This chapter describes and illustrates the pull-down menus and the functions they initiate. The menus themselves appear on screen as shown in the illustrations.
The menus contain items that are grouped in similar kinds of functions. These functions are described briefly below and in detail on the pages that follow.
The Apple menu enables access to any desk accessories or other items placed in the system folder and information about this application.
The File menu contains items for handling and printing files; Energy Scheming has the capability to print different aspects of the building file, not just one.
The Edit menu items enable standard Macintosh editing functions.
The Options menu contains items that control program execution that are not directly related to energy analysis.
The Define menu enables access to items that affect the energy analysis.
The Rule-of-Thumb menu accesses functions that assist the design process.
The View menu controls how Energy Scheming windows appear on your screen and which window is active.
The Advisor menu controls the advisor and how advice is displayed.
The desk accessories on your Apple Menu will be whatever happens to be in your computer's system folder. They behave the same as in any Macintosh application.
This initiates a new building project, resetting all of the
default values and clearing the drawing screen. It also begins a
three-screen sequence (shown below) in which you provide three key
pieces of information: the climate location, the building type, and
the total building size in square feet or square meters. This
information is used to construct the default building data base.
New (command N)
Open Building File brings up a dialog box that allows you to open an existing project.
This shuts down the current project (closes the active building file) so that you may start a new one or open an existing one. If changes have been made to the file since the last save, you will be given the opportunity to save before the file is closed.
This action saves the drawings, current settings, and building information of the active building file.
This allows you to save the drawings and building information for the current project.
It behaves like the Save As . . . command in most Macintosh
software and asks you to provide a name.
This feature generates a Loads Description Language file readable
by DOE 2. Before the file is created, you enter information about
latitude, longitude, altitude and time zone into a dialog box.
Clicking "OK" creates the file.
Energy Scheming will begin calculating when you select this menu item. Clicking on the button in the lower left of your screen will do the same thing. When the background of the button flashes Energy Scheming is telling you that you have changed something that will affect the results and you should recalculate. When the button picture is cycling between day and night you know calculations are in progress.
The Page Setup command brings up a standard page setup dialog box in which you can specify printing effects.
Energy Scheming allows you to print the drawings you have made. The Print Drawing Window command brings up the Print Dialog box for your printer.
This command prints the graphic report of the building's energy use. It brings up the Print Dialog box for your printer.
This command brings up the Print Dialog box that enables you to print the graphic and tabular summary of the building's energy use.
This ends the Energy Scheming program and returns you to the Macintosh Desktop. If you have made changes to your building since you last saved you will be given an opportunity to save.
Use this command to undo your last action when you make a mistake in the Draw Mode.
As with many other Macintosh programs, this removes the marqueed portion of the drawing screen and places it in the Clipboard.
Warning: The Cut command works in drawing mode only; not in take-off mode.
This makes a copy of the marqueed portion of the drawing screen and places it in the Clipboard. It does not affect the object that appears on the screen.
This places the contents of the Clipboard on the drawing screen. If the content of the clipboard is too big to fit on the drawing screen, you will be asked whether you want to scale it or paste it anyway.
This command deletes the drawing that is in the marquee box.
This selection calls up a dialog box that allows the user to change several settings and defaults. One default affects the graphic report window, determining whether one graph or all four are visible within the window. When only one day is visible the others are viewed by scrolling down.
Several items affect the Takeoff Mode. One sets the default size for spec windows. Another determines whether new files are opened in Long or Short Takeoff List Mode. See Short Takeoff Lists in this chapter for a description of these. A third item dictates whether four preset elevations (N, S, E, W) are defined for new building files. Once one elevation is defined, the default elevations cannot be invoked. The final Takeoff Mode setting turns icon names on or off.
There are two settings affecting the Precision Takeoff Tool. One sets the diameter of the circle to be enlarged, the other determines the scale factor of enlargement. The Preferences box is also where you set the units you wish to use for the currently open building file and the default units for new files. Finally, you can adjust the number of colors used for thermographics as well as the heat flow rate for which the darkest colors are used.
The Grid Snap toggle enables (or disables) cursor to snapping to a point on the grid.
To Clone Groups of Plans or Elevation Specifications:
• Click on the Elevation or Plan icon to highlight it.
- Select Clone with Takeoffs or Clone without Takeoffs from the Options Menu.
You will be shown a drawing information window where you can change the orientation of the specifications represented by the cloned icon or the icon's name.
Note: If you select Clone Without Takeoffs the specification will be cloned but its area will be zero and no takeoff areas will appear.
