AEC September / October 2019

CREDIT: MORPHEUS HOTEL / ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS

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

TAKING CONTROL How the world’s largest AEC firms are driving software development

Unity bets big on AEC

Rhino inside Revit?

Why you should care about Unity Reflect Your favourite 3D modeller. Everywhere

Check mate Cloud-based model checking in Verifi3D

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It’s clearly black and white...

The power of BricsCAD, now in dark mode by user request “In one day, (users) were productive, and within one week, they had made a full migration to BricsCAD. It’s like we never changed our (CAD) platform.”

Dario Pibiri, Piping and Mechanical Engineer at Ecophos®

www.bricsys.com

Bricsys® is a global provider of dwg engineering design software brought to market under the BricsCAD® brand.

Founded in 2002, Bricsys is a member of the Open Design Alliance.

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

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Cover story - the generation game 12 The technology to design and fabricate high-quality engineered buildings is entering a disruptive phase. How will large AEC firms cope?

Backing the future 40 Digital technologies were key to communicating the design and overturning planning objections for a contemporary house extension

Build:London 43

Unity is betting big on AEC 22

Epic Games’ annual event offers a great balance between showing real-world applications and giving insight into what’s coming next in Unreal Engine

With Unity Reflect AEC firms will be able to push rich BIM data out to multiple devices, quickly and easily. But what will this game engine app bring to the table?

Enscape 2.6 46

Rhino Inside 31

The latest release of real-time rendering tool Enscape lays the groundwork for realtime ray tracing with Nvidia RTX

The architects’ favourite Rhino 3D with Grasshopper will soon be able to work in pretty much any Windows application, such as Unity, AutoCAD or even Revit

Total Chaos 49

Xinaps Verifi3D 32

HP ZBook 14 G6 53

We take a look at a new customisable, cloud-based checker for Virtual Design and Construction professionals

Portability doesn’t have to come at the expense of performance as we discover in this impressive 14” mobile workstation

We report fom Chaos Group’s huge user event in Bulgaria, from V-Ray to Corona

Vectorworks 2020 35 3rd gen Ryzen 57 Vectorworks has delivered the yearly update to the flagship BIM modelling suite of products and the news is, it’s a big one, offering some unique capabilities

With AMD’s new CPU, Intel is finally facing some serious competition Also this month: 7, 8, 9, 10 News September / October 2019

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07/10/2019 15:11

Adding information to a BIM is hard ...we make it easy Consistent level of development in Building Information Modeling (BIM) is difficult to achieve. At Bricsys, we’ve applied machine learning to BIM workflows to simplify and facilitate the creation of high-fidelity building models.

Adding information consistently is hard

Using Propagate to speed steel detailing

Adding information to a BIM in a consistent manner is a daunting task. Being able to continuously add level of development (LOD) is critical to the creation of a digital twin. Traditional BIM workflows do little to assist a BIM technician in managing LOD. It’s just too easy to add rich detail in one area, extract drawing sections from those areas, and leave the rest of the model at a reduced LOD. And variable LOD is generally acceptable until it’s time to extract schedules. Then, the weakness of an inconsistent level of development becomes glaringly apparent.

Let’s talk about connecting steel members and raising LOD across a model simultaneously. Consider a column-beam connection using an end plate and several bolts. We want to detail this connection once, inserting the end plate and the fasteners, and creating the holes in the beam web for the bolted connections. Once this process is complete for a single instance of the connection, PROPAGATE can do its magic.

A.I. can help At Bricsys, we leverage machine learning technology to assist you in managing a continuous increase in model LOD. The primary toolset for this purpose in BricsCAD® BIM is called PROPAGATE. It’s a tool that helps automate the process of adding data – “the information” – to a building information model.

At the simplest level, PROPAGATE is used to copy details throughout your building model. It maps the details of a selected element to similar elements in the model. What does this mean? Anytime a specific detail is required / needed or usable in multiple locations in the model, using Propagate is likely the fastest way to make it happen.

The Propagate Workflow We’ve built five variants of Propagate to guide you through the workflow. Each of the five “flavors” were designed for specific use cases. This helps to keep the Propagate workflow clear and concise - e.g., when connecting steel members, cleaning up wall-slab connections, raising the LOD of a roof edge detail, or placing lighting fixtures, windows, air diffusers or columns on various surfaces in your BIM.

www.bricsys.com

The general workflow of PROPAGATE consists of two major steps: defining the detail to be replicated and choosing where to apply it. The first step is to simply select the base solids – the beam and the column. The next step is to select the detail objects, a.k.a. “sub-entities”. These are the elements that you want to PROPAGATE throughout the BIM. Detail objects can be solids, block references or even faces – e.g., a hole in a base solid can be propagated by selecting its faces.

Detail volume creation After you select the base and detail objects, PROPAGATE defines the detail volume, switches the visual style to X-ray and zooms in to the detail for verification. You can alter the detail volume as needed to accommodate target solids that are further apart, or the need to replace existing details with new details that are smaller than the original. Think about this for a moment – there is no need for perfect alignment of beams and columns throughout the model. Enlarge the detail volume to encompass the largest gap, and the elements will be joined properly throughout the entire BIM.

Let the A.I. do its magic…

Once the detail volume includes everything that you want to PROPAGATE, choose where to apply the detail. The view will zoom out to show all possible locations for the operation and will flag each potential location with an icon that shows your options. As the user, you have full control over what

PROPAGATE does. Individual details can be toggled on or off; potential interferences are noted, and situations where multiple valid alternatives are possible are also called out. Make your selections from the A.I.’s recommendations and PROPAGATE does its work.

…and voila!

Tens, hundreds or even thousands of detail increases will sweep across the BIM in seconds. In one fell swoop, PROPAGATE can raise the LOD of all similar steel connections from 200 to 450. Yes, it’s real. And it’s a Bricsys innovation that’s available today in BricsCAD® BIM. But innovation doesn’t end with PROPOGATE – it’s just the beginning. BricsCAD®, BricsCAD® Mechanical and BricsCAD® BIM include A.I. features that increase LOD, infer design intent, automate parameterization and reduce model size by detecting & instancing repetitive geometry. All in one multi-threaded, modern and cost-effective CAD system. Do you know BricsCAD®? If not, you simply don’t know what you’re missing.

There’s a lot more to explore The time-savings offered by Propagate just scratches the surface of the power in the BricsCAD BIM workflow. There’s a lot more to explore, and you can do just that free, for 30 days. In less than ten minutes, you can sign up, download the trial, install it and start experiencing the future of Building Information Modelling. Start in 3D, stay in 3D throughout the workflow – and it’s all in DWG. BricsCAD BIM lifts creativity, not complexity. Visit us at bricsys.com/bim and download a full-featured trial copy today.

Meet the AMD experts at Autodesk University Proudly supporting AU as Gold Sponsor.

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© 2019 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Radeon, Ryzen, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Other names used herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.

“Advanced” defined as superior process technology in a smaller node and unique support for PCIe® Gen 4 in the gaming market as of 05/26/2019. RZ3-14

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News

Bricsys unleashes V20 BricsCAD design suite

Collaborative VR expands sers of the immersive collaboration platform, The Wild, will now be able to work together in Igloo’s Shared VR, 360° projection environment, in addition to using desktop, iOS and VR headsets. This is a result of a partnership between the firms.

“This integration with The Wild is particularly exciting because the potential for collaboration is heightened by being able to bring entire teams into models, where everyone can see what each other is looking at and can gauge reactions easily,” says Igloo Vision’s Jake Rowland.

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he Ghent-based BIM and technical drawing ‘upstart’ Bricsys has released version 20 of its core design tools. Part of the Hexagon suite of companies since 2018, Bricsys develops an AutoCADcompatible drawing application, BricsCAD and a relatively new BIM solution called BricsCAD BIM. New features of this release include support for McNeel Grasshopper through a dedicated connection enabling geometry to be driven by the popular visual generative design solution. There is a new stair model which can create parametric staircases with just a few clicks. The real time rendering application Enscape is now supported. IFC support has been upgraded to export and import IFC 4.0,

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which supports NURBS and meshes.

The BCF format is now included to communicate model based issues with other applications.

BricsCAD BIM has a unique approach to modelling. Architects can model with pure geometry and then have machine learning identify objects, such as walls doors and windows, applying the necessary IFC tags. v20 promises and more of that capability.

Automatch will automatically match and complete BIM information which is missing. AEC magazine will have a full review, next edition.

Meanwhile, HOK has just announced it will be looking at BricsCAD BIM as a Revit alternative and has also become a BIM Alliance Partner of Bricsys.

■ bricsys.com

Atvero harnesses Office365 for PIM tvero is a new project information management (PIM) solution on the Office365 SharePoint platform from IT and Consultancy services provider Nittygritty.net According to the developers, the software is unique as it offers the collaborative and connected world of Microsoft Office365, a powerful on cloud project delivery capability for design and construction professionals.

“In a digital age design and construction companies that have or are looking to

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migrate to cloud strategies, will benefit hugely from Atvero - increasing efficiency, improving quality and reducing risk in project delivery,” said Paul Daynes, Atvero sales and marketing director. “Atvero is unique - it’s modern and presents a smarter way to manage project deliverables and communication, when compared with on-premise PIM solutions.”

Chapman Taylor, an award-winning practice of global architects and masterplanners, has chosen Atvero to support its global operations.

■ atvero.com

thewild.com

■ igloovision.com

Topcon boosts verification opcon’s GLS-2000 scanner can now be used for concrete floor flatness and floor levelness analysis through the company’s ClearEdge3D Rithm for Navisworks software.

Topcon has also updated its layout navigator instrument line.

The LN-150 features an expanded field of view and increased tracking capabilities.

It allows users to import a variety of files and quickly set up or get straight to layout, or onto verifying as-built versus design.

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■ topconpositioning.com

dRofus opens up ersion 2.3 of dRofus, the planning and data management solution has expanded its API to better support openBIM. Compatible software will now be able to embed the dRofus property panel, synchronise and manage data throughout the project lifecycle.

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■ drofus.no

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ROUND UP Remote scanning

Trimble unveils SiteVision high-accuracy AR system

Artec 3D has released a remote app for its Artec Ray long-range scanner, which will allow users to initiate and control scans from a mobile device or tablet. This is designed to eliminate the need to be tethered to a laptop while scanning large objects ■ artec3d.com

Point clouds in VR Symmetry Dimensions has formed a partnership with NTT Docomo and HP Japan to develop new digital tools for the construction sector, experimenting with digital twins. The company recently demonstrated the processing of a laser scan of Guadalajara, Mexico (more than 1.93 billion points) for viewing in VR ■ symmetryvr.com

GeoSLAM boost NCTech’s iSTAR Pulsar panoramic camera system has been integrated into the GeoSLAM’s ZEB Discovery. The ZEB Discovery captures data using GeoSLAM’s SLAM (simultaneous localisation and mapping) technology and the iSTAR Pulsar is used for ultrahigh def image capture ■ nctechimaging.com ■ geoslam.com

BIM Level 2 Cert Scott Brownrigg has achieved BIM Level 2 Certification. The architecture and design firm engaged its longtime consultant Microdesk to guide it through the process for its London studio, providing the support team and training for development of a comprehensive set of practice-wide standards ■ microdesk.com

Point cloud to BIM Elysium has developed a new workflow that can take 3D laser scanned point clouds and create models of piping and structures in Autodesk Revit. This new capability is included in Elysium’s point cloud utilisation software, InfiPoints Ver.6.0 ■ elysium-global.com

Community planning VUCITY is working with the Geospatial Commission to develop an app that will enable Londoners to see the buildings that are proposed in their area. The app will also allow them to comment on the plans, and it will provide access to a whole range of information about existing buildings ■ vu.city

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rimble has introduced SiteVision, an outdoor AR solution that enables users to blend 3D civils or BIM models with realworld environments and view them at 1:1 scale, from any angle.

SiteVision combines hardware and software in an integrated, lightweight handheld or pole-mounted solution. It integrates the Trimble Catalyst DA1 Antenna, Electronic Distance Measurement (EDM) rangefinder and power management with a user-supplied Android mobile phone. The SiteVision

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software includes Trimble’s positioning services and cloud-based processing technology to manage and deliver data and design models.

Trimble says city planners could use SiteVision to visualise a new building design in the exact spot it is to be erected, a work crew could identify the exact position of underground cables or pipes before digging, or a construction supervisor could assess the progress of heavy equipment by visualising actual work performed against the site plan.

■ sitevision.trimble.com

BIM Show Live issues call for papers IM Show Live has issued a call for papers for its 2020 event which will be held on 26-27 Feb at the Boiler Shop, Newcastle.

The two day conference attracts up to 400 delegates and provides an opportunity for built

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environment professionals to exchange knowledge on the emerging ideas and technological advancements in digital construction and beyond.

The 2020 event features four content streams: Technology, focusing on the ‘application of innovation’;

Next Generation, for ideas that have the power to disrupt; People, who are changing the industry; and Stories, for technologies and processes that have been trialled and tested.

The closing date for papers is 7 November 2019.

■ bimshowlive.co.uk

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07/10/2019 15:28

News

‘Street View’ documentation coming to construction

DCW unveils programme am Stacey (UKR&I), Mark Farmer (Cast), Anne Kemp OBE (UK BIM Alliance & Atkins), Aurélie Clearaux (Bouygues Bâtiment International), Keith Waller (Construction Innovation Hub), and Geetha Ramakrishnan (TopHat & MG) are just some of the big industry names set to deliver sessions at Digital Construction Week 2019.

The two-day thought leadership conference will be held on 16-17 October at ExCeL London. Visit AEC Magazine on stand C76

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S startup OpenSpace is using patent-pending, artificial intelligence to automatically create navigable, 360° photo representations of a building site.

Construction workers attach a small offthe-shelf 360° camera to their hardhats and walk the site as normal, with OpenSpace passively capturing imagery in the background. Imagery data is then

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uploaded to the cloud, where OpenSpace’s algorithms map the photos to project plans and stitch them together, creating a visual representation of the site similar in style to Google Street View. This data then accumulates over time, providing builders with a “time machine” that allows them to review site conditions as they were a day ago, a week ago, or years ago.

■ openspace.ai

NBS offers one click into leading CDEs sers of the NBS Chorus specification platform can now ‘instantly’ export a list of submittals from a specification in one click and import them directly into leading Common Data Environments (CDEs), including Autodesk BIM 360.

NBS has developed partnerships with CDE firms including Autodesk, Viewpoint and Newforma with a view to

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providing customers with ‘enhanced value’ and ‘smarter specifications’.

According to NBS, connecting the data sets between NBS Chorus and CDEs greatly reduces the risk of human error by eliminating the need to manually copy or re-key information, and allows for better collaboration between architects, specifiers and contractors.

■ theNBS.com

Matterport to use phones for 3D capture atterport has previewed a new technology that will turn consumer smartphones – iPhone and Android – into 3D capture devices.

Matterport 3D Capture for Smartphones is made possible by advancements in Cortex, Matterport’s AI-powered image-processing technology.

Cortex features ‘3D intelligence’ that can ‘understand’ objects, rooms and the

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detailed characteristics of any physical space. The technology is trained on Matterport’s dataset and can construct 3D models from 2D images.

Previously in order to create immersive 3D models of the built world using Matterport technology users needed Matterport’s Pro 3D camera or an off the shelf 360 Camera like the Ricoh Theta. .

digitalconstructionweek.com

Structural reinforcement eptember has been a big month for structural engineering software with three major updates.

SOFiSTiK | 2020 features a completely re-designed user interface and enhanced interoperability through new extensions that allow the analysis software to collaborate with IFC models and support customised workflows for projects that involve Dynamo and Grasshopper.

Structural analysis and design tool, SCIA Engineer 19.1, promises enhancements in the areas of usability, design of multi-storey buildings, checks of steel & aluminium structures and interoperability.

A key focus for Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional 2020.1 was to improve interoperability with Revit and a number of Revit-Robot link issues were either newly implemented or fixed.

