Tyler Barns, Senior Product Manager of Inventor and Kevin Schneider, Senior Product Line Manager for Design, Lifecycle and Simulation Product Group, of Autodesk, spoke to us through a virtual meeting and presented their new Mac solutions.

Mechanical CAD on the Mac? Really?

First off, we were really surprised by this turn of events–to see Autodesk release a full native version of a mechanical CAD product for the Mac platform. Our wager was on the release of a Mac native version of Revit (used in the architectural market, where the Mac is popular) before something like Inventor would ever be released. So we asked them to explain why this product now.

Kevin Schneider of Autodesk stated that the company is very focused on the next-generation of designers and engineers in schools and colleges. “Autodesk is always looking ahead and aims to serve our educational customers well,” stated Schneider, explaining that in a recent program inviting students to explore careers in design and engineering students came with different platform expectations when they brought their own equipment to class.

“Of the ten students who came in with computers, nine of them brought in MacBook Pros,” said Schneider. “When we [Autodesk] look at the next generation of designers and engineers we see their expectations of choice and software is very different than the current generation.“

01 - Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac is a brand new mechanical entry level CAD application from Autodesk coming out very soon.

Schneider explained that the next-generation has a different type of computer fluency and will be expecting to work with their data on a variety of platforms and devices, from things like the Mac, on to the cloud…and on smartphone platforms like iPhone.

next page: Technology Preview

In the past Chris has spoken to Architosh about the detailed relationship between Apple hardware engineering and AMD/ATi, and the various details that shape the decision-making process in hardware design and the resultant performance realities for users. Our “state of the union” style series wouldn’t be complete without a serious fireside chat with Chris Bentley. He has been on the extreme inside tract of Apple’s Mac hardware engineering like no other outside Apple for many years.

So let’s get in real close and talk about Mac graphics!

AFR: (Anthony Frausto-Robledo): In your role you are on the inside track of hardware development. Can you describe to me briefly the importance AMD/ATi plays in supporting Apple’s Mac graphics hardware advances? To what degree is AMD/ATi an influence on Apple’s decisions?

CB: (Chris Bentley): Apple is relentlessly innovative both in software and hardware, and especially in the combination of the two.  I looked back over the interview we did in January 2007;  apart from being a good read, I am struck by the fact that it came out just on the cusp of Apple introducing the first iPhone.  Since then Apple has shipped multiple generations of the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the iPad, the iPad 2, the MacBook Air, and numerous laptop and desktop systems.  All of these devices are powered by OpenGL or OpenGL ES graphics.  I think it’s fairly well accepted that Apple has shipped more OpenGL accelerated devices than any one else on the planet.

AMD works closely with Apple on both the software and hardware sides.  The software we write for Apple is entirely customized for Mac OS X.  Since 2007 we have added support for the Radeon HD 2xxx, 3xxx, 4xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx chip families, and added support for OpenGL 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, encompassing over 30 new features and extensions, as well as OpenCL 1.0, 1.1, and hardware accelerated H.264 decode support in Lion.  Delivering OpenGL 3.2 and the other features in Lion required Apple and AMD engineers to work hand-in-glove for months.  On the hardware side, Apple receives regular presentations on our hardware roadmap, and for every Apple program using AMD GPUs, our hardware engineers work closely with Apple throughout the bringup and production phases.

So, I would say that we are deeply invested in supporting Apple’s innovation in graphics software and hardware.  I think the relationship is more about working together, and less about our influencing them.

AFR: For years many Mac pros have lamented the lack of GPU options and specific pro-level cards. But over the past several years Apple has done much better. What do you feel are some of the decisive factors affecting Apple’s decisions in what GPU cards to support? And how much better would you describe the situation today than say seven or ten years ago?

next page: Pro Apps and OpenGL Performance

To recap this announcement, Graphisoft has announced a new mobile application for Apple’s iPad and iPhone for viewing BIM models using a powerful but easy to navigate user interface, fully controllable with Apple’s Multi-touch gesture technology. Additionally, the company announced a new website with deep Facebook and cloud storage integration.

Graphisoft BIMx – Beginnings

One of the more ironic developments since Apple developed the iPad is that its two largest Mac CAD developers, sister companies Graphisoft and Nemetschek Vectorworks, were apparently late to the iOS development game. But late is a relative term in this specific sense and is measured against their rival Autodesk, which developed an iOS version of AutoCAD at the same time it introduced AutoCAD back on the Mac.

For Graphisoft the decision to development an application for the iOS platform was never a question in itself but rather a series of questions about how to do it specific to the needs of its ArchiCAD users utilizing BIM (Building Information Modeling) around the world.

“As you know Anthony we have had Virtual Building Explorer around for a few years now,” said Akos Pfemeter, Director of Global Marketing, Graphisoft, “and it is a self-running environment enabling anybody to explore a full BIM model anywhere on any desktop.” “It works like a first person shooter game…easy and simple navigation.”

01 - Graphisoft's new BIMx application for Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch offers a visually stunning and responsive way to explore BIM models saved in the .bimx file format.

What Graphisoft has done with its BIMx application is essentially port over that code base to Apple’s iOS platform and optimize it for a touch-based user interface. It has also been tuned for performance, making it a very powerful complex BIM model viewer or, in another sense, a powerful 3D model viewer on iOS.

“The Apple iPad is very impressive,” said Tibor Szolnoki, “it is very capable of pushing around quite big models.”

Graphisoft BIMx – Details

Graphisoft’s BIMx application for iPad and iPhone is based on the same code base as its Virtual Building Explorer for the desktop. That application was originally developed in Sweden and acquired by Graphisoft for integration into ArchiCAD in 2010. BIMx is actually a suite of three applications. A desktop (BIMx) application is available for Windows and OS X which enables you to publish BIMx models from within ArchiCAD. And there is the BIMx desktop viewer application, for Windows and OS X, which can be freely downloaded to view BIMx models. Finally, there is BIMx for iOS, a free app that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store after September 20, 2011.

BIMx for iOS is compatible with iPad (1 and 2), iPhone (3GS or 4) and iPod touch 4th generation. Most users will enjoy this application on an iPad the most.

02 - BIMx on iPad in this image. The "joystick" is a dot on the lower right of the iPad's screen. With one finger you move it up, down, left or right to navigate just like in a first-person shooter (FPS) video game.

03 - BIMx has a simple and efficient user-interface with standard iOS options like drop-down menus. In this view the user has rendering setting options. In future versions features will expand.

Graphisoft created BIMx for iOS to extend BIM further noting that many users are now carrying iPads around as their primary mobility computing device. Akos Pfemeter noted that not all of the features on the desktop version of BIMx viewer are on the iOS version of it. But as both applications advance those features should emerge as one unified set relative to each platform’s capabilities.

