Individuals residing in major countries spend over 90% of their lives indoors, within buildings that receive limited exposure to daylight. Research highlighting the benefits of daylight on health, happiness, and productivity, suggests that we should be more concerned about the effects of this environmental factor. It is appropriate, therefore, that many countries have requirements and standards to ensure that buildings, and their inhabitants, receive adequate access to daylight. Yet, despite widespread recognition of its importance, for many architects and urban planners, it is both a time-consuming and often frustrating process to understand daylight on their sites. Introducing daylight potential analysis: enabling you to visualize daylight potential in context with the surrounding buildings and environment, in just a few seconds. Meaning you can make fast, smart decisions that enhance daylight on your site.
Autodesk Forma’s daylight potential analysis
Daylight potential analysis simplifies the process of meeting daylight requirements, providing architects and urban planners with quick, valuable insights into the daylight performance of their projects. The analysis’s result provides a Sky Component score that can be used as the base to identify areas with less-than-optimal daylight, as well as those sections where it might be impossible to achieve reasonable daylight conditions. This function also highlights façade areas with inappropriate levels of light that could be modified to improve housing quality.
The analysis function of Forma uses the CIE Standard Overcast Sky Model to predict the light conditions on building surfaces. The Overcast Sky Model represents a heavily clouded day in September and is commonly used in daylight simulations. Considered a conservative representation of light conditions, this model is relevant independent of changes due to the sun and other weather conditions.
Running the analysis
To access the analysis in Autodesk Forma, navigate to the Daylight Potential option in the Analyze menu on the right panel. Open the Analysis Area Selection menu at the top of the right panel and continue to select one or more site limits or zones. This will define the area where the daylight potential analysis will be computed.
How to interpret the analysis results
The result of this analysis, shown as a percentage score, is a Sky Component measure of how much light reaches the facades from the sky. For different points on a building, the Sky Component score indicates how much light would shine through a window placed at those specific points. For daylight falling on vertical facades, the sky component is referred to as Vertical Sky Component (VSC).
The daylight conditions are usually regulated by a component called Daylight Factor, which is computed based on the daylight reaching interior spaces through windows and room layouts in the presence of an overcast sky. Given the inter-relationship between VSC and the Daylight Factor, VSC can also be used as a predictor for daylight conditions.
The table below shows expected daylight conditions for different ranges of VSC scores.
Vertical Sky Component (VSC) default thresholds – For points on facades
Daylight conditions
VSC ≥ 27%
Conventional window designs are usually satisfactory
15% < VSC < 27%
Larger windows/changes are usually needed in the layout
5% < VSC < 15%
Difficult to provide adequate daylight
VSC < 5%
Achieving reasonable daylight is often impossible
Analysis results are divided into color bins using the thresholds from this table. For the darkest areas achieving reasonable daylight is often impossible, while for the lightest areas daylight conditions are usually satisfactory. The maximum score for VSC is around 40%. As for non-vertical faces, the Sky Component scores can go all the way up to 100%.
Additionally, the inspect tool can be beneficial in understanding the Sky Component values for specific points on the building. To enable the Inspect Tool, navigate to the icon on the top right corner of the 3D canvas. You can then proceed to select specific points of interest to be examined.
What is the difference between Forma’s sun hours analysis and daylight potential analysis?
The daylight potential analysis feature works on the basis of how much of the day sky can be seen through the windows and does not take into consideration the sunlight or sun rays. On the other hand, the sun hours analysis works by measuring the number of sunlight hours at different points on the ground and on the building’s façade. If you are building too dense, or have balconies or overhangs above the window, this will negatively affect the amount of daylight in the apartment and can be analyzed and rectified using Forma’s daylight potential analysis.
Powered by Forma’s daylight potential analysis, you can quickly explore a large number of options, and enhance both business and environmental outcomes. Leveraging the effective combination of data-driven insights and compelling visuals, you can not only arrive at informed decisions, but also get all the stakeholders on board right in the early phases of planning. Forma’s analysis capability has therefore significantly simplified the process of designing healthy and high-quality living spaces.
Autodesk has recently released a new update for Revit 2024 that addresses 25 quality issues improving functionality and stability. This is an important update for all Revit 2024 (all versions) users, and we recommend that everyone using a 2024 version, update to this version as soon as possible.
What can you expect from this update?
The update addresses an extensible storage schema issue affecting addons and projects that are upgraded for Revit 2024.
