Which path for a new LB/HB user (from Revit)?

ladybug-tools
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1

Hello,

I plan to become a new user of LB-tools and looking quite extensively on the web/forum/github sources did not lead to a definitive answer to my question. This is most likely due to current ongoing developments (which by the way are very exciting).

I am currently involved in a project about testing existing building in future climates and would like to use Honeybee/E+ for that. My company uses Revit and it is quite important to keep that starting geometric tool. So investigating the current stand of the development of the dynamo nodes I realized that it is “phasing out”

So here my main question: what is the best process to have - as soon as possible - a functional parametric link from Revit to HoneyBee/E+?

  1. Revit + Rhino.inside + Honeybee/Ladybug legacy
  2. Revit + new Dynamo Honeybee coming soon?.. this one is phasing out isn’t it?
  3. Revit + custom dynamo code/nodes + current HoneyBee+ python libraries
  4. the new Honeybee Revit plugins

Subsidiary question: what is the answer on the above question if I want to involve E+ AirFlowNetworks ?

Thanks in advance for any clue.
Julien

2

Hi @lluj,

The best possible approach is to use the new Revit plugin with our new upcoming Grasshopper plugins. In the new plugins the data is transferred between the platforms using the HBJSON format (https://github.com/ladybug-tools/honeybee-schema/wiki).

Use HBJSON for translation
Use HBJSON for translation960Ă—540 78.3 KB

This means you can load a model from Revit into Rhino/Grasshopper without loosing any data during the translation.

Translating Revit model to Rhino
Translating Revit model to Rhino960Ă—540 174 KB

I can add you to our early access group if you are interested to give it a try yourself. I’m just worried that since you are a new user grasping all these new concepts can be challenging. It might be a good idea if you spend some time and use the honeybee legacy plugins and learn the basic concepts from the available resources.

1 Like
3

HI @mostapha, Hi @lluj,

I am very interested in being part of the early access group, if possible.
I am a user of Energy+/Openstudio for some years now, and into LB/HB for a few months, and I am putting my efforts into importing the geometry from Revit to LB/HB.

I’d love to try the plugin too and be part of the people giving feedback on its use.
How could I be part of the early access group?

Thank you very much for your reply.
Best.

LoĂŻc

4

Hi @mostapha,

Thanks a lot for your reply, it seems perfectly suited to my needs. And yes I would like to be part of the early access group. Like @loicw I am an experienced user of E+ especially writing scripts for generating input files (though for quite earlier versions of E+). But I would also follow your advice and go for the legacy as training.

One single thing is still unclear to me: In the process you describe do I have to install Rhino+GH? or is the process decoupled from Rhino? it doesn’t look so on the schema but looking at the Revit plugins install instructions it seems to require it :


Thank you for your response and availability
Best,

Julien

5

Hi @loicw and @lluj, I added both of you to the group.

Rhino and Revit plugins share the core libraries and for now (and only because we wanted to keep it simple) we are installing the shared library using the Grasshopper component. In the near future the installer for Revit will be entirely separate from Rhino/Grasshopper. You don’t need to have Rhino or Grasshopper to use the Revit plugin.

6

Hi @mostapha

Thanks a lot for the invitation. and for the precision on the Rhino dependency. This looks very promising. I’ll install as soon as possible.

Best,
Julien

7

Hi @mostapha,

Thank you very much for adding us.
It’s very exciting to be part of the development of these powerful tools.

I’ll give a try to the Grasshopper plugin and give you some feedback.

Have a great day.
Best.