New release designed to help users get more out of the ‘I’ in BIM
With ArchiCAD 20 Graphisoft is putting a big emphasis on the “I’ In Building Information Modelling (BIM).
The new release will allow BIM models to be used as a central storage location for all related information, even design information that was not created using CAD or BIM tools, such as Excel spreadsheets The new ‘Mass property value import’ functionality, for example, is designed to offer an easy way for semi-automated data import/export from and to Excel worksheets. According to Graphisoft, by using this method, architects can replace the tedious task of entering their consultants’ data manually, which is prone to human error.
“The true potential of BIM is that it can hold all the necessary information for designing, constructing and operating buildings,” said Peter Temesvari, director of product management at Graphisoft. “A significant part of this information is non-geometrical data. ArchiCAD 20 offers powerful workflows to manage, visualise and exchange such information with any stakeholder participating in the design and construction process.”
Information can also be visualised in different ways. With the help of smart filters and a new graphical override, designers can freely change the representation of any 2D and 3D views of elements with similar properties. According to Graphisoft, this feature allows a number of workflows that make communication, coordination and model checking much more efficient.
Information sharing has also been enhanced with ArchiCAD 20 among the first BIM applications to fully support the IFC 4 open-source standard. IFC 4 supports new coordination workflows (Design Transfer View and Reference View) and is said to provide great help when coordinating with other disciplines.
There’s also a completely revamped “flat-design” graphical user interface, that is designed to give ArchiCAD a look and feel much closer to mobile apps than to traditional desktop software.
Graphical favourites provide visual feedback about saved element settings with automatically-generated, coloured 2D or 3D thumbnail previews. According to Graphisoft, this not only helps BIM managers in setting up and enforcing office project templates, but also speeds up everyday design development work.
Finally, ArchiCAD 20 features enhanced visualisation capabilities including an updated CineRender Engine and enabling more accurate handing of “free-form” (Non‐Uniform Rational Basis Splines) shapes.
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