Lachmi Khemlani
Authorās Background: Lachmi Khemlani is the founder and editor of AECbytes. She holds a Ph.D. in Architecture, specializing in intelligent building modeling. She also consults and writes on AEC technology.
Abstract
The article is written by Dr. Khemlani and starts by highlighting the wide range of technology solutions exhibited at a former convention and expo. These developments were from vendors such as Autodesk, Bentley, Graphisoft, Nemetschek North America, IES, Trelligence, AutoDessys, and Z Corporation and other new initiatives from the AIA.
The author commends the continued innovation and the production of new things and new ways of handling the tasks of building design, construction, and collaboration, despite the challenging economics times. The article investigates the brilliant new entrepreneurial projects that are exclusively going to be instigated during one of the most difficult periods in the building and construction sector.
Summary Report
The article highlights four major innovations. The first one is the Real-time and Any-time PDF-based Collaboration. Bluebeam Software which is best known for its PDF Revu application for the creation, editing, and markup of PDF launched a very new technology at the AIA Convention called Bluebeam Studio.
This new services enable digital collaboration on PDF drawings and documents in real-time. The new technology is purposely made for structural design, engineering, and building professionals. The various applications of the Studio and PDF are elaborated in the article.
Communication among studio attendees in a given conference has been made easier since they can be able to chat and post markups to a single copy of PDF using the various redlining tools. They include; clouds, callouts, CAD symbols, as well as measurements. The Record keeps track of all the activities of a given session like document, page, and view information. Attendees are also able to interact with others in real-time. In order to start a session, one requires a fully licensed version of Bluebeam PDF Revu.
However, due to the possibility of conferencing, various teams working on a given project can be in a position to share and evaluate in real time the project documents in PDF format. The difference between Bluebeam Studio and adobe applications are clearly drawn. The Studio does not only allow āreal-timeā collaboration but also āany-timeā collaboration.
The second new solution that was launched at the convention was RhinoBIM. This was in the modeling of organic building forms and curved surfaces. Rhino was developed by Robert McNeel & Associates and is a general-purpose NURBS-based 3 dimension modeling application.
This application is commonly used for conceptual design in architectural firms like Frank Gehryās. RhinoBIM is used to enable the use of Rhino for BIM-based design and construction processes. The RhinoBIM Structure was designed for 3D structure modeling, Clash & Clear analysis and structural analysis and was demonstrated at the AIA show. The RhinoBIM Structure plays a great role when it comes to the building of 3D structural design.
These elements are lighter when it comes to data weight. They are used to quickly find identity errors and possible design conflicts. Radius Track has also developed new products like BIM and 3D modeling services that can help the design team in the identification of the best way to create complex curved structural systems which enables cost saving without compromising the quality.
The Googleās 3D Warehouse or for BIM applications such as Revit are discussed as examples of the third aspect in the article. These models are very well designed as dynamic components. They are expected to allow the cabinets and countertops to be adjusted to fit the available dimensions of the given brand.
BIM models are also produced by the Firestone Building Products. It also produced and launched a very new model of roofing for the various commercial roofing industries like the RoofGenuity. It is an online tool that facilitates the design of roof by architects, consultants, and roofing contractors.
Wide-Format Scanning and Printing is the fourth new entrepreneurial venture developed in these trying times. It was launched in the AIA show by Context. The scanner is a lightweight, space-saving, single-footprint, multi-function solution that is available at affordable price with matching printers. These devices are appropriate for engineers and architects since they produce high quality print outs. The scanners designed by Contex are ideal for scanning old drawings which are required in the CAD/BIM workflows.