AEC Magazine March / April 2012

Building Information Modelling (BIM) for Architecture, Engineering and Construction

Modelling the architecture of the future Robert Aish gives an exclusive preview of his AutoCAD-based computational design tool, DesignScript

BIM training tips Design visualisation Autodesk 2013 products Rendering workstation March / April 2012 >> Vol.59 p01_AEC_MARCHAPRIL12_Cover.indd 1

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Building Information Modelling (BIM) for Architecture, Engineering and Construction

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editorial

Managing Editor Greg Corke greg@x3dmedia.com

Consulting Editor Martyn Day martyn@x3dmedia.com

Digital Media Editor Stephen Holmes stephen@x3dmedia.com

Design and Production production@x3dmedia.com advertising

Advertising Manager Tony Baksh tony@x3dmedia.com

Deputy Advertising Manager Steve King steve@x3dmedia.com subscriptions

Manager Alan Cleveland alan@x3dmedia.com accounts

Charlotte Taibi charlotte@x3dmedia.com

DesignScript 10 Autodesk’s Robert Aish, the godfather of Bentley’s Generative Components (GC), will shortly deliver a new programming environment for AutoCAD to enable design computation.

Financial Controller Samantha Todescato-Rutland

The Bass effect 14

sam@chalfen.com

Under the tutelage of CEO Carl Bass, Autodesk, has gone from a one-trick pony to a multi-platform, multi-industry specialist. Martyn Day talks to the enterprising leader about his vision for design, hosted solutions and what lies beyond the cloud.

AEC Magazine is available FREE to qualifying individuals. To ensure you receive your regular copy please register online at www.aecmag.com about AEC Magazine is published bi-monthly by X3DMedia Ltd Suite 77, 3rd Floor, The London Fruit and Wool Exchange, 56 Brushfield Street, London E1 6EP T. +44 (0)20 3355 7310 F. +44 (0)20 3355 7319 www.x3dmedia.com © 2012 X3DMedia Ltd All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without prior permission from the publisher is prohibited. All trademarks acknowledged. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the author and not of X3DMedia. X3DMedia cannot accept responsibility for errors in articles or advertisements within the magazine.

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Moving the BIM goalposts? 16 Joe Croser considers an online tool that analyses and benchmarks AEC software user skills.

Crossrail: BIM for construction 24 Bentley Systems has been brought on board as part of the Crossrail supply chain to help the £15.9bn project transition into the construction phase.

Design Viz 26 From a Finnish ski village to a luxury villa complex in China, Design Viz goes international.

Imagina 2012 31 Despite battling an impromptu strike by Air France, Imagina 2012 mustered enough software firms and interesting speakers to make the trip worthwhile.

Océ Eneo 33

BIM training 18

Océ’s new cloud-based document distribution system is designed to take the pain out of sharing the latest drawing revisions.

UK technology service provider CADline is helping customers prepare for the move to Building Information Modelling.

Xeon E5-2600 34

Close control with OpenBIM 21

‘Sandy Bridge’ has finally arrived on Intel’s Xeon platform. Greg Corke finds out what it means for design viz users by putting Workstation Specialists’ new dual Xeon through its paces.

ZEEP architecten has invested in OpenBIM and integrated design processes.

The result is better productivity, quality and customer satisfaction.

Also this month: 5 News; 23 Laser scanning at Leibniz University; and 32 Managing digital media at Arup.

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News

Balfour Beatty invests $12m to expand BIM capabilities alfour Beatty has signed a three year, $12M agreement with Autodesk to help it expand its adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM).

Balfour Beatty has already used BIM on a number of high profile projects including the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the widening of the M25, and design and construction for the replacement of Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport.

Through the agreement, thousands of Balfour Beatty users will have access to a range of Autodesk BIM solutions including Revit, Civil 3D, Navisworks, and 3ds Max Design. Autodesk will also provide training, support and strategic consultancy.

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Multidiscipline workflows better supported by Revit utodesk Revit will finally support architectural, structural design and MEP models in a single environment, but is only available to customers who purchase the Premium or Ultimate editions of Autodesk’s 2013 Building Design Suite. The multidisciplinary version of Autodesk Revit will not be available as a standalone application.

For civils customers, Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2013 will now be included in the Premium and Ultimate editions of the Infrastructure Design Suite.

Expanded cloud services and improved

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collaboration and data management tools were also announced in Autodesk’s 2013 product roll out this month. This includes access to Autodesk 360, a cloud computing platform designed to help users improve the way project teams design, visualise, simulate, and share work. Autodesk 360 is said to offer secure access to project data, while taking advantage of a broad range of cloud-based services. The service is available to all Autodesk design suite customers, with additional capabilities provided to design suite customers who purchase an Autodesk Subscription.

■ autodesk.com

Modelling boost for Tekla Structures 18 ekla Structures 18, the latest release of the structural steel-focused Building Information Modelling (BIM) software is said to feature improved viewing, more intuitive modelling, and streamlined project management tools.

The new release also focuses on workflow and includes better

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connectivity to machinery and export functions.

When exporting a model to IFC format, for example, users now have more options and can include grids or reinforcements in a light or detailed way.

DSTV connectivity to CNC machinery and precast machinery is also enhanced.

Meanwhile, Tekla has released BIMsight 1.5, the

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latest version of its free software tool for modelbased project collaboration.

The software features a streamlined user interface with larger icons, a touch interface, originally introduced in version 1.4, and, for presentations, models and slideshows can now be viewed in fullscreen mode.

■ autodesk.com

Solibri boosts BIM model checking tool olibri Model Checker v7.1 features new and extended features for BIM quality assurance and building code checking processes, as well as providing support for public BIM requirements.

The new release also incorporates tools for supporting BIM QA / QC processes such as intelligent measurement and redlining. Solibri is sold in the UK through Graphisoft.

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■ solibri.com

■ teklastructures.com ■ teklabimsight.com

www.AECmag.com

5/4/12 13:40:18

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Image: ARTechnic architects, Japan | SHELL, Karuizawa, Nagano | www.artechnic.jp | Photo © Nacasa & Partners Inc.

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News

Sandy Bridge Xeon sparks new wave of workstations ntel has finally launched its long awaited Xeon E5-2600 chip with a massive 15 standard and two low powered units packing out the range.

This includes one dedicated workstation chip, the Xeon E5-2687W. Based on Intel’s ‘Sandy Bridge’ architecture, which was originally brought to market with Intel’s 2nd generation Core i7 processors last year, the Xeon E5-2600 series brings a number of new features to the table. This includes increasing the maximum number of CPU cores per chip from six to eight, the introduction of faster quad channel memory and support for two processors, though this is a common feature of Intel Xeon workstation chips in general.

While Intel’s Core i7 should continue to be a popular choice among mainstream CAD users, the Xeon E5-2600 series is likely to find favour with design visualisation and simulation specialists.

With up to 16 CPU cores and 32 threads available in a single workstation, it is only these types of users that will be able to

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With support for two Xeon E5-2600 processors, the HP Z820 offers up to 16 processing cores and up to 512 GB of ECC memory

benefit from the multi-core processing power on offer.

Surprisingly, the Tier 1 workstation vendors have been slow to release details of their new generation Xeon E5-2600-based workstations. At time of writing, HP and Fujitsu had introduced their new machines, with Dell and Lenovo conspicuous by their absence.

HP’s new workstations machines are an evolution of its Z Series and include the mainstream Z420, the mid-range Z620 and the high end Z820. The dual processor Z820 features up to 512GB of ECC memory, up to

14 terabytes (TB) of high-speed storage and up to dual Nvidia Quadro 6000 graphics.

Fujitsu has two new Xeon E5-2600-based machines, the single processor Celsius M720 and the dual processor Celsius R920.

There has also been plenty of action from Workstation Specialists, BOXX, Scan, Armari, InterPro and NextComputing, which has integrated the chip in its line of portable workstations.

See page 34 for a full review of the Xeon E5-2687W inside Workstation Specialists’ brand new dual processor WS2850.

■ intel.com

Asta and Tekla to build bi-directional link sta Development is working with Tekla to improve interoperability and enhance information flow between Tekla Structures and Asta Powerproject software.

Creating a seamless means of data transfer between the two solutions will enable main contractors and their steel and concrete subcontractors to more efficiently manage projects by combining data from the as-built Tekla model with Asta Powerproject schedule information.

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While users of each software solution can already exchange information, Asta and Tekla are now developing a bi-directional link, which will enable task and schedule information to be brought from Asta Powerproject into Tekla Structures to visualise and manage activity progress in the 3D model. Users will be able to more effectively manage the supply chain, identify schedule and constructability issues, obtain accurate quantities for QTO and create 4D

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visualisations in a highly detailed model environment. Conversely, structural information can be transferred from the Tekla model into Asta Powerproject, allowing users to create an accurate and comprehensive schedule that maintains an association with model objects, thereby facilitating collaboration between clients throughout the supply chain.

