have started a workflow I have been thinking about recently. How did it go? Did you pursue the same idea or have you found something more straightforward?

I am new to the speckled world and have also just started testing ladybug.

Could the workaround be done in Revit before going to rhino, so that your detailed windows are swapped out for dummy windows with no glazing ?

Id be interested to know if you continued with the same workflow?

Thanks