Version 25.0 (December 2024) is what we call a milestone in development. Not only does it offer many new features for our users, but with its new classification system it also forms a foundation on which we can build for a long time to come.
As with the other features, we will only present an “editor's choice” with the author's favorite new funcitions. We will also be discussing features that will not be available until version V25.1 (March 2025) and 25.2 (May 2025).
You can find out about all the new features on our website in the What's New section.
One of the first priorities of the V25 series is to provide even more tools to support planning in the early design phases.
Leading the way are our new scheme tools in Building, because: Let's face it - They are incredible! Pipe run schemes make complex networks human-readable, but are also ideal for quickly mapping and testing concepts at a very early stage.
In V25.0, we have now decoupled our fastest scheme from CAD, which was previously only available on the basis of AutoCAD or LINEAR CADInside, and also integrated it into LINEAR Building. With just a few clicks, you can now create pipe run schemes that are fully calculated and labeled without having to draw even a single line yourself.
To become even faster, the building loads of rooms, apartments or entire floors can also be used directly as “virtual” loads in the scheme - in addition to specific appliances.
New toolbars, which have been perfectly adapted to these early concept phases, complete these features. This is as fast as it gets!
Anyone who then wants to add their own finishing touches - perhaps in later phases - can transfer these schemes to the CAD systems Revit or AutoCAD with just one click, where they can be detailed or further processed.
With V25.2, LINEAR Building will add room book based work for phases in which building models do not exist (yet). Simply use Excel spreadsheets with room book information that you synchronize with LINEAR Building. In the first step, all rooms are imported into Building and provided with as much information as the respective room book provides - for example temperatures, loads or numbers of people.
The data is structured in such a way that it can be further refined as the planning process progresses. This applies regardless of whether they are to be used for detailed panel or radiator dimensioning, air volumes calculated with the new air volume calculation or system concepts created with the new scheme solutions. The transition from working with a room book to working with a building model is seamless. If the building model is available in a suitable quality, its detailed data can be used by means of building analysis in order to carry out more precise heating or cooling load calculations. These results can in turn be used directly in the existing system concepts and designs in order to check and/or adapt them accordingly.
The room book is always available as an output option, as synchronization takes place in both directions. Information that is added to Building over time can therefore also be found in the room book.
To describe one main focus of the V25, some features can be grouped under the heading: “Simplicity is key”.
Let's start with the new ventilation module in Building, which, incidentally, now also covers the category of “non-residential buildings” in the air volume calculation.
The workflow that results both within Building for the heat load calculation, but also in CAD for the dimensioning of the air outlets and the duct network calculations, is now so much more efficient than before that you might think: This is such a game changer - why wasn’t it like this from the start? Well, innovation is a journey – and this is the next big step!
The next feature brings an additional workflow that always works when correctly modeled building models are available: The “Shading
calculation on the building model”. Instead of re-modeling the external shading elements on the windows in Building, the results of the new shading calculation can now be used on the building model itself. This means that internal shading caused by other parts of the building and, if desired, external shading caused by other buildings can also be taken into account. We will publish a separate article on this topic in our blog.
Checking and entering calculation-relevant data in the pipe and duct network calculations is now much easier and clearer on all platforms. Whereas it was previously necessary to use individual dialogs to view or adjust the data of an element, this can now be viewed immediately in the LINEAR Property dialog. It is also possible to change several elements at the same time. For example, you can now easily view the minimum flow pressure or the flow rates for all showers and adjust them with a single entry. From V25.2, you can easily edit room data relevant to switching technology for entire room groups. Values that are “out of the ordinary” are highlighted in color. The component lists (AutoCAD) or the element lists (Revit) are now so much more organized: the lists can be sorted according to this data, making it possible to identify outliers very quickly. We think: This not only makes things easier, but also safer and more manageable.
We would like to dedicate a final spotlight to the users of our software: The feature suggestions from the Idea Channel.
The topic is not entirely new, but it still received the most votes: “ Scheme Converter from the 3D model”. To be honest, we have had this topic on our agenda for a very long time but have always put it off a little due to the major challenges we were expecting. The many votes from the Idea Channel prompted us to significantly increase the priority for this about two years ago. With version 24.0, we were then able to present a solution for potable water networks. V25.0 now supplements this with a solution for heating networks. Although this was easier to implement in some respects than the one for potable water networks, it also created completely new challenges. But of course, we are not resting on our laurels. There are still a few disciplines missing, all of which have their own special challenges, and we will certainly receive many more models on which we can improve the automatic scheme generation. However, we are continuously working on this issue with the aim of finally closing this Idea Channel ticket to everyone's satisfaction eventually.
Another implemented suggestion from the LINEAR community was the “Confirmation of report messages”, which now makes it possible to set a check mark for warnings and notes from the network calculations that have been perceived and accepted, in order to better highlight new, perhaps more important messages. This will certainly not only please those who cast their votes in such large numbers in the Idea Channel.
Many suggestions for our neutral component libraries have also already been implemented with V25.0. Others are still in progress and will be released successively with the next releases.
Conclusion
Developing software in such a way that it remains a consistent and logical solution over the years that is both flexible and manageable sometimes presents us with tasks that need to mature and take time. In the end, we are all the more pleased when we have been able to seamlessly integrate solutions for the many different use cases of our customers.