Today you cannot turn on and off layers with BIMx for iOS. Data extraction from model elements is not yet supported. Some features on BIMx for iOS are unique to that platform. For example, based on the touch interface, double tap on any point in the model and the BIMx app will fly you there. Also there is an icon that appears on doors and a click on it will take you through the door.

next page: Graphisoft BIMx on iPad

Their views also paint a specific picture for us about their companies–and sometimes products–how they may see things differently from others or the industry in general.

We’ll start this trek by looking at Apple’s growth, in general and in specific….to the Mac and the wave of key software CAD or 3D tools that have been released during the past decade. We were very excited to produce the key graphic of this article (see image 01 below). It was the first time we laid out a timeline image of such software releases. Superimposed over Apple’s revenue and Mac growth picture it clearly stimulates our imagination while providing a soothing sense of accomplishment.

In this article we’ll touch on the growth question which touches aspects such as what developers actually need on the tools side as well as market pressures and business opportunities. The next-generation is always important and Apple has been said to hold the zeitgeist for the young. We’ll briefly cover university changes as we head into the cloud, iOS and the Mac. This article–nor the series–would not be complete without some captured criticism. And we’ll have even more of that in the final articles of the series.

Where are the opportunities for Apple? Where is Apple trying to take the industry and how does it affect CAD and 3D markets? This is what we get into in this special feature, and as always we hope to hear from you below. We start with growth.

Gauging Growth: The Mac in CAD/3D Today

There are some pundits, bloggers and old-school journalists who still find it hard to believe this is all happening. Not only do they find the Mac’s still minority share a sign of its low importance but they struggle contemplating the popularity of Apple’s iOS devices in CAD and 3D industries as well.

01 - Apple's Annual Revenue in billions and Mac shipments in millions at each forth quarter of the year with key software arrivals on the Mac CAD or 3D markets. Apple's Mac shipments have essentially quadrupled from about 1 million per quarter to 4 million per quarter. The Mac market is four times larger now than ten years ago.

But things really have changed. The chart above is both revealing and subtle. Yes, Apple’s revenues have truly taken off (and largely due to iPod, iPhone and now iPad) but during this ten year period Apple has more than quadrupled Mac shipments. More importantly, it essentially did most of this growth during the years its revenue picture began to steeply rise. And it has never been steeper.

While the Mac may not yet be the dominant platform in many CAD and 3D segments, make no mistake about it, many segments have changed dramatically over the past decade. As Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk explains, “It is highly desirable by a number of our customers, particularly in some specific segments, to want to work on Macs. One are architects, two are industrial designers and a third are creative digital artists.” (more Carl Bass views here)

“It is really driven by what our customers want,” says Bass, “and they have spoken pretty loudly. They want to work on Mac.”

The rise and interest in the Mac may be best validated by Autodesk’s CEO but some critics and competition could argue that such a view is doubly optimistic and reflective of the company’s recent investment into the platform. In fact, when speaking to two of the industry’s most respected company heads with longtime investments and support of the Mac in CAD, we found more moderate, but still positive, views.

For example, Sean Flaherty, CEO of Nemetschek Vectorworks, the longtime leader in CAD on the Mac platform, didn’t directly say they see continued growth but instead answered: “We’ve been the CAD leader on the Mac for 15 years so a boost in popularity for the Macintosh definitely propels Vectorworks sales forward.” Interestingly, he remarked that Apple’s Mac popularity has aided CAD and 3D developers by improving the development tools and graphics environment.

“Toolkit developers now more commonly develop Mac versions of their technology,” says Flaherty, “so we have a greater breadth of technology to choose from for integration into Vectorworks.” Flaherty made was some saw as a brilliant decision of choosing to integrate Parasolid, arguably the world’s most advanced modeling geometry kernel, into Vectorworks several years ago. His point about toolkit developers cannot be taken lightly. Like other types of developers, the pressure on toolkit developers to support Apple’s Mac OS X platform is another sign that software developers are in need to bring their software to the Mac platform.

Other newer Mac developers may have a hard time gauging interest in the overall CAD and 3D market for the Mac. Bob McNeel of McNeel and Associates, the makers of Rhino, remarked about the verticality of his company’s application. “Since we are only in the 3D design for fabrication world, we have a pretty narrow view of the whole 3D market,” he said. “In general,” McNeel notes, “it [3D to fabrication] is growing quickly because the cost of 3D fabrication tools is dropping quickly.”

While many segments within the design markets are growing or even exploding in interests–like the “makers market” for example–there is often an assumption that if you are going to develop for any kind of “creative” market you need to support Mac too. “The Mac has always been the platform of choice for the ‘creative’ designer,” says Bob McNeel, “but it seems like the Apple brand has been much enhanced by their mobile product offerings in many of our market segments.” McNeel is referring to the use of Apple laptops often running in Boot Camp to run Rhino and other “maker” tools and 3D prototyping software. “I don’t have any idea how many also boot in OS X.” he said.

The high-level view about the growth question requires a two-fold approach. Firstly, as the chart (see image 01) above shows there has been explosive growth and interest in Apple, generating immense focus on iOS and a steady four-fold expansion of the Mac market. However, and secondly, there are clearly challenges in recognizing what segments are growing, how to identify them, and sometimes technical challenges in counting or measuring them.

Dr. Chris Yessios of AutoDesSys explains that the same application can be installed on either platform. “The ‘renewed’ popularity of the Mac has definitely affected our sales,” he said, “even though we cannot really tell who buys for the Mac and who for the PC.”

next page: Academia: The Next Generation Wants Apple

Loosing the Bow Line

The future of design and creation is about it being untethered from the studio from which it traditionally came. The bow-line has been untied from the cleat. And design process can now sail away from the common harbor where mutual activity in creation and engineering poured forth.

What we now have in front of us is a new era defined by the synergies between two powerful new technologies. The cloud. And the tablet.

When we talked to our CEOs and experts in this series about the role the iPad could and should play in their industries one theme kept popping up again and again. They see the iPad as the cloud’s partner. Cloud computing has many reasons to exist separate from mobile tablet devices and smartphones, but yet it is the iPad and these new devices that are giving rise to the cloud’s fullest potential. In many ways the two are new dance partners who have just taken to the floor, and as the years move forward, they will stun us with new expressions that we can’t yet even imagine.

Sean Flaherty, CEO of Nemetschek Vectorworks, a global CAD leader and the market-leader in the Mac space, said it rather directly. “Fundamentally, I see the iPad as a cloud device. Without an Internet connection it is a useful device,” he notes, “but connected to the Web it is a dramatically new way of computing.”  This view helps shape perceptions of why Apple built its enormous new data center in North Carolina and why iCloud will grow to such large importance in time.

James Scapa, Chairman and CEO of engineering software giant Altair, the makers of market-leading CAE (computer-aided engineering) software and owners of solidThinking, remarked that the iPad “provides a natural means for users to orchestrate and access all their work from wherever they are.”

