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AEC Newsletter archive:
Geoffrey Moore Langdon
CADENCE AEC Tech News # 18 (Jan. 28, 2000)
Update on Updates - Part 2
In addition to the trend towards 3D intelligent objects in most of the new updates to all our favorite architectural CADD software packages, a number of other issues are coming up in AEC Technology. All this innovation and all these new updates definitely cost something to the software developers, so we are seeing prices rise and even upgrade fees going up significantly. Also we are running into all sorts of file compatibility issues with many of these versions, especially as they start to add significant features to new things we can draw. We are even running into controversy of CADD programs not compatible with previous versions of the same software, as some of those new smart objects seem to loose their smarts on round trips to colleagues who have not yet upgraded.
The other huge issue for our time is how we react to what is essentially a paradigm shift in AEC CADD as 3D intelligent modeling attempts to (some people say "inevitably") replace 2D-drafting oriented CADD. Initially a more obvious, easy, shift from hand drafting, 2D CADD offered us just an "electronic pencil" and over time has added more features and automatic drawing macros (mini programs within a program). The 2D drafting approach is definitely less threatening to the architect-designer-drafter hierarchy of organization prevalent in most AE firms. A software that is a DESIGN tool with smart 3D parametrics and needs information only a designer can provide, needs to be actually used by that decision-making designer, and is largely wasted if given to a drafter. Thus, to avoid disrupting an AE office organizational system that has existed for hundreds of years, the old guard seems to be pleading for better 2D features--but with "automatic" sections and elevations. Of course those "automatic" sections and elevations, though, really need 3D in order to actually work.
No software seems to be more in the middle of this debate right now than DataCAD. Whereas AutoCAD, MiniCAD, and MicroStation have all already gone down that smart parametric 3D road with their new architectural versions, DataCAD is still poised at the brink, and the debates among users is intense.
DataCAD 8.50 and Beyond
The new and vigorous company behind DataCAD has been issuing incremental updates to its 185,000 users every few months--each time including a few more features and adding a few more macros, but essentially staying within the same framework. A user of the software in 1986 would quickly recognize essentially the same program. What it has grown into is nothing short of amazing, with automatic routines for drawing virtually anything in the construction industry. Architects and builders love the easy simple intuitive interface with tons of shortcuts. The architectural-specific macros (more numerous than for any other CADD software) that automatically draw and model everything from elaborate stairs with railings to Victorian roofs, actually just plunk down lines or 3D surfaces with no attached data intelligence, which is good, they say, because you just modify them (stretch, erase, add lines) as necessary, without the interference or limitations that intelligent systems usually place.
As good as DataCAD 8.50 is, the developers have hit a limit to expanding it, both conceptually as a separate 2D and 3D program and in its interface where there is no room to fit new commands. thus they get placed, confusingly, in a sea of macros. President Mark Madura of DataCAD LLC acknowledges the importance of 3D parametric modeling and says "construction documents won't resemble conventional drawings but rather virtual environments with hotlinks to details, specifications and manufacturers instructions." Until recently, the plan of DataCAD LLC was to develop its upcoming 3D parametric software as an entirely separate development effort from the incremental improvements of DataCAD. With its new million dollar alliance with MB America and Spirit of Germany, which we reported on last year, the company has renewed its effort to incorporate 3D parametrics into a more familiar successor in the form of DataCAD Plus.
While y'all were in the basement watching 100 hours of fireworks on CNN, Rick Morse of DataCAD LLC was in Germany busily working on that upcoming DataCAD Plus, which incorporates elements of Spirit. DataCAD also comes with innovative parametric 3D Arcon software. Madura says that the company is selling Spirit now "as is" to those who want to get a preview of where they may be headed with DataCAD Plus. I believe they are aiming at a May introduction of the new version--in time for their annual DataCAD College and to use in their comeback in the next Design Shootout.
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AEC Tech enthusiasts should check out the Virtual Spectator software for watching the rest of the Louis Vuitton Cup races in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, next week. The 3D CADD virtual reality is so stunningly outstanding that you can actually see the spinnakers being gathered in, dipping in waves, and all the SailTrack telemetry live directly from the Americas Cup boats.
Web Links
DataCAD LLC (DataCAD) - [http://www.datacad.com]
Virtual Spectator Louis Vuitton Cup - [http://www.virtualspectator.com]
Americas Cup Races - [http://www.americascup.org]
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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