With each new release of any software, things change. Generally, these changes are small, involving optimisations, small tweaks and bugfixes, but sometimes circumstances dictate a bigger change.
This has been the case with Revit 2023, and the Energy Analysis Model creation. For curtain walls particularly, glazed units sharing the same analytical performance properties are amalgamated into one opening by Revit in the Energy Analysis Model representation of a curtain wall.
This change has been accommodated in FenestraPro’s business model logic. In development however, we found some Revit API issues with the Energy Model surface orientations, meaning that we have had to introduce logic to validate every surface’s orientation. We have been in contact with Autodesk who have raised these issues internally. Once resolved, this will be available in a future point release of Revit 2023.
For now, we have endeavoured to provide support for Revit 2023 in FenestraPro, including methods to improve the validation of surface and element orientations. These may not always be successful however, and we are continuously improving and iterating to enhance our support.
- Analytical Resolutions can be adjusted in Revit 2023 when starting the application (under Open Energy Model Settings). This may be used to exclude small surfaces which may have inverted orientations. Note: If there are many small surfaces being excluded, this will change the surface areas and consequently the accuracy of the results.
- FenestraPro now provides settings to adjust the method of collecting orientations. This may assist if orientations appear incorrectly in the Facades list. Users are advised to check Surface orientations for accuracy while using the application and avail of this setting to correct any anomalies if required.
- Calculating shading is not recommended currently in FenestraPro v7.1.0. There are some remaining issues around incorrect orientations and surface normals within Revit 2023. Vertical Sky Angle and Daylight calculations can also be impacted by inverted geometry in the model. It is recommended to use the beta application without Calculate Shading Factors turned on.
- The ‘Type Properties’ link to Revit from the Assign Glass feature is also not functional in Revit 2023.
We will continue our efforts to enhance support for Revit 2023 and any Autodesk updates will be evaluated and integrated to improve performance and accuracy.
