Tutorial on how to create a ventilation analysis diagram

Want to show how air flows through your building? Here’s a quick, step-by-step guide on creating a clean ventilation analysis diagram using SketchUp, RWIND, and Photoshop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4KS6us0HE

Applicable for:

1. Ventilation diagrams
2. Wind flow analysis
3. Indoor environmental studies
4. Architectural diagram

Softwares used:

1. SketchUp: For basic 3D modeling.
2. RWIND Simulation: For calculating the airflow physics (the free trial version works fine!).
3. Photoshop: To put everything together and make it look great.

Reference Diagrams

Tutorial (step-by-step guide and videos):

Step 1: Create a 3D Model in SketchUp
Step 2: Import the Model into Rwind
Step 3: Set Up the Simulation in Rwind
Step 4: Visualizing Airflow
Step 5: Post-Processing in Photoshop
Final Result

Let’s get started !

STEP 1: Create a 3D model in SketchUp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4KS6us0HE&t=12s

1. Open SketchUp and model your room/site.
2. Keep it simple: Only model the essential blockers like walls. Use simplified shapes for trees (e.g., a sphere on a cylinder).
3. Set your units to Meters (Window > Model Info > Units).
4. Export the model as an STL file (File > Export > 3D Model).

STEP 2: Import the Model into Rwind Simulation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4KS6us0HE&t=92s

1. Open RWIND Simulation and create a new project.
2. Import your .stl file (make sure units are still set to meters).
3. Shrink the simulation box down to just cover your area of interest. This drastically reduces calculation time!

STEP 3: Set Up the Simulation in Rwind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4KS6us0HE&t=184s

1. Go to Edit Simulation to tweak the physics.
2. Set your inlet wind speed (e.g., 5 m/s).
3. Drop the mesh density to around 20%—this gives a great balance between speed and accuracy.
4. Click Calculate Results and grab a coffee while it processes.

STEP 4: Visualizing Airflow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4KS6us0HE&t=241s

1. Go to Flow Field Quantities and select the XY plane.
2. For the best visual result, choose the Streamline view (this creates those nice continuous airflow paths).
3. Tweak the streamline density and size until it looks right.
4. Switch to a top-down (plan) view, and turn off the background/grid textures.
5. Click Start > Flow Animation, and export a 10-second video of the airflow.

STEP 5:Post-Processing in Photoshop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4KS6us0HE&t=380s

1. Open Photoshop and drag in your RWIND video.
2. Turn on the Timeline panel.
3. Drop in the PNG images (furniture, trees, textures) over the video.
4. Draw crisp outlines over your walls to make the architecture read clearly.
5. Extend all your image layers on the timeline so they match the video’s length.
6. Render the final video.

Final Result

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir4KS6us0HE&t=571s

All files used in the tutorial are included

We’ve included all the assets used in this tutorial (3D model, trees.png, indoor.png) (FREE) so you can follow along:

DOWNLOAD FILE

Thanks for watching! If you try this workflow, share your results with us!