That “wherever-they-are” is made possible because of the cloud.

What the cloud does is free us. What the iPad does is make it extremely practical to access that information in the cloud. In some ways these two new inventions will help mankind expand in a manner not unlike the history of maritime exploration and the history of the magnetic compass. In this case the iPad is like the large sailing vessels of the medieval world, but it is the cloud that is our new magnetic compass, giving us that omnipresent reference, that marker, enabling a global means to see our world and the information in it and the exact location of where we are and how our data and us fit into it.

The iPad is indeed a vessel of sorts. A breakthrough in mobility with its stunning battery-life and its ideal form-factor. With it we can transport our information, ideas and dreams to any corner of the globe.

This human breakthrough–this combination of the cloud’s omnipresence and the tablet’s great mobility–is not lost on the leaders of the world’s biggest engineering software companies. Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, the global leader in CAD, remarked that “fundamentally it’s about the creation of new work flows and new means of access to your information.”

“…so whether you look at this idea of turning photos [from your mobile devices] into 3D models, or AutoCAD WS doing collaboration through the cloud,” notes Bass, “there is just a whole bunch of stuff that wasn’t possible before these new technologies.”

next page: The iPad as a New Vessel

As many regular Architosh readers may be aware now, Autodesk has emerged as a major provider of Mac software tools for architects, designers and visualization professionals. In a string of acquisitions going back several years and in brand new code bases targeting both Mac and iOS, Autodesk has fast become one of Apple’s key software providers for professional and technical creative markets.

In this special interview Autodesk’s chief executive officer talks about the changing role the Mac and Apple are playing in CAD and 3D industries–those same industries that his company is largely responsible for serving and shaping. He also talks about iOS,  the iPad in particular and the nature of cloud computing.

The Interview

AFR: (Anthony Frausto-Robledo): The Mac and Apple in general have been exploding in growth over the past few years. Can you talk about what you see in the market and how this is affecting Autodesk?

(CB): (Carl Bass): It is highly desirable by a number of our customers, particularly in some specific segments, to want to work on Macs. One is architects, two is industrial designers and the third are creative digital artists. In all three of those markets we’ve made most of our products available on the Mac–not all, but most. I’d like to get more products there [on the Mac platform]. It is really all driven by what our customers want and they have spoken pretty loudly. They want to work on the Mac.

AFR: So that explains the markets and the demands. Can you talk about synergies between Apple’s technologies and maybe Autodesk’s technologies…and what that can do for your products in terms of differentiating them in the market place?

CB: In terms of synergies between them and us, going forward, it is with some of the new applications we are building for the iOS devices.  So, when you look at the tablets and the phones, for example. And there are two aspects that are really appealing to our customers. One is the sense of being able to take their data anywhere…because it has always been an issue with architects, engineers and designers–how do I take my work out of the office? And the second thing is the ability to use their data and design work with newer interfaces like Multi-touch. And we’ve built a number of applications to respond to that.  One is SketchBook Pro and the other AutoCAD WS. One is a true CAD application and the other an inking illustration application.  And both are incredibly popular and one of the things that sets them apart is the Multi-touch and the unique UI they employ.

AFR: Right, so iOS and the Multi-touch in particular. Things that Apple might bring to the table you are keen to take advantage of.

next page: Bass discusses acquisitions and cloud computing

Why a Web App?

Anthony Frausto-Robledo (AFR):  Over the years Architosh, and its readers too, have been following the evolution of the AIA Documents application with much interest hoping for a native Mac version. Why a Web application versus a real desktop application for the Mac?

Young Chang (YC): Everything we do is always based on user feedback and sound research. Our research has been showing, year over year, continued interest in the Mac, as well as the potential of a web based application to increase the accessibility of AIA Contract Documents to our users. Such an online version simplifies its maintenance and enhances the usability of the documents. We determined that the web based alternative was best for all users.

AFR:  So why and how did the online version come about?

YC: The major reason is because users are asking for anywhere, anytime access to AIA Documents.

AFR: And it also solves your Mac user demand.

YC: Yes.

AFR:  Can you give me some examples?

YC: Yes. Users want to be able to access AIA Documents not just at job sites but at client locations like client offices or at hotels while traveling. Being able to get to your contracts and modify them while away from the main office is very beneficial.

A New Approach to Pricing

AFR:  What are some other benefits of the new online version of the AIA Contract Documents Software?

YC:  One key benefit will be the new flexible licensing models. Right now there is just one way to get the AIA Documents package. Now we will have several packages, bundles and a pay-as-you-go model, which we think will be very popular.

01 - A preview view of the new AIA Contract Documents software web-based version online. The new online software as a service will bring great benefits to AIA members and customers of the AIA Contract Documents software, including the ability to work with the software from either Mac or Windows OS computers as well as new era devices like the Apple iPad.

In this tough economic environment having pricing flexibility is very key for our members and customers. Most architects are small firms, so we [the AIA] want to maintain and improve upon how we serve our members and customers with this new service. The online version of AIA Documents online will do that.

AFR:  What kind of packages are we talking about? Can you give me some examples?

Young Chang (YC): There are over 150 separate documents available. I doubt anyone uses all of them. If you are an architect you are going to use a certain set of documents over and over. If you are a general contractor you will use another common set. Therefore, we will have packages tailored to the needs of specific types of users of the AIA Documents software.

Next page: Apple, the iPad and Development Details

Royal Farros, who is chairman and CEO of IMSI, starts to speak about Apple’s amazing iPad. “We really believe that the iPad represents an inflection point in the CAD industry,” said Farros. “It has phenomenal portability with its very long battery life… and with Multi-touch you simply can’t match what it can do with any other computing device.”

“Like the Mac in 1984, which many said was just a $2400 Etch A Sketch, many looked upon the iPad when Apple introduced it in a similar way,” said Farros. The IMSI CEO continued to elaborate on why the iPad is such a game-changing device, for the CAD software industry and elsewhere.

Refocusing

Prior to Apple introducing the iPad, IMSI/Design had began refocusing on serving the needs of its TurboCAD users and providing robust support for DWG users as well. The results proved worthwhile and the company has grown. But as soon as the Apple iPad was introduced IMSI recognized opportunity. “Doug Cochran, our CTO, recognized what the iPad could be in the CAD industry very early on,” said Farros, “and we started to refocus and map out our strategy for this era.”

01 - TurboViewer by IMSI Design is a fast 3D DWG and DXF CAD file viewer application for your iPad.

TurboViewer isn’t just a single product but an environment and platform for IMSI. The company has much larger plans in the works for addressing mobility in the CAD market and exploiting the unique strengths of the Apple iOS platform.

“There are many new CAD apps for the iPad and iPhone,” said Cochran, “but there are very few good CAD viewers and none that can do what TurboCAD Viewer can.”

