| Travelogue by Ralph Grabowski |
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Graphisoft holds an annual conference for its key customers, alternating locations between Japan and Europe. This year the Key Client Conference was in Kyoto, the former capital city of Japan. It also invites a few members of the CAD media to report on it; there were five of us.
Let me share with you what the launch event was like.
Flights from the west coast of North America to Asia are fairly cheap, typically half the price flying the same distance to Europe. This is perhaps why Air Canada flies its budget-brand Rouge across the Pacific Ocean. The aging 757 offered us inflight entertainment over Wifi: bring your own tablet or computer. Cool.
The entertainment setup took, however, two hours. Rouge's system requires that Web browsers run an older version of Flash, which takes a half-hour to download at dial-up modem speeds -- 9.6K, 14.4K, and sometimes 4.8K. The plug-in didn't work with Chrome or Opera or Vivaldi. I tried an ancient copy of Opera 12 that I keep around; it required a separate 30-minute download of a Panasonic-branded plug-in. It didn't work.
I turned to my Android tablet. The plane's Wifi cheerfully alerted me I needed to download their Rouge app. Another 30-minute wait, but this time the movie began with a half-dozen ads, the title sequence, and it stalled. And then didn't work at all. Throughout the plane, I noticed maybe a dozen passengers were watching movies on their devices; maybe they brought along their own movies.
I mentioned the problem to a passing stewardess, who said she would reset the system. "It doesn't work well when there are 200 passengers using it," she explained. Well, 200 passengers weren't using it; in any case, it should be designed to handle 200 passengers. After the reset, it worked.
We were fortunate to find a direct flight to Kyoto. Well, not Kyoto but to Osaka. Well, not to Osaka, but Kansai airport (KIX). It's reputed to be the most expensive airport ever built, with the longest building in the world at 1.1 miles (1.7km), built on an artificial island more than two miles (3.7km) from the Japanese mainland. The express train from the airport to Kyoto train station takes 1.25 hours; it's about US$22 per person, one-way.
Tip: Show your passport in the JR ticket office at the airport to get the tourist discount on the train fare.
I find that jet lag is not a problem when traveling to Japan, even through the eight-hour difference is the same as to Europe. I think this is because it is a different set of eight hours.
Monday
Monday afternoon Graphisoft treated us to a tour of Tsukino Katsura Sake, the oldest sake factory in Japan. Sake is alcohol made from only rice, water, and fungus, and is processed for 200 days before it can be bottled. The president of the 350-year-old location is proud to call himself the "14th generation president." (See figure 1).
 FIGURE 1. The 14th generation president, Tokubee Masuda, standing among casks of aging sake, some as old as 21 years (all photos by Ralph Grabowski, except as noted)
That evening, Graphisoft held the first of three parties, this first being on the grounds of a large Buddhist temple complex. Invited to the stand-up dinner were a group of geisha girls, who performed on a shamisen, the traditional guitar-like instrument, and danced their slow movements. Later, they smiled demurely as people had pictures taken with them. (See figure 2.)
 FIGURE 2. Ralph among the geisha (photo credit Anthony Frausto-Robledo) Tuesday Morning Keynote
The keynote address by Graphisoft ceo Viktor Varkonyi (see figure 3) listed the values on which he runs the company:
- Challenge the status quo
- Define "success" as customer success
- Be the best, which sometimes makes Graphisoft slow at react to competitors. "We want to make sure it works right before we release it."
ArchiCAD is primarily about design.
 FIGURE 3. Graphisoft ceo Viktor Varkonyi and vp of Asia Bence Kovács hoisting traditional wooden sake cups
As more information is added to the design, information flows upwards. There are, however, chasms, such as the one between design and construction. It is rare when information really is used in the construction process. This is something Mr Varkonyi wants to address in future releases of ArchiCAD, such as using Bluebeam's PDF-based collaboration technology to bridge that design-construction chasm.
He notes that a decade ago Graphisoft was awarded the patent on "delta changes": jst elements that change are sent back to update the master file on the server.
The Future of ArchiCAD
Mr Varkonyi's plan for ArchiCAD is that it be the master model, defining every detail needed for the LOD300 design standard. The level of detail in the 3D model and accompanying 2D plans define specific assemblies, precise quantities, sizes, shapes, locations, and orientations, with non-geometric information attached to elements. (For more on levels of detail, see http://www.srinsofttech.com/bim-level-of-development-lod-300-400-500.html.)
ArchiCAD can handle huge files, as HDR | Rice Daubney showed during the conference. They used Revit and ArchiCAD (with IFCs for interchange) on a $2-billion hospital project, but only ArchiCAD could handle the full 14GB model, even when up to 40 people accessed it at the same time -- with no performance slow-down, the firm reported.