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sofistik.com ■ scia.net

■ autodesk.com

■ matterport.com

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News

ROUND UP Trimble invests in AM Trimble is to acquire Azteca Systems, a provider of enterprise asset management (EAM) software for utilities and local government. The company’s Cityworks software is a GIS-centric asset management system built on Esri’s ArcGIS ■ cityworks.com

Tracking by robot HoloBuilder has announced a partnership with Boston Dynamics to develop an application for autonomous progress tracking with the Spot Mini robot and HoloBuilder’s 360° photo capturing technology. Michael Perry from Boston Dynamics touched on this during his keynote at NXT BLD in June ■ holobuilder.com

Point cloud boost The latest release of point cloud processing software Pointfuse features a new streamlined classification workflow, designed to make object classification easy, by using templates and shortcuts. The software also includes a new conversion engine which uses multicore processing ■ pointfuse.com

ProRender for BIM ACCA Edificius has become the first architectural BIM software to be integrated with AMD’s Radeon ProRender ray tracing technology. The photorealistic PBR engine uses Artificial Intelligence (Machine Learning) denoising to ‘drastically reduce’ processing time ■ accasoftware.com/bim-architecture

The next generation The final of the WordSkills UK BIM competition 2019 will take place at the NEC in November 2019. Supported by KnowledgePoint and Autodesk, the competition tests college and University students on performance using CAD to produce and interact with 3D models in a CDE ■ worldskillsuk.org

Highway acquisition Transoft Solutions, a specialist in transportation engineering design and analysis software, has acquired Keysoft Solutions, a developer of BIM tools for traffic management and landscape planning and design. Keysoft has been a Transoft partner since 2005 ■ transoftsolutions.com

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Tridify makes BIM models ‘instantly’ viewable online ridify has extended its BIM to XR Processing Service so BIM models can now be made ‘instantly’ available online and sharable via a web link. The new Web VR option automatically generates an interactive 3D model from an IFC file and makes it accessible via a URL, ready to be embedded on a web page, sent via email or text and viewable on a mobile phone.

By sending a link to a 3D model instead of a file, users can publish/unpublish their models and manage their visibility, giving greater control over how the models are used. Tridify points out that models cannot be copied and intellectual property rights are better protected.

The service is targeted at AEC professionals, but Tridify explains that the new option also creates opportunities for non-technical audiences. 3D models are easier to share internally, externally, with customers or consumers, on mobiles,

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tablets, desktops or VR headsets says the Finnish developer. Tridify will also be providing various web viewers to enable a model to be shown in different ways to different user groups, depending on the end use and skill level.

To make a model ready to view online, users simply need to upload an IFC file and click ‘publish’. No additional applications or programming skills are required, says Tridify.

■ tridify.com

Cloud platform ‘BIM, AI & big data ready’ apio Cloud is a new digital project management software from Copenhagen-based Optimise-International. The encrypted cloud-based platform is said to give construction companies secure access to analyse the reams of data generated from robotics, drones, BIM and industrial IoT sensors.

The system uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to analyse data. According to the company, this helps construction companies make

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more accurate decisions – an area which has traditionally been reactive, rather than predictive.

Dynamic dashboards and a multilanguage interface are designed to make collaboration and analysis easy. Each project team can view a unique set of dashboards, specific to their KPIs and contract deliverables.

Kapio Cloud is a pay-as-you-go, SaaS model, where contractors, construction firms and clients only pay for what they use.

■ kapio.cloud

Ground movement tracked from space atsense, a spin out from the University of Leeds, has launched a service that measures incremental vertical ground movement to a +/1mm accuracy, based on satellite readings from the European Space Agency.

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The company is targeting the construction industry, among others, as well as large UK infrastructure owners such as Highways England, and Network Rail. The technology can be used as a preventative maintenance solution for

large assets such as dams, water, and gas pipelines.

Satsense data is stored online and automatically updated every six days. It goes back to 2015 so firms can explore how infrastructure may have moved over the last four years.

■ satsense.com

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P520

The generation game If there’s anything to learn from living in the 21st-century, it’s that change is inevitable. Technology evolutions are now planned in by the quarter but occasionally they can come from left field. The technology to design and fabricate highquality engineered buildings is entering a disruptive phase. How will large AEC firms cope? Martyn Day reports 12

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t may come as a surprise, but in the late 1970s and early 1980s there were many architectural and construction firms in London using 3D computer modelling systems to generate plans, sections, elevations and drawings of their buildings.

Software such as BDS, RUCAPS, Sonata and GABLE, running on mainframe and minicomputers, were the first BIM solutions. Compared to the tools of today they may well appear rudimentary, and they were certainly very expensive, but they were actually very advanced for the time. It goes against the stereotype that the industry is not very progressive in adopting new technologies and applying them in practice.

Then came the relatively low-cost IBM www.AECmag.com

07/10/2019 13:18

CREDT: PETERSEN AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM IN LOS ANGELES, DESIGNED BY KOHN PEDERSEN FOX

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At some point soon there will be a dramatic change in workflow or output, that software developed decades ago can no longer address just by adding some new features

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PCs in the 1980s and, together with cheap drafting software, such as AutoCAD, most of these mainframe dinosaurs were relegated to the scrapheap, and the architectural design world went ‘a little flatter’. However, none of the original concepts died, living on in ArchiCAD, AutoCAD AEC, Architectural Desktop and then culminating in the arrival of Revit in 2000.

In those early days of Computer Aided Design (CAD), technology changed at a snail’s pace. We would literally have years in between software releases and meeting someone with a graphics card capable of a massive 256 colours was once a truly rare event! Today’s AEC firms are facing a very different landscape: evolution is built in, software www.AECmag.com

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upgrades and updates can come every six months or less, hardware can now mean VR headsets and software can be online as a service.

Design IT directors of large AEC firms have to stay up to speed with what’s coming, while managing what they have and preparing for what they will have in the future in order to remain competitive.

Of course, all this CAD stuff is not just technology for technology’s sake; like in any business today, technology is a weapon. For instance, in 2003, Foster + Partners’ Swiss Re (aka the Gherkin) was a grand display of Sir Norman Foster’s trademark diagrid glass façade, adding to London’s and the world’s architectural vocabulary. The building was designed and modelled in MicroStation, with

Arups modelling the steel.

Foster + Partners’ in-house team of geometry experts, the infamous ‘specialist modelling group’, wrote a program to produce take-offs from the model to automate the creation of pannelisation drawings. At the time, I knew of several firms which begged Bentley Systems to write a similar script for them, so they too could compete in the new vernacular with automated pannelisation take-offs, which they duly did. It’s now not unusual to find programmers in design practice and, to this day, Foster + Partners has the biggest in-house specialist team (but still less than 1% of total staff), producing tools for their designers, solutions for geometrical problems and developing inhouse applications.

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atvero-press_09-CMYK.pdf

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TOWARDS TRUTH

Project Information Management C

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For Architects, Engineers, Contractors and Owners

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Do your projects suffer from: • • • • •

Too much time spent on administration?

Dated on-premise technology and high IT costs?

Deliverables not compliant to ISO 19650?

Project data out of control?

Lack of integration with design and accounting tools?

Atvero® helps to increase project efficiency, improve quality and reduce risk. Because it's built on the Office 365 SharePoint in the Cloud, it helps your organisation manage and access project contacts, email, document and drawing content—wherever and whenever you need it.

Smarter, Flexible Project Delivery at £16 per user per month* Find out more at www.atvero.com * Terms and conditions apply

On Microsoft Office365

Technology stacks

Having a Fab time

Today’s design IT directors live in a complex world. For most, budgets are tight, but they still have to develop their BIM technology stacks for multi-CAD environments, connecting and managing distributed teams and data, in different countries, with varying skill sets, complying to common standards and conforming to local standards. All this while working on projects and collaborating with other firms who might take a completely different approach to just about everything.

Drilling down further, there are decisions to make on which platforms to use for design, document management, document distribution, common data environment (CDE), collaboration hub, security, visualisation, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), 3D printing and not to forget the workstation, mobile hardware and cloud services. With so many choices and so many moving parts, the day-to-day job involves the spinning of a lot of plates.

With the increased update cycles, new software needs to be checked. All too often the technology stack can be undermined by just one or two components updating automatically and breaking essential links. Like painting the Forth Bridge, it takes so long to build a stack, that you need to start again when you have finished. It’s the pain that comes with building these systems which leads to the stickiness of solutions that ‘just work’ and is, in some way the attraction of SaaS services, which run off-site and take some of that trouble away.

However, with change being inevitable, today’s generation of design IT directors are constantly scanning the market for technology to solve some of their current problems, improve workflows or prepare for any possible dynamic technology shift, such as 2D to BIM or desktop to cloud.

Some of the larger firms might have a hand-picked R&D team, but most do not, and the task might befall to one individual.

In times of significant change that responsibility can hang heavily. Process change can come at a productivity loss and an increase in risk in project delivery - the full buy in of the management team is essential.

It’s another reason why the industry has tended to change slowly. But there are some changes, which simply cannot be ignored.

From talking to many AEC firms over the last year, it’s clear that a number of changes are coming together, which could have a fundamental impact on the way buildings are designed and fabricated.

Whatever you want to call it, Digital fabrication, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), Prefab, Modular or Precision Manufactured Housing, there is a general consensus that architectural design systems need to be able to better integrate with automated off-site construction machines.

The bad news is that the BIM modellers which we have all standardised on, even though they produce 3D models, were never intended to produce accurate geometry to drive CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines. They would also likely struggle to handle the size of models required for a level of detail that is needed to generate assem-

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blies with detailed bill of materials (BOMs).

All BIM modellers currently available were designed to automate the production of co-ordinated 2D drawing sets to be handed to builders to make.

This isn’t the future. The UK already has a number of building factories being constructed, or up and working - Urban Splash, Legal & General and Berkeley Homes, to name but a few.

Digital Fabrication is coming at a time when market dominating products like Revit are 20 years old and are only receiving minor updates each year. Revit still mainly runs on one CPU core, hardly makes use of GPU acceleration, and gets very unwieldy for large models often requiring them to be cut up. The net result is we are seeing a lot more activity in firms testing out alternative BIM products and even looking to software solutions which are popular in aerospace and automotive, such as Dassault Systèmes’ 3D Experience platform (better known previously as

Catia) and predominantly used by Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA).

While Catia is not used on every project at ZHA, it is used to send explicit 3D models to fabricators, bypassing 2D drawings for feedback on manufacturability during the design phase. It’s something that other firms are also buying into, such as SHoP Architects in New York, who has worked on a number of digital fabrication projects.

Many other ‘signature’ architectural firms are looking to re-evaluate everything from conceptual design to fabrication. McNeel Rhino and Grasshopper seem to be the weapon of choice for firms that design freeform architecture and Rhino now works in SketchUp, AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, Unity, BricsCAD and Revit.

This new development is called Rhino Inside (see page 31).

Rhino Inside could potentially be seen as a liberating technology, as conceptual geometry created in Rhino with Grasshopper could be pulled out or injected into pretty much any of the main design and documentation tools. It would mean that Rhino becomes a common data e nv i r o n m e nt of sorts, but the geometry is essentially ‘dumb’, maintaining little of the ’I’ in BIM data.

However, when it comes to ‘dumb geometry’, machine learning advances from companies like Bricsys have tools that could bring order out of the chaos. Its AEC modeller, BricsCAD BIM, offers a unique post-rationalisation capability, called ‘BIMify’, which can parse a dumb mesh model and intelligently work out what the BIM objects are, applying the correct IFC tags to elements it recognises, such as doors, walls floors, slabs etc. Dumb geometry need not stay dumb for very long. This could be game changing as you could pull models of cities out of Unity and set BIMify loose in BricsCAD! I’m calling this ‘Réchauffé BIM’ as it’s possible to heat up any geometry, back to BIM. Computational design or generative design has become a core design tool for many large firms, so if the base geometry stayed in Rhino, G-code could be easily generated from and it could also feed the model and drawing creation, a role for which BIM is slowly becoming relegated to.

Products like ArchiCAD have built-in links to Grasshopper to drive BIM objects from scripts. This workflow is being evaluated by many architects wishing to automate the building of BIM models from September / October 2019

CREDIT: ABU DHABI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - MIDFIELD TERMINAL BUILDING - KPF

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Feature geometry definitions. Rhino Inside also really need to improve at this phase, to have the 3D model to check for manufacbrings that possibility to Revit (and any capture artistic input. turability and accurate fabrication quotes. other 64-bit Windows application, which The leading firms typically use scriptNot all architectural firms need Rhino would include Unity and Blender). ing and programming early on to allow or complex NURBS curves, but still Foster + Partners is a huge Rhino and iterative form finding and the easy crea- employ programming teams. Rob Grasshopper customer. Francis Aish, tion of complex geometry.

Charlton, chief executive of Space Group, Head of Applied Research and The popularity of Rhino, Grasshopper, and serial BIM entrepreneur (BIM Show Development and a partner at Foster + Dynamo and Python programming has Live, BIM Store, BIM Technologies) is Partners explained how they keep the really created a different type of architect based in Newcastle and has a team of four geometry in Rhino for as long as possible within practices. The computational dedicated programmers in his practice. to enable dynamic changes to the build- designer can either develop tools for the Charlton explained that in the North ing definition before handing it over to rest of the team, or be the key driver in East fees are lower and customers are Revit for detailed documentation. defining complex geometrical forms. more conservative and are focussed on The company uses scripting to develop The visual programming style of wir- value. He might not produce buildings tools for its architects, as well as provid- ing up mathematical ‘effects’ and ‘genera- with too many curves, but he uses his ing automation for laborious processes. tors’ is an easy route into geometry-gen- programming team to deliver on the Recently in Denmark, Aish demonstrat- erating code and is frequently used at the opportunities he sees in extending the ed a real-time design evaluation VR pro- core of project teams.

BIM data he creates or captures for cligram which his team had created on top Before computational generators, 3D ents by developing services. of Unity. In our discussion Aish mused models would have to have beeen hand His current focus is on developing a on the fact that many AEC firms were crafted and were complex and slow to digital twin platform for facilities mandeveloping code to do the same things, edit. With the computer in control of gen- agement (FM), built on Autodesk Forge reinvent the wheel and tools, to enable the BIM that perhaps there should model to drive efficiencies be a more open approach post build and get the to sharing some of the Design IT directors of leading firms have started data out of Revit and into tools developed, especial- to rethink their technology stacks, processes and a tool that non-CAD folks ly when it comes to assistcan use. In short, Space deliverables and are much more likely to ing collaborative working. uses programmers to evaluate alternative and new technologies While Rhino is a surdrive additional services face-only based modeller, revenues and occasionally HOK has just announced to fill in gaps for functionit will be looking at BricsCAD BIM as an erating forms and managing the complex- ality that Revit doesn’t provide. interesting Revit alternative and has ity, the architectural vocabulary has again Some large firms have no dedicated become a BIM Alliance Partner of Bricsys. been expanded. programming or scripting resources at BricsCAD started life as an AutoCAD It has also created a divide between all and rely on the skills of their talented clone but now has a full ACIS solids- scripted geometry definitions and tradi- design teams. They usually teach thembased BIM tool on top it and the interest- tional BIM tools, which operate on higher- selves or are active in communities. ing BIMify machine learning capability. level components, such as walls, doors and windows. In geometry-led practices, Visualisation revolution Rise of programming the Rhino definition drives the BIM, Another case in point, for a generational There are many ways to start a concept which essentially becomes a documenta- change which currently faces design IT model but, to be honest, it’s probably the tion tool, not a design tool. For many, this directors, comes in the shape of our need weakest part of the architectural software documentation and 2D drawing phase is for beautiful visuals. In this area we see market. Common tools are Grasshopper, seen as a necessary evil, mainly for con- possibly the most regular yearly changes.