Next page: TurboViewer Details and The Future

The iPad of course!

Well…not precisely Apple’s popular tablet computer but the way in which developers and businesses are discovering that FileMaker’s database software tools offer them amazing ways to utilize the iPad (and the iPhone too) within industries with field-based services–particularly Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC).

FileMaker Number One in World

While many people know of database software companies like Oracle what few people realize is that Apple’s database software subsidiary, FileMaker, is a worldwide leader. FileMaker is the number one database software on the Mac OS X platform, the number one cross-platform (Mac/Windows) database software, and the number one database software on tablet computers worldwide. It is also the number two database software worldwide on the Windows platform, behind Microsoft’s own Access. The company actually sells more copies of FileMaker Pro on the Windows platform.

From this combined perspective FileMaker is number one in the world.

It has long been the case that FileMaker Pro has been a popular workgroup database tool within the AEC industry, particularly popular with architectural practices because the database tool offers programming simplicity, graphical presentation flexibility and excellence, and works seamlessly with both Windows and Mac computers.

(Architosh conducted an AEC industry software use report in 2002 and found that FileMaker Pro was the dominant database used by all AEC firms in the study with 20 or more employees, capturing nearly 70 percent usage. All firms over 20 employees in the study used a database application. Click here to learn more.)

A Sweet Spot for AEC

While FileMaker is used by most AEC firms, the big news these days is that the company’s FileMaker Go, an Apple iOS application running on both iPad and iPhone, plays a unique story for mobile application development. And with the iPad device being heavily adopted by AEC professionals–particularly on the construction and facilities side–the merger of iPad and FileMaker and FileMaker Go is hitting a sweet spot for these field-based industries.

01 - FileMaker Go offers simple iOS development as an option, enabling rapid application development for mobile solutions on Apple's iPad and iPhone platforms. The quality of the interface capability is very high, as can be seen here.

Both architects and engineers are bringing iPads onto the construction site to tote their drawings and 3D models around with them. Contractors are using the iPad as a drawings and specifications storage device, as well as using it for field-conditions tracking and document markup. And now from the suppliers side of the equation AEC manufacturers are using iPads armed with mobile databases to solve particular data-heavy workflow needs in the field, better servicing the design-building delivery cycle.

Next page: Case Study – Looking at AEC Manufacturer Johnson Controls

Speaking with me over a WebEx session, Graphisoft’s Director of Global Marketing, Akos Pfemeter says, “ArchiCAD has had the best 3D editing environment since version 6, way superior to all other applications. Still, architects have found trouble navigating in 3D space.” But this problem has been solved Akos says. “In ArchiCAD 15 we have reinvented the 3D environment.”

Advertisement - Visit Graphisoft online to learn more.

Indeed, it appears that Graphisoft has spent the past year working hard on two major areas of improvement to ArchiCAD, that both affect the ability of architects to work full time in three dimensions. The first of these is an improvement to the 3D working environment in ArchiCAD itself, and the second of these is advancements in form-making that seriously liberate designers to create just about any form they can imagine.

The third major improvement in ArchiCAD is focused on renovation work and the company has crafted into ArchiCAD 15 excellent tools that enable architects to handle renovation work.

In this In-Depth feature article we will review and show some of ArchiCAD 15 major new features across these three major areas. We will also touch on productivity, collaboration and other features at the end.

Gaining Perspective: Working in Three Dimensions Just Got Easier

It should be stated right away that ArchiCAD has always been a consummate 3D architectural CAD/BIM application. But being good and being great are two different things. Even so, those with multiple 3D CAD experience will always argue the virtues of one application over another. That’s not our intention here. The point is to emphasize that in ArchiCAD 15 Graphisoft has added new capabilities that greatly improve the ability to work in 3D.

New in ArchiCAD 15 is new editing planes in 3D. The new editing plane in 3D is displayed as a light blue-green grid. Interestingly, the user does not have to set the location of the 3D editing plate from the start. Rather, the user’s choice of tool sets a default height and location for the 3D editing plane. The editing plane itself also sets its own size, always big enough to contain the extend of all 3D elements.

01 - The new editing plane can be customized with the grid customization preferences.

02 - Unique only to the 3D editing plane are opacity settings for the grid and grid plane background colors.

Grid lines and editing plane parameters are customizable. The user can, for example, change the grid and grid background color. Specific to the grid of the editing plane in 3D are a pair of opacity settings–quite necessary for working in 3D work–for both the grid itself and its background color (see sliders in lower right of images 01-02 ). While working in 3D, various operations may require a change in orientation of the 3D editing plane. The user can change the editing plane from horizontal, to vertical or to a specified orientation using one of several methods. The editing plane can also be offset from a specific node on an object.

A particularly common process with the use of editing planes in ArchiCAD 15 is the use of “projection” from an editing plane to the plane of another object. For instance, you may project a rectangular object in a plan to a sloped roof to create the opening in that roof. In ArchiCAD 15 the use of a ray (a line that connects both editing plane and the plane of the object being affected) helps to determine the orientation chosen for editing plane in operations.

A big new change from previous versions is the creation of guidelines. When it comes to objects ArchiCAD 15 has eliminated automatic guidelines in favor of user-generated guidelines. When the cursor is placed along an element or node, a guideline “handle” appears as a small orange circle. Placing your cursor over it will provide feedback information. Clicking it will generate a guideline or guide circle. (see images 03 below)

03 - The little orange circles (dots) help you set guidelines with more information and control.

Graphisoft has created a vast array of new ways to generate guidelines in 3D space. There is new feedback from guidelines, the ability to create guideline segments between two nodes in space and a host of ways to create, offset and delete unnecessary guidelines.

To further help with advancements when working in three dimensions, ArchiCAD 15 has new visual aids. There is a new “depth” information created by the dimming of background elements. The dimming effect works when objects overlap each other. This even works on guidelines which will be dimmed when they run behind objects. Also the X, Y and Z axes are now marked with letters X, Y and Z to further help with orientation in space.

Finally, it should be mentioned that ArchiCAD 15 offers full editing and navigation support in not just “axonometric” views (as some other BIMs only do) but in “perspective” views as well. And if you are shopping for BIMs and think axon views are 3D enough for you, we’ll tell you right now they are not. Sometimes a perspective view is exactly what you need.

Next page: New Shell Tool for Advanced Forms

Artlantis Render 3.0 and Artlantis Studio 3 are some of the most capable software programs in their respective class and they are designed specifically for the visual needs of architectural professionals. Yet the French company behind the software has at times taken a somewhat laissez-faire approach toward the giant US market. This is about to change.

Road Show Details

AFR (Anthony Frausto-Robledo): What is the “Road Show” about? Why is Abvent and Objects Online doing this event now?

