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

NCS helps architects, constructors, and operators, by providing a way to classify electronic building design data. Streamlining information across disciplines, can save the expense of transferring building data from design applications to facility management applications. By improving communication, owners and teams can avoid or cut costs of developing and maintaining company-specific standards.

“CSI and its partners, AIA and NIBS, are pleased to introduce NCS Version 5,” said CSI Executive Director and CEO Walter Marlowe, P.E., CSI, CAE. “The refinements to the NCS, including round-the-clock online access, reflect the changing needs of the industry and how they work with design data.”

Because NCS Version 5 is web-based it is available any time, where references within the text are cross-linked, and spreadsheets are available for tabular data. Users can print each section separately, avoiding the need for a hardcopy of the entire document for reference

NCS has many new updates for Disciplines such as “Distributed Energy” and “Real Estate” etc. Many of the previous existing Disciplines, such as “Survey/Mapping”, have been expanded.

For NCS users who have purchased the previous version of the NCS within the past six months are eligible for a discount on NCS Version 5. This discount will be available for the next six months.

For more information.

For now however, this news should be pleasing to many of you.

Some Details We Know

The AIA website on AIA Documents says the next “generation of the AIA Contract Documents service will represent a significant innovation in accessibility, security, flexibility, affordability and ease of use for the design and construction industry.”

In terms of “accessibility”–an area Mac users have been concerned with deeply for nearly ten years now–the next version will work through the web and be equally accessible on either Mac or PC computers. If this means the new web-based application platform for AIA Documents works through Safari it may indeed work on an iPad as well, bringing another great tool directly the architect’s hands while away on travel or on the job site.

AECbytes.com remarks that the new AIA Documents will enable sharing and editing online among multiple parties–another excellent innovation for the software as a service (SaaS) platfrom. Apparently there will also be an online editor, the ability to compare documents side-by-side, a method of helping users pick the correct document for their needs and the ability to review and track changes. Lastly, there will be a way for digital signatures and the ability to save and print PDF finals of all documents. You can see a video of the new service on this YouTube video.

Users who are interested in beta testing this can sign up for alpha and beta level trials by contacting Young Chang, Director of Product at: youngchang@aia.org

The service is expected to be available later in the year with more details emerging in Fall of 2011.

Kurt Ameringer, Director at Graphisoft, is interviewed by AECcafe.com and you can see the video of that interview here. This was filmed on the show floor at the AIA Convention in May.

Kurt covers the three major areas of improvement in ArchiCAD 15, including design freedom with the new Shell tool, plus renovation documentation workflow and the new 3D environment advancements. You can view the interview here.

Jeff Ouellette of Nemetschek Video – Talks about Vectorworks Architect

Jeff Ouellette of Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., was also interviewed by AECcafe.com at AIA and he discusses what the company is showcasing there to architects on the show floor.

Jeff mentions the focus of demonstrating how users can transition to BIM using Vectorworks Architect rather than making a complete wholesale switch. He also mentions the strength of Vectorworks in the graphics and presentation environment as well as its IFC compatibilities. You can view the interview here.

Autodesk 123

While not an AIA item per se Roopinder Tara at CAD Insider has another post about how Autodesk is taking on Google’s SketchUp with Autodesk 123. This is an interesting read because it delves into a discussion with John Bacus, product manager of SketchUp, about how SketchUp has become a fan favorite with the Maker Faire type audience worldwide. The Maker Faire itself was the chosen venue for Autodesk’s announcement of Autodesk 123. You can read the post here.

VBvisual produces high-quality, photorealistic images of plants and trees in computer renderings without overloading the computer. These are low-poly count objects (even large trees are less than 10,000 polys). Vectorworks users might not be aware of this tool, its inclusion in Renderworks and more. VBvisual plant objects can be changed per season without having to change the geoemetry. The company has a vast library of products, including general textures. To learn more visit here: http://www.vbvisual.com/

Swiss Architects “Project of the Week” achieved with Vectorworks

In other news Nemetschek is touting the work of Leuppi & Schafroth Architekten AG, who achieved “Project of the Week” for their Rhine Falls visitor center. To see pictures of this interesting structure and learn more visit here.

Vectorworks at AIA

Finally, Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., will be at AIA National this year in New Orleans in mid May. Their booth number is 3601. They will be supporting buildingSMART and the development of Open Standards for BIM.

To learn more about Nemetschek visit them here.

