This Section will cover some of issues that Users may come across when using the application and helpful guidance on understanding these issues and resolving them.
The application will arrange the model into Facades based on orientation and planes. There may be several South facing Facades for instance if they are on different planes. Within these Facades are Surfaces, defined by Levels and Internal Walls. Each time there is an internal wall, a new Surface will be assigned for that Space/Room.
The 'Spatial Elements' option (for Detailed models) will assign separate Surfaces for each Curtain Wall. 'Building Elements' will create larger Surfaces with several Curtain Walls within.
The application will indicate values with colors to indicate Cool, Optimum or Overheated Spaces. Surfaces that are highlighted on the model relate to the Rooms/Spaces internally associated to these glazed Surfaces and the results refer to these floor areas. The ranges used are listed below.
Colours are indicated in the Facades List, in the Charts and on the Dashboard.
Red will indicate areas for attention. These may require a higher performance Glass Type, Shading Devices or Fritting applications etc
Blue will indicate Cool Surfaces which may over-restrict Solar Heat Gain. In this case, a lower performance glass may be required.
Green Surfaces have values within acceptable ranges eg. 15 - 25 W/m sq (4.75 - 7.9 BTU/ft sq / hr).
Daylight colours vary from grey to yellow indicating values. An optimum range for Daylight factor is 2 - 5%.
When first starting to analyze a new project:
- Launch Guardian Glass for BIM from the Revit Add-ins Menu
- Select an option for the model type. For Revit Mass Models, select Conceptual Mass. For Detailed Models, select Building Elements (all detailed models), or Spatial Elements (if Rooms/Spaces have been placed in the project) only if using Revit 2020 and earlier.
- The Building Manager will Open automatically. Adjust Settings for Site Location, Terrain, Building Use and Occupancy Hours if necessary. Turn on Calculate Shading if there are significant surrounding buildings modeled or self shading on the model. Close the Building Manager when results display and this process is complete.
- Set an Energy Code in the Performance Tab (for Compliance Targets). This will indicate compliance of element thermal properties for categories (Walls, roofs, Floors and Glazing)
- If Glazing has analytical properties, results will display for Surfaces including these elements. Adjust Analytical Properties for glazing using Revit's Type Properties or the Glass Database in the application (new Glass Types may require a restart of Revit).
- Make selections of Surfaces using the List, Charts or 3D Viewer and review Surfaces with high results. These Surfaces may require higher performance glazing (lower solar transmittance/SHGC), shading devices, fritting etc to reduce the Heat Gain
- Further functions are available for review such as saving Reports, reviewing the Shading Animation, Generating Glazing on the model using performance targets etc
- Reports may be saved as Excel format or HTML.
The Site Location in the Revit model should be set. True North rotation will also affect the results and to obtain correct orientations. Project Name should also be input in Project Information under the Manage Tab on the Revit Menu (other inputs in Project Information are not critical). Glazing elements in the model should have Analytical Properties assigned under Type Properties for each glazing type that is being used in the project.
Model Elements generally need to be set as Room Bounding to be included in calculations (structural columns may be set to Non-Room Bounding). Linked models should be set as Room Bounding and glazing should be placed in the Host model for editability.
Assuming that the model integrity is good and Revit's Energy Model generates successfully, then you may launch the application.
The application will ask Revit to generate a current Energy Model when it launches and will use this information to create Surfaces and organize the model into separate zones related to the internal spaces. Turn on 'Calculate Shading' if you have significant shading conditions. Then use the Building Manager to Calculate Solar Results.
Please see this Section for more details on Getting Started.
Masses are analyzed separately. When you choose the Conceptual Mass option when loading the application, a message will appear to Choose the Mass. If there are several masses in the project analysis will occur on each one separately. Surrounding buildings may be modeled as separate masses as these can be used for shading effect calculations.
Once the Energy Model is created, the masses will be merged by and you will see a warning message from Revit. We recommend modelling floor by floor (storey by storey) as it gives more control over the surfaces in the application.
Zones may be created, and finer control is possible for each storey (eg. separate glazing specifications, glazed areas, fritting etc). Masses modeled as one volume in Revit will be assigned one Surface over the entire orientation and individual control for each storey will not be possible.
Yes, when opening the application, choose which model type you wish to analyse eg. Conceptual Mass or Detailed. There is one option for analyzing Conceptual Masses and two for Detailed models (Spatial Elements or Building Elements).
Please ensure that the mode set in Revit’s Energy Settings is set to ‘Use Conceptual Masses and Building Elements’ so that the Energy Model will apply to all types.
