Archive for the ‘engineering’ Category
Monday, July 22nd, 2013
According to a report from Flurry Analytics, 90 percent of all iOS apps available in the App Store are free. Flurry’s data is collected from the 350,000 apps that use its analytics platform. The company states that since 2010, the number of free apps in the App Store has stayed between 80 and 84 percent, but this year the number has gone way up.
Many companies, particularly software companies, have free apps that are lighter ad-supported versions of a paid app or product they sell, with less functionality. Generally companies offering these free apps are hoping that they will entice users to buy the paid version for more advanced functionality.
The report states that “People want free content more than they want to avoid ads or to have the absolute highest quality content possible.”
Some users are concerned that a free ad-supported app may allow access to their data that they don’t want. With a paid app, users have more control and can demand a certain value for their product
Flurry’s report also revealed that many developers who originally sold their app decided to make their app free after doing A/B pricing experiments. In 2010, 65 percent of price-tested apps were free. As of April 2013, that number is up to 80 percent.
For users of both Android and Apple devices, the average price of an app as of April of this year was $0.06 on Android, $0.19 for iPhone apps, and $0.50 for iPad apps.
Tags: AEC, analytics, Apple, apps, free apps, iOS, pricing
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Wednesday, June 26th, 2013
Design, documentation, detailing, construction are the parts of the design. “That divide between designer and documentation team is as big a dvide as between the documentation team and the contractor, which BIM has not addressed so far.”
“There is by no means a unified objective in the design team.”
“When does design really end?” A difficult question to answer, and it really doesn’t. “There is this perception that architectural design is something like the napkin sketch. That’s not design. Design isn’t just poking a wall in and giving you a SketchUp model.”
– Christof Spieler
The Fallacy of Design Intent by Christof Spieler, Morris Architects
Tags: AEC, architecture, BIM, building information modeling, construction, design
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Wednesday, June 5th, 2013
In a world where blueprints are the backbone of the architectural/construction process, it sounds like heresy to consider replacing blueprints with something else – some thing digital, no less. But the ability of building information modeling (BIM) to eliminate problems before they happen with the use of analysis tools and iPads and other mobile devices, has simplified the whole AEC process. The amount of time, money, and manpower have all been reduced by the use of this technology.
When you see an article in a regional or daily newspaper about a technology topic such as BIM that you’ve known about some time, you know that topic has hit prime time:
iPad leads building information modeling push to replace blueprints – Westchester/Rockland Newsday
Tags: AEC, architects, BIM, blueprints, building information modeling, construction, iPad
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Monday, June 3rd, 2013
Michelle Addington, Hines Professor of Sustainable Architectural Design at Yale University, is educated as both an architect and engineer whose teaching and research explore energy systems, advanced materials and new technologies, spoke at sg 2013 in April 2013 at the University of London on the topic, “Data and its dis-contents”.
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Tags: AEC, architecture, Bentley Systems, construction, engineering, sg 2013, SmartGeometry
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Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
Akos Pfemeter, Director of Graphisoft Global Marketing, talked about the upcoming release of Archicad 17 in June – a major upgrade for Archicad.
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Tags: AEC, Archicad, architecture, BIM, building information modeling, construction, engineering, Graphisoft, IFC
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Thursday, May 16th, 2013
Sarah Hodges, senior industry marketing manager for Autodesk, spoke this week about the new version of Autodesk BIM 360 Glue that addresses the big data explosion in the AEC industry and the adoption of BIM. Autodesk BIM 360 Glue extends the BIM process from design to construction by providing all stakeholders access to project information for model coordination and clash detection via desktop, mobile and web.
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Tags: 3D, AEC, architecture, Autodesk, Autodesk BIM 360 Glue, Autodesk Civil 3D, Autodesk Revit, BIM, construction industry
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Monday, May 13th, 2013
A trip to Asia is always an intriguing opportunity, and I took advantage of an invitation from GstarCAD to witness the launch of its new CAD application — GstarCAD8.
Getting to Beijing, China can be a challenge, not just the travel time (18+ hours total), but also the logistics of getting it done. A Chinese Business Visa is required for getting into the country for any “business” purpose, including a product launch.
As product launches go, though, this one was particularly unique and made the long journey worthwhile. But first, a little company background for those who may not be familiar with GstarCAD.
