“We wanted to get back to the standard spring release,” said Akos Pfemeter, Director of Marketing, “but more importantly with ArchiCAD 14 we are completing what we started with ArchiCAD 13 and the BIM Server.”  ”With ‘Open’ interdisciplinary collaboration being one of the main themes for this release, now ArchiCAD users are fully equipped to be part of any design workflow regardless of the size and composition of the design theme,” continued Pfemeter, “in addition as traditionally in every ArchiCAD release we try and put an extra emphasis on serving our existing users worldwide with lots of local wishes.” This last point is about building into ArchiCAD 14 features that can serve particular markets (localities) and the company does this by listening very closely to its customers.

In this In-Depth feature article we are going to discuss and show ArchiCAD 14’s new features focused primarily on “collaboration” and round out talk about productivity features.

An Open Platform

Akos Pfemeter made it clear that Graphisoft, which is a subsidiary of Germany’s Nemeschek AG, believes in open standards in the BIM world and that the theme of “open” means more than just that. “We think the world is plural…and we think we best serve our clients [globally] if we provide them with workflow possibilities that are open,” he said. This openness can be summarized by two images below from our WebEx presentation. (see images 01-02)

01 - Graphisoft is about being "Open." (image courtesy of Graphisoft)

02 - Open starts by letting customers choose their hardware and OS platform, not "limiting" customers in a world with ever expanding options.

Firstly, as many are already well aware, Graphisoft is not only a world-leader in BIM (Building Information Modeling) it is the world-leader in Mac/Windows “cross-platform” BIM. “In many countries the Mac is very strong in architecture and we believe in giving our customers the option to choose the hardware and OS platform they wish to work on,” said Pfemeter. As we noted in our Varkonyi interview Graphisoft continues to see uptick in interest in the Mac as Apple gains continued global influence and prominence in the digital world.

With the halo effect of iPod/iPhone, and now the double halo effect emerging with iPad, more and more people are interested in Mac OS computers. ArchiCAD 14 delivers unrivaled platform neutrality and choice and near perfect platform parity between Mac and Windows. It supports the latest Windows 7 and Mac Snow Leopard operating environments. Platform parity is important to the company, which just delivered 64-bit support on Mac with Graphisoft BIM Server in this release just as it said it would when version 13 was released.

Open also means “interoperability” and “collaboration.” In Architosh’s recently released Architosh 2010 BIM Survey Report of over 410 architects worldwide, we learned something beyond the eight major findings of the report. We learned there were 17 sub-major “unexpected findings” from our data collected. Two of those unexpected findings deal squarely with interoperability and collaboration. They are:

• Interoperability is often seen as the most troubling BIM adoption headache for firms making the switch to a BIM workflow, and;
• The IFC format is not considered to be working at the level the industry truly needs

After speaking, often directly, with global leading firms like SOM and NBBJ and working all the way down to typical smaller and mid-sized architecture practices around the US and beyond, it is clear to us that the global BIM architectural market (and global BIM AEC market, of which architecture is just a third) understands the paramount importance of affective exchange of BIM geometry and data. Therefore, what Graphisoft has contributed to the industry at large in the last two releases cannot be overstated.

In ArchiCAD 14 Graphisoft has addressed the importance of interoperability and collaboration centering its attention forthrightly on the exchange of data via both “open standards” and public-proprietary standards. By doing so the company has turned ArchiCAD 14 into arguably the world’s most “open” BIM program across any sector of BIM in AEC. (see image 03)

03 - ArchiCAD 14. Possibly the most "open" and connected BIM software in the entire AEC software market. This diagram (courtesy of Graphisoft) shows the world of interoperability and data exchange possible with ArchiCAD 14.

The vast array of data exchange possible with ArchiCAD can be see clustering around three segments of BIM: MEP, Structures and Architecture/Green Design providing architects great flexibility both in collaborating with the engineers and in having their BIM model exported for running all sorts of analysis, coordination and model checking in external applications. Key aspects to this new release are the development of IFC translators and specific Revit plugins for import and export processes. If you look at the chart above you can see that ArchiCAD 14 speaks to nearly all the major BIM programs in these three segments and has the potential to aggregate BIM information from all trades for model coordination. Some notable ones include IES, Solibri, Vico, Scia, Tekla and Revit MEP and Revit Structures. Let’s take a more detailed look at how this all works.

Nemetschek North America has announced that Vectorworks user Nathan Kipnis Designs has won Home of the Decade, an award given in the 10th anniversary May/June 2009 issue of Natural Home Magazine. “Vectorworks allowed me to very precisely model the home to fully envision the sun’s path during various times of the year, both inside and outside,” states Kipnis. “This was insightful for us in the office, as well as for the owners, as design was so integrally tied to the sun angles, views of Lake Michigan, and shading from several types of trees.” For pictures of the award-winning home click here.

Graphisoft’s MEP Modeler Helps BDSP Coordinate Building Services

BDSP Partnership is a 100+ strong international consulting engineering practice, specializing in the design of sustainable, energy efficient structures. Building services–heating, cooling, water supply, recycling, fire and security alarms, telecom, etc,–account for a growing proportion of the value of many major construction projects. However, the coordination of these services is often a major headache. From initial design stage, the size and complexity of the services has to be carefully planned.