Chris Stringer, GM (CS): The Road Show is about showcasing Artlantis, a world-class rendering and animation software. It’s about getting the message out to the US market that Artlantis has the best combination of rendering and animation features available for architects, in an easy-to-use but powerful formula and that it works seamlessly with all the major CAD platforms, including Autodesk Revit, ArchiCAD, Vectorworks and others.

This is an example of the type of animation you can produce in Abvent’s Artlantis 3 Studio. Video courtesy of Abvent / Objects Online.

The Road Show will help us establish closer ties with our reseller network, bring in current customers for further training to make sure they are using the program’s full features to their advantage, and help us spread the word more about Artlantis’ great capabilities.

AFR: What kinds of things will the Road Show offer architects and designers? What will they learn?

CS: We are focusing on two types of events. The first event is the demo event which will present a detailed and captivating overview of Artlantis to the architectural community. There will also be an opportunity for questions and answers so architects can learn just how easy it is for Artlantis to fit into their design workflow and what advantages it offers.

The second event is longer and involves hands-on training for our current customers. Though it could also be valuable for advanced rendering users who are just starting with Artlantis. We will go through four to five exercises covering key elements on Artlantis, from setting up scenes, to working with textures and objects, to lighting and to economizing models.

About Artlantis

AFR: What do you feel are some of the best features in Artlantis Studio in the latest release?

CS: I would say that Artlantis has always been built on the strength of its preview render window. You always had that immediate interaction between changes to your scene and the results of those changes. You can drop in people, trees, change textures, lights, et cetera and right there in the preview window you get instant results.

AFR: This with Radiosity too?

CS: Yes, you have Artlantis’ superb Radiosity engine results…right there in the preview window. This is what makes Artlantis unique in the market.

AFR: Do you have to use Radiosity? Can you use another lighting method for even faster results?

Chris Stringer (CS): You don’t have to use Radiosity, but using it gives superior results, due in part to the way it now automatically balances light levels, much like the human eye does. You can use the faster global illumination engine instead, but you have to set up your lighting levels differently if you intend to create final renderings using that engine. The difference in quality is dramatic, though, and most users will probably prefer Radiosity. The expert rendering parameters give users the ability to create faster, lower-quality Radiosity renderings before it comes time to create the final renderings. There are also some new built-in post-processing rendering filters that generate some of the same quality effects offered in image-editing applications like Photoshop.

AFR: What are the system requirements like with Artlantis? Can you get great results with moderate-level Mac and Windows machines?

Next page: Continued more about Artlantis in detail and the Road Show

During the event we tweeted key comments during both of their talks on our Architosh Twitter feed. You can revisit that now here.

Huw Roberts

Huw Roberts AIA is an architect who has been with Bentley for many years now. He has a deep understanding of practice and its many forms and orientations. He also understands the many challenges all AEC firms face in a global economy where practice is increasingly complex and often geographically dispersed.

01 - Huw Roberts AIA of Bentley, speaking at Smartgeometry 2011 Copenhagen.

During his talk he mentioned that Bentley is the world’s largest software company dedicated to all of the AEC market. Bentley has a diverse product portfolio that goes far beyond building design and engineering to civil and plant design, facilities and more. They are the world’s number one software company for structural engineering solutions. And the company’s annual revenue is now at half billion US dollars.

One of the more interesting things Huw said was that Bentley spends up to 20 percent of its annual revenue on research and development. And Generative Components is not actually apart of that figure. Generative Components, he said, is actually free software and therefore is placed outside those figures. Certainly there is ongoing R&D for GC as well but there was no mention of a dollar figure.

Why GC? Why Smartgeometry Conference?

Huw explained that the company is invested in advancing Generative Components because as a product it aligns with the company’s overall visions for innovation. And Bentley is interested in “open information…sharing data.” And the types of projects and problems firms around the world are facing and using GC to solve critically inform Bentley’s full line of software solutions. Generative Components dovetails with Bentley’s software for architects and engineers and Huw noted that going forward it will continue to inform and impact the development of other products.

Huw said the company is doing “syndicated development” projects, whereby Bentley works in a co-op way with major firms or institutions in addressing new challenges through software. Today the company is working on a $24 billion ultimate integration project. And this summer the company will be introducing something they call Model Documentation.

Generative Components is advanced 3D software for design that goes beyond just complex geometry creation or solving. It enables designers to capture and define relationships, set up rules and algorithms, and iterate using numerical methods and rule-based interdependencies.

In a slide Huw showed a building with a complex steel frame holding up a skylight system. Bentley created an algorithm that addressed two inter-related issues and setup a relationship. One issue was that of energy loss (heat gain/loss) through the skylight, while the other issue was that of steel weight. The last issue affects cost directly for the structure. The first issue affects operations costs. How do architects design so that they can solve both sets of problems simultaneously? (see image 01)

02 - Makai Smith, who heads up Generative Components at Bentley gave an engaging talk. In this slide he shows an architecture from form say 1970 and compares it to one today. Not much has changed, he contends. The future of practice will need to change the formation of firms.

Huw said these are the types of problems the technology in Bentley’s product suites address, and will continue to address in more complexity.

Finally, Smartgeometry is something Bentley has been very proud to be involved in and sponsoring for many years. The conference frames and addresses many of the most technically challenging AEC problems in the world, using the latest computational research and practice methodologies. GC is a key component tool for those participating in Smartgeometry.

Next page > Makai’s Talk, Future of GC

Over the years this annual get-together formed into a conference, a merger of professionals, academics, students and the software industry. As the current Smartgeometry website states, “As smartgeometry has progressed, and the tools and techniques have matured, smartgeometry has emerged as a forum where the new critical language of digital architecture can be formed.”

This Year’s Theme: Building The Invisible

This year the theme of “building the invisible” is an expression that describes the process whereby real world data is incorporated into “design thinking.” A big emphasis at the workshop this year was the use of sensors. These sensors, of the handmade variety, were built around Arduino boards. (see image 01) Now like us you are probably thinking, “what is an Arduino board?”  Exactly!

01 - An Arduino board. These small microcontrollers are an open-source hardware and software platform that enable the capture of data from integrated sensors. (image courtesy the Arduino website).

The official website says that “Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer.” Developed in Italy, these microcontroller boards are open-source hardware and come with an open-source software IDE (intergrated development environment). The reality is these Arduino boards are pretty cool! And we’ll be writing about them in more detail in further reports.

Most of the workshop clusters (there were 10) were using sensors to bring in real-time or captured-time data. This data is the “invisible” information from which designers have the opportunity utilize in the exploration of their design work.

The Workshops

There were ten workshops at this year’s conference and the Smartgeometry website does a very good job of describing them in detail here. So we won’t recap them in that manner. However, we do want to make some notes about several of them and provide some links to relevant information we think you will find interesting.