Asta PowerProject can also link to Navisworks, Synchro and D-studio.

■ tekla.com ■ astadev.com

BIMMeasure for costing Global construction consultant, Davis Langdon, has invested in BIMMeasure, the latest module within the cost management suite, Causeway CATO. The software will help the firm interrogate the structured data within a BIM environment.

BIMMeasure extends the measurement capabilities of Causeway’s measurement tool, CADMeasure, enabling users to access and interrogate model information beyond a simple graphical representation.

■ causeway.com

www.AECmag.com

5/4/12 13:40:34

a trimble company

From design to reality Tekla Structures 18

What’s new?

See what you get while modifying shapes with direct manipulation Drawing improvements for better documentation quality Interoperability improved for construction project collaboration Higher levels of automatic production with fewer human errors Increased creativity and productivity in 3D modelling

With Tekla Structures 18, you can transform design into reality. It turns great ideas into complete construction projects and covers the entire building process, from conceptual design to fabrication and construction management.

Now this award-winning software for building information modelling (BIM) is even more user friendly. Expect faster and more reliable production of consistent high quality information for structural engineering design and construction projects.

Retool yourself now for reliable modelling, efficient BIM workflow and openly transparent project communication. To realise your world-class ideas with Tekla Structures 18, visit www.teklastructures.com.

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15/03/2012 17:44

News

CSC builds closer links to Autodesk and Revit SC, the Leeds-based structural engineering software developer, has formed a strategic business relationship with Autodesk’s Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) division to further promote the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) within the global structural engineering community.

A key part of the relationship is for both firms to provide customers with more closely integrated solutions that support a more efficient structural engineering workflow for BIM. CSC products to play a role in the joint

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CSC Integrator synchronises models between Revit and Fastrak / Orion

Laser scan to stereo

effort include Fastrak (steel building design software) and Orion (reinforced concrete building design software). From Autodesk’s side it is Autodesk Revit Structure 2012 (the purpose-built Building Information Modelling solution for structural engineering firms, which provides specific tools for structural design and analysis integration).

Data exchange and integration between Revit Structure 2012 and Fastrak or Orion is now possible with the introduction CSC Integrator, which synchronises models between the applications.

■ cscworld.com

■ autodesk.com

BDP invests in information management DP has implemented the Newforma Design Suite. The interdisciplinary practice is using the software to simplify information technology administration, support knowledge management, and benefit the organisation with project information management (PIM) functions to manage email, search the full texts

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of documents on the company’s network, exchange files securely, mark up drawings electronically, and more.

BDP director of information and technology Alistair Kell said: “Newforma software is not simply document control and email management. We increasingly see it as a ‘design management desktop’ that offers a host of

related processes that make us more robust, more resilient, more effective, and more responsive.

“Once you expand the capabilities of Newforma software project to project, sector to sector, profession to profession, or location to location, the ability to share and search information — the knowledge management capabilities — are far greater.

■ newforma.com

HP’s upgradeable all-in-one workstation P’s 27-inch Z1 workstation is billed as ‘power without the tower’. While it clearly has been inspired

by Apple’s iMac, unlike the iconic desktop PC, HP’s Z1 is tested and certified to run many of the leading 3D CAD applications.

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ROUND UP

The compact machine has the option of a workstationclass Xeon E3 processor, up to 32GB ECC memory and a choice of professional workstation-class graphics cards. The Z1 features a toolless chassis so users can tinker with and upgrade key components. ■ hp.com

Users of Scene 5.0, the new point cloud capture processing software for Faro’s Focus3D laser scanner, can now view their scans in true stereoscopic 3D. Automatic fine registration is said to eliminate the need for artificial targets in many cases when piecing together scans.

■ faro.com

Advancing PDFs Bluebeam Revu 10, the latest release of the PDF creation, markup and editing tool, includes several new features such as real-time collaboration with integrated cloud storage, hyperlink management, space definition for automated tracking in PDFs, 3D PDF creation and markup to 3D views.

■ bluebeam.com

Managing assets Excitech is reselling ArtrA software for construction and plant asset management. With ArtrA, asset information is organised in a database linked to a 3D model. Once the asset is ready for handover the ArtrA Database can be exported, along with the linked documentation.

■ excitech.co.uk ■ artra.co.uk

BIM models on iPad Field BIM-Interactive is a new software application from Vela Systems that enables users on site to interact with BIM models on iPads, online or offline. Users can access Autodesk Navisworks or Revit files in the ‘models’ tab of the Vela Mobile iPad application.

■ velasystems.com

The City 2.0 Autodesk is supporting the 2012 TED Prize “The City 2.0” through content development and free software. The City 2.0 seeks to nurture the development of a new city concept, dedicated to reducing the carbon footprint created by occupants.

■ thecity2.org

Synchro 4D BIM Synchro Professional v4.5 provides support for Bentley’s ProjectWise and Microstation iModels. There are also new tools to help create 4D construction models and synchronise 3D to project scheduling.

■ synchroltd.com

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Feature

The Centre Pompidou Metz. Robert Aish found inspiration in the lattice work to try out an early version of DesignScript’s capabilities

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DesignScript Robert Aish has been behind many innovative design software solutions including Bentley’s GenerativeComponents (GC). Now at Autodesk he will shortly deliver a new programming environment for AutoCAD to enable design computation.

by Martyn Day

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t the Design Computation gramme called Grasshopper as a visual add- commands for the way they want to use Symposium at Autodesk on to make its scripting language more AutoCAD. Subsequent to AutoLISP Autodesk added University in Las Vegas last accessible, allowing similar geometrical November, Dr Robert Aish gave relationships to be created for interactive support for ObjectARX, Visual Basic for a brief demonstration of a new program- systems via a very easy to use ‘wiring’ inter- Applications (VBA) and .NET. DesignScript will be the first significant addition to ming language being developed by face paradigm.

Since then GC and Grasshopper have AutoCAD’s programmatic capability for Autodesk. As the culmination of almost four year’s work, Autodesk will finally been in competition for designers and firms years and will enable it to do things that it have a competitor to Bentley’s that opt to make their own design tools for could never do before.

GenerativeComponents (GC) and McNeel exploring design options.

Dr Aish’s latest programming environ- Parametric computational design Associates’ Rhino / Grasshopper.

In his previous role at Bentley Systems, in ment has been dubbed DesignScript, and Dr Aish describes DesignScript as a lan2005, Dr Aish developed will initially be for AutoCAD. Its launch is guage which sits at the intersection of GenerativeComponents, a design and programming. It programming environment allows parametric and associawhere designers could define tive programmes to be easily Dr Aish describes DesignScript as a geometry and dynamically written allowing experimentadrive complex parametric tion with AutoCAD’s geometlanguage which sits at the intersection relationships. ric entities. of design and programming. It allows The software is used mainDesignScript is intended to ly in academia and by cutbe used by novices and profesparametric and associative programmes ting-edge architects and sional programmers as a proto be easily written allowing engineers to design complex duction modelling tool to evalsculpted buildings and uate complex geometric modexperimentation with AutoCAD’s arrayed systems.

For els and to help design profesgeometric entities instance, the software could sionals make the transition to be used to array a grid in a understanding programming sunflower pattern (fibonacci concepts and in turn, learn series), draw this as 3D latticework and expected later this year, probably as part of more about the designs.

Autodesk Subscription. insert a component at each intersection.

Computational design is an emerging This element may alter configuration approach to design that uses the power of depending on the sun path. All this is driv- Programming in AutoCAD the computer to aid the design’s progress. en from a parametric and associative script. AutoCAD has a long history of offering Traditionally the designer would create In short, it uses computational power to many different ways for customers to script, and document drawings or a model as a deal with complexity and reduce design the most popular language being AutoLISP, representation. time.

Computational design provides a framewhich was introduced back in 1986. Many While Dr Aish was at Bentley, McNeel & users have learned the language to automate work where various design ideas can be Associates also developed a similar pro- repetitive tasks and design new tools and quickly generated and evaluated. It does

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Attention all Bentley users!

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The Bentley User Conference

Working Smarter, Together Get the Most out of Your Bentley Software by “Working Smarter, Together.”

Join infrastructure professionals from around the world at Be Together, the information-packed, hands-on Bentley User Conference. Plus, make sure you attend our highly interactive LIVE Zone exhibit and product demonstration area.

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Enhance your skills, increase your product knowledge, increase your competitive edge, and improve your value to your organization. Conference tracks include Bentley Civil, Bridge, Building, Communications, Engineering Information Management (including ProjectWise and AssetWise), Geospatial, Geotechnical, MicroStation, Plant, Structural, Utilities, and Water.

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Registration is now open! To learn more and to register, visit:

• Previews of innovative future releases

www.bentley.com/BeTogether/AEC

© 2012 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, MicroStation and ProjectWise are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

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Feature

Dr Robert Aish the godfather of computational design

require some different thinking, for instance the designer would have to consider what variables would need to be driven by the system prior to design, assess what elements depend on one another and identify the desired performance criteria.