BDSP Partnership tackles these challenges using ArchiCAD and its MEP Modeler application. BDSP director, Ian Dunscombe, says: “Using model-based design and the MEP modeller saves us loads of time and we can produce not only all the information needed but be confident that our own work is fully coordinated. And the information produced is something that architects, and even the client, can understand easily, making it great for coordination and communication purposes. The 3D model has great benefits at every stage.” 

To learn more about MEP Modeler and ArchiCAD by Graphisoft please visit them on the Web here.

Copper Project Version 4 Enterprise Edition is now out

The Copper Project folks have been busy for quite a long time but the results have been worth it they say. Version 4 Enterprise Edition is now available. The fourth version of this online project management software system (Saas, software as a service, tool) will help customers manage their information, time and money better than before. 

New in Copper Project v4 Enterprise Edition is an all new user interface that responds immediately to numerous feedback thanks to the implementation of AJAX functions to 90 percent of Copper. There is now real-time search, including searching for files that are uploaded to the system. 

Other changes include a redesigned projects module, simplified project screen merging tasks with projects, better project Gantt charts, faster ways to do simple items like associating related projects, allocating users, etc. There is a new Stopwatch Timer feature for those pros who need to track time that accurately, and numerous other little features that refine an already popular system. 

Click there to learn more.

2008 may turn out to be a watershed year for advanced industrial societies due to the collision of two major forces: the near total collapse of global financial markets and the rapid uptake in interest in alternative and renewable sources of energy. Both play into the adoption and interest in BIM for several reasons. Most notably BIM, unlike CAD, enables a better understanding (vis-a-vis analytical software tools) of building energy use and capture much earlier on in the design process. 

And in this time of marked “economic downturn” architecture firms, according to a recent AIA Economics report, are stepping back and looking for ways to optimize workflow and gain new efficiencies. Into this picture fits BIM (building information modeling) and with that ArchiCAD 12. Let’s take a look. 

ArchiCAD 12

With ArchiCAD 12 Graphisoft — which is now apart of the German Nemetschek Group – has done major work on a new underlying “systems technology” as well as optimized their code base for today’s multi-core processors from Intel and AMD. ArchiCAD 12 is the world’s first multi-threaded BIM application. The Hungarian developer also has addressed a broad range of BIM functionalities with a series of engaging new features and functional improvements.

So what’s new…?

First and foremost is the new Curtain Wall tool, based on the new systems technology mentioned earlier. Because this technology underlies significant future changes to ArchiCAD this will be our main focus in this review. However, there are several other important new features that warrant attention. First and foremost is the new Partial Structure Display and the related new feature 3D Document capability. Both of these make dramatic improvements to the core program. 

Secondly, Graphisoft has dramatically improved the StairMarker tool and the Hotlink Module. Finally there are several smaller improvements of which we will briefly touch on near the end of the review. 

A New System – Curtain Wall Tool

By far the biggest new feature in ArchiCAD 12 is the new Curtain Wall tool, which Graphisoft has told me is based on new “systems technology.” Developed internally Graphisoft’s new systems technology differs from its intelligent objects technology behind things like doors, windows, and stairs. 

The main distinction visible to the end user is that Curtain Walls — based on the new systems technology — can be edited at the “component member” level without dissembling the whole system or element. Also unique is that when you edit Curtain Walls at this level you do so within a dedicated 3D work environment complete with its own tools specific to the purpose of editing curtain walls. This is entirely different than the way in which you edit other building objects within ArchiCAD and it is a welcome change. (see image 01).

01 - ArchiCAD 12's new 3D Edit Curtain Wall Environment.

A key defining aspect of this new “systems technology” is that in the case of the new Curtain Wall tool there is introduced a new schema or set of “constructs” for understanding how the curtain walls you create are actually made and controlled by the program. These constructs include things like “reference line”, “reference plane”, “grid” and “base plane” and other constructs more closely aligned to real-world components like “panel” and “frame.” We are not going to talk about these specifically in this review but it bears mentioning that we hope Graphisoft can implement its systems technology going forward with a directness and simplicity consistent with the best aspects of the program. 

MEP Modeler for ArchiCAD

The MEP (mechanical/electrical/plumbing) Modeler extends Graphisoft’s market leading BIM application to more fully address the needs of architects and their engineering teams as they migrate to BIM and integrated project delivery processes. MEP Modeler for ArchiCAD 12 can allow users to create, edit and import 3D MEP networks (ductworks, piping, and cable trays) and from third-party applications and then coordinate them with ArchiCAD 12. 

“Coordination issues between trades are one of the biggest source of problems on medium and large building projects,” says Miklos Szovenyi-Lux, director of product management, Graphisoft. “These problems regularly cause as much as two to four percent cost overrun on total project budgets. Our MEP solution identifies problems on projects before they get to the construction site.”

Key features of MEP Modeler are:

• Powerful MEP modeling tools
• Powerful routing tools for both 3D and 2D views
• Rich library of standard parametric parts
• Interference Detection System – helps coordinate MEP to Architectural and Structural Systems
• Import capability from AutoCAD MEP 2008/2009 (in 3D)