Use the Force

This was one of the more interesting workshops because of the tools made and employed in their experimental work. Daniel Piker was one of the cluster champions (leaders of the cluster) and he is the creator of the plugin Kangaroo, a physics plugin for Grasshopper and Bentley Generative Components. The goal of this cluster was to explore the link-up between the digital and the physical. The physics engine of Kangaroo was linked up with a malleable floor surface with sensors beneath it (see image 02 below). As you walked on the floor surface sensor data would determine not just force data but motion. This data was fed to Grasshopper which contained a digital representation of the analog, sensor-based floor.

02 - The black floor contains sensors which feed force and motion data into Grasshopper and Bentley GC via Kangaroo and Firefly software. Andy Payne is to the right in this photo.

Another key component in this workshop was the use of a software tool called Firefly. Andy Payne, a licensed architect and doctoral degree candidate at Harvard’s GSD, is Firefly’s creator and a fellow cluster champion. We will be doing a feature on Andy coming up.

Andy, who is dressed in a white shirt and jeans, is all smiles and positive energy. Visually excited about the conference and the work of his cluster he explains how they built the sensorized black floor that sits on the ground (in the Hall) in front of a large projected screen. “The sensors can detect not just force but movement data also,” says Andy. I’m walking on the floor myself, pushing my feet down to deflect the floor. It’s interactive–it’s fun! My eyes are clearly forward, looking at a 3D visualization of the floor as a parametric mesh of vertices. (see image 01) I’m not sure if I’m looking at GC or Grasshopper but it doesn’t matter all that much for what is happening in this cluster.

Andy Payne is a licensed architect who is currently pursuing his doctoral degree at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. His work explores embedded computation and parametric design, which in essence is what all the work at this conference this year is mostly related to. His doctoral research is studying how advancements in technology can help architects create spaces and systems that have a “capacity” to meet changing individual, social and environmental demands.

01 - This parametric model is interactively wired to a mock floor surface which detects force and movement.

“All buildings will have sensors and talk to other buildings some day.” Andy remarks. I ask him what kinds of things will buildings say to each other, half creating a joke out of the question. He laughs…understanding the humor embedded in my skepticism. “It’s not that they will talk so much as share data,” Andy says, “like environmental and occupant data, for example.”  For instance, in the future buildings filled with sensors like the kind explored in this Smartgeometry conference will be able to constantly monitor their internal and external environment, including agents and microclimatic information.

In an urban environment, one building may want to anticipate and respond to a seasonal temperature, combined with an afternoon shading by a nearby building, combined with a sudden but planned occupancy change, to affect internal environmental changes in preparation for those inter-related data.

02 - This polyhedron model is wired-up to an Arduino board. The board has a light which lights up in reaction to tension forces in a wire connecting two joints.

Andy is now pressing down on a joint on a physical model (called “analog” at this conference) of a space-frame. (see image 02 above) The construction of this analog model consists of flexible clear plastic tubes connected with multi-faceted metal joints which enable the polyhedron to transform and adapt in reaction to forces. A wire is spanning between two joints and because of Andy’s pressure on another joint the wire gets put into tension. This tension is then detected and measured and sent to an Arduino board that is sitting next to the analog model and wired up to it. A USB port from the Arduino board sends a signal to a computer and to Andy’s software Firefly.

It’s a little test model and its useful to the types of processes his cluster is developing and experimenting with here in Denmark this year. Andy presses down again as I take a picture. “See the light?” he says, smiling. “Yes,” I respond. The light glows more in response to his hand’s pressure, a symbol of this group’s energy, hard work, innovation and brilliance.

Think about that. Microsoft introduced the world to the Microsoft Windows Tablet PC back in 2001. In addition to Windows-based devices there have been several Linux varients, but for all these options and in so many years (9 to be exact) Apple outsold them all combined in just nine months!

That’s quite an accomplishment and shows you the tremendous, game-changer momentum Apple has generated with the first iPad.

Goodness Comes in Nines

The number nine seems to be meaningful to Apple and its iPad  product line. Not only has Apple outsold all others combined in nine months compared to their roughly nine years but the new iPad 2–very importantly for the engineering and CAD markets–is now nine times faster in graphics performance!

And the main CPU performance is twice as fast. All an all this is very important and good news for Apple’s leadership in this space. And it is good news for software developers who take advantage of this technical leadership, says Charles Edge, book author and director of technology for 318, Inc., an IT consulting and development firm specializing in integrating Apple in the enterprise.

“The added performance with the new processors and graphics is going to bring a lot of new possibilities,” said Edge. “That’s the main reason why Apple built the Garage Band and iMovie applications…to showcase how far you can push the envelope.”

But the nine times graphics performance is really going to benefit engineering and CAD software developers serving the enterprise space. “If a company like Autodesk releases tools–which they have–then they are going to de facto have portability to the desktop applications and a lot of adoption because of that,” said Edge.

Next page > Enterprise is Leading

The latest version of solidThinking has over 900 improvements, ranging from small user-interface changes and workflow improvements to significant new features and capabilities in both the core product and the Inspired version with morphogenesis technology.

solidThinking 8.5, we will remind readers, is one of the world’s top class-A NURBS modeling programs. As Alex Mazzardo noted, “solidThinking is a real idea generator that promotes innovation due to its powerful modeling, easy-to-use rendering environment and interoperability with leading engineering applications.”  The product is aimed at product designers, industrial designers, style centers, marketing departments and architects and engineers.

New Capabilities

Version 8.5 is now a faster modeler, with up to 3x performance speed. Loading time with models, especially larger complex models, is halved. Frames per second shading of the model in real-time is 3x faster and select and deselect are quicker as well. There is a new improved Round tool, in most other similar applications known as a fillet tool. With the improved Round tool you get better handling of overflow and overlapping rounded surfaces, plus advanced options for shape control. (see image 01)

01 - solidThinking 8.5 has a new and improved round tool, with advanced options for dealing with overlapping rounded surfaces.

Another new feature is a new Face Extraction tool, for the creation of new faces from existing objects. There are now more snap shortcuts and construction aids, including a revised snap to tangent tool. These all make modeling faster and easier.

A new feature we really liked was the three-level selection methodology. Now in solidThinking 8.5 the first double-click on an object selects objects. A second double-click allows you to access parameters for those objects, and a third double-click allows you to edit vertices or control points.

The user-interface has been simplified for better navigation and scene organization. It is now possible to visualize if the selected objects are part of some groups in the Hierarchy Browser. And there is new and improved selection technology through the use of selection filters with the ability to sort for curves, surfaces, polymesh and pointmesh, et cetera, as well as clarifying selection of dependent and source objects for easier scene organization.

Better Rendering in solidThinking 8.5

One of the largest areas of improvement in solidThinking 8.5 is in the area of rendering. The accuracy of lighting is a major improvement and this includes its progressive, real-time rendering as well. (see images 02-03) In 8.5 there are new real-time photorealistic rendering options integrating raytracing and progressive rendering.

