Birmingham, England - 12 September 2011 - Synchro Ltd today announced a record third release for 2011 and plans to complete their forth release before the close of November. The new release Version 4.4.1 continues to drive the industry forward with a focus on advanced user requirements in all areas of the application.
“This release celebrates our focus on service,” said Tom Dengenis Synchro Ltd’s CEO. “What better way to serve our user community than to deliver software that meets their specific demands; now, not in years to come?” The Synchro user community has dramatically grown over the past year from organic growth, exciting new corporate licensing agreements, and from our world-class global distribution partner network. It is clear that the construction industry has taken hold of BIM and is adopting Synchro Professional as leading 4D solution and as an integral part of their overall BIM strategy. It is strategically important that Synchro stays service led and continues to produce products that exceed industry requirements.
Here are our release notes for Synchro Version 4.4.1: 1.
3D improvements: a. 3D simulation of progress by growing objects or changeable transparency b. Accurate positioning of cutting planes using a dialog box c. Ability to turn edges/faces of 3D objects as well as lines and 3D text off/on in the 3D window d. Possibility to show 3D legend in a separate window (both inside Synchro and in generated AVIs) e. Options to include/exclude columns in 3D legend f. Colouring axes of manipulators g. Options to customize and remove “Using x dates” text in 3D window h. Markup improvements: add line, polyline and arrow markers
2.
Path improvements: a. Capability to group 3D paths as trees b. Export of 3D paths to DWG format c. Conversion of polylines from CAD import or generated in Synchro to 3D paths d. Ability to reverse the direction that the object travels on a path e. Ability to move a 3D path by manipulator f. Improvements of path editor: i. ability to add and remove points from a finished path ii. ability to explicitly define coordinates and angles for each vertex of a path
3.
Subdivision improvements: a. Make subdivided geometry persistent b. Improve performance of subdivision by enabling/disabling preliminary triangulation
4.
Spatial Coordination improvements: a. Possibility to remove/delete false tests from spatial coordination results b. Possibility to include/exclude 3D paths to/from spatial coordination results
5.
Animation improvements: a. Generation of JPEG series at set time intervals b. Possibility to edit key frame times manually in addition to dragging the key frames c. Batch generation of AVI by splitting AVI by duration d. Enable Resource Utilisation, cost management/EVA and User Field graphs in AVI e. Include textual frames in AVI including active task list and arbitrary text annotations f. Support 3D effects in AVI
6.
Scheduling improvements: a. Superset of task constraint types harmonized with third-party scheduling systems b. Dissolve tasks in support of the task delete functions c. Ability to set actual dates on non-working time d. Change actual dates without resetting statuses for the tasks e. Set the default actual date to be around data date f. Ability to assign/change calendar on summary and started/finished tasks g. Improve automatic rescheduling processing performance when logic is changed h. Identify and outline critical/subcritical tasks by least total floats in addition to available longest path method
7.
Automatching improvements: a. Automatching rules export/import in the SP file for exchange between Synchro users b. Highlighting 3D elements by selection in Automatching window
8.
Filtering improvements: a. Filters for 3D paths b. 3D filter by resource user fields c. Toggle hide of 3D selection d. Selection Sets (based on filters): i. Ability to create named filters by 3D selection ii. Ability to select 3D Objects included in a 3D filter
9.
Import/Export/Synchronisation improvements: a. SynchroniseFrom SP files for scheduling data only b. SynchroniseFrom for IFC files c. Improve processing performance of IFC export by enabling/disabling preliminary triangulation d. Process geometry elements for IFC Site objects e. Improved import of tagged data from DGN files supporting tags for object name and GUID and possibility to synchronise by available GUID tags f. Import units from DWF files g. Advanced user defined options for 3D synchroniseFrom h. Remember transform settings for each individual file imported
i.
Improved DWG import taking into account layer, block and element structures
10. Printing improvements: a. Ability to select the date range based on data date on Gantt printing b. Print legend extension: add file name, data date, today’s date, current page, total pages 11. UI improvements: a. Enable/disable change task duration when dragging on Gantt b. Limit Gantt scrolling (project duration plus/minus XX years) c. Sort tasks via WBS level d. Highlighting driving links improvement: possibility to select colour and line width e. Reorganise “Task Monitoring” and “Start Task” dialogs f. Vertical resize of lists in Navigator windows g. Exclude excessive white spaces beneath the content of Navigator h. Editing costs and user fields for multiple resources and tasks i. Active "Save" button when either project or presentation data are changed j. Option to select default homepage for Browser window k. Option to raise Resources wizard from 3D window l. Frustum culling settings on toolbar m. Add default shortcuts for some popular commands including task inserting, moving, resource assignment, and more. n. Improved Link dialog for easy input of precedence relations with types and delays o. Ability to define predecessors/successors via Gantt columns using textual UIDs 12. Installer improvements: a. Possibility to choose 3D driver on installation
13. Extend functionality of viewer products: a. Enable creating/editing filters, viewpoints, 3D markups, run spatial coordination tests in Synchro Express b. Enable filtering by selection in Synchro Open Viewer
Synchro encourages all users to upgrade to Synchro Professional 4.4.1 today. About Synchro Ltd Synchro Ltd brings award-winning, 4D BIM software to construction companies globally for building, civil infrastructure, roads, bridges, healthcare, high-rise, industrial process, oil and gas, alternative energy and mining. 28 of the Top 50 Contractors in the USA and over 200 worldwide use Synchro. Become a top company using Synchro today. For additional information, contact: Synchro Ltd Tom Dengenis CEO www.synchroltd.com