One of the highlights for me this year was spending time in the Rhino booth area. I absolutely applaud the way Robert McNeel & Associates utilized their space and time at this year’s AIA. For starters, the company set up several smaller stations and had numerous third-party Rhino developers show up and introduce their innovative plugin products. The effect of doing this was powerful. It created a larger sense of wonder and delight by just having more stuff to look at and explore. And it produced a clear sense that there is a Rhino eco-system of tools and options to choose from.

Secondly, the company pulled off one of the oldest tricks in the book to get people in their booth: they put in a strange and beautiful object. Last year at AIA SF the Orange Loft folks had a supercharged rocket powered VW Beetle in their booth. It worked! People were curious to see and touch it. In much the same manner, a beautiful and strange large object (one created in Rhino) drew people into the Rhino area.

Lastly, the Rhino folks had an Apple iPad application in their booth. The only one at the show as far as we are concerned. We will cover Rhino for the iPad and iPhone in a separate report but for now we want to turn our attention to MachStudio Core.

StudioGPU MachStudio Core

MachStudio Core for Rhino is a very cool new GPU-based rendering and non-linear editing system. I spoke to Tamir Barelia, Director of Business Development, of StudioGPU about the new software. He said his company was showing a technical preview and the product will be available soon.

MachStudio Core offers Rhino-based architects and designers a seamless way to create cinematic-quality 3D renderings and animations. Because it is a GPU-based renderer it is extremely fast and responsive, offering real-time high-fidelity views. Currently the product is only available for Windows but Barelia said that once the company rewrites the software using OpenCL (an open industry standard Apple created) it will pave the way for a native Mac platform version.

Some key features worth pointing out is that MachStudio Core is a 100 percent GPU-based renderer. The CPU does absolutely no work towards the final render. Barelia said their product is truly unique in this way but it does also compete with products like Luxion’s new KeyShot and Bunkspeed’s upcoming SHOT. And there is also New Zealand’s new Octane Render for Mac OS X which was released in April and also runs completely on the GPU.

MachStudio Core for Rhino is designed exclusively for Rhino software and offers a FastExport for Rhino and can automatically update the latest model from Rhino. Physically-based cameras provide settings and controls that mimic real-world cameras. You can export images directly into Adobe Photoshop while maintaining all render passes as independent, editable Photoshop layers–which is a really cool feature very useful to architectural rendering.

We look forward to seeing MachStudio Core for Rhino available on the Mac platform. In the meantime, check out more of the company’s technology and product information here: http://www.studiogpu.com/

Graphisoft announced this morning that its International and German versions of ArchiCAD 14 are now shipping globally. These are the first two of 26 localized versions. Next up in the release queue are Australian, United States and New Zealand versions. All local versions are planned to reach the market by end of Q3 2010.

AIA Miami

Architosh will be rolling out some interesting reports from AIA Miami this week. I spent some good time in the Rhino booth looking at the various third-party developers and was impressed with many of the things being shown there. We also have a report on Nemetschek’s Scia presentation materials which were shown at AIA as well.

After a wonderful evening dinner with old friends (and some new ones!) along the beautiful shore of Biscanye Bay I settled into the AIA Convention’s activities with several BIM sessions on the agenda for Thursday and Friday. The first of these was a session titled BIM for Building Skins: The Future of Facade Design, Engineering, Fabrication, and Construction. This was an event sponsored by Thornton Tomasetti and presented by Mark E. Dannettel, LEED AP, and Joseph Burns, PE, SE, FAIA.

Mr. Burns reminded the audience that structural engineering firms have been some of the leading users of BIM (Building Information Modeling) software and that this evolution for them began as far back as the 1980’s when architects like Peter Eisenman and Frank Gehry began a movement in architecture that moved away from orthogonal architecture. With that move engineers and steel fabricators were forced to turn to computer systems to help them design and manufacturer the structural components of these complex buildings.

The purpose of this excellent session (and this was indeed an excellent session) was to review the process of how complex building skins are actually designed, from the architect’s initial ideas to the eventual fabrication of custom extrusions, gaskets and unusual-shaped glass panels. The one poignant message delivered in this session was that today’s BIM tools don’t actually help this process much. In fact they can make things worse. There is no need to cite names mentioned in this session because they all suffer in this regard roughly the same.

01 - Image of slide from presentation. Thornton Tomasetti has been a worldwide leader in the implementation of BIM in structural engineering.