With these identified a script can be written to provide a framework for the design creation and assessment. So by putting in a little more time at the start, many more design variations can be created, tested and assessed.

Language DesignScript is a new associative language that maintains a graph of dependencies between variables, which can be values or geometry.

Running a DesignScript program and changing the input values will cause a ripple effect, propagating the calculated changes in the model.

From the outset, DesignScript understands many of the element types, classes and variables in Autodesk’s core products, so while it will be first available in AutoCAD it may well be used in other Autodesk environments, or understand elements created by other Autodesk products such as engineering analysis and simulation.

It may be possible to have designs selfoptimise depending on iterative results from a product such as Ecotect or Green Building Studio.

As programming languages go, DesignScript is very straightforward and potentially quick to pick up as the statements are very descriptive. It is powerful, www.AECmag.com

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DesignScript workshops Advances in Architectural Geometry, Paris, 29-30 September 2012 [aag12.architecturalgeometry.at] [Two day workshop] ACADIA, San Francisco, 18-19 October 2012 [acadia.org/acadia2012/home. html] [Two day workshop] AU, Las Vegas, 26 November [One day workshop on the Monday before the start of AU] The DesignComputation Symposium will be part of the main AU conference programme.

These workshops will introduce the DesignScript language, the extensive geometry library and the integration of programming and geometry with Structural Form Finding, Robot structural analysis and Ecotect building performance analysis. In addition the workshops will also include an introduction to design optimisation [which is why the workshops need two days].

This is not just ‘parametric design’, but a wider consideration of computation (or algorithmic) design and advanced geometric modelling coupled with a wide range of analysis and simulation tools.

Designers do not need to be programmers to work with DesignScript, but should have a willingness to learn techniques that can bring important advantages to the design process.

flexible and user extensible but will require a different approach to design. Dr Aish explains that “a new toolset suggests a new mindset.”

Conclusion DesignScript has been a long time in the making.

While Bentley and McNeel have managed to capture the imagination of many a young architect with their generative products, DesignScript will bring computational design to a much larger audience, one which previously embraced end-user languages like AutoLISP. It will be interesting to see how aggressively Autodesk addresses this niche market when the product finally gets unleashed later this year.

Being the godfather of both GenerativeComponents and DesignScript, Dr Aish has a pretty good idea of the capabilities of the competition and, having had carte blanche at Autodesk to start a new tool will aim to improve on what GC is capable of.

While I am sure many Autodesk customers will not want to learn to program, AutoCAD will actually offer designers a unique capability within the Autodesk product suite for experimental design.

With new possibilities and perhaps popularity, we may start to look at the computer more in its rightful place, as a design tool, improving our designs and suggesting improvements.

Computers should be more than a way of just documenting our ideas.

■

autodesk.co.uk

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Feature

The Bass effect Under the tutelage of CEO Carl Bass, Autodesk, the world’s largest CAD software provider, has gone from a one-trick pony to a multiplatform, multi-industry specialist. At the company’s 2013 product launch event Martyn Day talked to the enterprising leader about his vision for design, hosted solutions and what lies beyond the cloud.

Visionary: Autodesk CEO Carl Bass believes that the cloud will become ubiquitous and therefore nothing special

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AutoCAD WS, the online and mobile When combined with Vault, Buzzsaw and utodesk used to be a one product company. It would only run on DWG viewer and editor has been an amazing AutoCAD WS, Autodesk 360 extends the Windows and it was mainly used success with millions of DWGs being loaded design office anywhere a tablet or mobile for 2D documentation of design. onto phones and tablets and taken to custom- phone can go.

Document distribution was stage one. In The last three years have seen an explosion ers or construction sites.

SketchBook mobile has been incredibly the 2012 releases cloud services were includin development of new products, support for multiple operating systems, acquisitions and popular among digital artists and a new ed for free to Subscription customers, such as image effects tool Pixlr-o-matic is popular for cloud-rendering, design optimisation, energy a 3D solution for just about everything. and structural analysis. Autodesk is commitAutodesk professional CAD tools also had photo editing.

The new range of analysis tools like ted to offering more and the 2013 products a reputation of being expensive, but with a slew of iPhone/iPad and Android applica- ForceEffect bring real-time analysis of sim- have been further architected to make use of tions that range from free to those that cost ple beam systems to mobile devices and the Autodesk 360, together with even tighter the equivalent of a couple of bags of chips, new BlueStreak Mobile from Labs brings col- integration for workflows between suites of that too is a reputation that probably needs to laboration technology with team communi- products that are now bundled together.

While the software continbe readdressed. ues to get more capable, it is Under CEO Carl Bass, the obvious that an increasing porcompany is looking to get its Carl Bass sees a future where design tion of the benefits of new vertechnology to as many far flung documents are stored in the cloud and sions will be capabilities that areas as possible. Autodesk need to be run on Autodesk’s software covers Entertainment applications that were previously installed cloud-infrastructure. and Media, Manufacturing, on personal hard drives become irrelevant The benefit here is that comPlant Design, Architecture plex computations can be Engineering and Construction offloaded to huge web servers, (AEC), General design docufreeing up the local machine, together with mentation, Games, Document Management, cations and notifications to mobile users.

Cloud hosting and all types of Analysis.

More than any other CAD vendor, the getting very fast results. Mr Bass talked ‘cloud’ has quickly found its way into all of about these new tools providing analysis and Mobile and the cloud feedback on designs, together with results Autodesk’s professional offerings.

Somewhat confusingly, Autodesk Cloud, spanning multiple variations based on one While previous launch events have concentrated on products and features, Autodesk which originally launched late last year, has design being submitted.

While this is undoubtedly the most practitook a different tack this year, focussing on already been renamed ‘Autodesk 360’. Mr its breadth of development, especially on Bass explained the reason for this was the cal and immediate benefit from having a lack of longevity he attributes to the word cloud-based strategy, Autodesk is continuing emerging trends with mobile and the cloud.

Mr Bass explained that while it took ‘cloud’. In two years time, it will be ubiqui- to experiment with streaming apps from the cloud. Mr Bass has said on a number of occaAutodesk some 20 years to get its first 11 mil- tous and therefore nothing special.

Autodesk has already provided this free sions that Autodesk has Revit, Maya and lion customers, over the last three years, with mobile applications, the company has man- hosting service, together with additional Inventor comfortably running on an iPad functionality for Subscription customers. over a wireless network. Now, if only there aged to add more than 11 million.

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was a 20 inch iPad! It is safe to say that in the future Autodesk software will be available to run on a mix of platforms, locally or remote, depending on what is best for the task or, what is available.

Death of releases?

It seems that Autodesk’s yearly product dump may also be up for review. Mr Bass sees decreasing reasons for a major ‘R’ release when updates can be easily streamed throughout the year.

So there may not be a 2014 release, which raises all sorts of questions about the traditional ‘obit’ and staying on the upgrade cycle — the moving target that is a yearly release becomes a wave of in-year updates.

The company’s decision to concentrate more on its breadth of applications and increased reach with mobile products also puts an end to the traditional list of new features and enhancements. The push is now on omnipresence of data, workflow and the computational and optimisation benefits of cloud. I hope Autodesk’s new found popularity on mobile devices is not going to make it take its eyes off the core professional business; mobile revenue pales into insignificance to that of any one of Autodesk’s design products alone.

Capturing reality Former head of Autodesk’s Labs division, Brian Mathews, is now working to commercialise the Labs team’s efforts to capture and convert images to 3D models. The development is exemplified in the innovative and free Autodesk 123D Catch cloud-based softwww.AECmag.com

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ware, which takes multiple photographs of an object and (somewhat miraculously) sends back textured 3D models.

Mr Mathews has been refining the accuracy of this technology and claimed that the next release will be on a par with laser scans, which is a considerable claim.

He is also working on converting video to models and showed some stunning technology that involved flying an ‘Octocopter’ with a DSLR camera over a site to generate footage that was fed into cloud software to create impressive 3D images. Mr Mathews claimed this technology is a quick way to capture accurate city models. I am expecting more from this technology later on in the year.

Design Suites Introduced last year, the hefty dollop of applications that are the Design Suites continue to grow. All now come with Autodesk 360 cloud capabilities.

The big news is that in the Premium and Ultimate Building Design Suite, all versions of Revit have been combined into one. That includes Architecture, Structural and MEP. It is no longer necessary to shut down and restart different Revit applications to gain access to the full suite. Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2013 is now included in the Premium edition and Infrastructure Modeller 2013 is added to Ultimate.

AutoCAD Raster Design 2013 has been added to all versions of the Infrastructure Design Suite, with Infrastructure Modeller 2013 in Premium and Ultimate and AutoCAD Utility Design and Revit Structure 2013 added to the Ultimate version.

Revit Architecture, Structure and MEP are all still available as standalone applications.

Conclusion Autodesk now has a massive portfolio of applications. Not only is that hard to keep up with, it has a growing number of Suites that mix and match related products in suggested workflows. Autodesk has gone from a one product company to one that needs a spreadsheet to figure out which products go where.

