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AEC Newsletter archive:
Geoffrey Moore Langdon
CADENCE AEC Tech News # 17 (Jan. 18, 2000)
Update on Updates - Part 1
You can be assured while you all are busy getting projects out during this boom in the construction industry and trying to implement and integrate the new versions of CADD into your practices that those creators of the magic are actively working away at changing how you do that work.
Even though new versions of CADD software seem to come in waves to us, the software developers are at it continuously, working on two or even three versions into the future simultaneously, in addition to a team that works on fixes for glitches in the current version. Usually, the future versions are simply a strategy of major introductions and innovations by the same team, with other wish-list items either making the cut or not depending on feasibility and development time. Sometimes, though, when a software company is starting down a very different path or has acquired another company, as was the case with Autodesk's 3D Studio or CADKEY's Parthenon project, they set up an entirely different group of developers in a secretly closed area where they are not allowed to discuss their progress even with others in their own company. These radical departures sometimes pan out, and are developed into separate new products (such as 3D Studio VIZ, SoftCAD 3D, ArchiDesign) or change the core of the main product to leapfrog the software's abilities (MicroStation, AutoCAD 14, VectorWorks). One unmistakable trend in all the AEC software development, though, is towards an architecturally intelligent 3D model approach.
Right now many offices are still struggling with the latest versions that came out this fall, in particular the new AutoCAD Architectural Desktop R2, VectorWorks, DataCAD 8.50, and ArchiCAD 6.5, and are busy getting upgrades, training staff, discovering the glitches, and developing new office procedures to take advantage of the new features. We'll take a close look at each of these in upcoming issues, and others, to see what they have new and where they are going, but this issue will focus on the current holder of the Architectural CADD Cup -- ArchiCAD.
ArchiCAD 6.5
Already well established as an integrated 3D architectural modeling program with intelligent parametric objects, automatic sections, automatic elevations, built-in rendering, animation, automatic coordination of design teams on a network and more, ArchiCAD 6 is an extraordinarily tough act to follow. The masters at Graphisoft, though, have indeed done it again. While many of us are still trying to get used to that new ability to work in perspective view (or any other view) introduced in Version 6, the new 6.5 added even more but makes it easier. For instance, you can just click on the bottom of walls you have drawn in perspective and the whole building floorslab will automatically and properly suddenly pop in; same thing with even complex roofscapes. How they can add so much sophistication and yet keep it flexible enough for real design and make it easier to use in the process is amazing. Different roofplanes will instantly project to meet other roofs accurately with just a click.
ArchiCAD 6.5 has an entirely new object library window, which gives even greater flexibility in viewing any object (such as a chair, window, door) in any view and seeing any settings visually change parametrically before placing them into the model. Stuff that is still only on future wish lists for other CADD programs, such as more detail automatically showing up at larger plotscales, and window frames that are customizable yet still automatic, is all already there in ArchiCAD 6.5. When reviewing their builders edition modules (which includes libraries of whole pre-modeled kitchens, living rooms, dormers with windows, fancy wainscoting and paneling) last year, I mentioned that everyone, even architects, would like these modules at least as a starting point. Apparently Graphisoft realized that, and they now include all that in the basic ArchiCAD 6.5 CD. They also have given us some new tools for dealing with those building modules, as important as the concept of layers, so that modules can be displayed, modified, moved and copied while still being a kind of unit interacting intelligently with the rest of the architecture. Finally, while demonstrators have fun wowing architects with the new ability to instantly generate all the dimension annotation for an entire project with a single click, the most important new feature may be ArchiCAD's new xref capability. Not only does the software do xrefs, and, of course, transfer in xrefed AutoCAD files correctly, but it can xref the AutoCAD DWG files directly--without translation.
It is hard to imagine improving ArchiCAD further, but Graphisoft's current efforts for future versions are to integrate more of the building process, in the form of more built-in types of construction (steel, post and beam, log), and integration of HVAC engineering. Graphisoft's integrated "Virtual Building concept" is thus behind their recent acquisition of Cymap, a UK-based supplier of design software for HVAC.
Links
Autodesk (AutoCAD ArchitecturalDesktop, 3DStudioViz) = [http://www.autodesk.com/]
DataCAD LLC (DataCAD) = [http://www.datacad.com/]
Diehl Graphsoft (VectorWorks) = [http://www.diehlgraphsoft.com/]
Architectural CADD Cup = [http://www.architecturalcadd.com/shootout.html]
Graphisoft (ArchiCAD Teamwork) = [http://www.graphisoft.com/]
About Geoffrey Moore Langdon, AIA
Prof. Langdon is a registered architect and is the principal of Architectural CADD Consultants, a firm that specializes in helping architectural firms with computing and CADD. He has taught Design, Solar Energy, and Architectural CADD at a number of colleges in the Boston area. He is the author of Architectural CADD: A Resource Guide to Design and Production Software Appropriate for Architects, a guest speaker at many AIA events, and the founder and organizer of the Designers 3D CAD Shootout competition. contact him at aectechnews@architecturalcadd.com, or through his website: http://www.architecturalcadd.com
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