• EcoDesigner
• EcoDesignerカスタマイズ

EcoDesigner Customization

Summary: EcoDesigner can be customized to not only provide the physical material properties that you use most often, but by thoughtful integration with your custom office ArchiCAD template, much of the assignment can be automated for future projects. More details can be found in the Advanced User Guide, released after this introductory article was written.

ArchiCAD-Talk Question:

• I am using and learning ecodesigner after having just taken delivery of it. My biggest frustration with it is that the materials catalogue does not seem to have much that matches the materials used in Australia or at least the names are different. Therefore its hard to know that what I am picking is the right type. Also although with windows I can just overwrite the U-value in the main "openings" tab (which is just as well as there is no option for single glazed windows in the materials catalogue) I don't have this option with the structures tab - ie I have to select the R-value calculator then assign materials to each of the skins in my walls. Lastly as far as I can tell I can't add in my own custom materials to the catalogue for materials that are not available in the list.

Reply:

EcoDesigner (ED) does have the flexibility to address these customization issues.

First for people reading who do not yet have ED, let me clarify that a 'material' (with insulation/mass/etc properties) for ED is not the same as an ArchICAD 'material'. An ArchiCAD Material Attribute just governs surface appearance in 3D and photorendering. In EcoDesigner you assign real-world material physical properties to fills - wall, slab, roof fills - and also to windows/doors.

Because physical properties are associated with fills, one cannot model as casually as one might for just the production of construction documents. For example, if one uses a fill called "25% fill" for stud wall fills, but there are actually different types of insulated stud walls - perhaps some fiberglass, some blown-in, some closed cell foam, etc. - then you must duplicate the fill to create a copy for each different kind of insulation. Give each copy a useful name that you will use in future projects as part of your template. (Do not be lazy and use a name like "25% fill copy 1", as you will not have any idea what that means next month, much less a year from now.)

To be clear for new ArchiCAD users: it is not the appearance of a fill that identifies it, but the name. So, identical looking fills with different names are distinguished by ArchiCAD in various situations including identification by EcoDesigner.

Once you have used unique fill-names per physical material, and done the steps listed later in this article, future projects will get the desired insulation properties automatically. (This type of functional fill assignment will also make quantity calculation easier if that is part of your workflow.)

OK. How do you customize the settings?

If you look in your Add-Ons folder under EcoDesigner, you will see a number of subfolders that are named with 3-character nationality codes: AUS, DEN, INT, NOR, NZE, SWE and USA are what I have on my system in the first relase of ED. ED automatically will load its data from the folder corresponding to the version of AC that you are using ... in my case USA. Inside your country folder, there are six XML files that can be edited with any text editor, although a color coded XML editor is nicer. For Mac users, if you install the free developer tools from your OS X installation disk, the xml files will open in Dashcode with colored syntax highlighting. Windows will just open xml in Internet Explorer by default. So, instead, open the xml files from Wordpad or right-click and choose Open With... to open Wordpad or an xml editor. (Windows users: do not open the files with Notepad, as the line breaks will not appear and the content will be too difficult to read or edit.)

The six xml files are:

• DefaultFillAssignments.xml

• DefaultValues.xml

• InternalUsages.xml

• MaterialCatalog.xml

• OpeningCatalog.xml

• ShadingCatalog.xml

Let's look at the function of each. Before you edit any of these files, be sure to make a backup copy of them.

DefaultFillAssignments.xml

This file provides initial (default) physical values for each fill in the base ArchiCAD template. Your project may have fills that do not appear in this list, and so by modifying or adding to this list, you will get immediate material matching without having to do any manual assignment within the ED interface. Here are a few of the short entries (so they will display on this page without wrapping) from the AUS file:

    <FillAssignment FillName="Glass Block" MaterialGroupName="GLASS" MaterialName="CELLGLASS 39"/>
    <FillAssignment FillName="Concrete Lightweight" MaterialGroupName="CONCRETE" MaterialName="CONCRETE 1800"/>
    <FillAssignment FillName="aluminum" MaterialGroupName="METALS" MaterialName="ALUMINUM"/>
    <FillAssignment FillName="Metal" MaterialGroupName="METALS" MaterialName="STAINLESS STEEL"/>
    <FillAssignment FillName="steel" MaterialGroupName="METALS" MaterialName="STAINLESS STEEL"/>
    <FillAssignment FillName="earth" MaterialGroupName="SOILS" MaterialName="EARTH"/>

The FillName is the name of the fill as you see it in the Fills dialog or Attribute Manager within ArchiCAD.

The MaterialGroupName and MaterialName must match exactly values in the MaterialCatalog.xml file.

The defaults may work for you (having 'earth' get the physical properties of EARTH from the database makes sense), or they may not (should 'metal' be 'STAINLESS STEEL' as a general default for your typical projects?).

If you set up your company template (used for starting new projects) with proper fills per physical material, and define those materials in the materials database and associate the fills to the materials in this file, then new projects will have all material assignment done automatically as you build your model with favorites or pre-defined composites, etc.