I asked Carl Bass if Autodesk had too many applications and didn’t quite get the answer I expected. Bass explained that while Google got it right with Google Docs, providing cloud tools to create popular documents, it relied on multiple applications to access all the different document types.

In comparison, Mr Bass sees a future where design documents are stored in the cloud and applications that were previously installed on personal hard drives become irrelevant. Instead the right tools will appear given the type of data or the manipulation required: AutoCAD-like functionality for drawing; 3ds Max, Inventor or Revit-like functions for modelling, depending on what you are trying to do.

This is indeed a broad utopian vision, but as it is coming from Carl Bass, you can be sure that somewhere in a lab, it is being experimented with.

Next issue we will look more in-depth at what capabilities are coming in the 2013 AEC products. By then we would have had time to get our hands on the software and look at the new releases.

■ autodesk.com

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Comment

Who keeps moving your BIM goalposts?

Image: belterz, istockphoto.com

Oundle Group Managing Director Joe Croser considers an online subscription that analyses and benchmarks AEC software-user skills to help companies develop competitive advantage

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Ask the software support team to measure success? If they are, how would they meare you moving your Building Information Modelling (BIM) the successful adoption of the new technolo- sure the ROI? Would they look for reduced goalposts or are they being gy and they will likely verify that the sup- hiring costs, increased staff retention rates, moved for you? Stand still and port infrastructure is up and running and improved talent development metrics, or your competition will beat you to score the that acceptable service levels for responses some other cocktail of value? Do they know next big project. The days of claiming com- are being met. But are they analysing the what it costs to recruit or how much it costs petitive advantage because you are ‘BIM data to understand skills gaps which may to get it wrong and how often that happens?

I am barely scratching the surface. We Ready’ are long gone; being ‘ready’ is no lon- give rise to increased risk when sharing ger a differentiator — almost everyone now data? Can they infer from their service ticket need to make sure we get the most from our database (assuming that one exists) who is a investment in BIM. The strategy should claims some BIM readiness.

I have with great interest read various prime candidate for training to take their serve high-level business goals that are articles relating to BIM use including: skills to the next level or who is a liability for shared across all stakeholder groups, and which are in turn involved at every step to Demonstrating Professional Credentials, the firm, increasing its risk and exposure?

The financial director might know if the provide balance and to guarantee success.

Sharing BIM Data, The Cost of Conversion, and The effect of BIM on Health & Safety. budget has been spent, and if there are None of the blog posts, LinkedIn discus- more purchase orders in play and may even Common approach sions, or online surveys considered if BIM report on the level of investment made as a For every perspective outlined above there is adoption was the right thing to do — that is leading indicator of the company’s commit- a common approach for measuring the sucnow a given. The threads I read dug deeper ment to BIM and technological advance- cess of new technology and BIM adoption. into how one might maximise a return on ment. But does he or she understand the For architecture, engineering, and coninvestment (ROI) and minimise the risks impact on operating expenses? Or how BIM struction firms that struggle to recruit new associated with embracing collaborative processes might impact the way projects talent with the right software skills, or to BIM workflows. That is good news, especial- are resourced during the phases of develop- efficiently train existing staff with mixed ment? If not, how will the budget be balanc- software abilities, a KnowledgeSmart subly in the current business climate.

Today, every well-run business is working es with the books to optimise the fine bal- scription delivers skills gap analysis and harder than ever to increase returns on tech- ance of operating expenditure and income? benchmarking services to help maximise The business development team will be return on investment in technology, people nological, workflow, and human investments. Every purchase is being scrutinised, very quick to tell anyone that will listen and client services. As a mature cloud-based and performance levels measured service provider, KnowledgeSmart to determine if, where, and how the is the only online subscription investment is growing. Makes peroffering that analyses and benchThe next time you need to fect sense to me; you cannot manmarks AEC software user skills to age what you do not measure, and help firms create new efficiencies demonstrate your BIM credentials you will not sustain what you do and develop competitive advando it with data and differentiate not manage in this climate. tage.

So how are firms measuring The KnowledgeSmart service: your firm’s BIM ability with their returns on BIM investments?

• Reduces HR costs of ‘failed hard facts Well, that depends on who is doing recruits’ by analysing software the measuring. skills of job candidates during If you ask an IT/CAD/BIM manrecruitment to increase tenure ager to measure the success of an imple- about their new technology, the depth of • Increases classroom productivity by mentation he or she will likely verify that their investment across the firm, the eliminating need for revision (AKA redunthe technology has been installed and con- enhanced capabilities of their teams, and dant training time) before learning new figured on the appropriate desktops. He or the benefits they can now promise to their skills she may even quote the numbers of active clients. But how will they differentiate • Lowers training course costs by reducing projects and users. But will he or she their offering from that of their competi- time spent in training classroom after elimiunderstand what to expect from them mov- tion? We have already established that nating redundant training time ing forwards? Does he or she know why the being ‘BIM ready’ will no longer impress.

• Measures the training return on investbusiness needs to change or how the busi- So how will they benchmark their capabili- ment by analysing skills pre-training to ness and its clients are going to benefit? If ties against others to rise above the crowd? ‘benchmark’ proficiency and post-training not, how will he or she be able to adjust the Ask the project directors what they think. to measure development. strategy to deliver all that is expected?

From measured ROI studies, the average Are they going to tell you that they need A trainer will likely verify that delegates more or less time to service their clients and KnowledgeSmart subscriber enjoys a return have attended and completed prescribed deliver their projects? Do they even know? on investment of between two and five training courses. He or she may quote the Their primary mission is to bring a project times, before they measure their productivinumbers of certified users if post-training in on time and on budget. But how will they ty gains and report on the increased quality examinations were taken. But does the do that blind? How will they resource proj- of service to infrastructure project clients. trainer have insight into the new levels of ects with the right mix of skills and experiThe next time you need to demonstrate quality or productivity the business can ence to guarantee quality for their clients, your BIM credentials do it with data and expect from its newly trained staff? Do they and efficiency for their firms? To whom will differentiate your firm’s BIM ability with know how their colleagues’ skills now com- they turn for help? Human Resources (HR)? hard facts. pare to their counterparts in competing The learning and development team? The firms? If not, how will he or she assess the CAD/BIM manager?

Joe Croser is Managing Director of Oundle needs for additional training? Or advise What about HR? Do they have an opinion? Group, a business development consultancy that colleagues who are charged with resourcing Are they sitting at the “new technology helps technology firms grow, and an Enterprise projects with the right mix and balance adoption and workflow change management Programme Mentor with the Prince’s Trust, a of skills? table” actively engaging in the strategy for youth charity that helps change young lives.

‘‘

Image: belterz, istockphoto.com

’’

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Comment

BIM training UK technology service provider CADline is helping customers prepare for the move to Building Information Modelling (BIM).

CAD Manager: We want to do this Revit course in two days.

NH: This course takes three days as a minimum.

CAD Manager: My team are experts in AutoCAD; can’t we do it in two days?

NH: Not if you want them to cover all the topics and complete all the exercises.

CAD Manager: OK then, can I take these ten topics out?

NH: No because we structure the course in such a way that the delegates build a by nick harris cumulative skill set over the duration of the course and they won’t understand subsen the last year we have seen the number quent concepts. of Building Information Modelling (BIM) implementation projects that we Opportunity knocks are delivering with our customers The problem is that for many training is increase significantly. There is a tangible treated as a “tick box” exercise, scheduled increase in clients’ requirements for some on a project plan and treated in the same level of BIM deliverable both in public and way as a software installation or content private sectors, but also we are also seeing creation. It should, however, be considered our customers choose to adopt BIM technol- as an unprecedented opportunity to shake ogy now because of competitive pressures. up your team and develop a capability that We are approached by companies that are works the way you want it to. genuinely concerned they are not as proAssuming that your company is new to ductive as their peers and that they have lost BIM you should accept that you will be doing business because the consultant is using a things in a different way to 2D and now is the model-based design approach and can time to make the changes to the culture and deliver the job in less time. workflow to support the transition.

Generally we start our conversation with The flexibility that products like our aspiring BIM practitioner by explaining AutoCAD, Microstation and even Microsoft our straightforward approach to adopting Office provide allows many different BIM technologies and workflows and all the approaches to produce similar results. Even associated considerations. the most tightly run teams will have memWe then run through a typical BIM bers with differing abilities, interpreting the implementation phase and explain each company standards in a way that suits them phase from planning through to delivering and deliver different levels of productivity. the first design or construction project and Most companies do not have an effective explain the minimum engagement from measure of the abilities of their employees both sides. We use our experience to allo- to use CAD technology even where it consticate a reasonable amount of our time for tutes a significant part of their role. training and consultancy services to supArguably then, for an organisation develport the success of the project. oping a BIM capability, assessment and Where a customer finds themselves hav- training are the most important aspects of ing to develop a BIM capability because of the project. Consider that you have a captive external pressures they have often not con- audience, unable to bring the baggage assosidered a budget for the project. Despite ciated with years of AutoCAD use to the agreeing to our return on investment projec- training sessions and who will want to tions that show the increased productivity make a success of BIM at your company as they will enjoy as a result of the transition, much as you do? The reality is that it is the they will look to cut costs wherever possible. capabilities of your team that will make Almost inevitably they will turn their atten- your adoption of BIM a success and you tion to the training programme we have rec- probably only want to train them once. ommended and try and slim it down.

