ArchiCAD for construction purposes??

[Anonymous]

Hi all!

I just joined this forum and I work at a large civil engineering company in Sweden (www.ncc.se). I have been working with ArchiCAD for several years by now mostly in R&D projects since we are deeply stuck in the 2D Autocad mud. I wonder if there are any people on this forum that uses ArchiCAD for constructional purposes rather than Architectural? I'm struggling to spread the 3D advantages and most people are interested but there's no real real life examples that ArchiCAD can be used instead of or together with Autocad when doing the construction design of a building. None of my fellow engineers get really impressed when I show them a CD filled with nice GDL-objects of furniture or plants... They want concrete stuff, steel structures etc etc... So...if you have any experience in using ArchiCAD for building construction please answer this thread or send an e-mail to me.

BTW. I use ArchiCAD 8, ArtLantis 4.0, AutoCAD 2002, 3DSViz and occasionally the marvellous Rhino.

Best regards,

Mats Knutsson

[Potato Farmer]

This is very important subject. Products like Micrsostation claim superiority over ArchiCAD because their developers provides a seamless workflow from one discipline to the next without translation. Graphisoft has chosen to counter that by being a leading voice in the development of open standards for data exchange and offering very good tools for interoperability with established products and de facto standards like DWG.

That said, I too feel that GDL is the key to ArchiCAD's success or failure in the construction marketplace. I'm glad to see David join the discussion. I had forgotten about Kimon Onuma. It's a shame he doesn't participate in these forums.

A little over a year ago I saw Kimon demonstrate some GDL objects his firm had developed. One was a complete aircraft hanger as a single object. As it was resized all the components, including the structural steel skeleton, were recalculated based on pre-established rules. For example, trusses didn't just get longer, but changed entirely to handle the increased span and load. Thus a usable BOM could be generated.

That may be an extreme example. But I think it demonstrates the power of GDL, the need for more talented GDL developers, and value of promoting GDL beyond it's role as a platform for architectural accessories.

[Ben Odonnell]

Couldn't agree more with you Geoff. I personally belive that GDL is critical to the survival of ArchiCAD, this may sound drastic and over the top but I really do belive this to be the case!

Yes it's fantastic to see David getting involved in this discussion. We at Lasercad(Swedish distributor of ArchiCAD) are in a position now that we must make a decision, on a local basis, to see what we should do with the existing library. I belive we need to get other disciplines using ArchiCAD as well.
FEM is a fantastic solution and I'm confident that Mats and the group at NCC will also agree with me once they have seen it

As far as DWGs from ArchiCAD being rubbish, it couldn't be further from the truth.. More like users not knowing how to use their tool!!

Cheers.
Ben

[Anonymous]

Hi.
I have spent almost a year on scripting a working gdl-object to make automated drawings of precast concrete structures (mainly sandwich-walls) with list of materials on the drawing, also the reinforcements. Gets the work about 5 times faster with 5 times less mistakes. Still improving it.

By the way, no one seems to need it, engineers want their autocad drawings only.

[Djordje]

Madis wrote:
Hi.
I have spent almost a year on scripting a working gdl-object to make automated drawings of precast concrete structures (mainly sandwich-walls) with list of materials on the drawing, also the reinforcements. Gets the work about 5 times faster with 5 times less mistakes. Still improving it.

By the way, no one seems to need it, engineers want their autocad drawings only.

When the motor car was used first, there was a man walking in front of it with the red flag.

Then marketing happened.

Seems that the profession needs explaining why is something needed.