The new book provides solutions for setting up projects through the phases of Planning, Tender, Construction, Interiors and As-Built drawings. It is based on ArchiCAD 14 but can be adapted to suit older versions of the software as well.

Vaneshrie Sullivan has sold and trained ArchiCAD in the sub-saharan region of South Africa almost ten years ago and worked in interior design and architecture practices using ArchiCAD both in South Africa and the United Kingdom, as well as training architects in those countries as well as the US, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Kuwait and India.

01 - New ArchiCAD interactive training book by Sullivan.

The book sells for 195 British Pounds and can be ordered here. You can also preview the table of contents on this site.

Under communist law, it was actually illegal to own a personal computer, according to Gabor Bojar, the company’s founder, who remarked: “A real entrepreneur is never afraid to take a risk.” Gabor risked a prison sentence by taking a strictly embargoed product (the Mac) onboard a plane from the West to Budapest, so that six months later they could unveil ArchiCAD for the Mac.

Gabor’s remarks during the unveiling are partly included in the blog post here. They are a wonderful testament (to Jobs and Graphisoft itself) and an illuminating story for people of the West in particular to read.

Read the blog post here.

Crafted by Hungarian sculptor Erno Toth, the life-like bronze statue stands near the entrance of architectural software maker Graphisoft’s Budapest headquarters building.

The relationship between Graphisoft and Apple can be traced to the 1980’s, when Jobs came across the first version of Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD software running on an Apple Lisa computer at the 1984 CeBIT show in Germany. His first impression of the software led him to throw Apple’s support behind the development and distribution of ArchiCAD.

01 - State of Steve Jobs dedicated and placed in Graphisoft Park in Budapest, Hungary.

“With its attention to excellence in every detail, Graphisoft Park’s environment embodies the spirit of Steve Jobs,” said Viktor Varkonyi, CEO of Graphisoft. “I can’t think of a better place to commemorate the man and his legacy.”

A webpage dedicated to the planned event states: “Graphisoft considers Steve Jobs the greatest hero of the information age. We believe such superlatives are warranted: indeed, we cannot be entirely objective with respect to Steve Jobs, because to a large extent, Graphisoft ArchiCAD owes its global success to him. In 1984, Apple was willing to give Graphisoft a chance.”

BIM Begins on Apple Lisa

ArchiCAD is largely considered the very first true BIM (Building Information Modeling) software program, inventing and coining the term “virtual building” in the process of developing 3D CAD for architects which enabled them to literally build the building, completely, in 3D on the computer. “The first version of ArchiCAD ran on a Lisa computer, the immediate predecessor to the Macintosh,” reports the company. “We exhibited this program at the 1984 CEBIT in Hannover, where Steve Jobs saw it and decided to give Apple’s full support to its development and distribution. Apple gave us cash and computers at a time when Graphisoft was a young company with very limited resources; the technology represented by those computers was not even available in our part of the world.”

01 - Ark-Coca-Cola skyscraper wins fifth design excellence award. The project is a BIM achievement in Australia and was designed using Graphisoft ArchiCAD.

ArchiCAD quickly became available on the Mac and remained an exclusive on the Mac well into the 1990’s. Apple introduced the young Hungarian company to its global distribution network, which the company relies on to this day, helping sell and represent ArchiCAD in countries around the world.

“In 1985, after Steve Jobs left Apple, the company lost its soul,” states Graphisoft on this webpage. “At the time, many of our partners said that Graphisoft was the guardian of Apple’s spirit and soul. Some even said that we were the ‘real Apple’ at that time. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple 12 years later, the company again began to create miracles.”

“The working environment at Graphisoft Park embodies the spirit of Steve Jobs, which strives for excellence in every detail. Our built environment aims to inspire and promote this passion for quality in the talented people who work here. Graphisoft Park is indeed a fitting location for a statue commemorating Steve Jobs and his legacy.”

To learn more about Graphisoft’s thoughts on Steve Jobs and its view on Apple and the Graphisoft connection, click here. The event takes place in front of the Graphisoft building, 1031 Budapest, Zahony u, 7, G Building, at 3:00PM CET.

Those who wish to attend can RSVP by contacting Julianna Gulden, Graphisoft PR at: jgulden@graphisoft.com

NCME and Graphisoft agree to establish a NCME-Graphisoft Strategic Partnership with objective to promote and implement Building Information Modeling (BIM) to strengthen the design capabilities of NCME, the brand and influence of NCME, to support the growth of BIM in China and the creation of specifications for municipal design, as well as BIM standards for China based upon Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD and related software.

North China Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute (NCME) is a nationally recognized, professional organization. A design and research organization integrating urban planning, cost consulting, environmental assessment, project design, contract engineering, project supervision, research and technology development.