It turns out that what matters most and what engineering firms like Thornton Tomasetti really need from architects and their BIM tools is very accurate geometry of the outside surface of the glass skin. That’s it! Just about anything else passed on is practically useless for a whole host of reasons which I’ll come back to in a later report.

Over the next several days starting today I’ll be publishing a series of event reports and highlights from the 2010 AIA Conference in Miami, including many items from those companies which are exhibiting here on the show floor. Some highlights there include the fact that the modo folks, Luxology, are here. As is Bunkspeed! And this year there is an entire Rhino developer area with many interesting third-party developers showing off specific tools for building design.

Position Statement 31. Interoperability

“The AIA believes that all industry-supporting software must facilitate, not inhibit, project planning, design, construction, commissioning and life-cycle management. This software must support non-proprietary, open standards for auditable information exchange and allow for the confident information exchange across applications and across time. This is best accomplished through professional, public- and private sector adoption of open standards. The AIA encourages its members and other industry organizations to assume a leadership role in the ongoing development of open standards. ”

The AIA (American Institute of Architects) further notes, “We offer this as a challenge to other associations to take a similar position or to endorse the AIA’s statement.”

Why should AIA Architects Care?

The AIA is motivated to get the industry to understand the measurable loss of time and expense due to incompatible, proprietary file formats in CAD and BIM. “Overall productivity loss and fragmentation in the capital facilities development industries is no longer tolerable. Architects need to practice the best way they know, and practice profitably; software interoperability problems must not hold them back. Potential of loss of competition in the software market is not acceptable.”

Without software interoperability the AIA further states several problems the AEC industry, owners and architects in particular will face due to lack of interoperability. Some of these include:

• Waste in time, materials, energy and money will increase;
• AEC and owner productivity will continue to decline as data re-entry, document versioning and checking, and other workflow problems increase;
• Collaborative delivery models such as Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) will not deliver the benefits the profession anticipates;
• Architects may not be able to access files in the future without fear of loss of data or loss of whole file;
• Lack of competition may yield fewer affordable software solutions necesssary to support architects’ business practices;
• New software concepts, tools and opportunities may be marginalized if dominant software companies release interoperability features following their own agendas

The complete position statement is available in PDF here.

The documents and forms are Adobe PDF file-based and they provide form data fields for users to complete.

Mac-based Architects Wanted

Access to the service in general is free. The price per document varies from 4.95.USD to 19.95.USD.

To gain access to these new online documents go to: http://documentsondemand.aia.org

Having a programmer with a proven track-record for innovation head Graphisoft at such a pivotal time in the AEC software market is likely a wise move on the part of Graphisoft’s governing board. When markets go through a global downturn due to recession and other disruptive events, the companies that tend to come out ahead during these times are often the ones that commit themselves to true innovation. As a press colleague remarked to me at AIA this year, given Graphisoft’s size the company continues to impress with the rate at which it comes out with new products and updates. In the span of this year the company has come out with both MEP Modeler for ArchiCAD and now EcoDesigner. 

We’ve already covered the announcement of EcoDesigner back at AIA itself, so in this article we delve into some of the details behind the new product. 

EcoDesigner – Energy Analysis for Architects During Design

EcoDesigner, which will be released at the end of May, is a Graphisoft add-on software module to its award-winning BIM application ArchiCAD. What primarily sets this application apart from similar energy analysis applications is that it works directly inside ArchiCAD, thereby eliminating the need to export BIM data out to another software package in order to obtain feedback on the design with respect to energy. 

01 - EcoDesigner works in tandem inside ArchiCAD providing the architect immediate and quick feedback on energy efficiency that fits into the normal iterative process of architectural design.

Beyond that convenience, EcoDesigner itself was conceived as an energy analysis tool for designers, not engineers. Viktor Varkonyi marked that architects using ArchiCAD are the primary audience for EcoDesigner. As such there was a lot of emphasis on making the product easy to use, simple to implement and fast. The idea is to make it fast for the architect designing the building to compare his design against other design options. 

With a single click EcoDesigner can provide a PDF report on energy use with a given building design providing the user with key values, energy consumption and a building’s carbon footprint. In testing the solution EcoDesigner produced results within 8 percent accuracy of a buildings actual energy use. 

02 - The EcoDesigner interface palette as it exist inside of ArchiCAD.