Dynamo, Rhino, SketchUp, Maya, mass- tract compliance and for communication GPU and CPU development continue at ing in Revit or another BIM tool. with clients, but advanced fabricators and breakneck speed. Every year it seems the Some firms want to jump straight into construction firms previous chips are being bettered, making BIM, some sketch and folks like Gehry would sooner workstation choice critical to match softcrumple up paper. CAD does not like ware with machines of appropriate speciimprecision and conceptual design needs fications. Do you invest in multi freedom, unless core CPUs for traditional CPU you know you rendering, or high performance are going to build GPUs that can now be used for a bunch of rectanmany different tasks, gles - in which including realcase go straight to time visualisamassing. BIM tools tion, ray tracing and VR? While

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CREDIT: DIGITAL RENDERING OF THE WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL IN LOS ANGELES, DESIGNED BY FRANK GEHRY

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Feature 1

1 Rhino and its visual computational geometry component, Grasshopper, have managed to expand support to nearly every design tool in the industry: ArchiCAD, SketchUp, Revit, AutoCAD, Unity and now BricsCAD 2 A co-ordinated BIM model created in Dassault Systèmes’ 3D Experience platform (3DX) by Vancouver-based specialist CADmakers (cadmakers.com) The company specialises in prefabrication outputs, robotics and AI

the established base applications, 3ds Max and Maya, are again on low velocity development, we are seeing rapid advances from the key game engine players, Unity and Unreal. Promising instant visualisation and deep integrations into today’s BIM modellers, the future of viz seems to be in different applications.

With a product like Enscape, the real time visuals you can get, essentially as a bi-product of the design system, are quite stunning. Talking with KPF’s Cobus Bothma, director of applied research, he explained how viz was moving from just being the presentation tool to becoming a valuable asset in analysing designs, for feedback into the project teams. Currently the KPF product stack means every designer has a copy of Enscape, while used for all sorts of downstream functions each project team utilises Twinmotion for - clash detection, collaboration, design producing images with really rich envi- review, sections, elevations, quality assurronments. Ultimately these ance, and all types of VR and Twinmotion models can AR experiences, even on directly feed into Unreal for site. Importantly, as Unity We are seeing the full viz and VR treatand Unreal keep up with the CAD systems ment. KPF then uses remote very latest hardware, BIM that were workstation technology to data could instantly be stream pixels to iPads for streamed out to multiple designed for in-house design meetings. devices - mobile, desktop, automotive and web, VR or AR. This clearly VR and AR are set to be extremely important in aerospace being doesn’t leave a lot for the future design workflows. trialled within original BIM model and, While a lot of the current even less if that BIM definiuse cases are around cus- architecture and tion can’t drive digital fabritomer presentations, Unreal cation. Food for thought. construction and Unity, as well as whole In my conversations with firms, trying to Aish host of other AEC-focused from Foster + bridge the gap, Partners, he explained how real-time viz and VR tools, are all about expanding architects really provide connecting their appeal to designers. and sell these designers with experiences BIM models, especially in to clients. In many respects, the factory Revit, are heavy, so game BIM asks architects to make engines could also offer pardeep structure-based deciallel workflows. By extractsions in the concept phase, ing the geometry as a lightweight mesh when all this could be worked out later. with multiple Levels of Detail (LoD), Perhaps returning to a time where sketchtogether with the metadata, they could be es and artist renditions were enough to

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get the client’s buy-in; the digital equivalent will be placing the customer in an augmented environment.

Financial drivers and locks With increasing costs for enterprise licences from Autodesk which, let’s face it, has the lion’s share of UK and US markets, the cost of software is also becoming a major driver.

Firms are unable to leave subscription without losing access to all licences, but are very aware of how much they are paying and how little development their core BIM tool, Revit, has received. When one software vendor can dictate tough contract terms, AEC firms are made painfully aware every three years, of how little leverage they have.

This is another reason for the current interest in evaluating what else is on the market.

Autodesk is busy moving to the cloud and has decided the next generation of BIM modeller will reside there. Project Plasma (tinyurl.com/plasma-AEC) is the start of this core technology but has suffered delays and is probably years away. This is happening at the same time that digital fabrication is becoming a near-future consideration. This is probably not a good time to have your development ‘gap’.

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Feature The industry is looking to liberate itself from proprietary file formats, which came with BIM modellers. In a federated working environment, poor interoperability leads to data wrangling, a potential to lose valuable information, and it impedes collaboration. Architectural practices have consciously expanded their toolsets to use best in class, so the search for industry standard CDEs goes on.

rises as processes are refined.

Changes in materials, fabrication and automation will mean fundamental changes to design workflows and ultimately key deliverables. While in automation and aerospace 2D is still commonly used, the model definition is the key driver throughout its lifecycle. AEC has much to learn from lean manufacturing methodologies.

We should all also be aware that there are giants of the tech world looking to disrupt this space. Ikea, Google and Amazon have their eyes focussed on designing, fabricating and delivering manufactured buildings. Even Elon Musk is trying to redefine construction, and looking to automate the creation of his Giga factories. Firms like Katerra have already started the process in the States (nxtbld.com/ videos/richard-harpham).

It is time to re-evaluate our tools, our processes and deliverables to encompass a different future, where many buildings are designed for automated manufacture and assembly and an integrated approach to disciplines becomes essential.

However, the barriers are not just techni-

impinges on innovation. Sometimes it takes new eyes to analyse the needs and trajectory of the market. With a focus on factory-based manufacture, they would likely come up with a very different solution to BIM as we know it.

After a summer of talking to some of the biggest AEC firms it’s clear to me that some of the leading BIM tools have failed as concept design tools, but succeeded as design checking + documentation loops Do It Yourself although there are still some challenges We find ourselves at a crossroads for AEC surrounding large models, complicated development. We have an old generation geometry and the fact they don’t naturally of desktop applications, with increasing benefit automated off site construction. costs and a lack of interoperability, while While AEC firms will carry on refining looking at the oncoming requirements their existing BIM processes and particiand opportunities of digital fabrication, pating in the status quo, there is a common artificial intelligence (AI), generative understanding in the top 20% of firms, at design, and defining new workflows. least, that things are changing rapidly and The large AEC firms have always tendthat new design tools are needed to define ed to use commonly available platforms directly manufacturable definitions. in which to do their work, but some have This fact is not lost on the major softput forward the notion that the needs of ware companies; Autodesk, for example, the top 20% will rarely get a look in when is scrambling to develop a new system a software vendor is aiming to deliver feabut it seems to have been caught out tures for the 80%. Some have even mused on the rapid industry-focus on digital that with BIM being a fabrication adoption and drawing process and existing software will not manufacturing CAD syseasily evolve to bridge It is time to re-evaluate our tools, our processes the chasm. tems being overkill, they should collectively design and deliverables to encompass a different future, The net result is we are their own concept to fabseeing CAD systems that where many buildings are designed for rication system. There are were designed for autoautomated manufacture and assembly enough components and motive and aerospace technologies available to being trialled within some get a good head start, but architectural practices the fundamental question would remain; cal. People and culture is often men- and construction firms, trying to bridge should they be architects or software tioned when talking about the challenges the gap, connecting designers with the developers? of changing the AEC industry’s work- factory through 1:1 accurate assembly It’s not lost on me, the irony that the first flows and practices for the better. There models, BOMs and G-code. new BIM tool on the market in 20 years, are feedback mechanisms from all CAD software companies rarely look BricsCAD, started off life as an AutoCAD aspects of the industry, which also make forward to generational changes of the core clone. I wonder if any software house is it difficult to move forward. products. It’s a time when they might get it brave enough to throw everything away For me, one of the biggest barriers to the wrong and open themselves up to the comand start from scratch, looking at the AEC industry progressing are its tool petition as effectively the playing field gets future needs, based on the inputs and out- makers, the software developers, which levelled. The big play of the last five years puts? But Revit is so entrenched, and mul- approach solving every new problem or has been the race to get existing apps and ti-disciplinary workflows rely on its abili- customer requirement with the same old data to the cloud; digital fabrication was ty to hold all this data, will the benefits of software they have been ‘evolving’ for not on the radar. And here, I fear, instead of digital fabrication drive a fundamental years to replace 2D CAD. If BIM won’t get taking a fresh look and starting from change in process? us to manufacturing, it could be seen as a scratch, developers will hamstring themconvoluted route to just creating 2D selves by working within self-imposed Conclusion DWGs. In many respects, the core concept constraints of catering to their legacy sysLooking at the technology landscape and of BIM has failed, with multiple BIM tem and users, when there are already the commercial pressures to drive efficien- models being created to suit the needs of manufacturing-centric modelling systems cies, compress timelines, reduce cost and each part of the design and build process; like 3DX Catia to bridge the chasm. reduce carbon, the combination of digital a construction BIM model is different to We are at the start of a generational fabrication with off-site factories seems an architectural one. change and design IT directors of leading inevitable. We are already seeing signifiAt some point soon there will be a dra- firms have started to rethink their techcant investment in the residential sector in matic change in workflow or output, that nology stacks, processes, costs and delivthe UK. In America and Japan this is being software developed decades ago can no erables, and are much more likely to evalcombined with an adoption of mass timber. longer address just by adding some new uate alternative and new technologies and This will scale to office blocks and high features. Catering to legacy systems with that the market is opening up.

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Feature

Unity bets big on AEC When Unity Reflect launches later this year, AEC firms will be able to push rich BIM data out to multiple devices, quickly and easily. But what will this highly customisable game engine application bring to the table?

by Greg Corke

T

he AEC sector is no stranger to beam or a wall or a window,” he said, Reflect is not just about the visuals.

Unity. The popular 3D game during his presentation at the recent Importantly, it can bring over all the engine is used by several soft- Unity Unite conference in Copenhagen. metadata as well, which opens up huge ware developers including “We need to know how much it costs, we possibilities for new AEC workflows in Revizto, 3D Repo, IrisVR and Tridify to need to know material properties, struc- the Unity environment. Data is no longer deliver fast, interactive real-time applica- tural properties, all sorts of different locked in the BIM authoring tool. tions. In-house programmers at many of things that are attached to that geometry.

“There’s such market demand for people the large AEC firms also use it to create “In order to develop the effective tools, to get a hold of BIM data, explains Tim bespoke applications to solve specific we really need to bring that information McDonough, GM Engineering, Unity. “But workflow challenges that are not along with the geometry into Unity so we it’s really constricted to a small number of addressed with off-the-shelf software. can use that. It’s the idea of really build- people that actually have access.”

Unity excels in its ability to render ing the entire building in Unity. For that, Unity Reflect has BIM filtering capabilcomplex BIM models at high frame rates an FBX export just doesn’t cut it for us.” ities so users can isolate ceilings, strucon multiple devices. But Unity is not just tural columns, walls, etc. With a little bit about creating beautiful real-time scenes Enter Reflect of programming, any type of metadata for design visualisation. Even though the In 2018, Autodesk and Unity announced a can also be visualised thematically. For engine can deliver stunning photorealis- strategic agreement with a view to making example, to automatically colour-code a tic assets (exemplified by its use by auto- data flow more freely between select model by member size, material type, motive firms including construction status or availaLexus, Volvo and BMW), bility in the supply chain. in the AEC sector the As Reflect is completely open, any third-party Unity Reflect is not just focus is more on distribabout Revit. Other applicadeveloper could add functionality. In fact, uting information-rich tions can also be piped in.

Autodesk could even choose to develop a next There’s a SketchUp plug-in as models to various team members on desktop, well and, as Dan Prochazka, generation Navisworks type product on top mobile, web and AR/MR/ senior product manager for VR. Unity Reflect told AEC One of the major challenges faced by Autodesk products and Unity’s real-time Magazine, there will also be plug-ins for AEC firms is getting good quality data 3D development platform. other apps including Navisworks. into the engine. This is not simply about The partnership gave Unity much “We will continue to build other connecgenerating meshes that offer a good bal- tighter integration with Revit than is tors into Reflect. And you’ll be able to comance of quality and density, so they are available through the standard Revit bine this data,” he says. “It’s not just Revit engineering-accurate but still perform API. This has led to the rapid develop- going into a project. You can also take well in 3D. It’s also about bringing over ment of Unity Reflect, an application cur- Rhino data and push it into a project, you valuable metadata, something that is rently in beta that can pull data from the can take SketchUp data and push it into a essential for BIM-centric workflows, but very heart of Revit using a plug-in. It’s a project, all of it together and federated.” is typically lost when exchanging data via memory to memory connection, so whatNone of the future links will be filethe proprietary FBX file format. ever is open in Revit can be passed into based, he confirms, at least in the way the Christopher Morse, who develops cus- Unity Reflect. developers of Reflect are thinking about tom tools for Unity at New York-based Move or delete an object in Revit, for things today.

SHoP Architects, knows this well. “When example, and a few seconds later it will Any number of concurrent applicawe model something, we need to know automatically update in the Reflect tions can ‘live sync’ with the software, so not just what it looks like, but what it’s Viewer. This might sound like the excel- you could have concept model, architecmade out of, whether it’s a column or a lent real-time viz tool Enscape, but Unity tural model, structural model and MEP

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1 Unity Reflect doesn’t place an emphasis on high quality real time rendering but Unity is able to deliver stunning results with the High-Definition Render Pipeline 2 SHoP Architects is using Unity Reflect to make acoustic simulation visual in order to bring it up front in the design process 3 Forget piles of drawings - SHoP Architects is exploring ways to give workers quick access to construction information on site using Augmented Reality

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model all in the same environment. At the moment this is only over LAN (or VPN). In the future it will be cloud.

The beta currently has Reflect Viewers for Windows and iOS. This will extend to Mixed Reality headsets, Virtual Reality headsets, Android devices and maybe even games consoles. It’s not like Unity needs to reinvent the wheel here - all of these devices can already be reached through the core Unity platform - it’s just that they won’t be officially supported on Reflect yet.

Multi-platform is a huge benefit of Unity and other game engines like Unreal Engine insofar as a model can be quickly pushed out to virtually any device, often at the click of a button. In the context of the AEC sector, it means a single real-time asset could be distributed anywhere and used for design visualisation, design review, project management, QA on site, and so on.

“Some problems are more easily solved in Augmented Reality, and lend themselves to that, whereas some problems you don’t need to be on site and overlay anything,” says Adam Chernick, an Associate on SHoP’s Interactive Visualisation team. “It’s even more accessible and informative to put on a VR headset and immerse yourself in that space back in the office.”

For a BIM model to be viewed in Reflect, it first needs to be prepped and optimised for real time 3D. This is an automatic, push button process, but it’s not instant. For a large model it can take minutes the first-time round, but after that the software only sends deltas, so any subsequent changes update in seconds. The Reflect Viewer can work online and offline, which is useful for those working on site.

Reflect can be used out of the box and www.AECmag.com

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Feature users do not need any knowledge of Unity itself. In this guise it’s really just a viewer albeit one that’s collaborative. It allows BIM models and filtered metadata to be viewed simultaneously by multiple participants on a variety of different devices, in different locations. This could be for design review, client presentations or simply to push BIM-rich data out on site.

Having a live link can dramatically accelerate workflows. Firms can get feedback from clients or contractors, make changes in the BIM authoring tool, and then visualise them instantly on a tablet, or in VR. Previously, in order to get an updated BIM model into Unity, this could take hours or even days.

Data flows very easily into Unity Reflect, but it is not bi-directional. The application is not currently designed to drive changes to the CAD or BIM model.

For this rail signal project, Unsigned Studio developed a Unity app that allows non-CAD users to drive detailed design. Signal designers and rail operators determine the optimal signal placement and the app then feeds the data directly into AutoCAD

Driving new workflows for AEC Unity has a long history with AEC firms who use it to help with specific workflow challenges not necessarily supported by off the shelf applications. At Unity Unite in Copenhagen last month, there were many great examples of firms exploiting the power of the real-time engine. Here are some of the highlights.

SHoP Architects (shoparc.com) is no stranger to Unity – its R&D team has been developing for the game engine for some years. It is now one of the leading beta testers for Unity Reflect. Less time spent on data prep means the firm is now able to explore many more applications.

AR Status Tracking is an iOS app which uses BIM data and Augmented Reality to visualise the construction status of projects. The app is being tested on the tallest skyscraper in Brooklyn to help non CAD users track construction progress of its exterior glazing panels. It works by pulling custom metadata from Revit and visualising it in Unity using different colours to indicate the status of each panel.

SHoP first used the app in an office environment with a simple model of the building, visualised in AR using an iPad, but it is now looking to take it out on site as well to better connect design and

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construction. It’s using object recognition to overlay BIM models on top of the construction site for QA and for giving site workers quick access to information, although there are still many challenges surrounding the accuracy of the overlay.