For both model types, ensure that basic modeling checks have been performed eg. for Mass models – ensure that Mass Floors have been assigned etc. Detailed models should have thermal properties applied to the glazing and building elements if possible (walls, floors and roofs).
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This is normal and is an indicator that thermal properties need to be set or checked for an element on this Façade. It may be that a door or window has no analytical property set. If one element is missing thermal properties, the warning indicator will appear beside the Façade name. Thermal Properties may be set in Revit by using the Edit Type tool.
Check that Revit’s Energy model is successful first and that there are no warnings. If there are, try to resolve these first before launching the application.
Make sure that you have not used Building Elements or Spatial Elements options with a Mass model. These options are for use with Detailed models only.
Glazing material, if assigned, should have the required transparency set in the materials browser, to be identified as glass.
Please refer to Section 12.1 above for information on typical modelling issues and recommended Energy Settings.
If is still an issue, please contact us for support: guardian@fenestrapro.com
Users should note that the selection of Surfaces will affect the results displayed. Choosing one Surface with 50% Glazing and another Surface with 0% Glazing will display an average of 25% Glazing. Solar Load and Daylight average values will also be different on the Dashboard than when a glazed surface only is chosen.
Where Surfaces may be grouped/filtered by Percentage Glazing, a user may wish to avoid any surfaces which have zero glazing for this reason.
If a colleague has the same version of the application, you may copy the results file and send it to them. If they paste this file into their FenestraPro folder, the results will be available in their Charts and Dashboard when they open the application on their machine.
The file can usually be found in this location: C:\Users\Your User Name\App Data\Local\FenestraPro\FProStore.db
There are also files in this folder called CustomStandards.db and CustomGroups.db and GlazingSpecs.db. These may also be copied and pasted to a colleague’s machine to display the same information if new Standards and Groups have been create (The colleague must have a current active license for Guardian Glass for BIM)
Guardian Glass for BIM should be closed down first for the receiving colleague as it will be accessing files in the FenestraPro folder. It is recommended that the person to whom you are sending the file, first close down the application if it is open and rename their existing database file as a backup eg. FProStore.db should become – FProStore.db.bak.
This original file can then be restored later by:
- Moving the new database file that you sent them to another folder outside the FenestraPro folder
- Renaming the Original file back to the original name so that it will be used by the application.
The new file that you are sending them may then be placed in the Folder and will be used instead. It contains all the results for the models analysed to date. If they have access to the same models, this will be recognized and the results will appear in the application.
The version number of the software should be the same on both machines, otherwise there may be errors in reading the file or the application may fail to load.
The new file may then be stored elsewhere and the older file renamed back to its original name so that the user can continue their work.
Results may always be shared normally using the Snapshot Excel Report also which contains all the relevant information on the project. The HTML Report may also be viewed in a browser and the link sent to a colleague or this data may be downloaded as a PDF and shared with colleagues.
Yes, Guardian Glass for BIM saves your Building Codes in the FenestraPro folder which is on your local machine. This file may be copied and pasted into a colleagues folder on their machine if they also have a subscription to the application. First the colleague’s application should be closed out. Any existing file with Codes in their local folder should be cut and pasted to another location if it is to be restored later.
The sent file may be pasted into the FenestraPro folder and when the application is started, this will be used with the Codes that were created.
The path to the FenestraPro folder is usually on the C: drive and is found under Windows (C:) > Users > Your Name > App Data > Local > FenestraPro
The file will be named CustomStandards.db. Care should be taken not to delete the file from your own machine as this may cause the application to display an error as it will be referencing this file. The file may be copied and pasted to another location or emailed to a colleague etc.
Other files in this location store the results of analysis to date, log files of progress, error messages, Custom Groups and Glazing Specifications that have been created etc. Likewise, these may be shared with colleagues if information is to be common.
Custom Groups created in one method relies on the Surfaces that the application creates in that method. Since both options for analyzing Detailed models will create, name and manage the number of Surfaces differently, any Groups created in one method will not apply to the other. If another method is used to analyse the same model, Custom Groups would have to be created again.
Custom Codes created in one method will be available in the any other method as these values can be applied to all model types.
Yes, simple curved geometry is supported for Detailed Revit models but currently not for Mass models. Support for curved geometry in Mass models is in development and will be included in a future version. As a workaround, curved areas in Mass models may be faceted or segmented to provide surfaces suitable for the application to read.
Where geometry is more complex, all areas may not be analysed fully and Users are advised to exercise caution with these types of models. Curved geometry may not be assigned Surfaces or be provided with results by Guardian Glass for BIM.
