[Equest-users] eQUEST Wizard Zone Segments

[Nick Caton]

The practical rule here is exterior surfaces will only be generated along the lines that make up the building footprint, and only where the zone lines match up.

I suggest a best practice to ALWAYS lock vertices wherever you have the option.  Don't intentionally play within tolerances - they exist, but in my experience there's much more headaches/heartaches down that path than simply getting it done exactly right the first go around.

As you and others have found, intentionally or by accident, the wizards have a limited resolution for defining vertices, to the second decimal place.  While this normally isn't an issue, this can occasionally cause issues if you are defining perimeter zones along a non-orthogonal footprint line, which doesn't have vertices to lock to.  Locking to endpoints from your CAD reference can (not always) in that scenario not line up sufficiently with the footprint perimeter.  Solution here is to define additional vertices for the building footprint along such facades.

Also, when you do lock to a CAD endpoint, you might notice on zooming waaaay in that your vertex/lines might not appear perfectly in-sync against the reference.  I think this is a limitation of the UI and related to that 2-decimal "resolution," but generally if you only appear off by a pixel or so you can rest assured things are in fact lined up.  Critical thing is to ensure your footprint and zone vertices are locked together.

~Nick


[cid:489575314 at 22072009-0ABB]

NICK CATON, P.E.
SENIOR ENGINEER

Smith & Boucher Engineers
25501 west valley parkway, suite 200
olathe, ks 66061
direct 913.344.0036
fax 913.345.0617
www.smithboucher.com

From: equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Bowser
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2012 1:22 PM
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] eQUEST Wizard Zone Segments

Thanks for the response, Nick.  I never thought about the relationship between doors and windows as children of the exterior surface.  That's a good way to think of it.

However, I still have some confusion as so when there is an exterior surface.  From my tinkering around in the wizard, I've noticed various tolerances that seem to come into play with whether or not there will be an exterior surface to place doors and windows.  For example, if the edge of a zone is parallel with an exterior wall and within .45' of that same exterior wall, then there is an exterior surface there.  However, if the zone segment isn't parallel with the exterior wall but is within about 5 degrees of being parallel, then different distance tolerances come into play - and when this happens, the exterior surface follows the zone rather than the exterior wall.

I'm generating PD2 files outside of eQUEST, I'm trying to figure out what these "rules" are (hopefully without a huge amount of trial and error) so that I can better guarantee that the generated PD2 file provides legitimate inputs.

-- Jon




Jonathan Bowser, MCPD

Senior Software Engineer

Beck Technology

1807 Ross Avenue, Suite 500

Dallas, TX 75201

(214) 303-6815

www.beck-technology.com<http://www.beck-technology.com/>



Innovation in All Dimensions

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail



This e-mail may be privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete from all computers.

From: Nick Caton [mailto:ncaton at smithboucher.com]
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2012 8:51 AM
To: Jonathan Bowser; equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org<mailto:equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org>
Subject: RE: eQUEST Wizard Zone Segments

Window & Door placements for eQuest wizards are limited to exterior surfaces.  This kind of makes sense when you consider in the world of eQuest, windows and doors exist only as "child" components of exterior surfaces - a means of heat transfer to/from the exterior environment.

The segment shared by both zones is automatically  interpreted as an interior surface (partition) and so is not one of the options for window placement.

If wish to model interior partitions containing or composed of glass, you will want to consider modifying interior constructions.

If you have

[cid:489575314 at 22072009-0ABB]

NICK CATON, P.E.
SENIOR ENGINEER

Smith & Boucher Engineers
25501 west valley parkway, suite 200
olathe, ks 66061
direct 913.344.0036
fax 913.345.0617
www.smithboucher.com

From: equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org<mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org> [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Bowser
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 10:09 AM
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org<mailto:equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org>
Subject: [Equest-users] eQUEST Wizard Zone Segments

Is anyone familiar with the rules that govern what segments of a zone will be available in the wizard for placing windows?

As a simple example, assume I have the following footprint definition (8 vertices with 8 sketched segments) and zone footprint (4 vertices with 4 sketched segments)...

[cid:image002.jpg at 01CDD15F.099488C0]

Later in the wizard, for custom windows placement, this information is translated into 5 segments where windows can be placed.

[cid:image003.jpg at 01CDD15F.099488C0]

If you look at the corresponding PD2 file, the zone has actually has more than the 4 segments even though it still only has 4 vertices.

CustomZone   "Custom Zone 1"
   NumVerts = 4
   X[1] = 0
   X[2] = 111.8
   X[3] = 111.8
   X[4] = 0
   Y[1] = 0
   Y[2] = 0
   Y[3] = 111.8
   Y[4] = 111.8
   ..

FacetWiz   "Facet-0-4"
   ParentZoneIdx = 0
   SegmentNumber = 5
   ..

In this particular scenario, it's fairly straight forward to see how eQUEST determines the segments of the zone.  However, the rules don't appear to be super straight forward.  There are angular tolerances involved, depending on what the zone spans, it segments different, etc.  Is anyone familiar with how this is done?

-- Jon



Jonathan Bowser, MCPD

Senior Software Engineer

Beck Technology

1807 Ross Avenue, Suite 500

Dallas, TX 75201

(214) 303-6815

www.beck-technology.com<http://www.beck-technology.com/>



Innovation in All Dimensions

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail



This e-mail may be privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete from all computers.

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