DIVA-for-Rhino is a highly optimized daylighting and energy modeling plug-in for Rhinoceros, a NURBS modeling software. The plug-in was initially developed at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and is distributed by Solemma LLC. DIVA-for-Rhino allows users to carry out a series of environmental performance evaluations of individual buildings and urban landscapes including Radiation Maps, Photorealistic Renderings, Climate-Based Daylighting Metrics, Annual and Individual Time Step Glare Analysis, LEED and CHPS Daylighting Compliance, and Single Thermal Zone Energy and Load Calculations.
Defining Custom Radiance Materials
By default, DIVA instantiates each project with the default materials file, located in C:\DIVA\Daylight\material.rad. Project-specific materials can be defined in the .\ProjectName - DIVA\Resources\material.rad file. The ProjectName - DIVA directory is located in the same folder as your Rhino file. When the materials button is clicked, materials are always loaded from the project-specific material.rad file. The project-specific file can be overwritten with the default file by running the Location command.
Advanced Shading (Climate-Based Metrics)
In a real building, shading devices are not all opened and closed at the same time but can be operated independently. DIVA therefore implements shading controls for up to two independent shading groups that can be controlled independently of each other. The shading groups can for example correspond to venetian blinds for different facade orientations or a facade may have two sets of blinds, one in the upper and one in the lower part.
These shading controls can be implemented in any Climate-Based Metrics (DAYSIM) simulation and will affect the amount of available daylight, view to the outside, and any lighting control systems in the space.
Lighting Controls
Materials >> Lighting Controls
Example lighting schedule output from a DIVA climate-based simulation
Lighting controls can be implemented in any Climate-Based Simulation, with or without dynamic shading devices. After running a climate-based analysis, hourly lighting schedules will be generated, and a falsecolor visualization of the schedules will be provided.
Simulating Luminaires with IES Files
Radiance, the simulation engine behind many of DIVA's metrics, is not only constrained to daylight. It is possible to simulate the resulting light distributions from luminaires based on measured data. This is accomplished by associating IES files, a standard file format for the electronic transfer
of photometric data, with geometry in DIVA. This page serves as a tutorial for getting such data into DIVA.
Illuminance rendering, calibrated for human perception (left) and falsecolor (right)