Company History
Founded in 1992, Suzhou Gstarsoft Co., Ltd is a provider of 2D/3D CAD software for the AEC, mechanical, manufacturing, electrical, GIS, survey and mapping, and civil industries. With its 20-year history, GstarCAD is primarily dedicated to providing .dwg-compatible CAD software.
According to company statistics, the market share rate of GstarCAD platform and extended application software puts it in first place in terms of legitimate CAD seats in the Chinese market. GstarCAD claims a customer base of more than 200,000 architects, engineers, and designers from more than 70 countries.
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Tags: AEC, China, GstarCAD, GstarCAD8
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Friday, May 3rd, 2013
Bluebeam Software announced the release of Revu 11 in Swedish, German, Finnish and Norwegian. The Danish and Dutch versions are scheduled for later this month. This new version of Bluebeam’s flagship solution furthers the company’s efforts to provide collaboration on project documents and technical reviews for the AEC industry.
According to Richard Lee, Bluebeam Software president and CEO, Revu 11 allows you to keep working on files from the cloud and annotate them with enhanced PDF markup and editing options. It doesn’t matter where you are, you can work if you lose your Internet connection suddenly.
New features in Revu 11 make it easier than ever for users to:
- Collaborate Anywhere, Anytime Revu 11’s Studio Projects Offline mode enables project teams to centrally maintain a digital master set. The enhancement to Revu’s integrated cloud feature, Bluebeam Studio, allows users to access and edit files stored in a Studio Project from a desktop, tablet PC or an iPad, even with the loss of an Internet connection. Changes can be synced as soon as connectivity is restored.
- Get Organized – Revu 11’s AutoMark feature gives users the ability to organize PDFs by automatically creating bookmarks and page labels from PDF content. Sets, enables team members to view, navigate and edit multiple files as if they were one. This functionality is key for users in the field, who often divide multi-page documents into one file per page to allow for faster loading on iPads and tablets, but still need to quickly see related content when back in the office.
- Standardize Annotations on the Fly – The new Format Painter quickly applies property settings across multiple annotations such as color, line styles and fonts.
- Search for Anything – VisualSearch now performs more robust searches regardless of an object’s size, color or rotation or even another intersecting object.
- Do more with 3D PDFs – With Revu 11, users can now create 3D PDFs from any IFC file, and do more with 3D content. Use the Section Box tool to demonstrate the exact issue at hand by exposing interior details.
Tags: AEC, Bluebeam Software, Cloud, Revu 11
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Wednesday, April 17th, 2013
$US 60 trillion is needed between now and 2030 to meet the needs of U.S. infrastructure, according to recent statistics. Current industry has the capacity to put in place less than half of that. World energy consumption continues to be unrelenting and the need for Green Building Information Modeling is definitely here to stay.
The benefits of Green Building Information Modeling have been well outlined in the following article from TrueCADD on Green Building Information Modeling in Today’s World
- The information generated from a green building information model leads to fewer number of errors on site caused by uncoordinated and inaccurate information.
- The model saves wastage of time on site.
- Extra coordination checks on site are largely unnecessary.
- Managing building information using a green BIM can lead to substantial cost savings, from construction and design through to maintenance.
- As all of the construction team members work on the same model — right from early design all the way through completion, changes are coordinated automatically across the project.
There is also a new website called www.greenbim.com, and numerous other websites and vendors addressing this topic.
Tags: AEC, architecture, building information modeling, construction, design through maintenance, engineering, green BIM
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Monday, April 1st, 2013
Tekla, a provider of building information modeling (BIM) software and online tools to the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) markets, announced a new version of its 3D modeling software, Tekla Structures 19. Tekla Structures 19 delivers new features designed to further enable structural engineers, fabricators, detailers and concrete contractors to have more integration with third party software and coordinate with the project team.
Michael Gustafson, product team manager with Tekla – North America, answered some questions about the new release.
AECCafe Voice: Does the new release of Tekla Structures integrate with other BIM models and if so, which ones?
Michael Gustafson: Tekla Structures integrates with all leading BIM software such as Autodesk Revit, Bentley and Archicad. Tekla Structures imports and exports several formats such as IFC, CIS/2, DSTV, SDNF, DGN, DXF, DWG, IGES, and STEP. Also several integrations utilize direct links using APIs.
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Tags: AEC, Archicad, Autodesk, Bentley, BIM, building information modeling, contractors, fabricators, structural engineers, Tekla Structures 19
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