Chaos Launches Enscape 4.1: New Enscape Impact Tool Adds Real-Time Energy Modeling

KARLSRUHE, Germany — July 31, 2024 — Today, Chaos launches Enscape 4.1, bringing the power of real-time energy modeling to its intuitive real-time visualization tool. With the new Enscape Impact add-on, architects and designers can now instantly view the energy performance of their building, and optimize it within their usual design workflow. The new solution significantly reduces the time of the analysis, so what used to take several hours or even days can now be done in minutes. 

The new update combines elevated visualizations with integrated building performance analysis through the expertise of IES, a global climate tech company and leading innovator in integrated performance-based building analysis. Its expertise was crucial for this update. 

“Buildings are responsible for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions, with 28% stemming from operational emissions — including the energy needed to heat, cool and power them — and the remaining 11% coming from materials and construction. This has profound implications for climate change and the future of our planet,” said Petr Mitev, VP product, solutions for designers at Chaos. “The future of sustainable design is changing, and better insights mean better buildings. Our customers will now be able to visualize the performance of a building while designing, with a focus on criteria such as energy usage, thermal comfort and daylight in real-time.”

The Enscape Impact key features include: 

Then and now: optimized and unified workflow reduces costs and time

The unified energy analysis and visualization workflow is not only important for the architects, but also for the engineers working on a project, as it significantly cuts down cost and time required to bring a poorly performing project back into compliance. 

“Previously, the design process was separated into architects using BIM for design, while engineers conducted performance analysis separately in software like IES offers,” said Ruth Kerrigan, chief operating officer, IES. “This led to duplicated visualization efforts and frequent misalignment between design intent and analytical models. Thus, the loop of recreating and aligning took long, and engineers' reports were often too technical for clients and architects.”

Enscape Impact combines all of these steps in one tool and shortens the feedback loop. The real-time, data-based feedback on the building performance leads to informed design decisions early in the process. This minimizes the risk of suboptimal designs that engineers later need to modify, which then causes delays and increased costs.

Enscape 4.1. also includes the Chaos AI Enhancer, which allows the design community to use AI to elevate the visuals and export better-looking assets — such as people and vegetation — straight from Enscape. The AI engine solution identifies the correct pixel selection, ensuring better results compared to other AI-generated images. 

Enscape creates its assets in-house, with a focus on the efficient use of polygons to ensure high performance. Users can therefore place multiple assets without loss in performance.

These AI-optimized, realistic assets are crucial to create vibrant scenes that help clients understand the design intent faster. Trees, flowers, people and more not only add emotions, but are important to highlight perspectives and spatiality.

The artistic visual modes in Enscape 4.1 add the ability to create images simulating pencil or watercolor drawings, thus highlighting the architect’s design intent in a completely new and unique way. Users can now create captivating presentations while reducing unnecessary distractions for the clients. These new visual styles are available for screenshots, batch rendering and video exports. 

Colored shadows for artificial light sources: Colored glass and colored semi-transparent furniture now emit colored shadows when struck by artificial light or sunlight. Decoration objects will also leave a colored impression.

Colored sun shadows update: Users can now add textures to the glass material (by uploading them), and the drop shadows will reflect those texture patterns. The fog setting has more accurate coloration at sunrise and sunset, meaning the distinctive orange hue is consistently represented, regardless of the quality setting used. In high and ultra settings, the fidelity of fog shadows is improved, and colored shadows interact with fog realistically.

Integrated Graphics Native Renderer: Enscape 4.1 can be used on Windows computers with Intel and AMD CPUs (a separate, dedicated GPU is not needed).

Chaos Cloud:  Create virtual tours from panoramas and renders, customize hotspots, add highlights to guide users and showcase design options, assign floor plans and enjoy tour navigation assistance with a minimap, Chaos Cloud is currently free to use, but users would need to transfer their content there, which requires a Chaos account login. A direct link for uploading exports directly to Chaos Cloud will be available with the Enscape 4.1.1 release. 

Between August and October 2024, all Enscape license holders will have access to the Enscape Impact beta. The beta will also be included as part of the free Enscape trial. 

For more information, please visit chaos.com and iesve.com.

Founded in 1997, Chaos is a leading global visualization technology company. Chaos is defining visualization by offering accessible tools, simplifying and accelerating workflows, and empowering visual storytelling for artists, architects, designers, and other creative professionals.

Chaos’ portfolio of visualization technologies for architecture and design, media and entertainment, and product e-commerce includes: 

Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, Chaos has nearly 800 employees and offices in 11 cities worldwide. For more information, visit chaos.com, chaos-enscape.com, chaos-cylindo.com and axyz-design.com.

IES is a global climate tech company delivering innovative technology solutions and consultancy services to decarbonise the built environment. Over the last 30 years, they have built a solid reputation as the leading global innovator in integrated performance-based building analysis and are now home to the largest building physics analytics team in the world.

Supporting energy-efficient, healthy and cost-effective built environments, IES' digital twin technology provides those involved in the design, retrofit and operation of buildings the information needed to make smarter, more sustainable decisions with confidence.