SHoP is also exploring acoustics in buildings using VR. Typically, acoustic simulation occurs late on in the design process and the results are often presented in a spreadsheet which is hard to interpret. The practice has now brought this process more up front by making it visual and interactive. Taking material properties from the Revit model it can visualise how sound waves and wave fronts reflect off walls in an architectural space. And because it has a live link to Revit, teams can change the geometry and see the immediate impact on the acoustics.

In this way, acoustic simulation isn’t just for verification, it can help drive design.

We encourage you to check out SHoP Architects’ presentation at tinyurl.com/shop-unity Foster + Partners showed SandBOX I/O, a conceptual design tool built with Unity that can be used by pretty much anyone, including senior designers with little or no CAD experience. Users can build up models in 3D, comprising blocks, slabs and free-

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form surfaces, and classify them by use, for retail, hotel, residential and so on. But SandBOX is more than just a mass modelling tool. The app can give real time feedback using built-in analysis functionality. In other words, it is performance-driven design.

There are tools for analysing daylighting, financials and views. The results are presented by colour coding the blocks. So, for example, the parts of a building that will get a sea view (and hence could attract a premium) will be made blue and those that won’t will be made black. There are other types of analysis that can run on a floorplan, including pedestrian simulation or the walking distance between points.

Traditionally, this conceptual phase required a multistage workflow, involving physical modelling blocks, and specialists in different areas of simulation. “A lot of these analyses typically took minutes, hours, days to run and we’ve spent a huge amount of effort, speeding up these analyses so they can run in real time or near real time,” says Francis Aish, head of Applied Research, Foster + Partners. “The speed of feedback to the users is absolutely critical, particularly if you’re with a senior designer with a client.”

The software appears to be very easy to use and can be

Cockpit view from Laing O’Rourke’s VR crane simulator run on desktop, tablet or in VR, to suit different types of users. Lord Foster has even been seen trying it out with an HTC Vive!

“Our goal is to enable senior designers to really engage and spend more time designing, and less time managing,” says Aish.

Crucially, SandBOX I/O is not a closed application. It can share data seamlessly with other CAD / BIM tools, including Revit, Rhino (Grasshopper). This could be to feed-in site data to provide context for a new design, or to push out designs, complete with metadata, using the company’s in-house real time data exchange toolkit, Hermes.

Laing O’Rourke is well known as a pioneer of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) and has

state-of-the-art off-site manufacturing capabilities. When product sets including precast concrete building components are brought to site, the assembly process needs to as efficient as possible.

Part of this is ensuring that the crane operations are derisked and optimised, especially the really tricky ones that need to be made blind.

This can now be planned in advance, by sitting in a virtual cockpit in a VR crane simulator that was developed inhouse inside Unity. When working on the Google headquarters site in King’s Cross, for example, the VR crane simulator was also used to demonstrate to Network Rail that its modular systems could be moved safely next to the busy adjacent railway.

Safety is a huge concern on construction sites, but tradi-

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“Frankly we don’t want to be a DCC tool,” although Autodesk might actually be could choose to develop a next generasaid Prochazka. “I could see it for some- encouraging this, preferring to spend the tion Navisworks type product on top of thing like RFIs [Requests for dollars on its expanding cloud infrastruc- Unity. After all, Autodesk is the one Information] in something like ture services. with years of experience in the AEC sec[Autodesk] BIM 360 – that’s the type of Here, Unity could be just the technolo- tor and a vast customer base, and it application that’s built for bi-directionali- gy platform. As Reflect is completely would be some third-party developer! ty, but design tools are not Power to the users really designed for that...

It’s really more about Developing for Unity does There’s a huge community of Unity game review.” have to be done by tradevelopers out there that can bring fresh ideas not It seems likely that Unity ditional Independent will add some design to AEC firms of all sizes... the more progressive Software Vendors (ISVs). review functionality to There are many AEC firms are already tapping into this talent Reflect in the future. But it firms and consultants that might need to tread carehave already built applicafully. If it starts to significantly expand the open, any third-party developer could tions on top of the real time engine to capabilities of Reflect, adding features like add functionality. solve specific workflows challenges. clash detection, simulation and 4D schedXinaps, for example, plans to plug-in Foster + Partners, for example, has uling, then it would almost certainly start Reflect to its new customisable, cloud- developed SandBOX I/O, an advanced encroaching on Autodesk’s core toolset based BIM checking tool, Verifi3D (see Unity-based conceptual design tool that development of Navisworks and BIM 360, page 31). Or maybe even Autodesk itself can feed data into Revit and Rhino/

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PREspective bridge Digital Twin tional training has been found to be lacking, especially when it comes to knowledge retention. It would seem that Skanska wants to use VR to scare its workers into remembering what and what not to do on construction sites.

Creative agency OutHere (outhere.se) developed a VR experience for Skanska using Unity. By all accounts the experience is quite full on, although Skanska drew the line at someone dying in VR. There is ‘maiming’, fire and falling concrete blocks.

Some people have pulled out of the experience due to distress. The idea is that the stronger the emotion, the stronger the risk awareness when on an actual site.

We didn’t get to see much of the actual experience – as Skanska doesn’t want its staff to know what to expect

- but the render quality was excellent, complete with driving rain and an angry, impatient foreman to disorient workers on the virtual site.

Aurecon (aurecongroup.com) is a global multi-disciplinary, engineering consultancy that now has its own independent 3D visualisation and creative technology studio.

Unsigned Studio (unsignedstudio.com) is doing some incredible stuff with Unity, making custom applications to visualise the entire engineering project lifecycle, from the proposal stage, through concept and detailed design, and into construction and asset management.

To aid development it has created siteLab, a framework on which it can build a variety of different apps without

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Foster + Partners live VR demo of SandBOX I/O conceptual design tool

having to reinvent the wheel for every project. It includes editor tools and workflow, integrated desktop and VR and is mobile ready.

In his presentation, Michael Gardiner, Studio Leader (Brisbane), gave so many excellent project examples that we’ll cover them in more detail in the next edition. There’s some great use of point clouds and applications for end user testing in VR to ensure the design is actually fit for purpose.

Sitowise Design (sitowise. com), a Finnish-owned, construction focused planning and consulting agency, has also built a platform on top of Unity, but Aura is a virtual environment that can be utilised for the creation of digital twins. It can combine people, traffic, buildings, weather and lighting with

precise IoT sensor data.

The agency is involved in many different projects including one for a Finnish university that is helping to ensure that a plant room runs optimally. Using IoT technology, it monitors things like air flow and pressure and uses mathematical algorithms to identify potential problems across 40 individual HVAC machine units.

Sitowise Design is also using Aura for a port project, where the harbour has been modelled and IoT technology is used to track crane and ship movements with a view to optimising loading / unloading operations.

PREspective (prespective.eu) is a Unity-based tool from Unit040 dedicated to the creation of Digital Twins. The firm has a strategic partnership with Unity. In fact, Unity

actually sells the software.

PREspective is mainly used to simulate complex systems, ranging from machines to entire production facilities. However, the software has also been deployed on some infrastructure projects.

The thing that stands out with PREspective is that it can run the actual control software which will drive the asset during operation. It means everything can be properly tested prior to deployment.

For real-time simulation of infrastructure projects, firms can virtually test toll bridges and tunnels before they are built, complete with intelligent cars, boats, pedestrians and cyclists.

The simulation can also be used to collect IoT data for predictive maintenance or for training.

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Feature Grasshopper. Unsigned Studio has developed siteLab, a framework on which the 3D visualisation and creative technology studio has built a variety of impressive AEC-focused applications for desktop, mobile and VR. There are many more examples in the box out on page 22.

Impressively, much of the development work for these projects has been accomplished without any real help from Unity, at least from an AEC industry perspective. More importantly, any AEC firm working with BIM models has had to solve the huge workflow challenge of bringing geometry and (sometimes) metadata into the Unity engine. And then doing it again and again for every new design iteration.

Speaking at Unite, Graham Brierley, digital engineering lead for the European Hub at Laing O’Rourke, said the Unity developers in his team spend 60% of their time optimising models for Unity, meaning less time spent on app development.

SHoP Architects is one of the leading beta testers for Unity Reflect. In the past,

Unity Reflect puts BIM data at the fingertips of many different stakeholders.

Currently there is a Reflect Viewer app for Windows and iOS. More apps will come

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time spent on data prep was a major barrier to the wider use of the Unity engine throughout the practice. Before Unity Reflect, the traditional workflow from Revit required the team to decouple the geometry from the metadata, via FBX and Excel, and then recouple it in Unity.

Adam Chernick explains the difficulty of this process, “It actually took teams days or weeks in order to optimise and convert these models into real time ready assets and this really didn’t align with the speed of iteration that we needed in our office. And, of course, the consequence was that not a lot of our projects made it into real time engines.”

“It took so long to get stuff in that, by the time the tool was used, it’s like ‘that was fun, but… the design has already moved ahead,’” adds SHoP Architect’s Christopher Morse.

By addressing interoperability with Unity Reflect, this should open up huge opportunities for AEC firms - less time spent optimising data and more time developing practical applications, as well

as making the UI and UX more effective.

Unity’s helping hand won’t just be limited to data optimisation. The company also plans to develop toolkits and templates on which users can build apps, such as the Immersive Collaboration Toolkit, which provides the foundation for developing collaborative design review experiences in VR. There are also plans for new apps.

Unity and viz The Unity engine offers very high-quality real-time rendering. You only have to see what companies like Lexus are doing with digital studios to appreciate how good the results can be. Render quality will get even better next year when physically-based real time ray tracing is added to the engine, powered by Nvidia RTX technology.

Despite these capabilities, high fidelity design visualisation is not currently a focus for Unity Reflect. That’s not to say it won’t be in the future. For example, Unity is already working on bringing entourage (RPC content) in from Revit,

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By addressing interoperability with Unity Reflect, this should open up huge opportunities for AEC firms - less time spent optimising data and more time developing practical applications

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www.AECmag.com

05/10/2019 12:18

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SHoP Architects project: using Unity to track construction progress of the exterior glazing panels on 9 Dekalb Avenue, which will be the tallest building in Brooklyn 4 (left) In Revit, a custom ‘PanelStatus’ parameter is added to the BIM model (right) The BIM model has a live link to the Unity Reflect Viewer. All of the model’s metadata is also brought across 5 All of the metadata is also exposed in the Unity Editor. With simple scripting, the PanelStatus parameter can be visualised, with Unity automatically changing the colour of each panel to help track its progress on the construction site

including trees and vegetation.

It would also make perfect sense for a third-party developer to build an architect friendly viz tool on top of Reflect. Only having to manage a single real-time asset that can serve many different workflows in architecture, engineering, construction and viz is an exciting proposition.

From a design viz perspective, Unity is some way behind Epic Games, the developer of Unreal Engine. Epic Games owns TwinMotion, an easy-to-use, real-time viz tool built on top of Unreal Engine. Chaos Group also offers an optimised workflow into Unreal Engine from V-Ray, the number one render engine for arch viz.

Of course, there plenty of other ways to bring viz assets into Unity, not least via FBX. Cinema4D also has a new Unity plug-in, which will have a live link capability soon.

Conclusion When game engines first came on to the AEC scene, the emphasis was on their ability to deliver high-fidelity, real-time experiences at high frame rates. With Unity, the rendering quality and performance can be great, but the company’s focus appears to be on building practical workflows around information-rich BIM models.

Unity may have been used in the AEC sector for years, but it’s still relatively unknown among the wider community.

Now with Unity Reflect, which does not require specialist programming skills to use out of the box, along with the company’s close relationship with Autodesk, this will almost certainly change.

From what we have heard from the beta testers, Unity Reflect does an excellent job of solving the interoperability challenges that exist between Revit and the Unity engine. In a single click, it can 28

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do all the complex work of preparing, federating, and transferring BIM data.

With planned support for Rhino, SketchUp and Navisworks, Unity has many bases covered, particularly as Navisworks can already read in data from multiple sources. Extending this support to other BIM tools would really help turn Reflect into powerful hub for AEC data - a hub that can push out optimised geometry and metadata easily to VR, MR and mobile devices. But it needs to be done in a managed way, so plumbing Unity Reflect into Autodesk BIM 360 would make perfect sense.

Of course, the real power of Unity is that it is open and firms can build applications on top to help support specific workflows in the AEC sector - from conceptual design and construction simulation to quality assurance and digital twins. There’s a huge opportunity here for third party developers in particular and wouldn’t it be interesting if Autodesk became one of them?

For in-house developments we expect more AEC firms to experiment with the engine now the interoperability barriers have been broken down. Unity is not the preserve of the mega practices with large R&D teams. SHoP Architects, for example, has less than 200 employees but is already doing some incredible projects with Unity Reflect.

Even though your average architect or engineer won’t possess the necessary C# programming skills, there’s a huge community of game developers out there that can bring fresh ideas to AEC firms of all sizes. Some of the more progressive AEC firms are already tapping into this talent.

But the biggest prize for Unity in the AEC industry is with off the shelf software. Unity Reflect will almost certainly grow in capability (after all it hasn’t even been released yet). Unity also has plans to produce more apps of its own. And with the company now investing heavily in AEC, we’re excited to see where things go.

■ unity.com/aec/reflect

www.AECmag.com

05/10/2019 12:18

Advertorial

Global Cities Innovate with 3D Modeling Leaders use realistic cityscapes to make decisions, collaborate, and improve quality of life

W

hen smart cities need to make planning, infrastructure, and services decisions, they increasingly turn to virtual cityscapes to model scenarios and understand impacts. London, Helsinki, Boston, and Singapore are among those leading the way.

3D city models provide realistic renderings of existing buildings (inside and out), transportation infrastructure, and green space as well as proposed projects. With 3D models, it’s easier to see how a new building, solar panel installation, or bridge would impact an area. Once a plan is proposed and integrated into the model, it becomes an effective tool for communication with partners and the public. Beyond planning, these models are invaluable for situational awareness and emergency response.

Geographic information system (GIS) technology has been the primary means for developing these realistic models. Unlike physical models or twodimensional drawings, governments can easily modify 3D cityscapes to reflect new buildings, new materials, and even changing landscapes.

In Boston, the Boston Planning & Development Agency uses its 3D model for flood modeling, lineof sight evaluations, and shadow studies that guide development near the historic Boston Common.

With a law in Massachusetts restricting the amount of time any building can cast shadows on Boston Common, the city needs detailed analytics on how proposed development would affect the nation’s oldest park. Replacing its wooden physical model with a 3D digital model, gave planners access to details they could not visualize before. They can clearly see how new zoning and development could lead to increased shadows on the park at various times of the year when sun angle and daylight hours vary.

City leaders quickly realized how having upto-date, detailed images of Boston’s buildings and assets significantly benefited collaboration among stakeholders including city staff and developers. It also put data at the center of critical decision-making and negotiations. Now they want to extend the benefits to others. “We want to make the smart 3D model user friendly and widely available to whomever for whatever,” said Corey Zehngebot, senior architect and urban designer at BPDA. “The sky’s the limit in terms of what we might be able to use it for in the future.”

improve the lives of our citizens,” said London’s Chief Digital Officer, Theo Blackwell. Helsinki’s Chief Digital Officer, Mikko Rusama, added, “Helsinki’s vision is to be the most functional city in the world that makes the best use of digitalization.”

As the leaders of these two tech-savvy cities are keenly aware, the visual nature of maps simplifies communication about challenges, existing situations, and possibilities. 3D models give smart cities an effective way to collaborate internally, with the public, and with other governments.

CREATING A DIGITAL TWIN Moving farther east, the global powerhouse city of Singapore is also making significant investments in 3D city models for broad use inhouse and with citizens. Singapore has invested millions of dollars in its 3D model that will be used by government agencies and the greater public. The Prime Minister’s Office, National Research Foundation, Singapore Land Authority, and Government Technology Agency of Singapore are all backing the project. The 3D model will provide an effective way to test ideas, plan, and address local challenges associated with growth

and other pressing issues.

The information in Singapore’s model goes well beyond structural data. Singapore will include vast amounts of terrain, demographic, and climate data combined with real-time sensor data.