Graphisoft’s perspective on EcoDesigner is elaborated on in its primary product brochure. The company is right in noting that sustainability is all about choices and that 80 percent of design choices affecting energy efficiency are made in the early design phase. EcoDesigner is squarely aimed at the up-front design phase decision making that effects energy efficiency. 

The goal is to “advise” the design process and provide another dimension to the BIM environment for the architect in shaping his design. This is different than the energy analysis tools already in the market, such as the new Bentley tools we discussed earlier. 

VIP-Energy Engine & Details

In light of what EcoDesigner is aiming to be–a tool for the architect–speed is an important aspect of the usefulness of the product. Akos Pfemeter said that the company chose to go with the Swedish-based VIP-Energy core calculation engine partly because it was very fast. VIP-Energy is produced by StruSoft and is a well regarded energy analysis calculation engine validated by ASHRAE-BESTEST and more. 

03 - Setting Parameters on Openings in EcoDesigner.

EcoDesigner comes loaded with all the essential energy data built into the common BIM assemblies from which you work in ArchiCAD. With EcoDesigner the architect works the same as before in ArchiCAD. From a set of palettes unique to EcoDesigner the architect sets the parameters that inform EcoDesigner of all aspects of the building in relation to energy use. For example, under the Location & Function tab (see image 02) you set your location in the world and the program downloads weather data for that location. You also set environmental parameters such as wind, facade shading, and site surroundings. And you set your building function. In the other tabs you set your structural envelope assemblies, openings, and input your MEP systems and energy data.

All of these settings are nicely laid out in the manner that is consistent with ArchiCAD’s interface standards. You can see from the Openings tab that windows and doors are pulled up from ArchiCAD’s common interface. The user can also specify if an opening has a shading type (see image 03).

04 - Your Carbon Footprint can be calculated in EcoDesigner.

EcoDesigner can be configured by the user with real fuel and energy cost data (see image 04) allowing the program to calculate savings or loss based on design configuration options. With EcoDesigner the architect using ArchiCAD can produce various design options such as wall types, window and curtain wall configurations, et cetera, and quickly calculate the real energy costs differences between them. This energy evaluation capability embedded into the normal iterative design process is what EcoDeigner was created for. 

EcoDesigner has flexibility and can classify projects into mixed-use arrangements. Viktor Varkonyi, CEO of Graphisoft, said it is also possible to create custom assemblies (eg: walls, etc.) and load them with the appropriate R-values and other data for calculation work. In the earliest stages architects often do not know or even want to know the material conditions of their designs. In these very early conceptual phases the architect can choose generic walls, roofs, floors and openings and work with averaged U-values, running the energy analysis and letting EcoDesigner inform her of the impact on energy use based on purely schematic differences in design.

Lastly, it is important to discuss what EcoDesigner is not. EcoDesigner is not meant to help you qualify for Credit 1, Option 1 under Energy and Atmosphere for LEED certification. It is not compliant with the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 standard and therefore cannot be used for whole building energy analysis for LEED certification. However, with EcoDesigner you can export out .vut files–the native files for the VIP-Energy engine from StruSoft– for more advanced energy analysis by engineers or energy analysis consultants. And you can also export out gbXML files for import into a range of ASHRAE 90.1-2004 compliant energy analysis tools–such as the new tools like Bentley Tas Simulator and Bentley Hevacomp which we touched on briefly here. 

Graphisoft EcoDesigner will ship in various license combinations and range in price from 275.USD to 645.USD. Again, the company plans to ship it by the end of May. For further information go to: www.graphisoft.com

Interestingly, auto-des-sys, Inc. first introduced Bonzai 3D at AIA last year. A year ago it was an early beta that showed a lot of promise. This year, at essentially version 1.0, Bonzai 3D is vastly more mature and ready to go.

In our earlier report we have a bullet list of the key new features in Bonzai 3D. Of this list, the feature that is most significant in my mind is the combination of real-time Booleans with true class-A NURBS behind all the curved functionality. This product is a serious challenger to Google’s SketchUp. 

01 - both formZ and Bonzai 3D brought visitors to the auto-des-sys booth.

Bonzai 3D also has the easy ability to move data back and forth between it and its more mature and capable sibling, formZ. This direct-upscale capability is attractive from the perspective of those who want to start with a “sketch-oriented” modeler and move to a full-featured industrial-class modeler that features the same modeling engine and most of the same tools. 

02 - formZ and Bonzai on display at AIA.