What is the best approach to developing As a result I find myself repeatedly having that capability in an organisation that is a conversation that goes something like: transitioning to BIM workflows for the first

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time? It is clear that initially they need to become proficient in the BIM authoring or aggregation product such as Revit or Navisworks that they will be using primarily. Invariably that should involve attending a structured, instructor led course, with a predefined set of topics, consisting of lecture and exercise aspects in a classroom environment isolated from office distractions. There is no alternative method of training that gives quite such a rich learning experience as being able to work through a proven subject matter with a subject expert. A good instructor balances knowledge of the relevant industry against product expertise and knowledge delivery skills.

There are many providers of classroom training for BIM products and often local colleges are good place to start if you are on a limited budget and can spend an academic term attending evening classes. However, for an implementation project you will be more likely to be attending short, intensive training programmes with a commercial provider. The training that we provide for Autodesk’s BIM products has been carefully designed to strike a balance between cost and content.

As you have heard, customers tend to want to allocate the minimum amount of time for training while we know that there is a certain amount of subject matter that must be covered to allow the delegate to leave the course with enough knowledge to become productive. A great deal of skill and experience is required to design a course that will deliver the content at a pace that will be acceptable to users of all abilities and yet still be commercially attractive. Again there are plenty of commercial providers offering short, intensive training for BIM products.

If location is not important then choosing a training provider can be confusing especially where pricing is competitive. My advice is to choose a recognised certification provider such as a member of Autodesk’s Authorised Training Center (ATC) programme where you have some assurance of the consistency of the offering. ATC members have to fulfil a number of quality and capability criteria to maintain their place in the programme and their trainers are required to meet minimum levels of experience as well as undergo assessments and demonstrate continuous development.

We find that three consecutive days is the maximum time that even the most willing

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delegates can sit through a training course at the pace being delivered before losing focus. There is a lot to take in but in our BIM implementation project we hope to have delivered the training just in time for the delegate to return to the office, collect their thoughts and then start work on the first BIM design project.

In an ideal world I would suggest the most effective method of becoming proficient in a BIM product is to embark on the first design project following the initial classroom training with unlimited access to an instructor through to its successful completion.

Of course this would be prohibitively expensive for most firms and so we aim to provide an effective alternative which normally includes further classroom training, regular project mentoring and remote support. Rarely will we have covered all the subject matter for a particular product in that first course and so with Revit, for example, we suggest a selection of users attend a further two day classroom course where we can train a set of less frequently used concepts.

Users need not be limited to an instructorled classroom to develop their skills. We are finding that we are delivering more and more training using web-based methods. These sessions are normally scheduled to take place around lunch time, are delivered by a product expert, take about an hour and often focus on a particular set of topics that are frequently requested through our helpdesk.

Self-development plays an important role in the implementation project and can take a number of forms. In most of our training courses we use material that covers more subject matter than the course and for those users that are comfortable with working through structured exercises themselves, they can quickly extend the skills they learnt during the course. Similarly we use a number of e-learning or e-training partners to provide on demand sessions using interactive media, hands-on exercises and tests.

Then there is our CADline Community portal (cadlinecommunity.co.uk) packed with technical solutions and guidance designed specifically to support new BIM adopters.

My advice is to establish what your expectation is for your users before deciding on how you wish them to be trained. Take into account the human aspect of this part of your BIM implementation project and consider how your team can be best developed to deliver the capability you are looking for.

Even the best trainers will struggle to create a BIM expert in a couple of days.

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2

3

â– cadline.co.uk

1 A render from a BIM supply chain customer attending a training course 2 A render produced during an advanced Revit training course 3 Using Revit’s rendering capability to visualise the effect of glazing on internal spaces

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Case study

Close control with OpenBIM

ZEEP architecten has invested in OpenBIM and integrated design processes. The result is better productivity, quality and customer satisfaction.

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collaboration between three cooperating disciplines: architect, engineer and installation consultant addresses a 26-house project in Zwolle, Netherlands (pictured), through integrated design.

ZEEP architecten, winner of the 2010 ‘How Smart Is Your BIM’ contest, worked alongside building structure consultant Vericon, an experienced Tekla user, and installation consultant Veccins3d, which works with DDS-CAD. The three firms agreed to collaborate in Building Information Modelling (BIM) and to monitor data quality by an independent check on modelling — and design errors.

ZEEP architecten chose to use Solibri Model Checker from Kubus architectural solutions, its BIM-partner and ArchiCADdistributor. After a test phase, ZEEP concluded that Solibri could be used on various projects: internal, small projects and bigger projects in which collaboration is www.AECmag.com

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needed. Zeep architect Ronald van Aggelen says Solibri is the “unifying factor” for all these projects.

“Solibri works as a control system,” he says. “Solibri helps the team improve the quality of our work. It is an objective tool to monitor if the model meets predefined requirements.

“The beauty of this software is that even without coding during the process of elaborated design, all quantities can be extracted from the model.

“The way in which the design is created is independent of the working method or the used software. We strongly believe in this OpenBIM way of doing things.”

Working together The starting point in exchanging information between the various construction partners is Industry Foundation Classes (IFC).

IFC-data is stored in an IFC-server where Solibri is used as a shell. Solibri then monitors and checks the quality of both incoming and outgoing IFC files.

It is increasingly important to share information with other partners in the building process, Mr van Aggelen says. “Not only does that reduce failure costs caused by poor communication, it also optimises our internal processes.

“By using a BIM model and the exchange of transparent, unambiguous data we are forcing ourselves to the limits to get the best from the model.”

The 26-house project in Zwolle, Netherlands was created through integrated design.

Rendering produced by archivision.nl

By way of example Mr Van Aggelen says: “We are able, by the use of Solibri, to answer any question about the building in approximately 10% of the time we normally spend.”

The move to greater co-operation with partners has meant a change in processes, Mr van Aggelen says.

“Construction partners are — almost by nature — wary of each other. This has to be overcome and we have come a long way with our partners on this level.

“Since working with Solibri my decisions are better founded. All partners are aware of the benefits of doing business this way.

Design optimisation The use of OpenBIM during the design (ArchiCAD, Tekla, DDS-CAD, and Solibri) has ensured that the building permit was submitted within six weeks from starting the design.

Mr van Aggelen is pleased with the quick turnaround of the project, as is the client. “We also ensured an end product with a higher quality than the sum of its parts,” he says.

The project is ready for construction, marketing materials are made and the construction documents will be manufactured regarding the specifications of the contractor, directly from ArchiCAD. The contractor will receive directly unsolicited information such as quantity surveys and costing data.

■ zeep-architecten.nl

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Case study

House of Hanover Digital measurements at Leibniz University with the faro focus3D laser scanner.

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he recent refurbishment of a stunning glass roof over Guelph castle courtyard at the Leibniz University of Hanover was never going to be easy. The acclaimed institution wished to reglaze the glasswork using aluminium profile construction with highly insulated Schüco elements to improve its energy efficiency.

The listed courtyard is supported by a steel structure, with a total area of 1,200 square metres. Existing survey documents of the spatial support structure, made of steel tubing and double I beams, was old and imprecise, and did not provide all the necessary measurements.

Langenhagen-based Masche Metallbau was chosen to carry out a 3D survey, which was provided by Laser Scanning Architecture led by architect J Rechenbach. The steel substructure was measured in 12 individual scans, with the data transmitted to its inhouse CAD department for planning work.

Laser Scanning Architecture was able to generate the 3D digital image of the complete geometry within two working days. The laser scanner was on site for only three hours. In comparison, manual measurement would have taken about 40-60 hours of work — www.AECmag.com

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without the assurance that every dimension The freely available Autodesk plug-in, had been determined to the last detail.

Cloud Point Extraction, was applied directly in AutoCAD, which enabled complex 3D Scanning with Faro models to be reduced to 2D content quickly Laser Scanning Architecture used Faro Scene and easily. This allowed all the desired measoftware for photo-realistic display of the surements to be made and the 2D details to be recorded data. The scan was read into worked out rapidly.

Once the basic geometry had been deterAutodesk Navisworks, which made it possible to combine scan data with 3D data from mined and the axis spacing of the support points specified, the component library of the other sources.

A comparison of target and actual values Schücad software was accessed to incorpowas carried out, in which the scan data was rate the profiles to be constructed in CAD. presented, superimposed on the newly created CAD plan so that deviations immediately Conclusion became visible.