Visualizing building, the natural environment, and the movement of people will help the government determine where to invest in new infrastructure and effectively deliver services. It will benefit everything from planning to disaster response.

Though these cities are investing millions in their efforts, creating 3D models is within reach for many cities now that the cost of capturing imagery is shrinking with the widespread availability of drones and other forms of rapid imagery capture inside and outside of buildings.

The 3D city models combined with comprehensive strategies on how to use them—as we see with London, Helsinki, Boston, and Singapore—will help leaders move smart growth plans forward and enhance quality of life for citizens.

To get an inside look at projects already happening in New York City and around the world go to: go.esri.com/seeing/aecmag

COLLABORATION BETWEEN CITIES The trend toward 3D modeling is gaining traction across the globe. In February, the cities of London and Helsinki announced they are working together in a ‘City to City Digital Declaration,’ sharing best practices on 3D city modeling among other tech-related initiatives.

“This Digital Declaration sets out a formal framework for co-operation between Helsinki and London to develop our respective in-house expertise and links with the tech sector to use city data to

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Preview

Rhino Inside Rhino 3D with Grasshopper occupies a special place in the AEC industry. Now, to complete global domination, McNeel will soon make the software able to work in pretty much any Windows application, such as Unity, AutoCAD or even Revit

by Martyn Day

W

hile most firms make a big song and dance about their releases, McNeel chooses its own path. Over the years it has developed a large and loyal community, covering many vertical markets, from jewellery design to ship building, together with an ever-expanding ecosystem of add-on applications.

The company originally released the Rhinoceros 3D modeller in 1994. And, together with the Grasshopper 3D scripting visual tools, has become endemic in the AEC industry for conceptual and geometric definition. It is used by nearly all the leading architectural practices (Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, Gensler, HOK, Heatherwicks etc.) as a design platform. It typically drives design Rhino and derivation before BIM tools get anywhere ters, the feature set grew and it’s ment and then the equivalent called Grasshopper near the geometry. really only been this summer that from within the Revit database working The closest BIM integration with Rhino McNeel folks have been openly when driving Revit. This means within Revit has been Graphisoft’s ongoing develop- presenting it in public.

Grasshopper scripts can be used to ment to forge strong links with its flagship It means that Rhino / Grasshopper can create native models using actual Revit BIM tool, ArchiCAD, enabling now be used inside Revit as components like Dynamo can and not just Rhino /Grasshopper to drive a direct plug-in. Prior to this, generate though IFC or imported geometry. its GDL-based BIM compo- Geometry can it involved a whole load of Revit Inside is a work in progress, but nents (graphisoft.com/archicad/ be modelled shenanigans to link the two. is already generating a lot of excitement rhino-grasshopper). Since 2016 Many architectural firms in its target user base. It opens up a in Rhino and define this integration has proved a the geometry of a whole new level of integration between used to drive project in Rhino and will the McNeel ecosystem of applications winning combination for many live geometry wait until the absolute last and Revit data, which comes from the firms that wanted closer collaboration between generative minute before committing to most common BIM tool in the US and creation in forms and component-based it in Revit, as Revit UK. Many architectural firms will be Revit. It can putting BIM models. was never really designed to adopting this over their current workalso be round be a real-time generative dis- arounds for bi-directional data flow and For Rhino 7, which is currently available as a work-init offers an alternative to existing and tripped, with play engine. progress (WIP) release, McNeel With the new plug-in, limiting file translations. geometry has made changes to the softgeometry can be modelled in With Rhino/Grasshopper now capable sucked out of Rhino and used to drive live of directly driving both ArchiCAD and ware which enables it to run as Revit into a plug in inside Windowsgeometry creation in Revit. It Revit, and the BricsCAD ‘up-start’ soon to based host applications, can also be round tripped, announce Rhino/Grasshopper support as Rhino enabling seamless access to the with geometry sucked out of well, one could start to ask the question if API and model data.

Revit into Rhino.

BIM really has much of a footprint in the This new capability is called Rhino McNeel has developed its own set of conceptual design phase of a project, as it Inside. In typical McNeel style, the tech- Grasshopper / Revit components and is mainly relegated to the detail and docunology was quietly uploaded to GitHub to selections (picked by as category, family, mentation phases within innovative archibe tested and see what the community level, or by name), enabling them to be ref- tectural practices. thought of it. Through requests from tes- erenced within the Grasshopper environ- ■ rhino3d.com/inside

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04/10/2019 16:15

Review

Xinaps Verifi3D

1

BIM offers many benefits, not least its ability to check a design’s overall quality, to identify spatial, functional and data errors. Xinaps has a new customisable, cloudbased checker for Virtual Design and Construction professionals

2

by Martyn Day

B

IM models get big, fast. When it comes to checking co-ordinated models, it’s best not to do them in the authoring tool, but outside in something faster. In fact, the loading and manipulating of large or co-ordinated BIM models is so troublesome that there is a whole industry based around developing tools for the optimisation, display and interrogation of big AEC datasets.

Verifi3D is a completely fresh and unique take on this growing Common Data Environment (CDE) sector of the market, enabling cloud-based model visualisation, geometry and data validation, clash checking, analysis, reporting and more to aid ISO19650 compliance.

The main competitors in the space are Navisworks, which is old and end of life, and Solibri which, while being the de facto standard and a powerful pro level tool, is expensive and complex to learn.

There’s also Autodesk’s BIM 360 Glue, which requires data to be centrally located and currently lacks a lot of the capabilities found in desktop Navisworks.

Xinaps’ Verifi3D is a fast, cloud-based, feature rich, very easy to use, alternative validation tool for all BIM workflows.

First off Verifi3D is a service, and sub32

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scriptions are based monthly or annually.

As it’s cloud-based, the feature set is expanding weekly and in fact I have had to look at the software three times while reviewing it, as additional functionality has been appearing within the last month.

The Verifi3D viewer runs in a browser, where files can be dragged and dropped, or located via a project browser. Alternatively, Verifi3D accounts can be connected to BIM 360, allowing seamless access to the latest project models stored on Autodesk’s backbone. Other integrations will come soon.

1 Verifi3D has the concept of a ‘universal clash box’ which can be used to ensure there is free space for any object, such as door clearances etc.

2 You can use Verifi3D to look at individual files or import multiple linked models for co-ordinated verification 3 The dashboard displays your active projects. It includes a traffic light system to show if each project passed or failed specific rulesets

www.AECmag.com

04/10/2019 16:01

The underlying 2D and 3D visualisation ‘presence’ of a specific building component be shared with the project team. technology is built on Unity, one of the based on the rules that it’s either ‘required’, Filters, termed ‘smart classification filleading real time engines (and a technolo- ‘allowed’ or ‘forbidden’, and then visualise ters’ can be created by users based on gy we cover in more detail on page 22). As the results. Verifi3D has the concept of a properties such as category, parameter of last year, Unity just happened to become ‘universal clash box’ which can be used to and family. These can be saved in Autodesk’s anointed partner of choice for ensure there is free space for any object, Verifi3D’s library of filters and used on delivering real-time on multiple devices such as door clearances etc. any file in any project, as well as shared and later this year will offer very tight inteVerifi3D provides a flexible reporting with other users within a corporate gration with Revit through Unity Reflect function which can create reports collat- account. This is a quick way to run Xinaps’ Verify3D isn’t yet built on ing all the results from all the verification through a number of repetitive visual Reflect but it still works really well with tests run. The format of the reports can checks, as you would do for fire safety.

Revit models, bringing over important be defined according to a user’s specified metadata. It also supports IFC, enabling criteria and exported to BCF (BIM Rules and rulesets the import of models from any BIM tool. Collaboration Format), CSV, PDF and Verifi3D is very much a development tool You can use Verify3D to look at individu- XLS formats. With BCF it’s possible to for creating model validation checks al files or import multiple linked models manage, format, and track issues within which suit various workflows. This could for co-ordinated verification, enabling the inherent BCF issue management sys- be anything from one specific rule or verification of a complete project in a sin- tem and have them automatically syn- rulesets, made up from multiple rules gle environment. chronise with third-party platforms. and checked simultaneously. These can Within the application, you can set-up Instances of clashes are logged and be written to compare against projectproject access based on roles to members tagged to the components in the model. specific requirements or against object of a team. This could be by job properties, classifications, famifunction and / or discipline. lies and parameters. These rules Users can also share models, and rulesets are created in XML, The move to using Unity and the new classifications, rules and rulecan be exported from, or layers of capabilities have come together which sets between projects and reuse imported to Verifi3D. to produce an excellent model checking them on any BIM model.

As Unity offers a nice looking On opening, you get a dashand fast real-time environment, solution that is highly configurable board displaying your active it would be a shame to not use it projects. At a glance you can for some visualisation. Verifi3D quickly see the size of each model, name, Clicking on the report moves the 3D view has a ‘Walkthrough’ mode and it’s possiversion, last time opened, creation date, to each one for visual checking of issues. As ble to navigate through the space and crecheck count and who created it. There’s a validation is an iterative process, version- ate architectural volumetric views. traffic light system to also show if it ing is supported for projects, models, rules passed or failed specific rulesets. and results, and it’s possible to visually Conclusion compare the differences between them. Currently, there are some seriously big Verification This is handled within the Verifi3D cloud. players using the software and assisting At the heart of Verifi3D is a powerful The Pathfinding function will find the in its rapid development - namely rules-based checking system. As it shortest path between one or more points Takenaka, BuroHappold Engineering comes, the service provides a number of in the model, routing around objects. This and TBI. Now that the platform has been standard and popular checking capabili- can be used to find the nearest emergency officially launched, Xinaps can concenties, but it also has a very intuitive editor exit from any point of the imported build- trate on adding additional vertical functo allow users to create their own custom ing model. It can also check for headroom tionality. Having said that, there’s no reaverification sets. on staircases. Once the analysis is done, son why Verifi3D can’t be a base applicaLoaded models maintain component these paths are visible within in the model. tion for other developers to build on top and space definitions, so you can see how Beyond clash detection and pathfind- of and, to that purpose, I understand an the building has been built up layer by ing, Verifi3D offers a seriously impres- API is now in development. layer, view the spatial volumes, proper- sive number of ways to slice, dice, search It’s been an interesting process watchties of rooms and their location. The and compare model components in con- ing the development of Verifi3D. This viewer can be used to locate, identify and text. Validation checks can be run on year, the move to using Unity and the read the mesh, geometric volumes, physi- object properties, object parameters and new layers of capabilities seem to have all cal attributes and metadata (properties & on the metadata of classifications, catego- come together at the right time to proparameters) of files. It also has a nifty ries and families, with the results shown duce an excellent model checking solusectioning capability, where building sec- automatically within the viewer. tion that is highly configurable. tion views can be made on the fly. You Verifi3D has an ‘object browser’, which The functionality of supporting linked can even create scaled 2D floorplans, can be used to locate objects in a model by files to validate a complete multi-discidetail views and data schedules. various category options such as object plinary model is extremely powerful.

Clash detection is one of the core features type or family type, within the project. With the launch of Unity Reflect in of any BIM verification tool and Verifi3D This is great for seeing how many tagged November, the good news is that Verifi3D can perform clash detections between one objects of specific types are included, e.g. will port directly over to the new AEC flaor more than one building object within how many fire doors of a specific rating vour of Unity and get even tighter integrathe BIM model. Offsets for the clash detec- are in a model and see each instance. tion with Revit (and Navisworks in the tion area can be set in the X,Y,Z axis and it’s Components can be tagged and measured future) and more features under the hood. also possible to set up searches for the within the application; tagged items can ■ verifi3d.xinaps.com

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Review

There are many different applications for the new live data visualisation tool. In Vectorworks Landscape, for example, it could be used to quickly highlight which plants have the highest solar requirements, pricing or water needs

Vectorworks 2020 Nemetschek’s Vectorworks has delivered its yearly update to its flagship BIM modelling suite of products and the news is, it’s a big one, offering some unique capabilities. Martyn Day evaluates.

M

unich-based Nemetschek is a very unusual software company. All of the other software developers in the industry have one BIM product.

Nemetschek owns three: AllPlan, ArchiCAD and Vectorworks.

With sales in over 85 countries and a very strong presence in Europe, the company seems comfortable with selling what, on the face of it, appear to be competing platforms.

Allplan and ArchiCAD have their origins in Europe. Vectorworks was born in the mid 1980s and started off life as MiniCad for the Apple Macintosh. Around the year 2000, it transitioned to the Vectorworks brand when it was acquired

by Nemetschek. Each of Nemetschek’s BIM brands are run as separate concerns and have different approaches, methodologies and underlying technologies to deliver www.AECmag.com

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on the process of BIM. Despite its apparent age, Vectorworks has been undergoing a radical re-architecting and a fleshing out of its BIM capabilities. Until recently, it was only one of two platforms for construction that used a solid modelling kernel to underpin its geometry. Both Bentley Systems and Vectorworks utilise the Parasolid kernel from Siemens. There’s also a new kid on the block called BricsCAD, which uses the ACIS kernel. It turns out that having a powerful geometry engine, usually found in manufacturing CAD systems, may well be a better match as the industry moves to embrace digital fabrication.

In this release, Vectorworks has actively exposed some of the more powerful solid modelling methodologies of Parasolid, to make accurate manufacturable components, but more on that later.

One other unique feature in the

Vectorworks offering is the way that the technology comes in a variety of flavours.

There are seven options to choose from.

Landmark is a very well-regarded and comprehensive landscaping variant and Spotlight has single-handedly developed a leading role in the world of stage and lighting design. The others are Fundamentals, Architect, Braceworks, Vision and Designer.

The feature updates range across these variants, some being common, some being unique to the industries that are focused upon.

Graphics The first thing you notice with Vectorworks 2020 is the smoothness and speed of the new graphics, especially on large files. Using games style, dynamic Level of Detail (LoD) control, objects far away or not in view are reduced in detail September / October 2019

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1 Vectorworks 2020 features a new updated GIS toolset which has an integration with Esri 2 Vectorworks 2020 features much faster graphics thanks to dynamic Level of Detail (LoD) control 3 Live data visualisation enables components within a model to be assigned colour attributes, depending on their object parameters 4 Vectorworks 2020 features history-based modelling, a feature more commonly found in mechanical CAD software

on the fly, optimising the load on the graphics card. This is used when zooming, panning and using ‘fly over’ in the model. Files open faster and 3D frame rates are improved.

2

Live data visualisation This new feature enables components within the building to be assigned colour attributes, depending on their object parameters. It could be used to check models visually during the design process.

Live data visualisation is like a lightweight Solibri capability, so you could instantly see which doors lacked fire protection or what are supporting structures vs partition walls. It could also be used for massing analyses with various residential units, or in the Landscape variant, to see which plants had the highest solar requirements, pricing or water needs.

It’s completely user configurable and it’s possible to have colours automatically associated to groups of components, such as fire door rating times, for instant identification within your model. Multiple visualisation sets can be created through a simple interface and stored/reapplied throughout the design process. These can also be shared between files and projects.

3

History-based modelling This is a feature I never expected to see in an architectural design tool. Historybased modelling is a common modelling paradigm in manufacturing CAD. Essentially, to achieve the desired geometry, a range of operations are applied to define the shape of the building component, such as rounded edges, fillets, shells and chamfers. The history tree is the recipe of sequential commands used to create the component and they can be edited or removed from the tree, impacting the resultant component when ‘rebuilt’.

There are navigation tools to run through the history and locate the function that needs changing, and after all edits made the software re-builds the component to reflect the changes. This approach to modelling allows for an iterative design process and means components don’t necessarily have to be deleted www.AECmag.com

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Walk through animations have been enhanced for the 2020 release

and modelled from scratch; old designs can morph into new variations.

The addition of history-based modelling is a great capability, exposing the Parasolid core to create components or structures which might get digitally manufactured.

start. I am sure as the ODA libraries improve, model information beyond geometry will start to be included.

GIS integration

Vectorworks 2020 features a whole new updated Geographic Information System (GIS) toolset which has an integration Walk through animations with the online services of market leader, Once you have completed your beautiful Esri. Connecting ArcGIS and BIM model, nothing beats the generation of a enables project models to be positioned walk-through animation and in this release highly accurately and a digital geographRevit export the development team have reimagined the ic model created.