Of course this workflow I’m describing between Bonzai 3D and formZ will get vastly better with a revamped formZ–which is in the works. Chris Yessios told me last year that Bonzai 3D is paving the way with new approaches to the interface and workflow and that some of this innovation will move over to formZ in the future. 

03 - Google shows off SketchUp 7 Pro.

Google is now one of the big and popular software companies at AIA National. SketchUp Pro 7 is the latest version of the popular, easy-to-use modeler that now has a direct competitor in Bonzai 3D. Architosh published an in-depth interview with SketchUp 7 product manager John Bacus back in December. This is a must read for the details behind this release.

04 - Architects sit within the Google Booth Theater to check out demos of the SketchUp 7 product line.

You can notice in this picture that even Google’s booth had empty seats in its booth theater, as did mighty Autodesk and the smaller companies like auto-des-sys, Inc. Don’t take any of this as a reflection of the vendors’ popularity at the show. The truth is, the AIA National this year had noticeably less people attending the show. Those empty seats reflect a severely troubled US economy. However the vendors who exhibited deserve credit for staying in the show and for pushing forward in troubled times. I encourage readers to follow these links and check out their products new and old.

As a side note, it was interesting to compare this show at the Moscone to the Macworld Expo show at Moscone. In the AIA’s case, all three exhibit halls were pretty much filled to capacity–which would be a dream-come-true for a Macworld Expo show. 

01 - Nemetschek North America was on hand to show its latest release of Vectorworks Architect 2009. Here architects visiting the booth pick up new licenses after watching a round of demos in the mini booth theater.

It is always interesting for me to hang around all the booths and over-hear with people say as they come up to them and experience various companies for the first time. At both AIA shows (this year and last) I heard separate individuals say to their buddies, “what’s Vectorworks Architect?”  This still really surprises me because on some level I think this company does an excellent job of marketing itself. I suspect there are several factors at play here. One is that Vectorworks is truly a “global product” success story. So the company markets to a global audience. I know from past interviews with Nemetschek executives that the company is aware of this issue specific to the US. Showing up at AIA National each year is a steady way to address its US market share. 

02 - Vectorworks booth. Gallery walls show flashy architecture. This connection between outstanding architecture by its users links creativity and excellence to Vectorworks Architect.

Like the Bentley booth the Nemetschek North America booth does a great job of showcasing its architecture by its users. I personally love this aspect of both company’s booths. It is also an Apple-way of doing things–demonstrating the link between creative work and the tools that make it. I’ll address more of that aspect in an article on Autodesk later. 

03 - Graphisoft introduced EcoDesigner at AIA and their new tool did draw lots of users to their booth.

Graphisoft introduced EcoDesigner at the AIA show and the company’s booth drew lots of visitors. The one unique market advantage Graphisoft holds in the industry is that it has been producing a true BIM software tool longer than any other CAD software company serving the global markets. As such the company is smart to point out that millions of buildings have been produced by ArchiCAD. This is a statement of confidence and maturity in the use of ArchiCAD to meet the BIM demands of architects around the globe. 

04 - An architect checks out the features of ArchiCAD 12, shown here running on a Mac Pro.

The Graphisoft booth was loaded with Macs (of course there were Windows PCs too…) and it seemed this year (more than last) more visitors to the booths were gravitating to the Mac stations. Obviously, that is where the sexy hardware and OS lives. Might I be particularly more biased and sensitive to this phenomena? Of course. But it seemed to me that the Mac in particular was a bit more popular. I have much more to say about that based on some COFES feedback. (more on that later…)

As mentioned EcoDesigner was the brand new software product introduced by Graphisoft at AIA. We will be covering this product in detail in a separate report.

What About Murphy’ Law

As usual when coming back from a busy show like the AIA my email inbox rains news press releases in several other industries. Architosh has much to cover in the next few days in order to catchup on several great news announcements, including items from general CAD software companies and even a good item from Filemaker. 

Our AIA news show reports will begin flowing in the next few days as well and go into the next two weeks with some special features from the show. I was fortunate to have many sit-downs at AIA and this caused me to miss out on visiting several smaller software vendors on the show floor. If I didn’t get around to you and your company my apologies. The time went by faster than I imagined. 

Highlights and Trends

The big buzzword at AIA this year was obviously sustainability. And that issue will likely dominate discussion for some time. There was a lot of focus on green design and building a future wherein the profession of architecture takes a leading role in regards to building a sustainable and eco-focused culture. Both Bentley and Graphisoft had announcements in the area of green design. And Autodesk’s booth was popular with sessions on its energy analysis tools. 

