Enscape’s new 2.8 version—teams with BIM Track

Germany-based Enscape, a leading provider of real-time rendering and virtual reality technology for the global Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) market announced the release of Enscape version 2.8 this month.

The latest update focuses on collaborative model-based workflows and better visualization.

Enscape 2.8

This latest version focuses on issue management and team collaboration. Enscape has partnered with BIM Track, one of the world’s leading cloud-based BIM collaboration platforms. Teams can now identify and document design and construction issues when reviewing projects in Enscape 2.8.

Enscape 2.8 gains new BIM Tracker integration and partnership plus other BIM and visualization features.

Whether its a question, an RFI, or a clash, each issue can be quickly captured in Enscape 2.8 in photorealistic 3D view mode, then noted, assigned an appropriate team member. Comments and the 3D view itself are stored in the Enscape project file for easy archiving and retrieval.

Thanks to the BIM Track partnership, issues can be synced between Enscape 2.8 and BIM Track, then retrieved in popular BIM software including Revit, AutoCAD, Navisworks, Procore, Tekla Structure, Solibri, and more.

“Providing designers and contractors the ability to capture issues during an Enscape review session extends the value of real-time visualization to the entire AEC project team,” says Mortiz Luck, co-founder of Enscape. “The new issue management features in Enscape 2.8, and our new partnership with BIM Track, promise to make the design process faster, by making communication between teams easier and more robust.”

Visualization Improvements

Enscape 2.8 introduces new wind effects. Users can now create stunning animations by increasing and decreasing the extend leaves rustle in trees and bushes, plants sway and water ripples with the wind.

And designers working in healthcare architecture will benefit from a new Asset Library of medical equipment and medical staff, including doctors and nurses.

BIM Improvements

Users of Enscape 2.8 will also find additional BIM workflow improvements. Version 2.8 is fully compatible with Autodesk Revit 2021. For ArchiCAD users, views created in Enscape 2.8 now display in the ArchiCAD view map. And views can be batch rendered for improved performance. Vectorworks users also gain a new feature in 2.8—all Enscape Asset libraries are now supported in the (beta) version of Enscape for Vectorworks.

To learn more and see demos visit Enscape here. 

Availability

Enscape 2.8 is available in English, German, and now Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. Users can try Enscape free for 14 days here. Educational licensing is free.

To learn more about the partnership with BIM Track visit here.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Enscape is a very good software solution in the “real-time” category of photo-realistic rendering solutions for AEC professionals. Though architects on Mac computers should be warned, like Lumion there is no native solution for you at this time. All editors of Architosh have seen Enscape trade shows and been impressed with its capabilities. Enscape essentially competes with Lumion and to some extent also Twinmotion, this last solution being fully macOS native. 

With Unity and Epic Games firmly establishing themselves in the professional AEC and MCAD markets serving initially as real-time visualization options—providing their “engines” to rendering technologies to popular BIM programs in particular—the market for architectural viz has heated up significantly. Sony’s recent investment in Epic, valued at USD 250 million, for 1.4 percent, gave Epic a valuation of USD 17.86 billion. 

Smaller software firms in the AEC visualization market will need to execute at higher levels and innovate to stay out in front of both Unity and Epic in this market.