Autodesk release Point Layout

Earlier this week Autodesk released Point Layout, a really smart tool which allows you to better integrate BIM coordinate data into the field. You can import & export data from Autodesk® AutoCAD®, Autodesk® Revit®, or Autodesk® Navisworks® Manage for the creation of QC/QA as well as as-built model coordination & checking. Its worth checking out the details here as well as free trial .

http://www.autodesk.com/products/point-layout/overview

BIMporn

Put 10 industry experts in a room & ask them what BIM is & the chances are, you will either get at least 20 different answers or it will end up as a punch up as nobody can really agree. So, following on from my last post about BIM docs, how about images & diagrams? With so many people trying to explain the “process”, over the last few years diagrams of all sorts of shapes & sizes have appeared. With this in mind, my colleague Josh Draper has put this site together to show case BIM images & diagrams!

http://bimporn.tumblr.com/

Check it! Some priceless diagrams here.

BIM Docs!

BIM Documents; we just you can’t live without them. If you are starting to delve into BIM they can be a useful resource to understand what it all means, what others are doing & the implications to your business. As you can imagine, with so much focus on BIM “globally”, a plethora of documents have been created in recent years. These are often scattered across multiply websites & locations, or in my case, my many portable hard drive! So I was pleased to see that Ben at BIMopedia had taken the initiative to collate all these, post them to a Google docs site & then share them with the community. Check them, some really useful documents here. Some you will be aware of, others such as the Singapore BIM standard may not be as obvious to find.

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0BwLLFYLrgVI6WldMeFlDQ1hSVE0/edit?pli=1

BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design

At the beginning of last year I was contacted by Francois Levy, a registered Texas architect & researcher. He explained he was writing a book focused on BIM strategies for sustainable design in small & medium sized architectural projects. On further discussions he wanted to include a case study from this very blog; my parameterized Hauer Curtain Wall example.

As ever, I was honoured to get the opportunity to get my work published. So this morning I received a copy of Francois fruits of labour & on initial inspection the result looks excellent. I have heard it said many times, how does a small firm get into BIM? Isn’t BIM just for large firms? I would actually argue that with the right mindset, a clear strategy & willingness to make it succeed, then in many ways a small firm will find it easier to implement BIM than a large multi-national. Whilst I have yet to read the book from cover to cover, this looks to be a great read for any small firm who wants to understand how BIM & sustainability & tightly connected. Check it out from the Wiley website.

http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470590890.html

Once again I would like to extend my thanks to Francois for including my work in his book.

Who is the Best BIMmer?

For those not familiar with the expression, BIM stands for Building Information Modeling. BIM is common tech speak for using information-based building semantics in CAD design workflows. The exact definition is actually still evolving. BIM products include the likes of Autodesk Revit, Graphisoft and Bentley. Two things generally characterize BIM software: increased program complexity and higher software costs. Some liken BIM in the architectural industry to PLM for product manufacturing.

We would argue one important difference: PLM was a customer driven concept to meet large scale manufacturing needs. However, "few have pursued full 3D (building design) modeling with great vigor, and even fewer have embraced BIM and information extraction, even though the AEC software industry has spent much time and capital creating and promoting BIM software," states Goldberg, H. Edward in CADalyst magazine. So a large portion of the need for BIM software may be originating from the software companies themselves.

One thing almost everyone agrees on is that there is a right way to BIM and a wrong way to BIM. But that's about where agreement ends. How to BIM depends largely on which marketing team one chooses to listen to. Autodesk, Bentley, Nemetschek and others are all staking claims "to BIM the Best" in what appears to be the CAD industry's latest gold rush to establish a title standard.

The question arises if this will actually be a standard that most businesses need. Full scale BIM deployments can be very expensive. They may requiring extensive retraining and, in some scenarios, a complete refit for design and business workflows. Interestingly, none of Autodesk's ROI charts seem to take this last aspect into account. And even if large companies succeed in (at least partially) implementing BIM, will the solution scale downward for small business and supplier integrations?

Previously on our CAD Blog we introduced our low-cost BIM alternative CP-System, which can be dubbed our "Anti-BIM" proposal. CP-System offers AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT (using LTX), progeCAD, BricsCAD, ZwCAD, CADopia and other IntelliCAD brands quick but accurate HVAC, electrical, plumbing, architectural, mechanical, structural, hydraulic design with extensive parametric symbol libraries. More information about CP-System and a free 30-day trial is available HERE.

CADDIT Announces Building Design Without BIM (Building Information Modeling)

Sydney, Australia - CADDIT announced their release of a an exciting new line of CAD software products for building design without the overhead involved with Building Information Modeling (commonly known as BIM). CP-System is an affordable CAD software add-on for AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT (using LTX), progeCAD, BricsCAD and other IntelliCAD brands. CP-System represents a much easier, low-cost and practical approach to the needs of designers who need to work quickly but accurately.

CP-System is a simple suite of four separately priced toolboxes that turbocharge supported CAD systems into a complete building design studio. At the core of CP-System is a 2D parametric drawing editor which allows users to quickly draw electrical wiring, piping or duct elevation plans and then "insert" relevant symbols such as valves or switches from large libraries of associative drawing objects. Each library can be customized with objects from a user, or extended by downloading thousands more parts currently available from CP-System enabled industry suppliers (such as Fujitsu or Cablofil). A database is built as the drawing is created, which can be exported or printed as a Bill Of Material or specification in many common formats such as CSV, XLS, XML, RTF, HTML and PDF. CP-System objects can be edited or re-created later as required.

Each of the four separately-priced licenses activate one of the four different "design realms" offered by the CP-System framework:

1. HVAC - Actually this one license includes multiple libraries and functions for HVAC and PLUMBING, pumps and piping, gas and ducting systems, water distribution planning and design.
2. Electrical - Includes all the layout design tools for circuit wiring and cabling, medical and industrial, telecommunications, fire alarm and safety, cable trays, busbars and switch boxes.
3. Mechanical - This license is good for mechanical part design and includes all the nuts and bolts (literally) needed to put something together, also offers structural, hydarulic, pneumatic and additional fittings.
4. Architectural - The least expensive license but still very useful for overall architectural design or office and space planning etc. with doors, windows, furniture and more.

CADDIT now offers CP-System bundled with their progeCAD design platform as their new progePLAN product, which is available from CADDIT at a nice discount. Building designers considering progeCAD's AutoCAD compatibility would do well to consider the benefit of buying a CP-Sytem enabled progePLAN bundle for their work instead. All CP-System licenses currently include online software and symbol update services and remote access support. Currently CP-System only supports metric, however plans are to also support imperial units soon.

Regardless, however, building designers for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, structural, architectural and other systems are encouraged to download CP-System for their own CAD system and give this low-cost alternative to BIM design methodology a serious go. It will save them time, energy and the cost of the mistakes that arise from designing such systems from total scratch. For serious commercial designers in the building field, CP-System is a must-have!