The AIA released new AIA documents that continue to march the profession forward towards BIM, which itself is a critical component of building an eco-focused profession. BIM is a necessity in the march towards a greener world with buildings not just because you can do full building simulations and analysis of energy much easier than in 2D tools, but because a large part of energy conservation comes after a building has been erected. With BIM a facilities manager or building owner can more fully monitor, maintain, and operate a building during its complete life-cycle. 

In regards to seeing buildings as objects with a life-cycle that often can outlast an architect’s own life, the emphasis on data produced by the architect is shifting from a world of solely communicating the requirements for construction to a world where you are obligated to communicate information useful to a building’s continued operation. This places the emphasis on 3D geometry so buildings can be “virtualized” for their continued maintenance. 

Because the industry is still wedded to the value of drawing and 2D methods of communication–both required within the creation and the life-cycle management of buildings–a challenge exist to both encourage and help architects move to a 3D world. Google’s SketchUp continues to draw attention to this issue by presenting to the industry a simplified way of learning and mastering 3D architectural and environment creation. However, hot on the tails of Google, legendary formZ software maker auto-des-sys, Inc., has released a rival to SketchUp called Bonzai 3D. Bonzai 3D is a significant milestone in the industry for several reasons.

Firstly, Bonzai 3D offers serious competition in the area of simplified 3D model creation. Competition is good because it keeps companies on their toes, moving the industry forward. Second,  Bonzai 3D offers the industry a direct scalable modeling path. You can start with a simple tool like Bonzai and take that data directly into an advanced NURBS-based modeler like formZ.  It should also be mentioned that Bonzai 3D is technically a NURBS modeler itself, enabling more sophisticated means to the same ends as SketchUp. Lastly, Bonzai 3D is compatible with SketchUp and numerous other 3D and CAD file formats, making it a solid choice for any production pipeline. 

We’ll have more news from AIA coming up!

The US AIA's ABI point to improvement in design/building sector of the economy.

Such an indication is made more notable by the continued index improvement in inquiries to architectural services which started to rise back in January from a low in December. The ABI’s results suggest that perhaps the down economy is reaching a bottom or floor (insofar as the building industry is concerned). To read the full report go here.

Addressing the Downturn

Most architecture firms are responding to the downturn in one of several ways. The AIA-Architect report notes that only 1 out of every 5 firms is looking to investments in new technologies (information technologies) as a way of changing as a direct result to the downturn. A drop in IT investments at this time will likely slow BIM (building information modeling) adoption at a time when the industry at large is moving forward.

Part of the drive towards BIM is also directed at addressing “green design” which is more easily managed with BIM applications than with traditional CAD software. Interestingly, the AIA-Architect report didn’t specifically ask for this within its queries and only 26 percent of firms are responding to the downturn by addressing a broader set of services — of which “green design” may fit into. 

As firms look to address the downturn more than half (64 percent) are trimming expenses, which likely includes layoffs, reduced hours and pay and cutting back on all unnecessary expenses. Still, 51 percent of firms are looking at improving operational efficiencies — of which better utilization of information technologies should naturally fit. Into that bucket BIM should go! 

To read the full report go here.

This year’s results show an increase in the implementation of green design practices for architects and building owners. The 2008 index results show that 42 percent of architects report that their clients are asking for green design building elements on a majority of their projects, with 47 percent actually implementing green design measures. This is an increase of 15 percent from the 2007 Index results. 

The report cites architects as indicating that client demand is the number one reason they are adopting green design measures. Architects believe that the primary reasons their clients are asking for green design is because their clients want to reduce their building operating costs (60%), or use it for marketing (52%), or because of market demand (21%, up from 10% in 2007). 

The full Autodesk/AIA Green Index report for 2008 is available here.

InBrief: Altair announced today that recently acquired solidThinking, a leading CAID (computer-aided industrial design) software application has been added to its HyperWorks Enabled Community (HWEC), bringing the total apps available under the HyperWorks platform to 44. HyperWorks license customers can download and install solidThinking for Mac and Windows at zero incremental cost. 

Brazil for Rhino News

Robert McNeel & Associates, has announced that Rhino users can now use Brazil r/s 2.0, the same technology the world’s most demanding CG artists use without leaving Rhino. Brazil r/s for Rhino is still in development but all Rhino 4.0 users are invited to fill out an application. 

