Software
SCIA Engineer 21 AEC Magazine caught up with SCIA to find out more about SCIA Engineer 21 and the future of the Nemetschek-owned structural design and analysis software
U
ntil recently, SCIA Engineer had an image problem. Having sported the same user interface (UI) since 2006 it was starting to look dated and un-appealing to the next generation of structural engineers – university graduates who all grew up using modern software. “It’s hard to compete if your software looks 20 years old,” admits SCIA’s product marketing manager, Pavel Roun. But this is set to change. With the release of SCIA Engineer 21, the multi material structural design and analysis tool now has a completely new UI. “The key aim of the project is to simplify learning,” says Roun. The new UI, which was three years in the making, is much more than just a cosmetic update. It takes a completely fresh look at how engineers interact with the program. “It’s about efficiency, ergonomics and customisation,” says Nele Deckers, director of product and design at SCIA. In a new move for the Belgian software
developer, SCIA hired dedicated UX and UI designers to form a new team to specialise in creating new workflows and user experience. More than 70 customers were consulted along the way, including big firms like AECOM in London.
The new UI SCIA Engineer 21 centres on a new viewport that provides a nearly 100% increase in the modelling window. “Almost the full screen is your working space,” says Roun. “You can have really small toolbars and the rest of the screen is your working model.” Space has been reclaimed by completely stripping back the menus, panels, toolbars and tables and making it much easier to customise. “You can customise almost anything on the screen, and you don’t need to open the ‘customise dialogue’ and define the changes there,” says Roun. “If you want some function in the menu, you simply drag it to the toolbar.” Keyboard short-
cuts are similarly easy to define, he adds. Once the user is happy with the configuration, the setup can be shared with the team, so it’s possible for a company to define a unified layout, or tailor the UI for specific workflows. SCIA has also made it easier to find less frequently used functions through SCIA Spotlight, a new search bar that sits at the top of the UI. According to Deckers, research done by the firm has shown that it’s now eight times faster for an experienced user to find something, compared with the old interface. To help get users up to speed quickly with the new version, SCIA drew inspiration from the games industry with an interactive ‘onboarding’ tutorial that launches when you open the software for the first time. “If you install a new game, the first task that you are given is very simple, but it will show you how to, let’s say, swing your sword,” says Vladimir Príbramský, product manager at SCIA. “So we just basically
1
40
May / June 2021
p40_41_42_AEC_MAYJUNE21_SCIA.indd 40
www.AECmag.com
20/05/2021 11:48