DefaultValues.xml

The DefaultValues.xml file contains internal data used by EcoDesigner. It is not recommended that you alter this file without specific direction from technical support.

InternalUsages.xml

The InternalUsages.xml file provides the energy consumption profile for the various types of buildings - Office, Residential, Educaiton, Hospital, etc. You can copy and paste one of these to create a profile for an activity that is not already defined, or which has a different profile than the defines ones.

For example, here is the profile from the AUS file for a building of type Residential:

  <InternalUsage Name="Residential">
    <HotW>2</HotW>
    <HotWLgh>0</HotWLgh>
    <TemperatureProfile>
      <Min>18</Min>
      <Max>25</Max>
      <WorkDay>0 0 0 0 0 0 22 22 22 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 22 22 22 22 22 0</WorkDay>
      <FreeDay>0 0 0 0 0 0 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 0</FreeDay>
    </TemperatureProfile>
    <HeatGainProfile>
      <WorkDay>3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 3</WorkDay>
      <FreeDay>3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3</FreeDay>
    </HeatGainProfile>
  </InternalUsage>

Edit at your own risk until we have specifications for each value. The hot water (!HotW) units are not known. The meaning of each value in the 24 values for each hour of a work day or free day and the values for the heat gain are also not documented.

MaterialCatalog.xml

The MaterialCatalog.xml file has materials listed within groups. When you use EcoDesigner, you'll see how these groups expand and understand the structure of the file. You can freely create new groups and new materials. If you want to rename any groups and materials to better suit your needs, you must recognize that any renaming done here must also be done in the DefaultFillAssignments.xml file and will impact any manual assignments you have already made in any projects.

USA users will be frustrated that most dimensions in the textual names are in millimeters and may want to alter that. (Eventually, a USA-based xml file should be delivered by Graphisoft.) Any user may find that the names used do not match their typical naming and may simply want to change that for ease of use in their office.

For example, here are a few groups from the file:

  <MaterialGroup Name="ASPHALT">
    <Material Name="ASPHALT" ThermalConduct="0.7" Density="2100" HeatCapacity="1000"/>
  </MaterialGroup>
  <MaterialGroup Name="BITUMEN">
    <Material Name="BITUMEN FELT" ThermalConduct="0.23" Density="1100" HeatCapacity="1000"/>
    <Material Name="BITUMEN PURE" ThermalConduct="0.17" Density="1050" HeatCapacity="1000"/>
    <Material Name="BITUMEN SHEET" ThermalConduct="0.23" Density="1100" HeatCapacity="1000"/>
  </MaterialGroup>
  <MaterialGroup Name="THERMAL INSULATION-PLASTIC FOAM">
    <Material Name="EPS 15" ThermalConduct="0.042" Density="15" HeatCapacity="1450"/>
    <Material Name="EPS 25" ThermalConduct="0.036" Density="25" HeatCapacity="1450"/>
    <Material Name="EXP.PLASTICS33" ThermalConduct="0.033" Density="25" HeatCapacity="1400"/>
    <Material Name="EXP.PLASTICS36" ThermalConduct="0.036" Density="25" HeatCapacity="1400"/>
    <Material Name="EXP.PLASTICS40" ThermalConduct="0.04" Density="25" HeatCapacity="1400"/>
    <Material Name="POLYFOAM" ThermalConduct="0.035" Density="30" HeatCapacity="1450"/>
    <Material Name="XPS" ThermalConduct="0.032" Density="28" HeatCapacity="1450"/>
  </MaterialGroup>

OpeningCatalog.xml

Like the MaterialCatalog.xml file, openings are listed in groups. The naming convention is explained in the EcoDesigner user manual, but you might prefer different names and to add specifications for windows that you use often in multiple projects. In the latter case, create a new group for the manufacturer, perhaps, and then material entries for the specific windows and doors.

Here is the SKYLIGHTS group from the AUS file:

  <MaterialGroup Name="SKYLIGHTS">
    <Material Name="DOUBLE BUBBLE" GlassShare="70"  TotalSolarTransmittance="66" DirectSolarTransmittance="53" UValue="4.79" Infiltration="1.5"/>
    <Material Name="CLEAR DOUBLE 1" GlassShare="70"  TotalSolarTransmittance="66" DirectSolarTransmittance="53" UValue="4.6" Infiltration="1.3"/>
    <Material Name="CLEAR DOUBLE 2" GlassShare="70"  TotalSolarTransmittance="66" DirectSolarTransmittance="53" UValue="4.47" Infiltration="1.1"/>
    <Material Name="SELECTIVE DOUBLE" GlassShare="70"  TotalSolarTransmittance="34" DirectSolarTransmittance="27" UValue="3.77" Infiltration="0.9"/>
  </MaterialGroup>

ShadingCatalog.xml

The ShadingCatalog.xml file defines the properties used during anaylsis for different shading types. As these values are tightly tied to the analysis engine, it is recommended that you not alter them.

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