AECbytes.com Blog » Newsletters and Features

Graphisoft’s New White Paper on BIM

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:51:15 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, Graphisoft, developer of ArchiCAD, released a new white paper called “Get There Faster with ArchiCAD,” which attempts to identify the most important criteria that architects should be looking at when selecting which BIM tools they should work with, as well as clarify the advantages of ArchiCAD over other BIM tools. While Revit is not specifically mentioned, it is obviously the main target of the white paper, being the leading BIM competitor to ArchiCAD. This AECbytes newsletter summarizes the content of the white paper, and analyzes it in the context of the current BIM adoption in the AEC industry.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2012/issue_55.html

HOK’s 2nd Annual BIM Awards

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:04:58 +0000

This article takes a look at the projects selected as the finalists in HOK’s 2nd Annual BIM Awards competition. This is an internal competition to evaluate and award projects within HOK that have exhibited exemplary use of BIM technology in one of four major categories; Design, Delivery, Collaboration, and Visualization. I was invited to serve on the jury of the competition and therefore had the opportunity to review all the finalist’s presentations and get an understanding of their projects.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2012/HOK_BIM_Awards.html

Autodesk University 2011: General Session and Innovation Forums

Lachmi Khemlani — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:10:48 +0000

This article on the recent Autodesk University 2011 captures the highlights of the general session keynote and three “innovation forums” on the topics of the cloud, social networking, and sustainability, along with some AEC industry technology news I was able to glean at the event. This year, Autodesk dispensed with the industry keynotes that it typically schedules following the main general session keynote and instead had several cross-industry innovation forums that were intended to provide a broader view of emerging technologies and issues relevant to all disciplines.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2011/issue_54.html

iPad Apps for AEC: Design and Visualization

Lachmi Khemlani — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:58:37 +0000

Given the increasing number of iPad apps that are now available for the AEC industry, AECbytes will look at these apps in two separate articles, one focused on apps primarily intended for design and visualization, and the second focused on apps that can be used for project management and construction. This article focuses on apps for design and visualization and includes an overview of Graphisoft’s BIMx app for iPad, Autodesk’s new cloud strategy and the Autodesk Design Review app, the iVisit 3D app, and finally, the Inception app from Architactile, a new software developer.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2011/iPadAppsforAEC.html

BIM for Facilities Management

Lachmi Khemlani — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:39:37 +0000

This article looks at the current status and future outlook of the application of BIM in the field of FM (facilities management), including the BIM integrated modules of leading BIM applications such as FM:Interact of FM:Systems, which includes BIM integration with Autodesk Revit, ArchiFM for Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD, and Bentley Facilities. It also looks at two other vendors that are developing different technological solutions and services for facilities management and lifecycle management: Onuma Systems and EcoDomus.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2011/BIMforFM.html

AEC Technology Updates, Fall 2011

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:17:10 +0000

This inaugural AECbytes technology update covers the recent launch of the Vectorworks 2012 product family by Nemetschek Vectorworks, the new Project Vasari update from Autodesk, new offerings from Deltek and Newforma, as well as recent updates from Graphisoft and Tekla. It also looks at the continued attempt by Dassault Systemes to enter into the AEC technology space with 3DVia Composer, and a content management solution called OpenAsset BIM, which is soon going to release a Revit plug-in.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2011/issue_53.html

Inaugural Revit Technology Conference 2011 in the US

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:02:44 +0000

The inaugural US Revit Technology Conference, known as RTC for short, was held in the Huntington Beach area of Los Angeles a few weeks ago. The RTC actually originated in Australia in 2005 as an expanded Revit user group meeting, and has grown into a full-fledged conference that continues to be held annually in Australia. The RTC 2011 event in Los Angeles attracted about 300 attendees and several exhibitors. This article provides an overview of the RTC and describes in detail some of the key sessions that were presented, including the keynote address by Autodesk CEO Carl Bass and an inside look at Revit by one of its earliest developers.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2011/RTC2011_US.html

Technology Product Highlights from AIA 2011 Expo

Lachmi Khemlani — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:30:13 +0000

This follow-up article captures other technology updates and highlights from the AIA 2011 Expo, including a closer look at AutoCAD 2012, other updates from Bentley including a revamped BIM offering, the newly released ArchiCAD 15 from Graphisoft, the openBIM initiative from Vectorworks, the entry of Dassault Systemes in the AEC industry, various third-party BIM add-ons, updates in Axium’s Ajera solution for project management and accounting as well as in the AIA Contract Documents software, the launch of HP’s web-connected large-format printers for design professionals, SketchUp 8 from Google and the growing number of SketchUp third-party rendering plug-ins, and various other new technology solutions.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2011/issue_52.html

AIA 2011 Convention: Thomas Friedman’s Keynote and Energy-Related Technologies

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:17:51 +0000

The annual AIA 2011 Convention and Expo, which was held last week in New Orleans, was of special interest this year because it had Thomas Friedman, the celebrated New York Times syndicated columnist and author, as the keynote speaker on the opening day. The theme of this year’s convention was sustainability, and Friedman had several insights to offer on this topic, culled from his extensive and global experience of researching and writing about a vast range of issues including government, politics, technology, society, culture, and so on. In fact, he was able to provide a very useful, high-level perspective on issues that we typically do not hear or think about, and I found his talk extremely insightful and refreshingly different. He was also a terrific speaker, which lent added impact and dynamism to his presentation. This article, the first of two on the 2011 AIA Convention, captures the key points of his presentation and the sustainability-related technological developments that emerged from the show.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2011/issue_51.html

Autodesk AEC Technology Day 2011

Lachmi Khemlani — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:29:26 +0000

This article captures the highlights of the AEC Technology Day that Autodesk hosted for media professionals at its AEC headquarters in Waltham earlier this month. It includes additional details that were shared about the 2012 building design and infrastructure applications, new initiatives such as BIM 360 and Vault Collaboration for AEC, real world examples of BIM implementation such as the iconic Shanghai Tower by Gensler and several healthcare projects by Suffolk Construction, and a look ahead at the challenges of designing future cities presented by HDR.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2011/AutodeskAECTechDay2011.html