Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/12/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Henning- The BIM software I used in 1994 which was useless was Softplan. Googling it, I see it is still around. I have no idea how well it works now. Revit is the direction our office is moving toward. GSA and other clients have spurred us in this direction. Our first project using Revit was design/build, a computer research facility, so we could absorb (to a degree) the learning curve, as our construction arm would be using the BIM model we produced. My GSA projects are still in Autocad, but they will require BIM for future ones. The BIM coordinator is in my area of the office. There is always someone at his desk arguing about what "family" a component should belong to. Matt > Hi Matt, > > I've now been producing drawings (as an architect) for nearly 40 > years, and have generally been happy to use the technology as it > evolved. Wonderful was the day when I realized I would no longer have > to Leroy ink-on-vellum room finish schedules! > > I've been using CAD for at least some parts of my projects since the > mid 80's, mostly on Macs but some on PC's. On PC's it was usually > AutoCad, but I was fortunate in coming early to Vectorworks, or > MiniCad as it used to be known and was a beta tester and contributor > to the program in the early years. > > It's now stable and an extremely productive program, and flexible > enough to be useable as a BIM platform but it doesn't have to be > applied in that manner. I also used ArchiCad for a while, which > is/was one of the earliest BIM programs before the term was coined. > It worked great on a simple residence, but bogged down quickly on the > most powerful machines, and was all but unuseable on large projects. > And it showcased all that was wrong with the BIM approach. > > While the final result of our drawings are the built environment, our > immediate product is easy to understand graphics on paper that allow > that construction. Programs that detract from that put up unnecessary > roadblocks. Fortunately, Vectorworks (on Macs or Windows machines) > make it easy to produce those graphics and turn off the parts that > interfere (BIM components). > > Nowadays I don't do as much drawing anymore since my skills are > better applied in other areas, but I often have to edit drawings, and > see draughtspeople struggling with overly complex modeling exercises. > > > > > At 9:17 PM -0500 12/15/09, The Filippini Family- Matt & Blaise wrote: >>Hi Henning- >> >>I have yet to use the current generation of BIM software on a project, >> but >>from the other projects in our office using it, your analysis seems >>correct. >> >>Collaborative work is a huge problem, as there is only one master model, >>unlike CAD, where each floor plan, or even partial floor plan, can be an >>individual file, as can details, etc. This allows many to work on >>different portions of one project at a time. Likewise, different >>disciplines can reference in each others plans to allow simultaneous work >>with proper coordination. >> >>For simultaneous work (at least as I understand it) BIM requires >> different >>versions of the master model to be worked on and merged together later. >>Thus, conflicting edits can be made, and no one has all the current >>information. >> >>Early BIM software I used in 1993-94 was a disaster. Basically, nothing >>worked correctly. >> >>Our energy engineers seem to be the biggest fans of BIM at this point. >> >>Matt >> >>> BIM is a technological direction foisted on the design and >>> construction industry by project managers and others who don't >>> understand the design process, and through it these managers try to >>> offload work and responsibility onto the designers. It forces the >>> designer to input a large amount of information at a stage where that >>> information is not yet available, so it always has to be edited and >>> corrected later. It's a make-work process that interferes with design >>> and works best with industrial construction. I've not yet seen it >>> applied successfully and productively on any architectural project. >>> >>> It also bogs down computers, makes cooperative work difficult to >>> manage and costs architects a huge amount of work that cannot be >>> readily invoiced. >>> >>> As you might be able to tell, I'm not a fan. I shall not use the >>> words I would like to apply. > -- > > * Henning J. Wulff > /|\ Wulff Photography & Design > /###\ mailto:henningw at archiphoto.com > |[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >