Demeter
From Greenspace
Contents |
Introducing Demeter - The Sketchup Energy Analysis Plugin
Being one of the most simple and intuitive 3D modelling tools on the market (as well as being free), Google's Sketchup is by far the most popular tool amongst architects and building professionals at the conceptual design phase in building design. According to our market research, we found that over 50% of architects use Google Sketchup at some stage in the design process.
Greenspace's Demeter plugin expands the benefits of using Google Sketchup for early stage building design. Demeter provides Google's Sketchup with the ability to energy analyse a building model within seconds. Demeter also allows for the importing and exporting of the industry standard file format, gbXML, allowing models from many different sources to be viewed, edited and analysed in Sketchup.
Demeter is currently in development and with our trial users, View the press release
Demeter Discussion Forum
To discuss Demeter, give feedback or get help then please visit our Demeter forum
test
Demo
Higher resolution video available here
About Demeter
User-Friendly
Using an existing sketchup model, Demeter allows additional properties to be added such as surface and opening types as well as allowing enclosed spaces (such as rooms) to be identified. Demeter allows Sketchup's ground breaking user interface, such as the intuitive push - pull feature, to be used in creating building models.
Demeter's user-friendly 3D cube interface then allows the user to enrich the model with extra details such as surface and opening types, locational information and space information. The user can then energy analyze the model directly, or export the model as gbXML, to be used in other modelling and engineering tools.
Demeter's interface has been implemented with the user in mind. Rich Internet Application technologies, including Adobe Flash and Flex, have been utilised to build a rotating multi-faceted 3-Dimensional cube containing familiar user interface controls such as text boxes, buttons and expanding trees. Only information relevant to the task in hand is displayed on each cube facet so that the user does not get the feeling of 'information overload', a common problem with software in this field.
Powerful Analysis
Demeter integrates with Green Building Studio's energy analysis tool to allow for the analysis of Sketchup models.
Demeter allows Sketchup models to be sent directly from Sketchup to Green Building Studio at the touch of a button. This then provides a detailed energy report for the model within seconds (containing information such as annual energy costs, lifecycle energy costs, and estimated annual emissions).
Green Building Studio's energy analysis tool also allows for detailed simulation to be carried out on buildings, informing an architect's decision on what materials should be used to give the most efficent energy savings, giving potentially massive savings in energy costs. Demeter opens this functionality to Sketchup models. This means that a task which would traditionally have taken weeks of modelling and calculating energy requirements now only requires a few hours.
Multi-Platform
Demeter integrates with all version of Google Sketchu
Feature Packed
Demeter enhances Sketchup with the following features:
- Assign properties to surfaces (e.g. surface types, opening types)
- Identify enclosed spaces (e.g. rooms)
- Assign surfaces to spaces
- Contiguity checking to make sure that selected faces are enclosed
- Integration with the UK and US versions of Green Building Studio allowing for localised energy reports
- Import existing gbXML files (gbXML is an industry wide standard and has been adopted by some of the leading CAD vendors such as Autodesk, Graphisoft, and Bentley)
- Export Sketchup models as gbXML
- Export Sketchup models directly to GBS for instant analysis
- Attractive 3D user interface using Rich Internet Application technologies including Adobe Flash and Flex
Demeter Beta Download
A beta version of Demeter is now available for Download here.
Please remember that this is a beta product and, as such, may be susceptible to some errors and may not be completely stable. We are constantly working at developing and improving the Demeter plugin and hope to make the latest changes and improvements available for download on a regular basis.
Demeter Versions
Beta Version 0.8.9.2
====Release Date:==== 9th November 2007
New Features / Changes:
- Improved plugin folder structure
- Neater Demeter submenu within the Plugins menu
- Compatibility with SMustard's Organizer plugin
Beta Version 0.8.9.1
====Release Date:==== 8th November 2007
New Features / Changes:
- Mac OS X Support
- Demeter Toolbar
- Sketchup - Flash Interface communication Improvements
Beta Version 0.8.9
====Release Date:==== 6th November 2007
New Features / Changes:
- Assign properties to surfaces (e.g. surface types, opening types)
- Identify enclosed spaces (e.g. rooms)
- Assign surfaces to spaces
- Contiguity checking to make sure that selected faces are enclosed
- Integration with the UK and US versions of Green Building Studio allowing for localised energy reports
- Import existing gbXML files
- Export Sketchup models as gbXML
- Export Sketchup models directly to GBS for instant analysis
- 3D user interface using Rich Internet Application technologies including Adobe Flash and Flex