I’m sure that many Vectorworks custom- previous capabilities. Users can create a Projects can be accurately geolocated ers have requested Revit export. In fact, custom path for the eye-level camera view simply by entering an address and I’m sure many customers of every BIM to travel with a NURBS curve or polyline. instantly incorporating street map, sateltool have requested this capability, but not It’ll automatically take into account stairs lite, or other imagery in your design many software firms are willing to do it. and avoid model surfaces. through ArcGIS and WMS servers. With Part of this reason could be to ignore the You can adjust the camera focus and a paid ArcGIS online service plan, it is gorilla in the jungle but there are technical speed through key frames in the multi- possible to access additional maps and issues, which arise from other imagery directly from attempting to support another within Vectorworks. company’s proprietary forThe development team has Live data visualisation is like a lightweight mat, as it opens all sorts of replaced the previous Global Solibri capability - you could use it to instantly projection system with a questions as to data coherence, mapping of components see which doors lacked fire protection or what much more accurate Pseudoand a commitment to conare supporting structures vs partition walls Mercator projection. stantly chase file formats This link with Esri is quite when they change. a coup for Vectorworks, as it Vectorworks is a strong supporter of ple viewports, or from running through manages to deliver a powerful Esri link in Open BIM, and the company states that the actual camera path. There are two its BIM product before even Autodesk IFC is the preferred format, but there new commands to help assist in the managed to, and that was announced are times when collaboration in a native automatic generation of smooth paths. almost two years ago. format is required, or when a deliverable ‘Create orbit’ and ‘Create spin’ will autoneeds to be in a specified form. Using matically generate paths around select- Data manager technology from the Open Design ed objects.

The great thing about BIM is that it’s Alliance (ODA) BIM library, the softThese can be exported as movies and where geometry and building informaware can export RVT and RFA files. rendered with various styles. It’s even tion combine. The bad thing about BIM, However, expectations must be set. This possible to render a path and allow real- is that there is a whole lot of data and it is by no means a 100% conversion of time 360° user-controlled camera views, just keeps growing through a project’s BIM to BIM. In this release, only 3D as it plays. If you’re a select service mem- development. To help out, the developgeometry will be exported for Revit to ber you can use the Vectorworks cloud to ment team has implemented a new Data load as generic geometry. render your animation, at various sizes Manager to help sort and find needles in For an initial release, this is a good and frames per second. a BIM haystack and develop company

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Review

BIM standards.

It’s possible to gather, filter and organise select objects based on their class, symbol definitions, and origin (Vectorworks or 3rd party). With each object, you can examine the attached data by its mapping and look at the data fields and sheets, at all the levels of detail (LOD). Here you can also map model object information to IFC standards through custom fields and formulas.

Speaking of IFCs, there is the new ability to reference IFC files so they don’t need to be reimported during the design process if they get changed. Data tags have also been enhanced and expanded.

Sections Creating section views has been enhanced in this version. Improvements range from being able to control the level of detail for building elements (e.g. windows, doors), to the ability to adjust cut plane settings on individual objects.

There’s also the option to show colour fills and planar objects in hidden line viewports.

Doors and windows 2020 has had many small and large improvements to window components - to improve speed and control of placement, LOD detail, as well as to enable rapid modelling and editing. Hipsters everywhere will be glad to know that this release features ‘barn door’ style doors, and there are lots of different types to choose from! And if none meet your requirements, of course they are completely editable. Windows have similar control and LOD updates.

scaping variant probably needs a review in its own right.

Vectorworks is certainly on a mission to deliver a quality 3D design experience. The interface is fast and it looks great. With new Esri links, improved GIS, history-based editing of geometry and Revit Export in their first iterations, it will be fascinating to see how customers use these new features and expand the appeal of the Vectorworks brand.

■ vectorworks.net

Spotlight The stage design variant, Vectorworks Spotlight, has enjoyed a variety of updates.

These include the ability to generate Heat Maps for lighting designers, rapid seating section generation, DMX patching mapping to keep track of lighting, some really powerful lighting rig schematic generation and a positional Video camera view to plan camera placement.

Conclusion There are far too many enhancements to mention here and the Landmark, land-

Delving deeper into Vectorworks 2020 If you’re interested in learning more about Vectorworks 2020, check out our exclusive interview with Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar, where we delve deeper into Revit export, Parasolid, scripting and future development direction.

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Case study

Backing the future Digital technologies were key to communicating the design and overturning planning objections for a contemporary extension to a mid-nineteenth century Dublin house.

I

rish architect practice Cummins + Voortman has revitalised a mid-nineteenth century Dublin house with the addition of a distinctive extension.

Following a complex design, planning and construction process, the listed property now boasts a contemporary copper and glass kitchen and living space, which replaces a twentieth century glass conservatory.

The new structure is formed of two intersecting cubes. One replaces the previous kitchen to make use of the existing services and the other accommodates a new dining and living area. The existing stone steps have been retained with a landing area at the top, providing access to and from the garden.

The extension is a striking addition to the historic building. However, its sensitively designed, transparent form – created using modern materials and construction techniques – allows it to sit lightly next to the original brick structure.

Planning challenges The original design was completed by architect Caitriona Noonan, who modelled the proposed extension in ArchiCAD following a number of workshops with the client. But the unconventional design meant gaining planning permission proved a challenge.

Concerned that the extension would obstruct the view to the garden from the reception room, the planners eventually granted permission, but on the condition that the extension be halved in size, so it did not span the full width of the house.

Undeterred and convinced that the project should continue as designed, the client asked Cummins + Voortman to assist with an appeal. Cummins + Voortman carried out a visual impact analysis, requiring more detailed texture mapping and comprehensive modelling in ArchiCAD, in conjunction to the written report compiled by Catriona Noonan.

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Clarity though the cloud Cummins + Voortman began with an analysis of the existing ArchiCAD model. The historic house is a listed property with uneven original walls. The existing survey information didn’t provide enough detail, so Cummins + Voortman commissioned a detailed point cloud survey.

With the survey complete, the architects could model the existing property and the extension with total accuracy.

The survey data was so large (13GB), it had to be divided into 10 parts to be imported into the ArchiCAD model at full quality scan resolution. Cummins + Voortman then completely remodelled the design in ArchiCAD with the point cloud data included.

Bernard Voortman, director of Cummins + Voortman, explained: “Once the point cloud survey was complete we were confident we had all the information we needed. It was so useful to be able to accurately model the position of walls, architraves, skirtings and ceilings for example – to assist with the decision making for a complex listed building.

“It was also very helpful in getting the levels right, to make sure the new extension was properly aligned with the old building. In this instance, using the point cloud was the only realistic way to model the old non-linear walls; if we’d used a conventional point laser handheld distance meter it would have taken far too long.”

The point cloud survey also helped minimise the disruption to the client.

“There is less measuring and doublechecking on-site,” said Voortman. “There’s no need to go back to the property multiple times to take photographs. Once you have a point cloud survey with adequate colour values you can work from the model with 100% confidence that it’s right.”

Winning the appeal With the new ArchiCAD model complete, Cummins + Voortman produced a walk-

through video, a sun study and a full suite of photographs and images showing the existing property with the conservatory and the proposed extension.

As a result, at the appeal, the condition for the half-size extension was overturned and the client was able to continue with the original designs.

“With the help of ArchiCAD’s realistic rendering the planners were able to visualise the design, which was incredibly useful in the planning process,” said Voortman. “It’s all about achieving optimal communication of the design.”

Precision build The contemporary extension required a high level of precision during the construction phase. The extension needed to sit tightly between the existing building and the original deformed stone boundary wall and under a stone window sill at roof level. It was therefore essential that the design was fully detailed beforehand, with all critical junctions solved in terms of water proofing, airtightness and thermal performance.

“We appointed a master builder as the main contractor for this project,” said Voortman. “We needed someone who was highly competent to manage the project and who was also used to working with digital technologies.”

The extension was constructed using a steel and timber frame with large areas of structural glazing. The steel and glass were pre-fabricated offsite and then assembled onsite. This required verified model consistency to ensure all elements fitted together. There was no room for error.

Careful collaboration Throughout the build process the architect, main contractor, structural engineer, steel subcontractor and glazing manufacturer worked closely together.

“By using the point cloud survey, we were able to manufacture the steels directwww.AECmag.com

03/10/2019 17:06

ly from the data taken from the ArchiCAD model,” said Voortman. “Although the structural engineer was also using ArchiCAD, they preferred to exchange information using IFC. Information was then sent to the steel subcontractor via IFC and conventional drawings.”

The specialist glazier required minimum tolerances which demanded a high level of certainty at steel installation, glazing design and assembly. Once the steel was in place, the glazier carried out its own point cloud survey and found there was only five millimetres difference between the installed steel and the model.

The overall construction process was flawless and all elements fitted perfectly once they arrived onsite. www.AECmag.com

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Enhanced communication Throughout the project, Cummins + Voortman used the virtual reality presentation app BIMx extensively with the client, contractor and subcontractors. The contractor also used BIMx to improve collaboration and to share information with the whole team.

“BIMx gives us a tremendous amount of confidence in our design and it really helps to coordinate and communicate with clients,” said Voortman.

“During the construction phase, we used BIMx and the Google cardboard viewer with our client onsite, which allowed him to stand in the building and see exactly what the extension would look like when it was completed. He

absolutely loved that.”

Cummins + Voortman also used the completed ArchiCAD model to help the client assess kitchen designs and choose materials.

“The high-quality renders and the BIMx hypermodel helped with the decisionmaking process and gave our client full confidence in the proposed design,” said Voortman.

“BIM is better experienced than explained. Its true value becomes clear when you deliver a project. For this project, the overall satisfaction from the client was 100% and we are confident in the knowledge that we have delivered a beautiful, high quality extension.”

■ graphisoft.com

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Event report

David Weir-McCall of CRTKL gave an impressive demo of how Unreal is being used to model existing and proposed buildings and collect the data of those that virtually experience the spaces. They use this data to improve the design

Build:London 2019 Epic Games’ Build:London event has become an essential diary date for the AEC fraternity. There’s a great balance between showing real-world applications and giving insight into what’s coming next in Unreal Engine

by Martyn Day

T

here was a time when Virtual Reality was all hype; now it’s a reality in most of the major AEC firms. While VR is still used mainly as a customer-facing technology, there are a number of companies that are deploying it as a design tool, from concept through to validation.

Unreal Engine by Epic Games has been one of the driving forces behind the rise of VR in the AEC sector. This is mainly because the 3D engine can be used to create visually impressive, custom VR experiences, but it is also down to AEC-focused applications that are built on the 3D engine, such as TwinMotion, which Epic Games acquired earlier this year.

To support its growing community,

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Epic Games now hosts an annual London event focused specifically on the AEC market. Build:London showcases the breadth and depth of real-world applications from users of Unreal Engine as well as giving the community an opportunity to see new developments in the software.

The conference The first presentation was an onstage interview with CG artist Alex Roman, creator of “The Third and Seventh”.

Roman manages to create amazing, gobsmacking realism and cinematic beauty in his architectural CG visualisations and films, using V-Ray and Unreal. This was an impossibly high bar to match for rendering quality.

Gabriele Sorrento, the CEO of Mindesk then gave a presentation of

Mindesk Bridge, a VR design tool for McNeel Rhino and Solidworks. While the software can be used to model geometry in VR, at the moment the most common way to use it is as a design review tool.

Assemblies are imported and the application allows control over transparency of objects, ‘explosion’ of assemblies and even kinematic movement, all in VR. Sorrento was joined by Helmut Kinzler and Aleksandra Mnich from Zaha Hadid Architects to show how they used Mindesk with Rhino to explore a project they had recently worked on, the L-Acoustics ‘Loop Sound lounge’ chair.

Mnich gave a live demonstration of geometry creation, creating surfaces to complete an enclosure. As with many live demos, unfortunately it didn’t work for long, so they defaulted to a canned video September / October 2019

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07/10/2019 13:24

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Event report but kudos for trying!

Aaron Perry of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) gave a fascinating talk about the impact and evolution of using the real-time engine in the whole architectural lifecycle. One of the more impressive uses of Unreal showed how the company uses a giant 3D model of London to place their various project buildings and explore all aspects of their design in context. Within the model, which is many square kilometres in size, it is still possible to go from flying above the blocks and streets, and then into the lobby of a project building to explore the Ludvig Loven of AF Consult presented design – all in real time. An impressive a giant model measuring thousands of display of both scale and detail. square kilometres, which was used to show a proposed train line John Murphy, Creative Director / Motion at the BBC talked on its design and deployment of the “Match of the Day” virtual set, which uses a green with 30 tunnels). Within a few seconds screen studio with an Unreal virtual we went from soaring above in orbit to overlay. Gary Lineker has never looked resting on the grass, next to the train more weird in a sea of green and one can tracks, alongside a bunny rabbit. We also only imagine how hard that would be to saw multiple designers interactively credo. It’s been such a success for the BBC ate a road in VR, in real-time, across dozthey are thinking they might just green ens of kilometres of Sweden. screen the pundits at major sporting In terms of detail on a grand scale, events and save on not building sets a team from Tencent shared how they’ve around the world. built an impressive ‘Digital Twin’ David Weir-McCall of design practice of Shanghai using Datasmith and CallisonRTKL took us in a Unreal Engine. different direction and demHenry Richardson, onstrated how the firm uses Unreal Engine Professor of Architecture at Unreal Engine and immerCornell School of can handle sive techniques to gather data Architecture, spoke on the huge models impact of Unreal Engine in and better understand how of detailed people react to their designs teaching urban design. for sustainability, value engilandscape. It Twinmotion neering and façade developeats complex Twinmotion was acquired by ment design. geometry In each individual VR Epic Games earlier this year experience, user position, without any and it always demonstrates target position, viewer angle, impact on the well. With the company’s and direction of travel are all new-found partnership with frame rate collected to see how people Graphisoft, TwinMotion was and speed of given an ArchiCAD model to react in the spaces, where they go, where they don’t go, populate. With the rich comexperience. what they avoid and what ponent library and environFrankly it they look at. This creates ments applied with simple heat maps in the digital seems like CG sliders, the proposed project alchemy! space and can inform the area was brought to life. designers how a space With street furniture, trees, works. It can be used with a cars, flocks of birds and peoDigital Twin of an as-built, as well as ple we were taken through all the seaproposed changes or new builds. sons. For architects, it’s like the best In terms of modelling at a country SimCity ever made. scale, Ludvig Loven of AF Consult blew the barn doors off. The impressive dem- Coming next onstration detailed how the firm built In a fleeting couple of images, we saw and modelled an area around Stockholm, some interior and exterior laser scans comprising thousands of square kilome- comprising billions of points imported tres, in Unreal Engine for a proposed and rendered in Unreal. This is not a train line (160km of track, 200 bridges small undertaking, as laser scan files are

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extremely heavy on data. This will be coming soon, as Unreal continues to focus on being able to integrate common AEC formats.

We were also treated to a sneak-peek at early development work on a core geometry modelling engine that’s being created inside Unreal Engine. It looked to be powerful and intuitive (push/pull driven) and capable of making complex forms. This should be an interesting direction for the company.

The next release will also have a real physical sky and while Unreal is all about real-time, the release will be able to render super high resolution 20k in a non-real-time mode.

Conclusion The running themes and messages from the talks were that Unreal Engine can handle huge models of detailed landscape. It eats complex geometry without any impact on the frame rate and speed of experience. Frankly it seems like CG alchemy!

It’s clear that there is a trend to deploy VR in conceptual design, model checking, data analysis, training and experimentation. By moving VR from a backend to a front-end tool, early adopters are finding useful insight into their designs. Virtual Reality is in itself a design application not just an experience. However, we have yet to be convinced that accurate surface modelling in VR with current input and manipulation wands can compete with a mouse or pen-based desktop system, but it’s not stopping people from trying.

What seems to work the best is if the models are blocks, like Minecraft, so perhaps massing will become increasingly popular.