During the course of the next three years, Graphisoft will assist NCME with implementing BIM on design, collaboration, sustainability, and create BIM specifications.

To learn more about ArchiCAD visit them online here: www.graphisoft.com

Architosh Analysis

Graphisoft continues to make substantial progress in China with several related agreements like this one in the past few years. Recently Architosh reported on Graphisoft’s team-up with United Design Group of Shanghai, China. And just this early Fall the BIM innovator signed a MOU with China Academy of Building Research Architecture Design Institute.

With China’s recent construction boom BIM is exploding in the growing country. Large-scale agreements like this one can form a very positive momentum for the BIM innovator, growing its market share and attraction in one of the largest markets in the world.

The current beta version supports the conversion of up to five rooms with full functionality from drawings made using the Apple iPad version of OrthoGraph. This limitation of the five rooms can be turned off in the final release by purchasing a full license, which the company says will be a fraction of the cost OrthoGraph Survey.

01 - OrthoGraph ArchiCAD Import Module enables you to bring in measured rooms from OrthoGraph on your iPad into ArchiCAD for Mac and Windows.

OrthoGraph ArchiCAD is available for both Mac and Windows and runs with ArchiCAD 14 and 15, plus ArchiCAD Start Edition 2011. For more information visit this product page on the web.

VIRTUAL TUTOR 12 for ARCHICAD V12 is now shipping. Over 6.5 gigs of movies, nearly 2 gigs more than the previous version, Virtual Tutor 12 allows the viewer to learn at their own pace, with a full reference guide with step by step how-to examples of cool things other users have done.

For more information on Virtual Tutor 12

Anime News

IN OTHER NEWS, Smith Micro 2D animation software, Anime Studio was recently added in the Mac App Store.

This software application has already become one of the top selling Graphics and Design software, following closely behind Adobe’s Photoshop Elements and Pixelmator.

This unique app enables people of all skill levels to imagine, create and animate 2D movies, cartoons, anime and cut out animations. Notably, the apps system allows creators to animate quickly and efficiently.

Anime Studios is hoping to be featured in the “New and Noteworthy” section within a couple weeks on the Mac App Store. Currently the success of this app has warranted Anime Studio to be promoted in next weeks Featured Apps at the store. Apple will even be showing a demo video that will be promoted by the Apple staff.

For information on Anime Studio Debut visit

Anima 1.1.3 is released

Anima 1.1.3 is the latest version of a stand-alone character animation application designed specifically for architects and designers. The program works as a plugin for CINEMA 4D and Autodesk 3DS Max. It runs from 399.USD. to 739.USD for the premium version. To learn more visit them here.

Liverpool embraced BIM as a means to plan, administer and control processes used in the construction, expansion, and modification of its stores. After considering ArchiCAD and another BIM solution, Liverpool chose ArchiCAD as the BIM solution best-suited to meet its growing needs. Liverpool’s Store Planning Team, represented by Martin A. Perez, Fernando Parrillat and Carlos Jimenez, pointed out several areas where ArchiCAD surpasses its best rival.

“ArchiCAD allows the management of large files without the need for major hardware and infrastructure,” the team said. “Furthermore, ArchiCAD’s Teamwork function makes collaboration on even overseas projects easier to manage.” The team also chose ArchiCAD due to the strength of the technical support back in Hungary and its Spanish offices in Europe, in addition to its Mexico representative. “No other company dedicated to BIM even comes close to Graphisoft in Mexico,” they said.

To learn more about ArchiCAD and Graphisoft’s BIM solutions visit them online here.

What We Think

It is becoming increasingly common for large retail businesses to implement their own BIM standards. This is just a natural evolution of those same companies’ CAD standards. Many architects may wonder how such large corporate clients and their technology standards work in conjunction with independent architects serving these same clients. Often in the past CAD standards by such clients could impede on architect selection and working methods and the sharing of data. But BIM promises by its very nature a more flexible approach to these same challenges. ArchiCAD’s strong IFC and Open BIM standards orientation makes it a very flexible solution. It was noteworthy to hear the Liverpool team mention overseas support, something Graphisoft is very strong in with its best-in-class BIM Server.

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

Graphisoft now offers Tekla BIMsight for its professional and educational users for BIM model coordination. The software is a free download on MyArchiCAD.com

Built on Tekla’s proven modeling technology, BIMsight enables architects and engineers and others to coordinate BIM models and share data. “It is crucial for architects and structural engineers to be able to coordinate and construct with contractors, seamlessly,” said Laura Virros, director of the Project Delivery segment at Tekla. “We are happy to share a common belief in open BIM collaboration with Graphisoft, and we are delighted to have them along as a Tekla BIMsight distributor.”