Using 3D scanning and documentation Planning errors were systematically avoid- allowed a high degree of planning reliability ed early on. In this case, the faulty production during the construction process. It enabled of a single large aluminium-glass element the architect and engineers to precisely porwould have been more expensive than the tray the as-built condition in this very comentire 3D measurement of the object. plex roof geometry, in an older building in which deformations may have occurred.

AutoCAD Architecture The successful completion of the construcDetailed drawings were made by Masche tion project shows how accurate digital surMetallbau in 2D mode using AutoCAD veying data can be and the benefits 3D docuArchitecture. The 3D point cloud model was mentation technology offers for construction “sliced” randomly to show the true geometry applications in surveys and architectural of the steel substructure at the desired posi- monument preservation. tion and to plan the glass elements of the roof. ■ faro.com March / April 2012

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Feature

Crossrail: embracing BIM for construction

by Greg Corke

As Crossrail’s Tier 1 contractors prepare for major work, Bentley Systems has been brought on board as part of the supply chain to help the £15.9bn project transition into the construction phase.

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s any Londoner will tell you travelling on a packed Central line tube in rush hour is not an experience to relish. The capital is crying out for a major new transport link to ease east-west congestion and Crossrail is answering that call.

Crossrail’s world-class metro style service will carry over 200 million passengers per year. With 42km of new tunnels, 37 stations, eight new sub surface stations the scale of the project is huge. With a budget of £15.9bn it is Europe’s biggest construction project. An incredible 14,000 people will be needed by its supply chain at the peak of construction.

BIM beyond design Managing a project of this size is a major challenge, and Building Information Modelling (BIM) is playing a major role.

“What I’m looking for Crossrail is a single BIM model that connects the start right the way through to the end,” said Crossrail chief executive, Andrew Wolstenholme.

“As an industry we’re not very good at this.

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the as-maintained tends to be on different platforms. “[By linking these technology sets up] we have one continuous set of the truth, the right answer, in a single format that we can pass seamlessly through eventually to the operator.”

Crossrail’s integrated project team standardised on software from Bentley Systems from the very beginning. The software is used to contribute to a fully co-ordinated 3D model and the distributed project team is connected across multiple locations by Bentley’s ProjectWise collaboration platform with BS1192, the British standard for collaborative production of information.

With Crosrail now moving into the main construction phase the project is throwing up a whole new set of challenges. From a BIM perspective this includes how to get the various contractors to collaboratively contribute to information modelling and business processes.

To help bring the contractors on board Bentley has been appointed a Crossrail partner for construction enterprise and has

become part of the supply chain, a much more integrated function than that of a traditional supplier of software.

In its new role, Bentley has put together some key initiatives to help support Crossrail’s transition into the construction phase. Bentley’s chief executive officer, Greg Bentley, communicated these proposals to Crossrail’s Tier 1 contractors earlier this year at Bentley’s UK headquarters in London.

Mr Bentley explained how Crossrail’s Enterprise License Subscription (ELS) will be broadened to serve its Tier 1 contractors — giving them controlled access to the full portfolio of Bentley software.

Access to the software will be provided through Bentley’s ‘select server’ and each supplier will be given a ‘key’ so usage can be tracked by Crossrail. Mr Bentley said that in some cases Crossrail will provide machines with pre-loaded software.

Mr Bentley was clear that contractors will not have to purchase any software licenses adding that “Crossrail sees the advantage to the project of using that software.”

Access to a standard set of tools is only www.AECmag.com

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Crossrail facts and figures At £15.bn, Crossrail is Europe’s biggest construction project.

Crossrail services will commence on the central section by 2018.

Around 200 million passengers will travel on Crossrail each year and it will expand London’s rail network capacity by 10 percent.

New Crossrail stations are being built at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House and Woolwich.

42km of bored tunnels will weave their way between existing underground lines, sewers, utility tunnels and building foundations at depths of up to 40m.

Each Crossrail train will be 200 metres long and will accommodate up to 1,500 passengers.

Computer rendering of the new Whitechapel Crossrail Station

one challenge, however, as Mr Wolstenholme explained, “BIM is not simply about the application of new software — it’s about a different way of working.

“If we are to take advantage of the opportunity BIM offers the programme, and our contractor organisations, we need to collaborate closely with our supply chains to make it happen.”

Crossrail will start by expanding the reach of Bentley’s ProjectWise collaboration platform with BS1192. Tier 1 suppliers will be given access to Crossrail’s ProjectWise environment with caching servers used to solve large file problems.

Supporting the use of Bentley software through the Crossrail construction phase will also require significant investment in training. Bentley will work with Crossrail to create content for classroom workshops, which can be hosted at Bentley’s UK headquarters or locally. The Tier 1 supply chain will also be offered the benefits of Crossrail’s Enterprise License Subscription with Bentley, which includes unlimited learning through virtual classrooms. www.AECmag.com

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Up to 24 trains will run per hour between Paddington and Whitechapel during peak times.

New opportunities

A legacy for industry

An added benefit for Bentley of working with the Crossrail supply chain is the opportunity presented to expand its relationship with many of the industry’s leading contractors.

Mr Bentley explained how Crossrail contractors will be offered Bentley software, specifically ProjectWise, for use on their own projects for collaboration, work sharing and engineering content management.

ProjectWise could be run on local servers or put entirely in the cloud, he said.

Mr Bentley confirmed the preferential discount and subscription terms offered to Crossrail would be extended, but the usage would not be tracked by Crossrail.

Bentley is also setting up a new BIM academy at its London headquarters, where it will invite contractors to discover and share ideas on Bentley technology.

Technology pods will showcase a variety of new software and hardware including tools for mobile devices such as the iPad, intelligent digital pens, and laser scanning, a technology he sees playing a major role in the Crossrail project.

With a clear strategy in place for how to integrate BIM into the supply chain through the delivery phases, the next major challenge for Crossrail will be how to manage the handover to Rail for London.

Mr Wolstenholme sees this as a huge opportunity. “Infrastructure projects of the scale and complexity of Crossrail do not come around very frequently,” he said. “I want to use the Crossrail opportunity to move the whole industry forward in a number of areas which includes the use of BIM through the delivery and lifecycle phases of major projects.

“The real prize for me is to move the industry boundary as to how you manage the assets using digital technology,” he said.

Beyond the legacy of Crossrail itself, Mr Wolstenholme believes the project will become a “legacy of capability” for industry.

He sees it playing an important role in the input for High Speed 2 [the new UK high speed rail network] and, in the future, maybe even for Cross Rail 2 and an aviation transport hub in the east of London.

■ crossrail.co.uk ■ bentley.com

March / April 2012

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5/4/12 14:14:07

Designviz

From a Finnish ski village that encourages its guests to ski directly from its pitched rooftop to the slopes, to a luxury villa complex in China, Design Viz goes international.

by Stephen Holmes

Levi ski resort, Finland This exciting new ski resort is to be built in Levi, Finland, transforming what would otherwise be another hotel complex into a snowy piste that forms part of the landscape.

“Instead of creating design solutions that aim at dealing with snow by shovelling or moving it, we want to create a village that utilises the full potential of snow,” explains Hanna Johansson, project leader at Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) responsible for the design.

The pitched rooftop mimics a ski slope or skiable manmade mountain that guests will be encouraged to use to get to the slopes straight from the hotel doors on its top floors. “When it is caught on the façade the window frames become a living part of the landscape, adapting to changes in the weather.

The light granite façade enhances the intimate relation with the nature.”

The four buildings arc around a central square to create a new bustling village plaza at the heart of the resort, which is sheltered from the wind and yet open to the surrounding landscape.

The plaza allows ice skating and music events and is connected to a bowl like yard created by the lower interior heights of the new buildings, complete with cafés and bars. The intimate atmosphere of the spaces created here contrasts the open views from the summit and makes great use of the site’s proximity to the slopes.

The project was the winning entry in a competition to transform the 47,000m² ski resort and recreational space in Lapland.

BIG’s team of architects and visual designers built the model of the proposal in 3D using Rhino after several conceptual sketching stages.

The final renderings were then elaborated using Photoshop, to create the snow-topped soft curves of the undulating roofs of the four buildings and the unique character of a ski slope skyline that becomes an inhabited mountaintop.

It is yet another project by BIG that shows how much fun modern functional architecture can be.

■ big.dk

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5/4/12 14:15:09

Gallery

www.AECmag.com

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5/4/12 14:15:10

Gallery

The waterfall effect

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A blend of Thunderbirds’ secret headquarters and desirable luxury villa complex, this undisclosed project for a Chinese client, perched atop a beautiful waterfall, is by architects Woods Bagot.

With three separate sites, each with unique qualities and nuances to be developed, ten images in total were needed within a frantic seven-day completion time.

The rough sketches were transformed into enough geometry for each view using Rhino, chosen as it allowed the team easy collaboration on the geometry. The final imagery was

5/4/12 14:15:13

the sole responsibility of team leader Tarran Kundi so that all the images share a common style and aesthetic precedent. Rhino also enabled the rest of the team to service the office’s needs on other projects, which is crucial when working in a large practice.