■ unrealengine.com

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Software

Enscape 2.6 Real-time rendering software developer Enscape has just completed a major overhaul of its flagship product and laid some groundwork for soon-to-be-enabled, ray tracing enhancements with Nvidia RTX

by Martyn Day

O

ut of all the various software technologies that are deployed in the AEC market, visualisation undoubtedly moves at the quickest pace. It is driven by advances in the games industry, graphics hardware, and a plethora of VR and AR developments. Today with increased competition, the net result is regular big improvements to provide amazing ondemand high-fidelity images at incredible speeds, together with VR on demand for both making design decisions and

Enscape 2.6 features an expanded asset library

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selling projects to customers.

When it first launched Enscape redefined ease of use with a simple ‘one click’ approach to generating photorealistic real time environments. It is one of the most popular viz-focused add-ons for Revit and SketchUp. More recently, it has added support for Rhinoceros and ArchiCAD. Typically, architects work on designs with their BIM tool of choice and, with one click, Enscape delivers high-quality realtime environments to explore for instant design feedback. The software can also cre-

ate video walkthroughs and VR experiences in a single click. These can also be sent to clients as a self-extracting executable, without the need for an Enscape licence, or turned into a WebGL-based website.

With an aggressive upgrade cycle, this is the second release of the year. Its capabilities have continuously improved and expanded. The latest release does not disappoint.

Enhanced lighting and reflections Enscape is different to most other real time renderers in that is uses elements of ray tracing. The results approach photorealism but are not as accurate as those from a dedicated ray trace renderer like V-Ray. For the new release it has overhauled and enhanced the lighting and reflection algorithms. This delivers speed improvements and also improves the product’s reflection fidelity, meaning geometry which is offscreen or obscured by other objects can reflect in high detail, within the scene.

Texture maps are now more accurately displayed, as well as cutout materials, which now appear reflected in mirrors and other reflective surfaces, together with any corresponding shadow. Light sources are also better represented in reflections. Interior lighting has been www.AECmag.com

03/10/2019 17:05

Enscape reflections on a water surface - credit: tas_1985

tweaked to produce more natural results, with less light leakage and more pronounced indirect shadows.

New ArchiCAD Material Editor Enscape added support for ArchiCAD in June 2018 (2.3). This release brings a major improvement for users of the BIM tool, now supporting the Enscape Material editor, enabling access to, and editing of, the full spectrum of material parameters.

New controls for bump maps, which were previously not supported in the native ArchiCAD Surface Editor and a roughness editing tools can help finish off a scene by making it looked lived in.

Asset Library Expansion Scenes need more than just high-quality materials and lighting to give a feeling of reality. It’s important to be able to add assets quickly and easily to dress the scene. With Epic Games acquiring TwinMotion earlier this year, competition is heating up and Enscape has responded by dramatically adding to its asset library.

With this release come over 300 new models, including people, tropical plants, home accessories, bathroom assets, street signs, vehicles, food, vegetation, furniture and more.

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expanded placement options: on a surface, on an active work plane or linked to an existing Revit family. There are standalone files for each of the categories, so users can browse the asset groups before placing them in a project.

Enhanced Settings In previous versions of Enscape, the scene settings were stored separately to the BIM model. This meant that when moving data from machine to machine, the Enscape Settings for the model did not match the original intent.

It’s now possible to save the settings within the CAD file, so you can share your model with other Enscape users, who can repeat the same render and get the same results. It’s a small feature but very useful for teams. It’s also worth noting here that in settings there is now support for numerical input in addition to sliders.

Nvidia RTX Nvidia’s new GPU-accelerated physicallybased RTX rendering technology looks set to revolutionise high resolution, real-time photorealism. Those of you that attended NXT BLD this June will have seen a number of talks demonstrating the potential benefits of RTX-assisted rendering on desktop and mobile workstations.

We were fortunate to have Enscape’s cofounder Moritz Luck, showing an early ‘work in progress’ version of 2.6 (nxtbld. com/videos/moritz-luck) on an RTX-enabled laptop, where Enscape smoothly rendered a very large and reflective building model in real-time, while the camera flew about the site. It was interesting to see the quality improvements delivered by RTX, specifically around reflection.

However, before you get too excited, at the time of going to press, the RTX acceleration in 2.6 was disabled, due to some stability issues being sorted out by Nvidia.

We have been told this will be enabled in an update soon.

There are already some enhancements to the existing ray tracing engine in 2.6, but RTX will take ray tracing in Enscape to new levels of quality through physically accurate reflections and diffuse, indirect lighting.

There is an array of other smaller features for this 2.6 release. It’s possible to reduce the memory usage by down-sampling some of the larger textures, there have been improvements to all sun shadows. Oculus Rift S controllers are now supported and are visible during VR sessions.

Enscape 2.6 is now available for download and comes with support for Revit 2020.

■ enscape3d.com

September / October 2019

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22/07/2019 17:05

Event report

Total Chaos and beyond Chaos Group’s V-Ray renderer is the architectural visualisation industry’s market leader. Now that it also owns Corona Renderer, the company is a global dominant force. Martyn Day reports fom the company’s huge user event in Bulgaria.

I

t doesn’t really matter what core modelling tool you use, Chaos Group has a plug-in product product for you. Whatever your poison — Rhino, Revit, Unreal, Blender, Maya, Max, Modo, even Form-Z — there is a flavour of the company’s flagship V-Ray physics-based renderer to plug-in and generate some amazing photorealistic images and films.

With a passionate community that laps up every update and every millisecond saved per render, Chaos Group has accidentally morphed its annual local

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user event into a huge international conference with lots of workshops. Called, of course, ‘Total Chaos’, the event is held in Bulgaria’s capital city, Sophia just down the road from the company’s offices. This year it featured over 900 attendees, with over 50 sessions, featuring 77 speakers over two days. As many rooms and workshops run simultaneously, sometimes the event can live up to its name, especially if you don’t plan your agenda in advance.

After a day of masterclasses, the two day conference kicks off with a keynote from Peter Mitev Co-founder and CEO.

This year the company had refreshed its product line with its next generation renderer, V-Ray Next, delivered for V-Ray and Corona for Cinema 4D users. It also entered the real-time world of VR with V-Ray for Unreal, expanded its materials development with its VR Scans business and launched Chaos Cloud.

Paul Debevec from Google Daydream gave a fascinating talk on his development work on HDR 360 panoramas and lightfields which has been used in everything from films such as Gravity to Smithsonian VR installations.

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Event report

CREDIT: NAZARII DERKACH & ALEX NIZHNIKOVSKYI

Co-founder and CTO, Vlado Koylazov gave a technology deep dive into where V-Ray is going next and the technology under the hood, from. This year it was about the development of super-fast V-Ray Next which has been delivered throughout this year and is now receiving updates and refreshes.

Sessions Attendees to the event come from all sorts of backgrounds, CG artists, architects, engineers, product designers and software developers. To reflect this, the sessions are broken down into three simultaneous streams - Art, Craft and Code. Here you can listen to CG artists, skilled VR environment designers, cloud computer specialists, FX specialists, architects, scientists and software programmers. It’s possible to go as deep into the technology as you want, or just watch an incredible artist talk about how they created their images.

Chaos Group has made 31 of the talks, which could pass copyright clearance, publicly available on YouTube at tinyurl.com/TotalChaos19 With so many speakers, three simultaneous tracks, an exhibition, coffee breaks, lunch breaks, and evening social gatherings, Total Chaos is a completely immersive experience and you are guaranteed to come back with industry friends. Being held in Sophia, the Chaos

50

Group development teams are all on hand to help and advise and rarely for software company, they love to show software that is still in development.

We highly recommend a trip and we guarantee you will love the city and the people.

Latest news At Siggraph this summer, Chaos Group demonstrated some new features to its Project Lavina, which can ray trace massive V-Ray 3D scenes using GPUs without workarounds or any complex setup.

To prove this point, the company showed the fully interactive manipulation and subsequent rendering of a 1-billion polygon KitBash3D city.

V-Ray Next for Rhino has just received its update 1, which brings faster CPU renders, updated materials workflow and support for a more advanced computational geometry engine. It also supports Grasshopper animation and has better support for V-Ray materials .

Highlights of the update can be seen here youtu.be/mxTv6cUZIww ■ chaosgroup.com/total-chaos

Victor Bonafonte

Ian Spriggs

Arch Viz master artists, Beauty and The Bit, brave the intersection between architecture, cinema, VFX and video games. B&TB Art Director, Victor Bonafonte, talks about some of the studio’s secrets and shares the artistic approaches behind their work.

Ian Spriggs, is an absolutely amazing portrait artist who chooses the medium of CG to express his work.

His portraiture work is fantastic, especially considering how long and how badly the rest of the CG world has been at painting the human form

tinyurl.com/TC19-1

tinyurl.com/TC19-2

Alex Coulombe

Andre Matos

Alex Coulombe is the Creative Director & Lead XR Developer at Agile Lens: Immersive Design. He looks beyond the role of Virtual Reality as an arch viz tool, and how it can be used throughout the design process.

Andre Matos has one of the sweetest jobs on the planet — he creates ultra high-resolution images for Porsche. Working in absolute secrecy, Matos gets to create many of the images for pre-launch cars using V-Ray GPU and VRscans.

tinyurl.com/TC19-4

tinyurl.com/TC19-5

September / October 2019

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Review

HP ZBook 14u G6 Portability doesn’t have to come at the expense of performance as Greg Corke discovers in this impressive 14” CADfocused mobile workstation from HP It wasn’t that long ago that mobile workstation manufacturers only had two or three machines in their range.

But times have changed. And now with eight models in its ZBook G6 family, between them offering power, portability and 2-in-1 capabilities, HP has taken things to extremes.

Weighing in at 1.48kg and measuring 326 x 234 x 17.9mm, the HP ZBook 14u G6 is the smallest and lightest in the family. A 14-inch mobile workstation used to mean a big trade-off in performance, but with new power efficient CPUs and GPUs this is becoming less of a concern. You wouldn’t want to rely on the HP ZBook 14u G6 for real-time visualisation or ray trace rendering, but for 3D CAD and BIM it can stand shoulder to shoulder with machines of much higher specs.

core Intel Xeon E-2276M (2.80GHz, 4.70GHz Turbo).

Of course, performance falls off dramatically in multi-threaded workflows, such as ray trace rendering.

With fewer cores running at a lower frequency, we found render times in our Chaos Group V-Ray and Luxion KeyShot tests to be significantly slower than a mainstream six or eight core mobile CPU. However, rather than dropping all the way down to the base clock speed of 1.8GHz, the HP ZBook 14u G6

and you get a choice of NVMe (256GB to 2TB) or SATA (128GB). Some NVMe models ■ Intel Core i7 8665U (1.90GHz, 4.8GHz are SED (Self Encrypting Turbo) (4 cores) Drive), for situations where ■ 32GB (2x16GB) data security is critical.

DDR4 2400MHz RAM Both the memory and storage ■ 512GB PCIe Gen 3 x4 NVMe SSD TLC can be accessed easily from the ■ AMD Radeon Pro bottom of the machine. Simply WX 3200 (4GB) GPU remove eight Philips head ■ 14-inch 100% Adobe RGB UHD screws and the service panel (3,840 x 2,160) LED pops off. The WLAN module, backlit 600nits IPS panel WWAN module and battery ■ Microsoft Windows can also be easily replaced.

10 Pro 64-bit Once inside the machine, ■ 326 x 234 x 17.9mm you’ll notice there’s a single fan ■ From 1.48kg to cool both Intel Core CPU and ■ 3/3/0 warranty the discrete AMD Radeon Pro (3-year parts, 3-year labour. Onsite service WX 3200 GPU. More powerful is not included) mobile workstations typically ■ Price £1,636 + VAT have dedicated fans for each hp.com/workstations but because the ZBook 14u’s processors are relatively low power, it does a perfectly good job with one.

Product spec

Graphics tuned for CAD

Power in small packages The HP ZBook 14u G6 is built around a power efficient quad core version of the 8th Gen Intel Core processor.

With a 15W Thermal Design Power (TDP) - the average power a processor dissipates when operating at base frequency with all cores active – these “Whiskey Lake” CPUs draw significantly less power than the 45W six and eight core CPUs used in mainstream mobile workstations like the HP ZBook 15.

Low power does mean a performance trade-off, but only really in multithreaded workflows. The Intel Core i5 8265U (1.6GHz, 3.9GHz Turbo), Intel Core i7 8565U (1.8GHz, 4.6GHz Turbo), Intel Core i5 8365U (1.6GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo) and Intel Core i7 8665U (1.8GHz, 4.8GHz Turbo) all have low base frequencies when running all four cores, but the GHz can be boosted significantly when only using a single core. And single threaded performance is where is counts for CAD. When exporting an IGES model from the 3D CAD tool Solidworks 2019, for example, our test machine’s Intel Core i7 8665U went up to 4.2GHz. And the 85 secs it took to complete the test is on par with most other mobile workstations, including the Lenovo ThinkPad P53 we reviewed in June, which had a six www.AECmag.com

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maintained a solid 2.4GHz with very little fan noise - even when rendering for well over an hour. HP appears to have done an excellent job on thermal management.

The HP ZBook 14u G6 supports up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 non-ECC SDRAM, spread across two SODIMMs. This should be plenty for most mainstream CAD workflows but for those that work with particularly large models (Revit models in particular can be huge) or lots of applications at the same time, this could be a deal breaker. In comparison, a mainstream mobile workstation like the HP ZBook 15 G6 can support up to 128GB. To help deliver its compact form factor, the machine relies on a single M.2 SSD

With 4GB of GDDR5 memory, the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 is a step up from the 2GB AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 that featured in the G5 edition. The additional 2GB should make a significant difference in certain applications when working with large datasets.

Despite being an entry-level GPU, the Radeon Pro WX 3200 still performed very well with CAD and BIM software, even on our test machine’s 4K panel.

In Autodesk Revit 2020, a BIM application that is notoriously CPU limited (i.e. the CPU can’t keep up with the GPU, so causing a bottleneck), 3D performance was similar to a workstation with a much more powerful GPU. This is simply because the GPU is underutilised. We observed that only 13% of GPU resources were used when moving a 4 million triangle building model on screen. In short, even if the HP ZBook 14u G6 did have a

f a s t e r GPU, you’d be unlikely to get any better 3D performance.

Solidworks 2019 is also CPU limited, but nowhere near as much as Revit is.

Using our 3.6 million triangle PC test assembly we got a fluid 22 frames per second (FPS) in shaded with edges mode and 13 FPS when we increased render quality by enabling shadows, RealView and Ambient Occlusion. This is on par September / October 2019

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Review with more powerful GPUs such as the Radeon Pro WX 7100.

When it comes to 3D performance, Solidworks is typical of most 3D CAD tools, but this is set to change in Solidworks 2020. The new release, due to launch soon, will feature a new graphics engine that is much less CPU limited because it offloads more of the graphics calculations to the GPU. As a result, it also uses more GPU memory, with medium to large assemblies typically using somewhere between 2GB and 4GB. The new OpenGL 4.5 graphics engine is currently available as a beta option in Solidworks 2019, which we used for testing. Performance immediately shot up to a silky smooth 43 FPS in shaded with edges mode. However, when RealView, shadows and Ambient Occlusion was enabled, performance dropped down to 12 FPS. With more powerful cards like the Radeon Pro WX 5100 and Radeon Pro WX 7100 you can expect 20-40 FPS, which gives a much better experience.

This shows the Radeon Pro WX 3200 doesn’t really have the power to take on more demanding graphics tasks, especially at 4K (3,840 x 2,160) resolution.

Rendering more pixels (4K has four times as many as FHD (1,920 x 1,080) generally puts a greater load on the GPU so this could influence your choice of panel. The laptop can be configured with a range of FHD or 4K IPS panels, some of which are touch-enabled.

Two of the FHD models feature HP SureView, which is designed to combat what HP describes as ‘visual hacking’ (short for someone else looking at your screen) by significantly reducing the viewing angle at the touch of a button.

To protect from prying eyes that might come from further afield, the HP Privacy Camera allows you to physically shut off the 720p / Infrared webcam.

Our test machine came with an LEDbacklit 4K, 600 nits, 100% AdobeRGB panel. It’s a good quality bright display that delivers super sharp lines for precise

CAD work. Corner to corner it’s only 14-inches so you need to use Windows scaling in order to see text and icons. By default, this is set to 300%, although we found 200-225% offered a better balance.

