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NREL Releases New Openstudio Software SuiteWith all my enthusiasm of OpenStudio you would think that I am up to date on new releases of the plugin, however it appears the folks over at NREL are a bit shy and don't make flashy announcements the likes of say Apple Inc. Well it seems around the end of last year NREL released v0.3 of their OpenStudio suite of tools. With this release OpenStudio is no longer a stand alone plugin for Google SketchUp. The installation now contains the following applications:
I would have been happy with just a new release of the SketchUp plugin, but with this new suite of tools I am thrilled to see hints of the direction NREL is taken with tools that work with and along side of Energyplus. I plan on doing a full review of each new application and hopefully some tutorials as well. In the meantime here is a brief rundown on the features of each application included in the suite.
Plug-in for Google SketchupThe workhorse of the suite, this one has been featured on the site quite a bit, and is very polished offering a variety of features. The plug-in works with Google Sketchup allowing the user the ability to create model geometry, zones, apply constructions and schedules, launch a simulation, providing graphical mapping of results such as temperature distributions and illuminance, and much more. Now while this all sounds very nice, it does come with a disclaimer. This release is still a minor release and should be considered beta in many instances. While the SketchUp plugin shows signs of a finished product the other applications sans the ResultsViewer appear to still be under heavy development, with numerous known issues and many features still yet to be implemented. It is however great to see these tools coming together. As a long time user of Energyplus I am very pleased with the release and the direction that NREL is taking with their development. There will be stiff competition in this area over the next year and I look forward to seeing what innovation comes out of it.
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