To learn more visit: www.teklabimsight.com

iPad and Facebook Integration

BIMx is a native iOS application and ideally runs on an iPad from which architects, engineers and contractors can interactively engage in a sophisticated BIM model. It features game-like navigation, whereby anyone can explore full BIM models without holding a license of the professional authoring software in which the building model was originally created.

01 - Graphisoft BIMx, a new Apple iOS app running here on an iPad. The application runs incredibly smoothly and features nice gesture integration.

ArchiCAD users have been able to publish self-running BIMx models for their clients to run on their desktops (on Mac and Windows)–now BIMx models are making their debut on the popular Apple iOS platform.

BIMx has Facebook integration and social connectivity. Users will be able to host their BIM models on a purpose-built cloud site backed by Microsoft Azure and Facebook technology. “Demand for access to BIM projects off-site, or even off-line on mobile devices has been increasing in recent years,” says Miklos Szovenyi-Lux, Vice President of Product Management at Graphisoft. “At the same time, BIM models are large, complex, and highly-integrated databases that have been difficult to port to handheld devices with satisfactory results.”

02 - Graphisoft BIMx. Will be the first BIM application with Facebook, cloud and iPad integration.

Graphisoft is significantly extending the reach of BIM model information to the BIM community with BIMx and its cloud-driven Facebook community site. “With the introduction of BIMx for the iPad/iPhone, we have signficantly extended the reach of BIM’s benefits beyond building professionals to their clients–the building owners,” says Miklos Szovenyi-Lux.

Key Features

• Real-Time 3D navigation
• stereo, shaded and hidden line rendering/view modes
• enhanced with gravity
• fly-mode
• egress recognition (ER)
• ‘tap to go through door’ mode
• ‘tap to go there’ mode

The integrated BIMx community on Facebook is the central hub for sharing interactive content. There are YouTube videos of BIMx in action on iPads for your viewing there. The site says that there are 12 days and counting to go before the hub opens.

The CadFaster plugins enable the export of highly efficient geometry models from various tool and upload to the CadFaster cloud service, which then enables collaboration between participants featuring annotation, co-viewing and distribution.

” Unlike traditional viewers that are often very slow on mobile applications and require a large amount of internal memory to open a stored file, the CadFaster mobile app allows users to easily and almost instantly view models that are exported from CAD programs using the CadFaster|Collaborate plug-in,” said Raimo Kuismin, chairman, CadFaster. “It’s also much more than a viewer. This application provides a free resource at anyone’s fingertips for accessing, sharing, marking up and co-viewing diverse, 3D CAD designs.”

01 - CadFaster for iPad is a new CAD solution for mobile professionals with iPads. It enables the viewing and collaboration with others with connected CAD assets hosted in the cloud.

CadFaster Collaborate is the company’s main product. Thus far their only versions are for Windows-only CAD systems with the exception of the iPad solution. The iPad solution is absolutely free and you can test it out with demo 3D models up in the CadFaster cloud. Go here.

What We Think

You heard it from our experts in our 2011 State of Apple in CAD series this summer. CAD in the cloud is a reality and we think CadFaster is offering a valuable set of tools to the market. We encourage them to widen their support of CAD systems and platforms. In the future we might expect support for other 3D file formats and for Android tablets as well.

To learn more visit them here.

The goal of the agreement is to provide technology leadership for Obayashi through integrated building information modeling (BIM) workflows and a company-wide BIM-based information sharing system. The Japanese contracting giant has been working on reforming the use of BIM among design, construction and building operation functions within the entire company.

Graphisoft’s BIM Leadership

Obayashi has chosen to partner with Graphisoft due to its industry leadership in BIM. This alliance will be based on Graphisoft’s revolutionary BIM Server with Delta technology and will tap into NEC’s cloud services leadership. Obayashi will gain “seamless information sharing,” which is the key advantage of BIM. NEC has been involved in many large cloud applications and brings its know-how to the table.

Obayashi is confident that by implementing the “SmartBIM Cloud” on a company-wide scale, customers will benefit in a number of areas, including the ability to check the status during design, construction, and the completion of buildings, from anywhere and anytime on the Web, resulting in information on demand.

This leads all stakeholders to a better understanding of each phase beforehand, so that it will be possible to respond to customers’ requests in early stages, leading to consensus early in the design process. In addition, utilizing BIM will result in the creation of a working environment in which each person involved in the building process can cooperate quickly and seamlessly, greatly reducing the construction time. The BIM database contains not only geometric information, but also specification, supply, analytic data and everything that is necessary for construction.