02 - solidThinking 8.5 has a greatly improved real-time rendering functionality, plus improved photorealistic rendering.

New reflection catcher technology adds a reflection below the model in a photorealistic rendering when the model is added to a back plate image. A new improved algorithm improves anti-aliasing in final renders and there is improved support for the calculation of indirect lighting.

03-solidThinking's interactive rendering shows improved handling of light.

You can play with this Flash-based web page to see the difference in rendering quality between version 8 and version 8.5 of solidThinking. Go ahead, we encourage you to explore this interactive graphic. For exploring the difference between version 8 and 8.5 with regard to anti-aliasing go to this page here. The difference is quite dramatic in this particular sample image.

New in version 8.5 are pre-built interior sets and ready-to-render lighting setups. This pre-setup work is very helpful to designers looking to quickly drop their model into an environment and do quick renders for study and evaluation. (see image 04)

04 - new pre-built sets with ready to go lighting help designers quickly test their models in fully rendered environments.

And the render materials library has been enhanced in solidThinking 8.5 with more than 300 new apply-and-render materials with default settings optimized for best rendering results. In an era where there is increased development activity in the area of simplified and instant photorealistic rendering, this new library enhancement is a timely response.

Next page: CAD Connections and Inspired 8.5 >

Now why would that be important?

The short answer is because back then it appeared to the CAD world that Autodesk would never fulfill so Mac users’ dreams of being able to work with native DWG files on the Mac. The long answer, of course, delves into the nitty gritty details of how Autodesk competitors–on and off the Mac–affectively must deal with a de facto file format standard for computer-aided design information. In the CAD world five years ago, and still very much today, the DWG file format still rules the roost.

For the last 10+ years, since Architosh has been a publication, Mac users in the CAD and 3D markets have been clamoring for a return of AutoCAD to the Mac. When Apple announced in the late 1990’s that they were going to develop a UNIX-based operating system with the famed Mac user-interface on top many had assumed that even long-time Windows-centric developers, rich with deep pockets due to market dominance, would spend the effort and the money on creating new native applications for Apple’s shiny new OS. Well, that did–and did not–happen. For industry design software giant Autodesk, it didn’t.

While industry newcomers like @Last Software with its now famous SketchUp (later acquired by Google) made early decisions to embrace Apple’s award-winning Mac OS X operating system, and important veterans in 3D verticals like Alias embraced the Mac with Maya, Autodesk decided to stay on the sidelines.

As we will learn in this detailed feature interview–exclusive not because Autodesk only wanted to talk to us (though they spoke to us very early) but because of the rare information contained within–the design software giant didn’t ignore the Mac platform because they hated Apple or were a puppet giant of Microsoft but rather because too many of their customers simply didn’t care for Steve Jobs’ beloved Mac platform.

This is important because contrary to some CAD industry observers, pundits and even analysts today–who believe Autodesk is gambling or speculating on Apple–the CAD giant has made the decision to support the Mac with AutoCAD precisely because of market facts and forces.

Fact. Apple’s Mac platform has been growing at about 33 percent year over year, a faster rate than the rest of the PC industry for 18 straight quarters. Fact. The Mac installed base is now 50 million users. Fact. Autodesk’s own customers are both interested in, investing in and asking for Mac software. Fact. Apple is the undisputed leader in new mobile platforms with its iOS in the iPhone and iPad. Force. Apple has become a technology superpower able to punch hard in the highest weight classes across most any market it wishes to turn its attention to.

With these types of market realities at play it makes perfect sense why a company with pockets as deep as Autodesk would return to the Mac. What doesn’t make sense is why some of their key competitors haven’t also come to the same conclusions. What follows below is a detailed discussion by Rob Maguire, AutoCAD for Mac Product Manager, about how Autodesk made this fateful decision to return to the Mac.

01 - Screen image of the new AutoCAD for Mac. The program features a very clean, dark and adjustable attractive user-interface (UI) with native Aqua Mac OS X elements.

Interview

AFR: (Anthony Frausto-Robledo): You guys did a pretty good job keeping this secret for quite awhile. When and how did it start?

RM (Rob Maguire): We started a few years ago…slowly. We started with our existing customers.

AFR: How so?

RM: We began with a group of 60 customers who we knew were Mac people in nature.

AFR: Were these Autodesk customers or AutoCAD customers or both?

The company flew up three of its senior staff to meet me in Boston. And for several hours I was treated to a showcase of new features in the next release.

Summarizing Vectorworks 2011

The most important overall change in Vectorworks 2011 is that the program is now, more than ever, a true 3D modeling and 3D CAD environment. The company emphasizes the phrase “true 3D modeling” environment in its upcoming brochures which you can obtain on their website starting today, but the reality is this is both a true 3D CAD and 3D BIM environment. So why emphasize modeling?

Part of the answer is because Nemetschek wants you to know that there is no longer any reason to model anywhere else. No reason to model in SketchUp, Bonzai or formZ or whatever package you like to model in. Or at least that is part of the emphasis. Of course the company also recently announced a new partnership with Maxon about its integration of the CINEMA 4D rendering engine; because of that partnership there is also the excitement that more Vectorworks users will upgrade to the complete Maxon C4D software package. And inside that package there things you can do with modeling that you cannot do with Vectorworks 2011.

But that is another story. The story here is that Nemetschek Vectorworks has dramatically improved its software for serious schematic and final stage 3D modeling. And they did this by introducing a new and improved planar environment and by improving its existing Push/Pull tool. Up in Boston I spoke to Dr. Biplab Sarkar, CTO of Nemetschek Vectorworks.

Lessons from the MCAD World

AFR: Biplab, you guys have introduced serious changes to the 2D/3D workflow by affecting this new Planar environment where you can access and utilize all 2D and 3D tools regardless of what plane you are working on and whether or not that plane is parallel to the screen plane. Why such dramatic change? (see image 01)

01 - Vectorworks 2011 has a new integrated 2D/3D environment, enabling users to draft or model in any view orientation, using any combination of 2D or 3D tools.

DBS (Dr. Biplab Sarkar): Existing users were asking for tool consolidation where the 2D/3D cursor, 2D/3D reshape tool and other 2D/3D tools could work on any plane. They also wanted to draft on arbitrary planes and accomplish things like 3D hatching and 3D dimensioning. So now all the drafting operations can be achieved without changing any view, we took the active working plane approach–which is a well known workflow in the MCAD world.

AFR: So now you can draft and dimension and use symbols like the section cut symbol in 3D views?

DBS: Yes. And you can apply hatching in 3D views, which was very important to many of our customers.

AFR: Vectorworks uses the world-leading Parasolid modeling kernel. And it looks like you have truly added powerful Push/Pull capability in this release. Does it work on NURBS surfaces too? What does it not work on?

