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Geoffrey Moore Langdon
CADENCE AEC Tech News # 14 (Nov. 15, 1999)
Architectural CADD Industry Shakeup--not Shakeout
So perhaps you thought that the market for architectural software was stable. After all many of the same players who were there 15 years ago are still in this game: AutoCAD, DataCAD, ArchiCAD, MicroStation, Arris, and MiniCAD, among others. You may also have gotten lulled into not paying attention since for about a decade AutoCAD has dominated the market, followed by MicroStation and then the others. This fall, then, is likely to a surprising one as it seems that just about everything has changed.
A number of reasons have caused the two big players to re-orient their businesses and new companies to enter a market previously thought to be saturated. One reason is that possibly the CADD market in architecture and engineering WAS saturated, so that to keep selling products Autodesk and Bentley have had to start growing into new markets. Another reason may be the boom in the construction industry. CADD companies may be realizing there is a huge market beyond drafting and modeling software. Part of it could be the plummet in computer prices and the fact that many people besides engineers and architects can now use 3D visualization software. A very big part of it could be how the Web and Internet have vastly changed how products are marketed and sold, and how we now have greater expectations for interconnectivity for our drawings and our architectural practices.
Exciting Times for CADD
Diehl Graphsoft (VectorWorks) up 87%, Graphisoft (ArchiCAD), and DataCAD LLC (DataCAD) up 47%, are all posting record high sales, while Autodesk (AutoCAD) posts a record low citing the downturn in the industry. Meanwhile Visio is becoming part of Microsoft, causing enormous amounts of wild speculation concerning the CADD market, although all bets are off until we find out whether there is a settlement or the judge decides to take action against the Microsoft monopoly. A side benefit is that IntelliCAD is becoming "open" and free (download it from http://www.cadopia.com/) though who knows if it can really survive as a product without a conventional developer company behind it.
Other new software is also available free over the Web: DesignWorkshop Lite, SoftCAD 3D Lite, TurboCAD and others. I recommend downloading any of them and trying them out. The companies behind these free offerings have discovered the marketing power of the Web and have other offerings and upgrades that they sell thanks to people first finding them because of the free stuff. Meanwhile Sigma Design International (makers of Arris CAD) is doing its part to shake up the market over at www.buycad.com where you can purchase online a complete high-end Pentium system with monitor with the CADD software installed (usually Arris, but others are available) all for $2,900.
There are even whole new companies entering the architectural CADD field, such as Charles River Software in Massachusetts, with entirely new architecturally intelligent 3D modeling products. Charles River is developing software, currently called RevIt, that's due in the spring and will be sold as a subscription over the Web. Another interesting development due in the spring is an "architectural" version of TriForma (which, we thought, was already the architectural version of MicroStation, but apparently Bentley was thinking of the broad definition of architecture.) Also due in the spring is DataCAD's adaptation of the Euro 3D modeler ArCon, harbinger of a genuine shakeup in the DataCAD world as they finally shift from a drafting to a modeling paradigm.
New Innovations
With both of the huge main players (Autodesk and Bentley) currently repositioning their software offerings, and making room for other players, the whole AEC CAD market is bursting with new ideas and new software design tools. Several of these new tools and approaches come to us because the Web is now so pervasive. CADD software developers will soon no longer have to create libraries of thousands of objects, but rather hook into the actual building product manufacturers Web databases of products, so that an architect can then choose exactly what he/she wants from millions of objects.
Renderers can now work with interlinked high-end rendering packages (that avoid DXF translations and that retain lights/textures/materials). The products--ArchiCAD/Artlantis, FormZ/RenderZone, ArchitecturalDesktop/3DStudioVIZ, DataCAD/RenderizeLive--are increasingly gaining access to renderfarms (networks of computers all working on the same rendering or animation).
There is serious development work going on in automatic solar energy analysis, now that the 3D CADD modeling paradigm is becoming established in architecture. A company called Praxis is developing an analysis engine that works with DesignWorkshop and other CADD programs.
Architectural project collaboration tools are at a new high in development, particularly with products such as Graphisoft's ArchiCAD Teamwork, Bentley's TriForma and BricsNet. A number of new offerings from Bentley are so new in concept that it is challenging to figure out exactly what they are--a product you can buy or is it a service you can use (even more confusing when the demonstrator says "both").
New 3D CAD Graphics Accelerator Processors
Yet another area where the architectural CADD world is getting shaken up is in the realm of high-speed computer graphics hardware. People are noticing the amazing graphic rendering speed of their kids' Sony Playstation and Nintendo games. Architects doing visualization and CADD programmers alike have been lusting after the processing speed of such dedicated rendering chips. For all sorts of reasons, a number of those technologies cannot just be lifted into the current Windows/Mac CADD arena. However, our current processors are not lagging quite as far behind as it seems, as there a number of new abilities built into these chips specific to high-end 3D graphics that are simply not being used, largely for "legacy" reasons, so that their software will run on more machines. The users of photorealistic architectural rendering are demanding more speed, though, and the programmers are listening.
Programmers are discussing specific support for newer processors to take advantage of the intrinsic huge speed potential currently untapped in those chips. Translation = by next year there will be versions of CADD that require PIII and G4 processors, and, by the year after, forget about using that G3 or PII system.
New Versions of Architectural Software
In many previous years, the developers of architectural software introduced their new versions in May or June to present at that year's A/E/C SYSTEMS tradeshow. For some reason we are seeing new versions from several companies this fall: Arris 2001, DataCAD 8.50.07, VectorWorks Architect, ArchiCAD 6.5, ArchT for IntelliCAD 2000, and AutoCAD Architectural Desktop R2--all with better, smarter architectural features, better interlink collaboration abilities and better plot layout abilities. With all these great programs coming out you will need help in evaluating them and the benefit of adding them to your mix of office design software, so keep an eye here on this column, on CADENCE magazine, and on the Designers 3D CAD Shootout coming up during A/E/C SYSTEMS 2000.
Links for this issue (in order of appearance)
Autodesk (AutoCAD ArchitecturalDesktop, 3DStudioViz) = http://www.autodesk.com/
DataCAD LLC (DataCAD, RenderizeLive, ArCon) = http://www.datacad.com/
Graphisoft (ArchiCAD Teamwork, Artlantis) = http://www.graphisoft.com/
Bentley (MicroStation TriForma ) = http://www.bentley.com/products/triforma/
Sigma Design (Arris) = http://www.arriscad.com/
Diehl Graphsoft (MiniCAD / VectorWorks) = http://www.diehlgraphsoft.com/
Visio = http://www.visio.com/
Microsoft = http://www.microsoft.com/
IntelliCAD = http://www.intellicad.org/
Artifice (DesignWorkshop) = http://www.artifice.com/
SoftCAD (SoftCAD) = http://www.softcad.com/
IMSI (TurboCAD) = http://www.imsi.com/
www.buycad.com = http://www.buycad.com/
Charles River Software (RevIt) = http://www.csr.com/
auto*des*sys (FormZ/RenderZone) = http://www.formz.com/
EnergyDesignResources = http://www.energydesignresources.com/
Praxis = http://www.praxis.com/
BricsNet = http://www.bricsnet.com/
Sony Playstation = http://www.sony.com/
Nintendo = http://www.nintendo.com/
Intel (PIII, PII, Pentium) = http://www.intel.com/
Motorolla / Apple (G4, G3) = http://www.apple.com/
A/E/C SYSTEMS = http://www.aecsystems.com/
Designers 3D CAD Shootout = http://www.architecturalcadd.com/shootout.html
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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