Forma Building Design provides several analysis tools for evaluating your design:
- Area Metrics
- Environmental Analyses
- Sun Hour Analysis
- Daylight Potential Analysis
- Total Carbon Analysis
You can run analyses only on buildings created in Forma Building Design.
- You cannot run an analysis on imported geometry — for example, an IFC or OBJ model brought in as context, or volumes imported from other modeling tools.
- To analyse imported geometry, open the proposal in Forma Site Design and run the analysis there.
Starting an Analysis
All analyses are located in the Analysis menu on the left-hand side of the interface. Each analysis has its own button at the top of the panel.
To start an analysis:
- Select the geometry you want to analyze.
- If no geometry is selected, the entire scene will be analyzed.
- Click the desired analysis button.
While the analysis runs, affected buildings will appear with a fading animation to indicate that calculations are in progress.
Viewing the Analysis Results
When the analysis is complete, results are displayed directly on the building as a color-coded analysis plot.
Adjusting the Visualization
You can adjust the visualization using the controls at the bottom of the Analysis panel, for example:
- Show results only on Facades
- Show results only on Windows
Using Color Plots versus the Inspect Tool
The color plot groups results into bands. A façade can therefore appear a single uniform color while the Inspect tool returns a range of different values across it — every one of those values falls inside the same one-hour band.
- Use the color plot to visualize the overall distribution.
- Use the Inspect tool (located to the right of the scale bar) when you need an exact value for a specific point.
- Click anywhere on the building to place inspection points and view detailed results for those positions.
Filtering the Analysis Results
Use the analysis slider at the bottom center of the screen to filter the value range and focus on specific performance thresholds.