The rough geometry file was exported to 3ds Max, embellishing the geometry, texture and adding lighting to each scene.

“Setup was quick for straightforward rough texturing, some V-Ray displacement, some HDRI, and a large resolution render,” explained Mr Kundi. “In each case I www.AECmag.com

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did not pay extreme detail to specific shader or optimisation settings within V-Ray as the scene setup was quite rudimentary already and I knew using standard GI settings each of the ten would render out overnight on our render farm.”

The necessary render passes were saved as they would be crucial to the next stage of matte painting in Photoshop. The desired effect was not photorealism but capturing the essence and energy of the project and its juxtaposition within the outstanding natural beauty of its surroundings. Each image

has hundreds of layers, many of which were modified stock imagery, composited together much like a collage.

“The time spent initially working closely with the designers was invaluable. This collaborative stage was essential in understanding the creative vision and intent,” said Mr Kundi.

“I think this is a key benefit of working in house as opposed to an external firm when working on projects with such tight deadlines.”

■ woodsbagot.com

March / April 2012

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5/4/12 14:15:15

Exclusivity may be an advantage for holidays but not for interdisciplinary BIM collaboration

Join the OPEN BIM Community Now!

Designed by Bond Bryan Architects

The Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre brings industry and academia together in a partnership under one roof. Because of its leading edge design and sustainability features the NAMRC is known as the ‘Factory of the Future’.

Bringing the future to the present it was designed by a number of collaborating companies, using a variety of CAD and BIM tools, which worked together seamlessly in an OPEN BIM workflow.

www.graphisoft.com/openbim/

Event review

Imagina 2012

by Stephen Holmes

T

he annual Imagina event has a positively continental approach to the uses of digital design tools, which provides attendees from the UK and US with thought provoking ideas.

Despite battling an impromptu strike by Air France that affected travel to the event, and the key absence of Dassault Systèmes’ due to a company-wide reorganisation, Imagina managed to muster enough software companies and interesting speakers to make the trip worthwhile for those who could get there.

Key themes to this year’s event revolved around the attitude of the French State, along with neighbours Switzerland and Benelux, and its promotion to local governments and cities to create detailed 3D models for future planning, including detailed streets and individual buildings. A lot of the technology on show revolved around the use of GIS data to build whole settlements in 3D, while using the cloud for storing and sharing design data.

Mapping Archividéo, Bionatics, Eternix, and Virtuel City displayed 3D territory modelling and visualisation software that use geographic source data — usually high resolution aerial photography. The software has advanced rapidly, with higher resolution images now transferring improved quality into more accurate detail for virtual maps.

While each software package differed in detail levels for the planning and management of cities, landscape preservation, military simulation and civil security, their takeup in Europe proved how enthusiastic local authorities on the continent are about the use of GIS and visualisation.

On the boundaries of this technology was CityEngine. Previously featured in AEC Magazine for its ability to quickly build a virtual city, for concept design or in-context visualisation off a few inputted parameters.

ESRI, the US-based GIS software specialist, has recently acquired the product and was keen to promote its enhanced ability to work with more rigid, imported GIS data.

Bionatics is currently expanding into the UK market, so it will be interesting to see over the coming year what effect this will have on the domestic AEC market.

One of the standout presentations at Imagina was given by architect and projects manager Ralf Levedag on the planned Stade de Nice, and the work Cabinet Wilmotte & Associés is doing to make the public structure as sustainable as possible The project boasts the world’s largest wooden structure (pictured) thanks to its complex interlinked roof supports. Mr Levedag also spoke about the project’s trials and tribulations, ultimately solved by using modern design tools

that has been built from GIS data.

Spaceyes specialises in transforming 3D models into real-time 3D fly-throughs and visualisations, while offering ‘build’ capabilities that allow for comparison and analysis to be carried out.

Elsewhere it was about sharing the information as easily as possible, often through use of the cloud. Agency9 is a software proGetting inside vider for web-based visualisation of largeSeveral software companies had products scale 3D models.

Agency9 was one of the few companies we dedicated to getting the most from a 3D model www.AECmag.com

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found that could support all common browsers without requiring installation of a software plug-in; its cloud-hosted CityPlanner allows the model owner to get feedback and update the project as it goes along.

Conclusion Imagina firmly promotes the European idea of what can be achieved through innovative use of architectural visualisation and GIS software, however it continues to expand to encompass other uses for 3D technology.

For example, 3D technology is being used more and more to improve the realism of virtual reality and training simulators, and is something we expect to see more of in future.

Despite some key players being absent, and a lack of new products, the show enabled established companies to reveal the advancements that GIS software has made in the past 12 months, with a greater level of detail now available to users.

■ imagina.mc

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5/4/12 15:31:07

Case study International design and engineering firm Arup on how better document sharing has led to greater communication.

The National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing. Its distinctive façade was inspired by the natural formation of soap bubbles. Arup’s designers and structural engineers realised that a structure based on this geometry would be highly repetitive and buildable, while appearing organic and random

D

ocument sharing on a standardised platform can be critical in large-scale construction and development.

For Arup, contracts, specifications, design information, 3D models, engineering drawings, project timelines, and other important documentation need to be fully co-ordinated.

“Our business encompasses everything from engineering to final product,” says Graeme Robinson, associate director, Continental Europe IT leader at Arup. “We need technology solutions that enable employees around the world to share information and thoughts quickly, efficiently, and securely.”

At the same time as being able to share all the required information, project details are valuable assets that need protecting from unauthorised access to safeguard the viability of the business venture.

Arup streamlines the process of sharing design documents with Adobe Acrobat X and Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection, Design Premium, and Design Standard.

Over the years, Arup migrated from paperbased information delivery processes to digital forms as the technology became widely available and more reliable. However, given its large geographical footprint, digital document generation and reading software varied, sometimes creating difficulties in fully accessing and sharing electronic files.

To standardise operations on the latest version of Acrobat, Arup secured an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) with Adobe to distribute software to employees worldwide through the Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager suite — virtual software store — where employees request Adobe Acrobat, submit the request for approval, and IT support will automatically download the software directly to their desktops.

“The ELA helps us leverage the latest version of Adobe Acrobat — and all of the newest security and functionality that comes with it — on every computer around the world,” says Mr Robinson. “It is a straightforward and efficient process for delivering the right technology to the right people at the right time.”

Collaborative management Global employees use identical software, packaging and sharing for detailed and highly sensitive design drawings. Arup uses a number of solutions to convert drawings to 32

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Share portfolio support the production of its client-facing documentation.

Whether it is a graphic designer developing information for a project bid using Adobe InDesign CS5.5 and Illustrator CS5.5 or a videographer capturing the ambience surrounding a project site and editing video in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection components provide a seamless workflow that enables Arup engineers to create compelling designs.

With Adobe Acrobat X, they can be delivered reliably to support a more comprehensive marketing strategy.

Arup can use CS5 to compile a number of file types — video, audio, animated presentations, and branded documents. “We work on some of the most high-profile projects in the world, so the quality of our designs and how we present them is critical,” says Nigel Morris, lead for the visual communications team, Arup UK. “With Adobe Creative Suite, we can take animations and designs we create with Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and reliably deliver them to diverse audiences across multiple platforms, devices, and operating environments.”

Recipients need only the free and ubiquitous Adobe Reader software to view and interact with dynamic content in PDF files.

“There is gathering momentum in the industry around using digital communications and shifting away from paper-based Vibrant communications processes and collateral. We feel we are ahead Design is the foundation of Arup’s business. of the curve in adopting ways to streamline It is important that this vision can be demon- the process of collecting data, creating compelling content, and delivering it to our audistrated to inspire its clients.

It uses Adobe Acrobat X in combination ences quickly and efficiently.” with components of Creative Suite 5.5 to ■ adobe.com ■ arup.com PDF files to share the information in a collaborative environment.

Arup aims to standardise on two PDF management products globally. “Drawings and reports are constantly moved between different groups across Arup and other organisations,” Mr Robinson says. “Using the PDF solutions files ranging from simple documents to more complex 3D models, animations and video are arranged in a way that makes it quick and convenient for teams to locate the information they need and provide comments or mark-up drawings.

“We do a lot of design development work. It is more than just a series of drawings and elevations. We are always looking at ways to send and receive digital information electronically between parties for faster and more efficient management of project delivery times.”

Project managers work with graphic designers and multimedia specialists to produce richly animated visual representations of the project using components of Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection.

Designs and elevations created in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended are inserted into project files and brought to life using Adobe After Effects CS5.5 and the Adobe Flash Platform. This interactive approach helps engineers, designers and architects understand the vision of the plan and create imaginative designs to present to clients.

www.AECmag.com

5/4/12 14:19:08

Feature

Express delivery Océ’s new cloud-based document distribution system is designed to take the pain out of sharing the latest drawing revisions.

by Tanya Weaver

D

istributing technical documents and drawings is an important part of the construction process.