This menu item allows you to associate a number of specifications with what appears to be one takeoff. This is handy in multi-story buildings when lights, equipment, and occupancy frequently have the same area takeoff.
You can associate a new specification with an existing takeoff.
This procedure actually creates another takeoff directly below the highlighted takeoff and is exactly the same size, shape, and pattern.
You may move this pile of takeoffs by dragging the cursor in the rectangle which enclose the takeoffs. This selects all the takeoffs in the pile, and they can be moved together.
The takeoffs may be separated by clicking on the top takeoff and moving it. After the takeoffs are separated, they will behave like normal takeoffs. You can change their pattern or delete them.
This initiates the three-screen sequence, described above under File/New, in which you have the option to change the information you previously defined about climate location, building type, and total building size in square feet or square meters.
The Define Menu
This brings up the screen from which you can specify schedules for window operations, minimum and maximum temperatures, and energy strategies.
For more information, see Chapter 5, "Procedures."
This screen allows you to rank order the strategies for heating and cooling. It also allows you to schedule them. See Chapter 5 for more details.
The Evaluation Days command lets you specify which days are used to evaluate the building's performance and review climate data. See Chapter 5 for more details.
This initiates a sequence in which you draw your own icon for identifying up to five Daylight Zones in your building. For more information, see Chapter 5, Daylight Zone Icon.
This allows you to set the rate of infiltration or minimum
ventilation for the building. There are different rate choices
available for occupied buildings, depending upon the building type
selected in the project sequence.
The Rule-of-Thumb Menu contains items that allow you to optimize design elements of the building.
This is a set of bar graphs that tell you how much window area you have taken off relative to the amount you need.
This allows you to adjust the Solar Savings Fraction and the amount of night insulation used by the Window Sizer.
This action allows you to specify the window tilt and required lighting levels used by the Window Sizer. Lighting zones must have been specified in order to display the lighting bar graphs.
This allows you to adjust the estimated heat gain that the Window Sizer uses for ventilation.
This menu enables you to change what is visible on various
screens.
This toggles the thermographic display, including the color chip, on and off.
This action applies a matrix of dots on the drawing screen that correspond to the increment specified in the Select Scale, and to which the Grid Snap adheres. Selecting this item toggles the grid on or off.
If this item is preceded by a check mark, you will see a short list, rather than a full list, of the icons that are associated with Plans and Elevations. The Elevation icons displayed will be Walls, Roofs, and Windows/Skylights only. Mass will be hidden from view. If a Plan icon is opened it will show Windows/Skylights, Roofs, and Floors only. The icons for Mass, Occupancy, Equipment, and Lights will be hidden from view.
The Occupancy, Equipment, and Lights will use defaults based on the building's floor area to generate loads. The Mass default will be zero area unless Mass is selected as part of the Wall, Roof, and Floor specifications. In that case, the mass area will correspond to the area takeoff for the Wall, Roof, or Floor. If Short Takeoff List is not selected, all icons will show and no default areas will be assumed for Occupancy, Equipment, or Lights.
The selection calls up a dialog box that allows one to specify which takeoff items will be visible, depending on the state of the Hide / Show Takeoff icon command (below).
This command can be used when computers with different sized monitors are used on the same file. If a file is created on a screen with a large monitor, some element and spec icons will not be visible on a smaller monitor until the Rearrange Takeoff Icons command is used. This command will also allow you to shift all of the icons back to their original positions if you have moved them on a large monitor.
This turns the takeoff icons on and off.
This action allows you to reset the name, region, and scale
information of the selected drawing.
The Graphic Report Format command lets you specify whether the Graphic Report is formatted according to all evaluation days, with information presented as a summary or by element. The scale of the graph can also be changed. To speed up the evaluation process select only one day.
The Drawing / Takeoff command brings the drawing or takeoff layer (depending upon which is selected) to the screen's foreground.
The Graphic Report command brings the graphic Report window to the foreground of the screen. The report itself contains the energy analysis summary for your building.
This menu gives you control over the Advisor features.
This command makes the Advice Window the front-most window. The Advice Window contains suggestions on how to improve the performance of your building.
This item turns the Advisor off or on. The Advisor generates a list of solutions after the energy calculations are complete. Running the Advisor does tie up the computer for a time so if you are not using the advice you will probably want to turn it off.
This item toggles additional information from the advisor on and off. This information is used to debug the advisor during development and will be removed from the final version.
This command toggles the appearance of advice balloons in the
Drawing/Takeoff Window off and on. The advice balloons are available
after the advisor has completed it's first analysis after opening a
file.