FRAMEWORK FOR A VISUAL ENERGY USE SYSTEM A Thesis by CHRISTOPHER ERNEST MCDONALD Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE August 2007 Major Subject: Architecture FRAMEWORK FOR A VISUAL ENERGY USE SYSTEM A Thesis by CHRISTOPHER ERNEST MCDONALD Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Approved by: Chair of Committee, Charles Culp Committee Members, David Claridge Vinod Srinivasan Head of Department, Mark Clayton August 2007 Major Subject: Architecture iii ABSTRACT Framework for a Visual Energy Use System. (August 2007) Christopher Ernest McDonald, B.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Charles Culp The goals of this research include developing and identifying software technologies, which facilitate the use of buildings described in Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools in both a simulation and visualization. The study focused on the development of a tool to fulfill the visualization needs of a Visual Energy Use System. To accomplish this, the study identified an open BIM file standard, the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). The study also identified a video game based 3D virtual environment, the Doom 3 Engine. A tool developed during the study, IFCtoMAP, converts IFC data into the .MAP file format understood by the Doom 3 Engine. Finally, the study identified the IFCtoIDF utility, which translates IFC data into a format understood by the building energy simulation program EnergyPlus. Data from the Building Information Modeling tool Revit Building exports to the .IFC file format, which in turn drives the two conversion utilities IFCtoMAP and IFCtoIDF. The output of the IFCtoIDF tool consists of an .IDF file that EnergyPlus uses to perform an energy simulation. The output of the IFCtoMAP tool consists of a .MAP file, which the Doom 3 game engine uses to display three dimensional first person perspective visualization. iv The result of the study was the successful creation of an automated tool that converts building geometry found in .IFC files into the .MAP file format understood by Doom 3 game engine. This document details the methods employed by the IFCtoMAP software along with a brief discussion of the IFCtoIDF conversion utility. v To my family for all the loving support. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I take this opportunity to thank the chair of my advisory committee, Dr. Charles Culp, for his time and assistance over the last few years. I am also grateful to my committee members, Dr. David Claridge and Dr. Vinod Srinivasan, for their assistance in creating this document. A special thanks to Yoshinobu Adachi of SECOM Ltd. for both the IFCsvr ActiveX object and answering questions about IFC. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for the unfaltering support they have given to me over the years. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 2 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES .................................................................................... 3 3 LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................... 5 3.1 Introduction to Computer Building Energy Simulation ....................................... 5 3.2 Developments in the Acquisition of Building Geometry..................................... 6 3.3 Manual Simplification.......................................................................................... 6 3.4 Semi-Automated Data Extraction......................................................................... 7 3.5 Developments in Building Energy Simulation..................................................... 9 3.6 Fundamental Information Visualization Concepts............................................. 12 3.7 Emerging Trends in Architectural Visualization................................................ 15 3.8 Game Architecture.............................................................................................. 16 3.9 Game Engine Genres.......................................................................................... 16 3.10 Game Engine Availability .................................................................................. 17 3.11 Game Modding................................................................................................... 18 3.12 Summary............................................................................................................. 19 4 PROPOSED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY............................................................ 20 5 SOFTWARE BACKGROUND ................................................................................... 21 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 21 5.2 Doom 3 Engine Considerations.......................................................................... 25 5.3 Developing Software with IFC........................................................................... 27 5.4 Doom 3 Engine .MAP File Format .................................................................... 29 5.5 Summary............................................................................................................. 33 6 VISUALIZATION METHODS: IFC TO MAP.............................................................. 34 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 34 6.2 Internal Data Structures...................................................................................... 40 6.3 IFC File Loading ................................................................................................ 43 6.4 Conversion from IFC to .MAP........................................................................... 61 6.5 Writing the .MAP File Format ........................................................................... 86 6.6 Summary............................................................................................................. 89 viii Page 7 SIMULATION METHODS......................................................................................... 91 7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 91 7.2 Energy Plus......................................................................................................... 93 7.3 Summary............................................................................................................. 97 8 RESULTS .................................................................................................................... 98 9 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................... 109 9.1 Further Work .................................................................................................... 111 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 114 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 123 VITA............................................................................................................................... 141 ix LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 2.1 Framework for a Visual Energy Use System .................................................4 Figure 3.1 Information Visualization Pipeline 33 ..............................................................13 Figure 5.1 Example of Concave and Convex Shapes......................................................26 Figure 5.2 Example of Line Intersections of Concave and Convex Shapes....................27 Figure 5.3 brushDef3 Code Representation of a 128x128 Unit Cube.............................31 Figure 5.4 Top Down XY Representation of a 128x128 Unit Cube in D3Editor ...........32 Figure 5.5 brushDef Components of a Single Plane........................................................33 Figure 6.1 IFCtoMAP Design Intent ...............................................................................36 Figure 6.2 IFC File Reading ............................................................................................37 Figure 6.3 Methods for Geometric Transformation Left, .MAP File Writing Right.......38 Figure 6.4 Internal Data Structures..................................................................................38 Figure 6.5 Diagram of Major Component Classes ..........................................................39 Figure 6.6 Building Class Diagram .................................................................................40 Figure 6.7 GeoObjects Class Inheritance Diagram ....................................................42 Figure 6.8 File Reading: IFCLoader Class Diagram .......................................................44 Figure 6.9 IFCtoMAP Screenshot Showing the ‘Select IFC Input File’ Dialog .............44 Figure 6.10 User Feedback Dialog ..................................................................................45 Figure 6.11 File Reading: IFCLoader Class Implementation..........................................47 Figure 6.12 IFCExplorer Tree View of a Common IfcWallStandardCase Entity...........49 Figure 6.13 Cross Product of Z and X Which Yields Y 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