Spread across different locations, key stakeholders need to be able to share the correct and most up-to-date information to avoid any costly project delays. Traditionally, this distribution would involve posting paper sets, sending documents on a CD or uploading them to an ftp site.

More recently technology firms have been looking to the cloud. Océ, a provider of document management and printing for professionals, is the latest provider to introduce a document distribution ‘in the cloud’ web service, called Eneo. Optimised for the AEC industry, it facilitates fast, effective and secure document distribution to as many parties as required, and controls who can access files from any fixed or mobile workspot whether it be via a PC in an office or a tablet on the construction site.

“With Eneo, distributions can be completed in less than half the time of traditional methods and at a lower cost,” says Adrian Axelsen, Océ’s business group manager software and professional services. “Recipients receive their sets of documents within minutes. They can see the latest version directly from the web service and so check they are building to the latest specification. For the sender, they also know exactly when the recipient downloaded the files.”

Eneo has been in development for the past two years at Document Services Valley, an independent foundation launched by Océ, Maastricht University and Exser, the Dutch centre for service innovation, in 2007. The development process involved talking to market experts as well as working closely with customers, who revealed that they did not want a wholly digital workflow as print is still of value to them.

According to Mr Axelsen, customers also revealed that they wanted the system to be as straightforward to operate as possible. Having tested it out with a number of parties involved in the construction industry, feedback www.AECmag.com

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was positive with one general contractor stating: “A good interface. User friendly, uncluttered and a clear [menu] structure.”

Sending documents requires users to upload to Eneo, create recipient groups and send the specified documents to those recipients. Once sent, the recipient will receive an email containing a link to Eneo allowing them to view, download or print the documents. Every recipient receives their own secure ID and password.

The interface is simple, and if the user requires more information there is a consistent approach of using pop-up balloons.

So, by hovering over a project with the mouse, the user can see basic information such as how many project members there are, how many distributions have been made, how many documents there are and the storage used.

“Eneo has been developed using Océ’s ‘big green button’ approach. Making it simple to use for everyone has been part of the guiding design philosophy,” says Mr Axelsen. “The trouble with many web services is that they are not always easy to use.

Eneo breaks that mould. Customers love the simplicity. This is important as the first time many people will see it is when they receive a distribution.”

For Mr Axelsen one of the biggest benefits of Eneo, aside from the obvious savings in cost and time, is the transparency of the process. The sender can see exactly w h o,

when and what version of the documents each recipient received and what responses have been given.

“There is a complete audit trail of what a particular individual has downloaded. So from a distribution point of view, one of the key features is this audit trail and ability to track and trace,” he says.

As Eneo is a complete ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) solution it requires no investment in hardware, software or training. By running in the cloud with the only user requirement being a web browser, there is also no IT overhead on local desktops or servers. Additionally, the user’s inbox is not overloaded with large attachments.

As the parties involved in a project have different document management systems, a comprehensive API (application programming interface) is available enabling Eneo to integrate with third party systems. A ready-made plug-in for SharePoint 2010 is also available.

The cost of the system itself is minimal as it can be used on a pay as you go basis.

From £1.90 per recipient, per month, as many documents and distributions can be sent as required by the user. Each project is provided 1GB of data space for all documents as standard. A 30-day free trial is available for those who would prefer to test it out first.

Eneo may be deemed a clever move

by Océ, which is now involved in providing solutions to print technical documents, alongside distributing and managing those documents too.

As Erik van Eldik, vice-president of Océ Wide Format Printing Systems, said at the product launch: “Eneo marks a big step for the industry. A step moving from paper-based design and distribution to a hybrid situation where you have digital distribution and print where needed. I am convinced that this will be an important step for our customers as it will save them time and make them more competitive.”

■ eneo.ws

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5/4/12 15:28:17

Review

Xeon E5-2600 ‘Sandy Bridge’ has finally arrived on Intel’s Xeon platform.

AEC Magazine finds out what this means for design viz users by putting Workstation Specialists’ new dual Xeon through its paces.

by Greg Corke

T

It came as no surprise to find that the he dual processor Xeon workstation has become a mainstay for WS2850 set a new record in our 3ds Max the design visualisation special- Design rendering benchmark. With a ist. Rendering software thrives total of 16 cores and 32 threads, we have on CPU cores and a single processor Core never thrown so much processing power i7 simply cannot match a dual Xeon at this task and the Intel Xeon E5-2687W did not disappoint. machine for numbers.

The WS2850 also raised the But anyone who has invested stakes in our multi-tasking in a powerful Xeon workstation Product spec benchmark where, incredibly, in the last 12 months has had to ■ 2 x Intel Xeon there was virtually no slow accept a trade off. ‘Westmere’, E5 2687W (eight down in performance when we Intel’s Xeon platform for 2011 core) processors ran two or three tests at the was a generation behind ‘Sandy (3.10GHz) same time.

Bridge. While the dual processor ■ 132GB (8 x 4GB) Unfortunately, the WS2850 ‘Westmere’ Xeon 5600 series PC3-1600MHz Reg. ECC DDR-3 memory did not impress as much in our workstation absolutely flew in ■ Nvidia Quadro other benchmarks, where GHz heavily threaded operations like 4000 (2GB) graphics plays a much more important rendering, under most other ■ Asus P8Z68-V PRO/ role than the number of CPU tasks it came in second best to GEN3, Intel Z68 cores. Here the overclocked the single processor ‘Sandy mainboard Core i7 workstations we reguBridge’ Core i7 workstation.

■ 120GB Intel 520 larly see at AEC Magazine, This all changed with the longSeries SSD + 2 x 1TB 7,200RPM SATA-2 which run at speeds of up to awaited launch of Intel’s ‘Sandy drives (RAID 0) 4.5GHz, have a clear advantage.

Bridge’ Xeon E5-2600 series this ■ Intel C600 While the Xeon E5-2687W month. The new Xeon platform Workstation chipsetclocks up from 3.1GHz to combines the raw performance based motherboard 3.8GHz with Intel Turbo Boost of ‘Sandy Bridge’ with up to 16 ■ Microsoft Windows Technology 2.0, permanent cores and 32 threads, which is 7 Professional 64-bit overclocking is not possible 33% more cores than were avail■ 36 months parts & labour warranty with any of Intel’s new Xeon able on ‘Westmere’.

■ 3 year warranty — E5-2600 series chips.

Workstation Specialists is 1st Year onsite, years The WS2850 is certainly not bringing the ‘Sandy Bridge’ 2 & 3 return to base short of memory. Our test Xeon to market in its new £5,620 machine was kitted out with WS2850 ultra high-end deskworkstation 32GB (8 x 4GB) of 1600MHz top 3D graphics workstation. specialists.com memory, which makes full use The Derby firm gave AEC of the Xeon E5-2600’s quad Magazine a preview of this new Intel technology inside a pre-production channel memory controller. While this machine, which featured a pair of Intel Xeon should be plenty for most power users, E5-2687W CPUs, a specialist workstation there are still eight free memory slots chip from the new E5-2600 series. We went available for future upgrades and when straight to our suite of application bench- using 32GB DIMMS capacity for an incredible 512GB. marks to see how it performed.

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Storage in the WS2850 is all about performance, with a 120GB Intel 520 Series Solid State Drive (550MB/s read / 520MB/s write) for system and two 1TB 7,200RPM SATA-2 drives configured in RAID 0 for fast access to large datasets.

The 2GB Nvidia Quadro 4000 graphics card gives a good balance between performance and cost. Design viz specialists may look to boost 3D performance with an upgrade to a Quadro 5000.

With three additional PCI Express slots, the Quadro 4000 can also be supplemented by one or more Tesla GPUs to boost rendering performance in iRay enabled software, such as 3ds Max Design or Bunkspeed Shot, or simulation performance in GPU-enabled analysis applications, including Simulia Abaqus and Ansys.

Conclusion It has been a long time coming, but Intel’s new Xeon E5-2600 will certainly be welcomed with open arms by those who run applications with a thirst for processor cores.

For rendering, there is currently no faster CPU out there and with eight cores per chip and increased memory bandwidth through a quad channel controller we expect a similar response from most simulation software.

Workstation Specialists has done an excellent job of integrating this into its standard workstation chassis and while our prototype machine was not particularly quiet we expect WS to work its trademark acoustic magic as it brings the product to market.

Of course, like most dual processor workstations, the burden of two high-end Xeons weighs heavy with the overall cost of the machine coming in at £5,620. It is a hefty price to pay, but not out of the ordinary for those that require instant access to buckets of processing power. www.AECmag.com

5/4/12 14:34:54

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© Copyright Workstation Specialists – Acecad Software Ltd. E & OE - Prices exc. VAT & are subject to change without notice. All rights reserved. Intel®, the Intel® Logo, Xeon® & Xeon® Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel® Corporation in the US and other countries. Image courtesy of F10 studios.

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