AIA  Billings Index Drops 6 Points

Another sign of the United States’ deep economic woes, the AIA, (American Institute of Architects) released the latest AIA Billings Index number for September. The AIA-ABI rating was 41.5. Any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings. 

“With all of the anxiety and uncertainty in the credit market, the conditions are likely to get worse before they get better,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “Many architects are reporting that clients are delaying or canceling projects as a result of problems with project financing.” To read the full release go here.

Practitioners from across the industry have collectively help write AIA E202 to provide a solid contractual structure for managing Building Information Modeling (BIM) across a project. This document says the AIA “creates an environment that encourages model authors to share their models with downstream users, designers contractors, schedulers, cost estimators and fabricators.”

AIA E202-2008

This document to be attached as an exhibit to either new IPD agreements or more traditional AIA agreements does all of the following:

• Specifies who is responsible for authoring each element of the model at each project phase, so no major design elements are missed or left unaddressed.
• Defines the extent to which downstream model users, such as contractors and fabricators, can use and rely on the model for scheduling, pricing, fabricating and construction.
• Assigns management of the model to a specific party by project phase, so there’s no confusion about who is managing the model at any time.
• Clarifies who owns the model and who has the right to use it.
• Allows easy modification to add or delete model elements and to revise the required levels of development on a project-by-project basis.
• Establishes standards and file formats to promote “interoperability” across the project.
• Provides common definitions for terms to avoid confusion.

A table in the document assigns authorship of each model element by project phase. E202-2008 was written primarily to support a project using Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). However, it can be attached to more traditional agreements.

For some further information visit:

http://www.aia.org/release_092408_condocs

Marc’s circuitous background takes him from SIGGRAPH presentations to the world of 3D gaming, to mapping out cities like Paris and London and Toyko to designing and building his own house in San Diego using SketchUp. Now he helps lead FormFonts 3D.

In this interview Marc tells us about himself, about what FormFonts 3D offers content users today and where FormFonts 3D will eventually go. And yes, if you haven’t yet guessed, this too has something to do with BIM!

The formation of FormFonts 3D

AFR: Marc, can you tell me about how FormFonts 3D got started?

(Marc Fredrickson): Fred Abler, the founder and CEO, started a website in 2001 called Objective Networks. People uploaded 3D SketchUp models and the models were downloaded more than 4 million times in less than two years. There was no cost to participate. However, the problem of the model quality and consistency became paramount. Even though there was a rating system, people uploaded many poor quality models and few good ones. Fred needed to either close the site or start a pay-for service where people would know that they could find high quality, low polygon models as well as textures. This is when I, one programmer and many great 3D artists hooked up with Fred to start FormFonts.

And what is your background? I understand you have an architectural degree and have been involved in practice?

(MF): I attended Cal Poly State University-San Luis Obispo and got my undergraduate architectural degree. After working for a few years for an architecture firm, I returned to school to get a graduate degree in Architecture from University of California San Diego. The architecture program was just getting started and many resources were available, including access to the super computer center. Back in 1993 my thesis was a real-time rendered virtual shopping mall called ‘In the Bag.’ A couple of programmers and I worked on it. We showed the thesis at SIGGRAPH 1994 in Orlando, Florida.

At the time, video games were about to transition to 3D environments. The guys at Angel Studios — who did the CG for “Lawnmower Man” and Peter Gabriel’s music video “Kiss that Frog” — had just signed a contract with Nintendo to make games for the N64…and they offered me a job. Since San Diego was still in a recession at the time, I decided to have some fun making video games for a while and then when the economy got better, get an architecture job. But I was having so much fun I stayed with Angel Studios (later bought by Rockstar Games) for 10 years.

And what kinds of things did you do as a trained architect working at a video gaming company?

I worked on Midnight Club, an open-city based driving game. I had the best job – traveling to Tokyo, Paris, New York, and London among others to research and map the city for the game. I wore many hats such as 3D artist, lead 3D artist, environment artist, level designer, game designer, game design department head and office space planner.

During my 10 years making video games I was able to exercise my architectural skills designing and drawing up the plans for a few friends. Moonlighting wasn’t a problem since the clients worked at Angel Studios. I feel fortunate that I had got my architecture license right before starting to make video games and was able to keep doing architectural work.

I understand that you designed and built your own house….using SketchUp.