Building design professionals know that transferring data between various design software programs can be frustrating—it's time consuming and increases risk of errors. Trane just make the job easier, thanks to new XML-based import and export capabilities in Trane's TRACE™ 700 (Trane Air Conditioning Economics) and VariTrane™ Duct Designer software.

The new Green Building XML definition (gbXML) standardizes building descriptions such as building orientation, construction methods and materials, partitions, zones, and mechanical systems. A standardized building model enables automated information exchange between popular CAD software such as Autodesk™ Building Systems (ABS) and Trane's design and analysis tools.

The latest release of Trane TRACE 700, v4.1.7, provides a "round-trip" path for exchanging data with an originating gbXML file. TRACE 700 users can not only import building details from CAD software to perform an energy analysis, but can also export the results to CAD software so that those calculations are saved in the building model.

The VariTrane Duct Designer program's new XML interface, ddXML, broadens Trane's integration with the CAD environment. The ddXML interface imports air distribution details from the CAD building model and then exports the resulting duct sizes and pressure calculations. Simply put, users can now optimize their duct designs without expending the effort and expense of redrawing.

Reinhard Seidl, P.E., with Taylor Engineering in Alameda, Calif., said of the new TRACE design features, "We have been using Autodesk™ Building Systems on a trial basis for a couple of months. Our initial reaction is very positive; using the e-spaces and e-zones features in ABS 2005 and the built-in export to XML makes it much easier to create models and transfer data to the TRACE Load Design files.

"The most recent upgrade of TRACE also has eliminated some of the initial problems with imports—corrected zoning, choice of which XML fields to import. So, I will certainly be using ABS and XML import to TRACE for load calculations from now on."

For more information visit www.trane.com/commercial/software/index2.asp.