In-Depth with ArchiCAD 14 – Graphisoft talks to Architosh

It seems it was only yesterday when we were sitting down with Graphisoft CEO Viktor Varkonyi, talking about ArchiCAD 13 with its new Teamwork 2 technology and BIM Server. Now the company–after just a short 9 months–has announced ArchiCAD 14. In a WebEx meeting between Boston and Hungary, as I watched demonstrations of version 14’s new features, I had this explained to me.

“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)

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)

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.

Turning IFC Technology Into Real Workflow Solutions

Graphisoft has developed, in ArchiCAD 14, a plugin structure to streamline and enhance the model exchange interface via IFC (Industry Foundation Classes). It has also developed a plugin for Revit customers who are working with ArchiCAD-based architects. In total, ArchiCAD customers have the option of exchanging data via IFC translators, Add-ins (like those for Revit), gbXML and other traditional means of import/export.

Getting more in-depth with this we learn that Graphisoft has added new properties such as “IFC Element Type” and “Structural Function” to BIM model elements, enabling more refined model mapping between architectural and engineering BIM models.

Architects can now apply model filtering using these new “properties”, thereby quickly generating just the pertinent aspects of the BIM model to export out to consultants, whether this be structural components or MEP components. This is important because although architects and engineers work on the same structures an architectural BIM model has completely different requirements from a structural BIM model and vice versa. When these components (say structural) come back to ArchiCAD 14, via an IFC import process, elements that are new, modified or deleted get color coded so that architects can quickly see what is new. (see images 04-05 above and below)

Let’s take a closer look at how elements can be classified via the new IFC settings. The model shown above is actually the Microsoft Campus building in Hungary. It was used in training materials for ArchiCAD 13 and possibly 12 if memory serves. We see again above and below.

For the most part ArchiCAD 14 is intelligent enough to determine what elements are structural or non-structural and an “automatic” setting is recommended as the default for IFC Element Type. Still, architecture being infinite in its expression some elements may need deliberate designation setting options. To make the point of how this works we’ll just look at three images below. In the first one on the left (image 06) we see “model filtering” in action showing quickly all the elements of the BIM model that are designated “structural.” However, the suspended ceilings have been accidently included in this “structural BIM model” and they don’t want to be.

To fix this we visit the Slab Selection Settings palette and at the bottom are the IFC classification drop-down menu options. In the next image (middle, image 07…please click on these to see them larger) we are going to change the IFC Element Type from “Automatic” to “Ceiling.” Then we will change the Structural Function from “Undefined” to “Non-Structural”. Using “model filtering” only elements designated as “Structural Element” end up in the IFC model file bound for Revit Structural. (see image 08)

Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD 14 isn’t just newly savvy with structural integration. The new version also now includes plugins for Revit MEP as well. This allows direct export of Revit MEP models into ArchiCAD MEP Modeler. MEP objects preserve their parameters during export. This means you can manipulate the ductwork parametrically in ArchiCAD 14 (see image 09 below).

The specific improvements with IFC interoperability exchange with ArchiCAD 14 include items like the ability to not just apply model filtering but export or import specific elements including 2D elements like text, annotations and other 2D elements, such as grids. There is also new support for ZIP compression of IFC files built in because BIM models get large and this helps with the demand to email IFC files.

You can save as IFC from a 3D window and the program accurately interprets rotated profile elements like rotated columns and door frames. And a big important feature is the ability to save your configured IFC exchange settings as a “translator” or utilize “out-of-the-box” translators specifically configured for particular applications like Tekla Structures. (see image 10 below)

ArchiCAD 14 users have a range of IFC “Translators” to choose from, reflecting ArchiCAD’s global popularity as an architectural BIM program.

Graphisoft also told us that ArchiCAD 14 will ship in various localities with a different set of IFC translators. For example the Dutch version of ArchiCAD 14 will include an IFC Translator for Nemetschek Scia and the German market will have a translator for Nemetschek Allplan applications (eg: Allplan 2009 Engineering). ArchiCAD 14 is working with IFC 2×3 translators but if you need to work with IFC 2×2 there is a free add-on to install.

Productivity Improvements

ArchiCAD 14 also features several productivity improvements. At the forefront of these are improved OpenGL rendering in views, including shadow casting. Live views of the BIM model become both better working views and a nicer looking visual for communicating with clients.

Version 14 also includes much enhanced options for door and window model-based sections and details, giving the architect even more control over the customization of how doors and windows sit into a wall. The ability to work with ArchiCAD schedules in Excel has been added via a new export option that sends the graphical information to Excel also. And dimensions have new text prefix and suffix options.

Graphisoft extended sources for site modeling in ArchiCAD 14 via new capabilities to import native XYZ files from digital theodolites. Tibor Szolnoki told Architosh that in many countries architects have been requesting this feature. XYZ coordinates automatically convert into an ArchiCAD Mesh element

Improvements to Teamwork 2 and Graphisoft BIM Server

Beyond the “open collaboration” features introduced in version 14, Graphisoft also continued to improve upon the technologies it introduced just nine months ago in version 13. ArchiCAD 14 brings 64-bit computing with Graphisoft BIM Server on the Mac OS X platform. This bring technical computing parity between Mac and Windows. Related to this are further performance optimizations across both platforms with faster IFC import/exports, interactive schedule updates and library handling.

The new Teamwork “Pack & Go” feature makes an easy option for a user to essentially pack up their work and all necessary project BIM data and take it with them on a USB stick drive. They can work remotely without an Internet connect, for example, and then bring their work back into the office on Monday and update their data seamlessly with the BIM Server. This is essentially a transportability option for those who cannot reach the Internet and thus cannot access the BIM Server.

The new Teamwork “Solo” mode helps sole practitioners take advantage of the powerful benefits of the BIM Server infrastructure without dealing with the complexity of a multi-user team structure. It is also ideal for early phase project start-up users who want to work solely on a project and build-out the team later. Both of these additions were discussion points we had during our meeting and introduction to ArchiCAD 13 nine months ago. Their addition now greatly rounds out and completes Graphisoft’s “teamwork” capabilities which simply are unmatched at this time in the BIM industry.

Finally, Graphisoft has created a BIM Server Performance Monitor function that enables managers to review CPU, memory, data transfers, and server actions. This new tool is aimed at helping users evaluate hardware and software deployment usage and team performance.

Closing Comments

Graphisoft’s pace of innovation is quite remarkable. In just two releases within two years the company has leaped ahead of the industry in the areas of internal teamwork and collaboration–that is the architect’s task of building out her team both within and without the office. ArchiCAD allows multi-office, remote location firms to easily work together due to its unique BIM Server technology, which is patent pending. In this release they have focused on the “extended design team” looking beyond the architect to her engineering consultants. The complete IFC model work flows are a great move forward in true BIM collaboration. They have laid an excellent foundation for the future of the program.