DBS: Yes it works on NURBS object or any planar object. This includes lines, arcs, polys as long as they are on the active working plane. The Push/Pull tool works on planar surfaces of almost all solid objects including, extrudes, sweeps, cones, fillets shells and more.

AFR: The new Face Selection Feedback is part of the new Push/Pull tool improvements. I can see how much easier it is to identify that you have selected the planar surface you want to affect with Push or Pull. Can you customize this color?

DBS: Yes, the face selection highlight follows the tool highlighting settings in the Interactive Appearance Settings dialog.

AFR: Is the program now 100 percent Parasolid-based?

DBS: Yes! All objects are now Parasolid based. Several of the newer features like the 3D wall components and slabs with components are making heavy use of the Parasolid modeling engine.

The new Vectorworks 2011 is not just 100 percent Parasolid-based it incorporates brand new features that take advantage of the other new features. One such new feature is the Extract Planar Objects, which can create instant planar objects from a 3D surface in the Extract Surface mode.

What makes Rform special is that it essentially operates like a true Web 2.0 application, very much in the style and philosophy of popular 37signals web-app, Basecamp. However, unlike Basecamp, which is industry non-specific, Rform is made especially for architects and general contractors.

Make no bones about it, Rform represents the future of software applications. Based on the SaaS model (software as a service), Rform offers its users/clients an unmatched and specific application for the administration of construction contracts during the design-build-deliver cycle.

Background – My Brother is an Architect

I spoke with Paul Lopes, designer of Rform and asked him how they came up with the idea for the application and he said: “My brother is an architect. And he always wanted something like this. So his company and my [web] company teamed up to create what is Rform today.”

“We wanted to create something that was simple,” said Paul Lopes, “to develop something that is very straightforward…so you just work instead of manage the system that produces the work.”  What was created is a very elegant web application that works across multiple platforms, including smartphones with advanced desktop-grade Web browsers like Apple’s iPhone.

Rform – How it Works

Rform is a web-based application that streamlines the creation of construction contract administration documents and increases the speed at which these documents are created, reviewed, approved and eventually archived.

At the heart of the CA Phase (construction administration phase) are RFIs, COs and Certificates for Payment. Change Directives, Supplemental Instructions, Request for Information, Change Orders, and Proposed Change Orders are all handled via a series of forms created by Rform. And an added feature that makes Rform really unique is that as costs for Change Orders are approved they are automatically carried over onto the Certificates for Payment and tracked there. The Submittals module is very useful to architects and contractors where they can electronically manage the shop drawing process via a Shop Drawing Submittal module in Rform.

Rform also features a built-in mini FTP site where team members can upload files for other members to review or print.  And finally the key component to managing a project through CA is the Schedule of Values, which Rform manages. Paul Lopes walked us through the details of how Rforms works. Let’s take a look. (see image 01)

01-The List of Projects Interface in Rform - a new Web-based application for architects and contractors.

The main logged-in interface for Rform brings you and your team to a Projects window. Unless you are the account manager you will only see projects listed to which you have been assigned. If you are an Account Manager–typically someone within your company–you will have access to all projects and full privileges to their working settings.

So we booked a Web meeting. And we met. And what was presented was very interesting, different…and future-oriented!

Background: An Israeli Story

Project Butterfly is led by Tal Weiss, who is its software development manager and director of Autodesk’s AutoCAD Israel R&D facility. Weiss–who led the Web meeting–explained that he was the former co-founder and CEO of a software company called VisualTao, based out of Tel-Aviv, Israel. Its main product, VisualTao (same name) featured an innovative web-based interface that enabled users of design software to work together over the Net.

From what we have learned Autodesk acquired PlanPlatform (whose previous name was VisualTao) last year, giving the CAD giant its first Web-enabled collaborative platform. And according to an article from Israel, the American CAD giant now looks to utilize Weiss’ unit as the beginnings of an Israeli research and development center.

Part of Autodesk’s discovery in Israel was that the high-tech country is a world-leader in “cloud-computing” and online applications and services. And according to this article on the Web Autodesk probably isn’t stopping at its acquisition of PlanPlatform.

VisualTao Becomes A Butterfly

Cloud-computing and software as a service (SaaS) is where the applications world is moving. Even in the intensely complex and file-heavy CAD world. This was a notable topic in the CAD industry even as far back as 2007 at COFES. With rivals publicly displaying the beginnings of their Web-enabled and cloud-computing technology it only makes sense that Autodesk would move in this direction. It has started by focusing on its flagship program–AutoCAD.

The VisualTao technology is today implemented in its most mature state as Autodesk Butterfly, a Web-application that enables users to view, edit and share their Autodesk AutoCAD drawings. Tal Weiss explained that Autodesk Butterfly works with any modern web browser on all the major computing platforms. This includes Google’s Chrome and the Linux platform in addition to Windows and the Mac. (see image 01)

01 - Autodesk Project Butterfly. Former VisualTao technology from Israeli company powers Autodesk's Web-application and works identically on Mac, Linux and Windows platforms.

As you can see from the image above Project Butterfly–which is an open beta totally free for people to use and try out–is an actual CAD application that will run on your Mac. The part that we need to emphasize at this moment however is that Butterfly doesn’t allow you to create files with it. So no, for the Mac user reading this don’t get too excited that Project Butterfly is a new substitute for a native Mac version of AutoCAD that isn’t yet available. It isn’t!

However, make no bones about it, everything you can do with Project Butterfly on Internet Explorer on Windows you can also do on the Mac (or Linux).

Three Principles About Butterfly

Tal Weiss said that basically Autodesk Project Butterfly is like Google Docs for CAD folks. There are three key principles behind the purpose of the technology and application.

The first principle is the ability to access your content from anywhere. Weiss explained that in today’s market with the advent of social media and cloud-computing people are growing to expect access to their content and applications from just about anywhere…on a multitude of devices. “People no longer want to be tied down to a specific location to get their work done,” he said.

02 - Butterfly has a file manager view that lists all your drawings, enables folder organization and indicates graphically if items are "shared."

The second principle is to use the Web as a collaborative medium. “It means being able to work together,” said Weiss, “because everything we do in design is usually in a collaboration with others.” What Project Butterfly does is provide a way for multiple users to literally collaborate in real-time on the same drawing file. (see image 02 and 04 below)

When collaborating with users in Butterfly one takes over control of an object when one clicks on it. The program negotiates and manages this process.

Lastly, the third principle behind Project Butterfly is the support for storing “timeline-based” discussions and previous saved states of a drawing. Butterfly saves meeting discussion transcripts as well as older version states of your drawings. You have the option for downloading this saved-state material to your desktop at anytime. And you can revert to older states of a drawing.

These three primary principles are driving the focus of the Web application. And so far the thousands of users who have taken part in the open beta are enjoying where the technology is going.