This update is especially important for worksharing users that all project team members are using this release of Revit or higher. Why? To avoid the possibility of older versions of Revit 2024 reintroducing this problem back to the project teams’ model.
This update also provides several other fixes and performance improvements.
Dealing with the variety of projects and systems in the Revit world comes with many unknowns, so our support team continues to work with you to relay any issues to us.
Functionality Fixes:
Fixed an issue when an element with Entity attached is operated by a user in an upgraded file and a previous version file is opened in the same session containing the same schema.
Fixed an issue related to the graph nodes functionality in Dynamo for Revit.
Fixed an issue to assign unique GUIDs to part that have stored GUIDs to prevent duplicates.
Fixed an issue when reloading versioned parts so they retain size and description parameter values.
Fixed an issue to retain element GUIDs when changing the element type using the type selector.
Improved stability when upgrading models with P&ID elements.
Fixed an issue in which Revit could potentially produce empty or invalid geometry when importing an elliptical cone or cylinder from DWG, DGN, or DXF files.
Fixed an issue where the Interference Check tool was disabled when the Shared Views Palette was opened.
Fixed an issue where project parameters with similar names written with different case letters didn’t show in the element properties or type dialog.
Fixed an issue where the Version History page for Revit Cloud Workshared models would only display the last 1000 versions.
Fixed elements on sheet cannot be edited with work shared when a schedule on sheet is filtered by sheet.
Fixed an issue with Create Similar on Toposurface elements.
Fixed an issue where some old models could not upgrade using Revit 2024.1.
Stability and Performance Fixes:
Prevented potential stability issues due to periodic spline-based surfaces created from imported or linked CAD geometry.
Improved stability when upgrading a model.
Improved stability when importing or linking PDF files.
Improved Personal Accelerator’s cleanup behavior when it is tracking many models.
Improved stability when creating a ceiling in a ceiling plan.
Improved stability when dragging or flipping MEP family connector grip controls.
Improved stability by disabling the user modification of an air terminal’s flow value when the flow parameter is defined in a formula.
Improved the performance and stability of flow and pressure drop calculations of fabrication models containing many networks.
Improved stability when some duct and pipe systems were deleted after the sizing operation.
Improved stability when editing a panel schedule template.
Improved stability when placing line boundary conditions on curved analytical panels.
Fixed an issue that could result in poor stability when using the Change Service feature on large selections of ductwork.
OnSite App Version 6 from Archibus gives your technicians everything they need, in the palms of their hands. With the Archibus OnSite mobile app, field technicians and maintenance workers can receive and update maintenance work orders from the convenience of their mobile device. Better performance in the field helps your organization maintain facilities and assets in peak condition.
Close maintenance requests faster
Digitize the request process with workflows you can directly configure
Technicians can assign themselves tasks based on location, due date, priority, and required skillset
With configurable push notifications, technicians stay on top of critical, deadline-driven tasks
Technicians can add comments and photos, and tag stakeholders within work requests
Keep asset databases up to date with straightforward data inputs
Archibus OnSite connects to Archibus features including Space, GIS, and Assets
Easily see complete asset inventories and maintenance histories, making asset life cycle management easier
See who is doing what and when, so you can track progress on every work request
With configurable compliance checklists, technicians can easily adhere to safety and regulatory compliance items while doing scheduled maintenance and inspections
Access complete asset histories for informed asset maintenance decisions, compliance documentation, and condition assessments
Enable your technicians on the go
Sync floor plans and site maps, so technicians can easily find their way to the assets they’re working on
The labor hours timer alerts technicians to stop recording based on a pre-defined hours limit
Connect assets and work orders with quick bar code scanning
With offline support, technicians can work in remote locations without an internet connection
Archibus OnSite is localized in 6 languages and works on both smartphones and tablets
Automatically record labor hours
Start/Stop timer records technicians’ hours
Labor hours timer automatically sends alerts to stop time tracking when a maximum daily limit is reached
Reduce manually assigning tasks
Self-assign work requests feature allows technicians to choose from their team’s work tickets based on location, due date, priority, and required skillset
Configure critical diagnostic, equipment, and cost data
New diagnostic data fields allow technicians to enter defect cause and repair types, gather equipment meter readings, track downtime, and record other cost-related information
Data input fields can be made mandatory, so technicians must enter data for a work order to be marked complete
Show or hide input fields on work requests, so technicians only input necessary data