To learn more about Graphisoft’s BIM solution ArchiCAD visit them online here: www.graphisoft.com

The OrthoGraph Survey supports floor-plan survey, elevation survey as well as cross-section survey. These then can be transferred into 3D BIM models that can be opened in a 3D CAD software such as ArchiCAD, AutoCAD and Google SketchUp.

OrthoGraph is excited to have a cutting edge surveying solution, that makes the measure – survey – 3D model work flow even faster.

Users can try OrthoGraph’s free fully functional trial version of OrthoGraph 3.0 here.

On top of that, OrthoGraph has teamed up with Leica Geosystems, an industry leader in durable, accurate, and reliable distance meters, to create some great software/hardware solutions.

The Leica D8 includes:
Digital Pointfinder with 4x zoom
Large color display screen (2.4 inches)
360° Inclination measurement
Bluetooth – reliable data transfer

A discount is available on OrthoGraph 3.0 + Leica distance meter when you order through e-shop.

OrthoGraph can be tried out even on Windows 7/XP/Vista by downloading a PDA Emulator preinstalled version from our website. This way OrthoGraph can be tried out even without having a PDA/Windows Mobile Phone!

GRAPHISOFT Japan has announced that it will be supporting the relief efforts in Japan in response to March’s earthquake and tsunami, which has left the strong country in ruins.

Through the end of June, GRAPHISOFT Japan will donate to the Japanese Red Cross ¥10,000 for every full version of ArchiCAD sold and ¥5,000 for every ArchiCAD Solo version sold. In addition, the colleagues of GRAPHISOFT’s Japan office have donated over ¥100,000.

For further information on the story and about GRAPHISOFT Japan’s efforts, please click here: help

ArchiCAD power-user Eric Bobrow, internationally recognized ArchiCAD expert and author of more than 20 Tips and Tricks articles and video tips, leads the way.

See below for details on the Best Practices Course and all of the free ArchiCAD tutorials available at acbestpractices.com.

Registration Details

To Register for the Best Practices Course on the Bobrow website. You can also access a large number of great free tutorials and training materials. Signing up for Bobrow’s ArchiCAD Tutorials email list gains you more free tips and training on a regular basis.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss ArchiCAD training options, please contact ICS at 617-576-8778 or info@intcad.com.

Another note

For users looking to advance the quality of their renderings and animations Artlantis Render & Studio are on a “Roadshow Special” sale through July 15th. 10% off and a free 3D car library.

Stationed on an archeological excavation site, the contemporary Metropol Parasol, seems to grow out of the dig, representing the unique relationship of Seville’s historical and contemporary contributions to art and culture.

The Metropol Parasol has activities such as a farmers’ market, and elevated plaza, with multiple bars and restaurants underneath and inside the elevated structure. There is even an archaeological museum and a panorama terrace at the top.

01 - Seville's newest architectural gem was designed with ArchiCAD software by Graphisoft.

GRAPHISOFT is extremely proud to be apart of such cutting edge contribution to modern architecture. If you want to learn more about ArchiCAD go here: www.graphisoft.com.

This is Australia’s first commercial high rise building completely designed and constructed and handed over as a built model with asset management software using BIM. Designed by Rice Daubney and built by Thiess, Ark-Coca-Cola Place was completed in 2010. The A-grade office tower is in the heart of North Sydney and comprises 21 levels.

“Ark is what design excellence is all about–it is daring, iconic, and a true landmark for Sydney,” said Glenn Byres, NSW Executive Director of the Australian Property Council.

01 - Ark-Coca-Cola skyscraper wins fifth design excellence award. The project is a BIM achievement in Australia and was designed using Graphisoft ArchiCAD.

To learn more about BIM click on BIM in the cloud tag. To learn more about ArchiCAD click here.

sdfs

This McGraw-Hill Construction Event is sponsored by BIM software leader Graphisoft and will feature three principals (as panelists) who will discuss the nature of their green projects and roads to success.

Jane Kolleeny, Managing Editor, GreenSource, will moderate the panel discussion. Architects include: Sam Batchelor, AIA, LEED AP, principal, designLAB architects, inc; Aaron Jobson, AIA, LEED AP, principal, Quattrocchi Kwok Architects; and Bradley Khouri, AIA, principal and founder, b9 architects, inc.

Learning Objectives and Registering

The main learning objectives for this event, which has an AIA CE unit of 1 AIA/CES are:

• Understand why specific material choices were made and how decisions contributed to sustainability success
• Recognize why specific design/siting decisions were made, and how these decisions contributed to both the project’s sustainability and its architectural excellence
• Identify effective means to communicate with clients about the budgetary/design give-and-take that goes into sustainable design projects
• Learn energy efficiency measures that were undertaken

This is an excellent event for architects interested in learning more about sustainable design.

The event takes place at 2:00 – 3:00 EDT, May 19, 2011. You can register here.

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