IN 2017 OUR READERS were highly interested in a few core topics. Interestingly, “hand drawing” was one of them. That’s not something one would have guessed would be so interesting to readers going into the year. BIM continues to occupy reader’s thoughts as does what Apple is going to do about its Mac hardware. We now know what Apple has planned for its Mac professionals but prior to announcements one of our best articles of the year was focused on the new AMD RYZEN 7 processor and its suitability for Apple’s Mac Design Philosophy.
What’s that you say? Yes, there actually is an Apple Mac Design Philosophy.
The future is always of interest to readers so it should not surprise that both an article about GRAPHISOFT’s future from a KCC keynote to a sit down with Autodesk over Project Quantum made this Top 10 list. The top 10 articles of 2017 ranked by views are listed in reverse (count-down) order below. What do you think the number one story was?
Number 10: Abvent’s New Artlantis 6.5—Unlimited Render Nodes and More
Our 10th most popular story in 2017 was about French software maker Abvent and its new Artlantis 6.5 with unlimited render nodes. Render nodes are separate instances of the software crunching away on a rendering as part of a kind of render farm. A new Render Manager helps the user set up the render nodes features and the big killer aspect about this is the “unlimited” nature of it. Most rendering software charge by render nodes on some level. The other big news in this update had to do with Twinmotion integration.
Number 9: Architecture Firm Accelerates BIM Process—Using Their Hands
This feature on Autodesk’s SketchBook tells the story of an accomplished architecture firm in ESG Architecture and Design and their successful use of looking back at hand drawing—but digitally—as a way to speed up modern architectural BIM workflows. This is the second top 10 story that is essentially focused on hand drawing on mobile devices and as essential skills of the trade.
Number 8: KCC 2017: Varkonyi Outlines GRAPHISOFT Future—Offers Glimpse of Nemetschek Group Strategy
Who doesn’t like hearing about the future of something they care about or use? This kind of information is valuable for road-mapping company futures and at the GRAPHISOFT Key Client Conference (KCC) in 2017 in Kyoto, Japan, that is exactly what its CEO did. Many of its key clients are huge companies with thousands of employees. Such large companies need roadmaps but this event was also shared with the press for wider distribution to all of its users.
This future talk is outlined in this article and then it is further framed around larger global construction industry dynamics in the title article of the new architosh INSIDER Report. To get an insider’s perspective of what the future of GRAPHISOFT may truly look like, read the new INSIDER Report.
Number 7: Digital Drawing Heaven?—First Reviews of reMarkable Tablet Seem Glorious
Our 7th most read story in 2017 was about this little-known tablet from Norway. If you have not heard about the reMarkable tablet before, you need to. For architects, in particular, this device may be the drawing tablet you have longed for but not found on iPad Pro or Android devices. We confess, we have one and will be reviewing it soon. Spoiler alert. It’s darn good.
Number 6: Autodesk Intros New Revit 2018—Strenthens Multidisciplinary Design
This incredibly popular news story discusses what is new in the 2018 version of Revit, the BIM leader in the United States regarding seats and adoption. Pressured by its users about the pace of innovation within Revit, the company announced its Roadmap page which you can find a link to on this story. The big news with Revit 2018 was that this release went into a multidisciplinary direction, delivering tools for steel detailers, for example.
Number 5: GRAPHISOFT introduces ARCHICAD 21—With New Patent-Pending Technology
GRAPHISOFT again was a super popular topic when it introduced its latest version of ARCHICAD in version 21. The big story here was the new “Predictive Design” technologies. What few don’t realize about this BIM company’s new stair technology is that it uses AI. That, the company tells us in another story here.
Number 4: BOXX Goes After The Apple iMac Pro’s Jugular—Launches “Think Again” Campaign
Just a month ago Architosh broke this news story before anyone else had picked up on it. Not at all shy about competing with Apple on the messaging front, PC workstation maker BOXX took aim at Apple with the upcoming iMac Pro. Their tagline as noted in the article was: “Twenty years ago, Apple asked us to think different. Now BOXX asks you to think again.”
The company even used footage of the late Steve Jobs on its website as part of this campaign.
Number 3: ARCHICAD 20—A Deep Dive Into Its Best New Features
This article was so popular it broke our record for most social shares (80). Published in the early part of the year, it addresses the three big-ticket items in ARCHICAD 20. This “step-by-step” deep dive covered the new UI (user-interface), graphic over-rides, and the “I” in BIM for version 20 so well, we discovered a limitation of sorts and future direction for the visual search functionality of Graphics Overrides. What we learned was, we couldn’t touch some data in elements because the data is stored as a GDL parameter. For example, the size of glazing in a curtain wall element. Why is this important? Oh, it’s hugely important and the answer is on page 2 of this product review feature.
Number Two: Autodesk Explains Project Quantum—And Why It Matters in AEC
For the first time, Autodesk makes clear what the difference is between the future of Revit and what Project Quantum will be. Quantum will not kill Revit, they say. The company explains why a ground-up re-think of how AEC software must work points to the value of Autodesk’s new Forge platform. And the CAD giant admits that on AEC projects of sizeable natures, up to 250 applications may be involved and they might make just eight of them. Most of all, we learn if Revit will be coming to the Mac platform or even to the cloud. [INSIDER Membership required]
And without further ado….
Number 1: Will Apple Forego Intel?—Why AMD’s New RYZEN Chips Look Smart for Future Macs
Our number one article of the year noted how Apple’s Mac design philosophy changes hadn’t been lost on its pro users. But wait! If that new philosophy—about balancing minimal enclosures with thermal envelop demands—is the ongoing concern in Mac design, then Intel’s chips aren’t the best choice. In this article, we talk about the “Apple-esqueness” of AMD RYZEN 7.
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