Daylight modeling software for LEED v 4.0/4.1 (for Revit)

We use Climate Studio, which runs on top of Rhino. The workflow to import a Revit model into Climate Studio is pretty straightforward. Climate Studio is also extremely fast compared to DIVA, its predecessor. We are able to complete a daylight study on a complicated building – a high school, for example – in 2-3 work days. [A picture containing text, sign Description automatically generated] Kristian Kicinski LEED AP BD+C Associate Principal Director of Sustainability (he, him) Bassetti Architects o 206-340-9500 / d 206-536-1370 www.bassettiarch.com *Please note that May 31st through September 6th, Bassetti will be celebrating summer with modified office hours: Monday - Thursday 8am-5pm; Friday 8am-12pm. Fro

Dan, we are using LightStanza, which has a Revit plugin for direct import. We use ArchiCad, and have successfully uploaded and conducted analysis but our preference, because of some other tools we use, is to create a simplified geometry in SketchUp and direct import using a SU plugin for LightStanza.

We are also using ClimateStudio for LEED daylight. Echo Kristian’s comments about speed, workflow, and ease of use. Jeremy Shiman, AIA, LEED AP BD+C Associate, Architect Pronouns: he/him/his WRNS STUDIO F

Dan, we had same issue in May with Daylight analysis with Revit 2022. At first Autodesk told us to update to 2023. Our Technology Director gave them fit and they even offered to run the analysis themselves if we send the files to them.. Long story short, it took us about 2 weeks of back and forth and they fixed it for us. I don't know what they did, but it is all accounting.. I think when Autodesk changed cloud credit to Flex Token system in cloud rendering, they missed the fact that daylight analysis also requires cloud rendering and didn't connect the dots.. So, my recommendation is to open the tech support ticket and push them until it is resolved. Anyway, we use Honeybee & Revit for studies, but we still document LEED credits w/ Revit Insight daylight analysis. We may look into Climate Studio for test run in the future.

Although I am a big fan of Revit + Insight for early energy modeling, as I have been posting about in an adjacent thread, we use Climate Studio (which evolved from Diva) for daylighting analysis. I have two related posts to share...

• A case study on one of our recent projects: https://www.solemma.com/blog/lakeflato-alamogordo-middle-school-case-study
• A post I wrote highlighting their new Revit add-in (which, to be clear, is only to get the model from Revit into Rhino, but still a big deal): https://bimchapters.blogspot.com/2022/05/climate-studio-revit-plug-in.html

I have seen a demo of Lightstanza and it looks great. I am the chair of the national IES BIM Standards committee, and their founder is on the committee. I also do training on ElumTools, but its strength is electric lighting calcs, and only does point in time daylight calcs, not annual (but works directly in Revit).

Yet another fan of ClimateStudio for all things daylighting.  The Revit to Rhino process has always been the difficult part, and we have developed a few different workflows to try to simplify that process, but the new ClimateStudio Revit plugin (for exporting the model) really blows our workflows away and shaves a lot of time off the process. All the geometry comes into Rhino on layers that ClimateStudio assigns materials to based on the Revit type (walls, floors, glazing, etc.).  If you have rooms defined in the Revit model, they can be transferred over to Rhino for use as the analysis surfaces.  There can still be a bit of cleanup and everything should be double checked, but 90%+ of the setup is done for you. One nice feature is that ClimateStudio can generate a LEED daylighting report that LEED will accept in lieu of their own reporting requirements.  No need to dump out a bunch of graphics and lay out a daylighting report yourself, although you can still export your own (nicer) Rhino views for sharing with the client.

Our experience with Revit to LightStanza has been very smooth. A plugin download is required to push the model to the cloud engine for analysis. Existing Revit camera views translate into preset views for 3D glare analysis and the program automatically creates workplanes for 2D analysis. When exporting through the plugin, you can select the detail you want to export and what you want to leave out, this typically affects the export time and analysis duration. We do all LEED and design daylight analysis inhouse using LightStanza. Ramana.

Quick update after testing and talking to friends at Autodesk... I was able to see the issue (broken in Revit 2022 and previous) but works in Revit 2023. I then found out that a May update to the Lighting Analysis add-in fixes the problem. This is an update to the add-in (which was originally installed separately) so the update is separate from any typical Revit update.

Also, I am guessing anyone reading this post may enjoy these articles I wrote: Comparing Analysis Tools - Lighting Calcs: https://bimchapters.blogspot.com/2020/03/comparing-analysis-tools.html  Comparing Revit Solar Analysis to NREL PVWatts: https://bimchapters.blogspot.com/2022/01/comparing-revit-solar-analysis-to-nrel.html

Dan - the link to the Comparing Analysis Tools doesn't appear to work. It takes me to a page saying the page I am seaking doesn't exist.  Does anyone mind if I shift the conversation to best practices for early daylight design using Sketchup? My firm uses Sketchup for early design processes. Then we go to Revit and have Insights. We don't have Rhino. I see LightStanza listed above by Jason as compatable with SU. Sketchup itself has a daylight plug-in. Anybody on feedback on how those and/or other programs to consider?  

Sara, I used LightStanza a lot and would definitely recommend it. It has a plugin for Sketchup for early analysis, then also for Revit for your analysis later in design. Radiance based so can do great renderings as well. In my opinion much more accurate than Insights, and also does the LEED daylight calcs if that is what you are after. I haven't come across the Sketchup daylight plugin so I can't comment on that one.