The machine can support up to two external displays via the HDMi or Thunderbolt 3 (USB 3.1) ports on the righthand side of the machine. Here you’ll also find a USB 3.1 Gen 1, Gb Ethernet, Docking Connector and SIM card slot (which works with the optional WWAN module).

On the left-hand side there’s a USB 3.1 Gen 1 charging port and optional Smart card reader. WiFi and Bluetooth are delivered through an Intel Wifi6 AX200 802.11AX 2x2 +BT 5.0 Combo Adapter.

The chassis is made from CNC machined aluminium and feels solid and well built. The full-sized backlit chicklet keyboard is pleasant to use.

We experienced a little bit of give in the middle section, but only when pressing keys particularly hard.

As you’d expect for a machine of this size, there’s no room for a numeric keypad.

The touchpad is of a decent size and there’s also a Pointstick in the middle of the keyboard, for those that like their input devices ‘old school’.

Security conscious Like all of HP’s enterprise-class laptops, the ZBook 14u G6 is big on security. There’s a FingerPrint Sensor and Windows Hello technology for face authentication. These are standard fare, but HP also has some special technologies of its own.

These include HP SureSense, an AIbased malware defence solution that is said to offer enhanced ransomware protection; HP SureClick, which puts all web browsing in a container so it will not infect the rest of the machine if an insecure website is visited; HP SureStart to protect the BIOS; HP SureRun to protect against an attacker turning off antivirus; and HP SureRecover, to help non-experts reimage a system on the go.

Enterprise features also extend to

1

1 Memory, storage, battery WLAN & WWAN modules can all be got to easily underneath the service panel

collaboration and the machine is ‘Skype for Business’ certified thanks to a ‘world facing’ microphone and dedicated buttons on the keyboard for answering calls, hanging up and presenting. The microphone (which is located on the back of the display) can be used in ‘conference mode’ so everyone in the room can be heard or ‘individual mode’ where it cancels out unwanted noise. Or you can simply plug in a headset.

Battery life from the HP 3-cell 50 WHr Long Life Polymer battery is pretty decent, not least because the power demands from CPU and GPU are so low.

The machine lasted 198 mins in the GPU and CPU hungry PC Mark test. Expect it to last significantly longer in less demanding workflows.

HP Fast Charge support means it can charge from 0 to 50% in 30 minutes, which is useful for a quick top up in a coffee shop. As you might expect, the 65W Smart AC Adapter is very small, weighing a mere 300g with a US plug.

Conclusion The 14-inch mobile workstation used to be considered a companion product to a desktop workstation, to be used when away from the office. This is probably one of the reasons why the form factor has never really taken off, contributing to a very small proportion of mobile workstation sales over the years.

But the HP ZBook 14u G6 is different to those that have come before. It is powerful enough for most mainstream 3D CAD and BIM workflows but significantly smaller and lighter than your average 15-inch mobile workstation.

With tough competition from slimline 15-inch mobile workstations like the Dell Precision 5540, it’s unlikely to sell in huge numbers, but it promises to serve a niche market well. And for designers, engineers or architects who are frequently away from the office and place a huge value on portability, it’s an attractive machine for CAD on the go.

2

2 The 65W PSU is tiny and weighs a mere 300g, significantly less than the PSUs that power most mobile workstations

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Review

Scan 3XS WA4000 VR [3rd generation AMD Ryzen] It’s been a long time coming, but with AMD’s Zen 2, Intel is finally facing some serious competition. Greg Corke reports on Scan’s new Ryzen 3000 workstation Intel has dominated the workstation landscape for over a decade. Today, almost every new workstation comes with an Intel Core or Intel Xeon processor. You have to go back to 2006 for the last time AMD had a significant market share, when its Opteron CPUs were considerably faster than the Intel CPUs of the time.

It didn’t take long for AMD to lose its performance crown and it has played second fiddle to Intel ever since. As a result, there’s been little incentive for any manufacturer to offer a workstation with an AMD CPU, let alone a major OEM. But things look to be changing. Last year, AMD caught Intel on the back foot with the launch of its 2nd generation Threadripper CPU. Based on AMD’s 12nm Zen+ architecture, the 32-core Threadripper 2990WX offered industryleading performance in multi-threaded applications – specifically, those that can take full advantage of multiple CPU cores, such as ray trace rendering.

Zen+ also made some impact at the low end with AMD’s 2nd generation Ryzen CPU, which offered more cores than Intel at equivalent price points.

But despite pushing Intel hard on multithreaded performance, AMD didn’t

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quite cut it in single-threaded workflows (for calculations performed on a single CPU core). And single-threaded performance is where it counts for CAD and many other 3D applications. The difference wasn’t huge, but it was significant.

manufacturers to launch a Ryzen 3000 workstation, the Scan 3XS WA4000 VR. ■ AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (overclocked Our review machine is built to 4.3GHz) (12 Cores) around the current flagship ■ 64GB (4x 16GB) Ryzen 9 3900X. Rather than Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200MHz going with standard clock ■ 2TB Corsair MP600 speeds, Scan’s engineers PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD have overclocked all 12 cores ■ Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 GPU (16GB) to 4.3GHz. This is 0.3GHz Closing the gap ■ Microsoft Windows less than the processor’s 10 Pro 64-bit Fast-forward 12 months boost frequency, so you lose ■ 460 x 211 x 455mm and AMD has now closed a little bit of single-threaded ■ 3 Year warranty – the gap considerably with performance, but it should 1st Year Onsite, 2nd and 3rd Year RTB its new Ryzen 3000 family mean you get significantly (parts and labour) of CPUs, based on its Zen better multi-threaded ■ £3,083 + VAT 2 architecture. Officially, performance than an off-thescan.co.uk/3xs Ryzen 3000 is considered a shelf 3900X with a base clock ‘consumer’ CPU, but as we’ve speed of 3.6GHz. seen with the Intel Core i7 over the years, The CPU is mounted on an Asus Prime consumer CPUs can also do a great job for X570-P motherboard, which features entry-level workstations. the new AMD X570 chipset, the first Zen 2 is the first mainstream mainstream chipset to support PCIe 4.0, CPU architecture to feature a 7nm double the bandwidth of PCIe 3.0. manufacturing process.

Shrinking To take full advantage of the new down the transistors helps reduce power interface, Scan has chosen a PCIe 4.0 demands and increase performance. And NVMe SSD, the Corsair MP600. It’s rated from what we have seen, single-threaded at 4.95GB/sec sequential read and 4.25GB/ performance is now very close to that sec sequential write, far faster than any of Intel’s current 14nm ‘Coffee Lake’ PCIe 3.0 SSD. On paper, this might sound architecture. AMD might not hit the same impressive, but you’ll probably only see clock speeds (GHz) as Coffee Lake but significant benefits in specific workflows, boasts higher performance per clock. In such as when working with huge single other words, a 4.0GHz Zen 2 chip should file datasets like those used in simulation, be faster than a 4.0GHz Coffee Lake chip. point cloud processing or video editing.

So far, AMD has launched five Ryzen For CAD, where the datasets comprise 3000 models, starting with the 6-core 1,000s of parts and assemblies, you Ryzen 5 3600 (3.6GHz, 4.2GHz boost), probably won’t notice it at all. Of course, it going up to the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X will be very fast at copying files.

(3.8GHz, 4.6GHz boost). In September, The memory is also from Corsair – there’ll also be a 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X 64GB (4x 16GB) of Vengeance DDR4 (3.5GHz, 4.7GHz boost).

3200MHz. This runs at a higher In terms of current products, the frequency than most workstation memory.

Intel Core i9-9900K (8 cores) According to Scan, it helps it get more out (3.6GHz, 5.00GHz Turbo) is the of the 3rd generation Ryzen chips. closest competitor to the Ryzen For graphics, Scan has gone for extreme 9 3900X. Both are priced very power with the Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 similarly, at £410 for the 9900K GPU. If you’re into real-time viz, VR or versus £442 for the 3900X. The GPU rendering, it’s an excellent choice and 3900X stands out because it has with 16GB of onboard GDDR6 memory is four more cores, but the 9900K able to handle sizeable datasets. has a higher top frequency.

To get more cores on Intel, you’ll Zen 2 vs Coffee Lake need one of the ‘Skylake’ Intel For testing, our obvious first port of call Core X-series CPUs, but these was to see what the overclocked AMD cost considerably more – £825 for Ryzen 9 3900X was capable of. We started the 10-core Intel Core i9 9900X with single-threaded performance.

(3.5GHz, 4.4GHz Turbo) or £950 In the popular 3D CAD tool Solidworks for the 12-core Intel Core i9 9920X 2019, it completed our IGES export test in (3.5GHz, 4.4GHz Turbo).

82 seconds, only a touch behind the two Intel ‘Coffee Lake’ systems we reviewed Ryzen 3000 workstation earlier this year. This includes the HP UK firm Scan is one of the Z2 Mini G4 with an Intel Xeon E-2176G first specialist workstation (6 cores) (3.7GHz, 4.7GHz Turbo), which

Product spec

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Review completed the test in 80 secs and the Scan 3XS WI4000 Viz with an Intel Core i9 9900K (8 cores) (overclocked to 4.9GHz), which finished it in 75 secs.

For another perspective on singlethreaded performance, we used the popular BIM tool, Autodesk Revit 2019. It completed the model creation part of the RFO Benchmark v3.2 in 105.9 secs. The HP Z2 Mini G4 did the same test in 100.6 secs – 5% faster. Unfortunately, we don’t have data for the Scan 3XS WI4000 Viz. This is not a full in-depth analysis by any means but, when comparing an overclocked 4.9GHz Core i7 9900K to an overclocked 4.3GHz AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, we reckon we’re talking about a 10% performance lead for Intel. And if you don’t overclock, and instead rely on the 4.6GHz boost, it could be considerably less.

Either way it’s still significant, but it is dwarfed by the benefits the AMD chip can give you in multithreaded workflows.

In the popular ray tracing application Luxion KeyShot, for example, it rendered our 4K test scene in 163 secs, 56% faster than the overclocked 4.9GHz Intel Core i9 9900K (8 cores). This puzzled us a bit as, theoretically, the performance benefit should be less than 50% as the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X only has 50% more cores and those cores are slower.

In the V-Ray benchmark the Ryzen 9 3900X was 40% faster, which is more in line with what we expected. We imagine you’d have to go up to the 12-core Intel Core-i9 9920X to beat the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X in a rendering test, but as noted earlier such a chip would cost more than twice as much.

As has come to be expected from Scan, we experienced relatively little fan noise

when rendering, even when running a KeyShot render for over an hour. This is down to the Corsair Hydro H100x liquid cooler, which packs dual 120mm fans and a 240mm radiator neatly at the top of the Corsair Carbide 275Q chassis.

Graphics tests The Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 costs nearly five times as much as the Ryzen CPU and is a very serious graphics card.

It’s the first time we’ve tested the desktop version and, unsurprisingly, it broke all of our benchmark records previously held by the Quadro RTX 4000.

In Autodesk VRED Professional 2019, for example, we got an incredible 12.7 frames per second from our automotive test model at 4K resolution and with antialiasing set to ultra-high.

That is 55% faster than the Quadro RTX 4000.

At 4K with medium anti-aliasing, we got a silky smooth 33 FPS. The scores from VR Mark were similarly impressive.

With the more demanding blue and cyan room tests, it was just over 40% faster than the Quadro RTX 4000.

Of course, the Quadro RTX 5000 isn’t just about real-time 3D. It’s also a serious card for GPU rendering. In Solidworks Visualize 2019 with de-noising enabled, it was about 20% faster than an RTX 4000. However, in the V-Ray 1.08 benchmark, it only had a slender lead of 3%. It’s important to note that neither of these applications take advantage of the RTX ray tracing cores. This will come in Solidworks Visualize 2020 and a future version of V-Ray GPU.

Conclusion It’s hard to find fault with the Scan 3XS WA4000 VR. It offers incredible

performance and impressive acoustics.

But the Quadro RTX 5000, which takes up the bulk of the £3,083 price tag, somewhat overshadows the real star of the show, which is the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X. For the first time since 2006, Intel looks to be facing some serious competition from AMD. Featuring 12 cores clocked at 4.3GHz, the Ryzen 9 3900X gives you the kind of multi-threaded performance previously only seen in CPUs that cost significantly more. And, most importantly, it does so without sacrificing singlethreaded performance.

For around the same price, Scan offers an overclocked 4.9GHz Intel Core i9 9900K workstation. By choosing AMD over Intel, you’ll likely forgo around 10% of singlethreaded performance, but you should cut your render times by around 40-50%.

For many, that will definitely be a sacrifice worth making. In addition, you could close the single-threaded performance gap by not overclocking all 12 cores and boosting single core frequency by 0.3GHz. We see the biggest opportunity for AMD and 3rd Gen Ryzen being with CAD users who rely on CPU renderers like Luxion KeyShot or those built into their workhorse CAD tool. So many designers, engineers and architects out there have workstations with four CPU cores. Investing in a new one with 12 cores at a similar price point is a huge step up.

And when coupled with a CAD-focused GPU like the Quadro P1000, you can get a decent machine for just over £1,500.

Scan is an incredibly agile workstation manufacturer, so we’re not surprised that it’s one of the first to take advantage of the new AMD chip. But on a global stage, its market share is incredibly small. For AMD to truly take the fight to Intel, it needs to land a major workstation OEM, like it did with HP and Siemens back in the mid-2000s. We’ve heard rumours that this could happen with Ryzen and, if it does, the increased competition with Intel can only be good news for the customer.

1. Price taken from scan.co.uk on 13/08/19

AMD Ryzen 5 3600

AMD Ryzen 5 3600X

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X

AMD Ryzen 7 3800X

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X

Intel Core i5 9600K

Intel Core i7 9700K

Intel Core i9 9900K

Intel Core i9 9900X

Intel Core i9 9920X

Architecture

Zen 2

Zen 2

Zen 2

Zen 2

Zen 2

Zen 2

Coffee Lake

Coffee Lake

Coffee Lake

Skylake

Skylake

Frequency (base / boost)

3.6 / 4.2 GHz

3.8 / 4.4 GHz

3.6 / 4.4 GHz

3.9 / 4.5 GHz

3.8 / 4.6 GHz

3.5 / 4.7 GHz

3.7 / 4.6 GHz

3.6 / 4.9 GHz

3.6 / 5.0 GHz

3.5 / 4.4 GHz

3.5 / 4.4 GHz

Cores / threads

6 / 12

6 / 12

8 / 16

8 / 16

12 / 24

16 / 32

6/6

8/8

8 / 16

10 / 20

12 / 24

TDP

65W

95W

65W

105W

105W

105W

95W

95W

95W

165W

165W

£167

£192

£275

£333

£442

TBC

£197

£317

£410

£825

£950

Price (Ex VAT) 1

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September / October 2019

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“Offers incredible performance and impressive acoustics” Develop3D, August 2019

Award-winning workstations powered by AMD 3rd gen Ryzen

Scan recommends Microsoft Windows 10

3XS WA4000 Design

3XS WA4000 Viz

3XS WI6000 VR

• AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-core with SMT • ASUS PRIME X570-P, AMD X570 Chipset • 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200MHz • 4GB NVIDIA Quadro P1000 • 500GB M.2 SSD & 2TB HDD • Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit • 3 Year Premium Warranty

• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-core with SMT • ASUS PRIME X570-P, AMD X570 Chipset • 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200MHz • 8GB NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 • 500GB M.2 SSD & 2TB HDD • Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit • 3 Year Premium Warranty

• AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12-core with SMT • ASUS PRIME X570-P, AMD X570 Chipset • 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200MHz • 8GB NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 • 500GB M.2 SSD & 2TB HDD • Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit • 3 Year Premium Warranty

FROM

£1,379.99 EX. VAT

FROM

£ 2,219.99 EX. VAT

FROM

£3,549.99 EX. VAT

3XS Cloud Workstations Cloud Workstations also available, giving you high-end 3D graphics from any device, including tablets and laptops. Maintenance free and customisable to your requirements. Try now for free.

Contact us to discuss your requirements at corporate@scan.co.uk

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