To perform energy analysis on models, you must first have a mass form to begin with.
Once you have a form you are satisfied with, you can exit editing mode and begin creating your "building information model."
To do this, start by selecting the mass and assigning mass floors based on levels in the model. Once that is done, you can immediately view data about the model such as floor area and exterior surface area.
To begin to leverage web-based services, such as Autodesk Green Building Studio, and other conceptual energy analysis services, you must first sign in to Autodesk 360 in InfoCenter. Click Sign In and enter the User ID and password associated with your Autodesk account. Once signed in, these services are available to you.
Next, go to the Location Weather and Site dialog to set your project's location, and choose the appropriate weather station.
Now that the project is properly placed in a location, you can start to examine shadows, based on various times of the year and day using the sun path tool with shadows enabled in the view.
Next, you can enable the energy model to apply some default glazing and zoning settings. For example, you may want to change the target percentage glazing on your model to 50%. Do this via Energy Settings for the entire project.
Now you are ready to analyze the model. You simply click Analyze Mass Model, name the analysis run that you want to perform. The model is exported to the Green Building Studio service.
You can continue working while the analysis is being performed. For example, maybe you want to change the shape of the building from a box-shaped building to an L-shaped building, and compare the two versions. You can change the building shape while the first (L-shaped) analysis run is still pending, and then send that second (box shape) shape off for analysis.
You are informed when the analysis runs are complete. Click the reminder window, or Results and Compare, to see your results.
When both analysis runs are complete, you can display and compare both runs side-by-side.