"Take a look
At the things that you can't see
All the mystic treasury
And you'll get them for free
Infrared and ultraviolet"
— "Infrared and Ultraviolet," Utopia, Utopia,1982
Solar Analysis for Revit (SAR) is our free technology preview where you can easily and iteratively perform solar analysis on the faces of a mass in Autodesk Revit. Using the technology preview can help with photovoltaic system design, shading device design (effective strategies in blocking unwanted solar radiation), and aperture placement (allowing wanted solar radiation). You can visualize and quantify the distribution of solar radiation on various areas of a mass using the flexible analysis visualization capabilities of Revit, taking into account the shading effects from adjacent objects such as vegetation and surrounding buildings in an urban setting.
On Monday I posted an update that I got from the team. This update supports Revit 2015 and Revit 2016. Pushing toward assisting with detailed photovoltaic design workflows, the update includes summary surface and object data in the CSV export. And much like a late-night TV commercial, "but that's not all..." The downloadable SAR installer from the Autodesk Labs project also includes the Lighting Analysis for Revit.
Lighting Analysis for Revit (LAR) is a full product release for lighting and daylighting analysis that leverages the fast and physically accurate visual simulation engine of A360 Rendering. With LAR, you can automatically generate an analysis and visualize the distribution of light directly in your Revit design model. Currently optimized for LEED daylighting credits, LAR creates 3D views, plans, and schedules needed for LEED submittal. Based on a ‘freemium’ charge model, smaller and low-resolution analyses are always free, so you pay for only more valuable final analysis jobs. For more information see the LAR product page.
To get started with both of these technologies and provide feedback:
So given that this download is like CERTS, CERTS, two mints in one, how are SAR and LAR different? Product Line Manager, David Scheer, gave me the answer.
SAR maps the power of the full solar spectrum (UV, Visible, IR) on surfaces. LAR maps the power of the visible light spectrum on surfaces. SAR and LAR both consider shading by visible objects in the scene. SAR does not consider transparency of windows and assumes all windows are 100% transparent. SAR does not consider reflections from surroundings, only direct and diffuse light from the sun. LAR does both sunlight and electric lights (with special config setting), and all materials properties affect light reflections and transmission and shading. So there you have it.
Light is alive in the lab.