Graphisoft is owned by Nemetschek, a software holding company that allows its 14 properties to operate pretty much independently, including ones that really should be deeply integrated, like BlueBeam. Mr Varkonyi wants many of Nemetschek's programs to become add-on apps to ArchiCAD, as well as ones written by third-party developers.
Graphisoft will create an API for Graphisoft's BIMcloud so that third parties, such as construction companies, can hook into ArchiCAD's 3D model. Their mobile software, BIMx, will also gain an API so that third-parties can extract any kind of data from BIMcloud, and then see the data on mobile devices ranging from iPhones to virtual reality goggles. BIMx and ArchiCAD send each other push notifications, which alert users to project-related messages, sorted by model.
Graphisoft recognizes that mobile devices have limited amounts of RAM [especially Apple devices, I note], which limits the size of model BIMx can display. The next version of BIMx will handle large numbers of buildings through streaming, where only the portion being viewed is displayed; other polygons are discarded.
Ultimately, this is Graphisoft's master plan:
- Rhino for pre-design (linked deeply into ArchiCAD with APIs); see below
- ArchiCAD for design; see below
- BIMx for data access, everywhere; see What's New and What's Planned for BIMx at http://www.worldcadaccess.com/blog/2017/05/whats-new-and-whats-planned-for-bimx.html
"Those who have the best workflow win," concluded Mr Varkonyi.
 FIGURE 4. Graphisoft evening event at a garden in Kyoto, JapanDesigning Conceptually
Rhino is a $1000 CAD program that succeeds without owner Robert McNeel marketing it. It is popular for conceptual design among MCAD and BIM users. Grasshopper runs inside Rhino and is used for algorithmic design; you set up programming functions that generate dozens or hundreds of variations of a skyscraper, in the case of BIM. Some of the weird and wonderful designs that were built in the last decade were probably generated by programs like Grasshopper.
Graphisoft finds that half of its larger customers use Grasshopper, and that the other half love Rhino -- the pair being known as Rhino-GH. The company a year ago released a connection between ArchiCAD and Grasshopper for algorithmic design.
The goal is to create real construction documents from Rhino-GH via ArchiCAD. BIM elements can be placed into Grasshopper, such as parking level walls, the core, slabs, and so on. With one click in Grasshopper, multiple types of zones are generated in ArchiCAD. Adding metadata, such as zone functions, immediately generates schedules. When clients want to change the shape or function of the building, change a parameter in Grasshopper, and the design is immediately updated. Users find that 10,000 elements can be changed easily.
Graphisoft ceo Varkonyi told us at during the media luncheon that he plans to let Grasshopper make parametric changes later and later in the ArchiCAD design process. Over the next few releases, there will be very deep integration of Grasshopper in ArchiCAD via APIs, so that visual coding drives BIM:
- First stage was giving Grasshopper access to walls in ArchiCAD
- Then, Grasshopper got access to all parametric parts
- Now with ArchiCAD 21 Grasshopper handles stories
- Next stage is to connect to GDL objects
- Down the road, Grasshopper will handle tasks like design optimization loops
Eventually, the data link between the two programs should never be broken. The primary catch? Architectural firms have to know how to program Grasshopper.
Launching ArchiCAD 21
The conference officially launched ArchiCAD 21. Its highlight feature is the new PredictiveDesign algorithm (patent pending). Some aspects of design are complex and iterative, the calculations at which computers excel. Steps on stairs are repetitive, and so they benefit from this initial application of PredictiveDesign. Graphisoft calls it "the first practical application of AI in any BIM program," although I suspect Bricsys may be inclined to dispute the claim.
ArchiCAD 21's new stair tool models steps as wild as the one in figure 4, and generates the drawing set automatically. Just show ArchiCAD where to place the stair between two floors, and rules running in the background determine the run and raise for steps complaint with local standards. If there are problems, the algorithm issues warnings.
 FIGURE 4. User interface of ArchiCAD 21 modeling complex stairs (image source Graphisoft)
The railing tool is separate from the stair tool, and it snaps to edges of stairs, slabs (floors), meshes, roofs, and so on. Like stairs, railings are associative and parametric, and the Railing Pattern Editor makes changes without having to redraw them from scratch.
The new Stair Solver tool suggests alternatives wshould the current staircase cannot fit. When it comes to conditions like best-fit or smallest-footprint, the algorithm works through thousands of possibilities, and then presents the best four.
Magic Wand now works with stairs, such as when they need to be placed along a specific wall(s). Text and breaklines can be moved to fit the situation. Existing stairs are edited by their boundary lines, such as a slab or a curve: changing a stair's baseline updates the entire stair, such as changing it from linear to curved shape.
Here are some other improvements to ArchiCAD 21, briefly:
- "Hotlink" IFC files as referenced underlays, and then select and ignore elements. When IFCs change, the new Hot Link Manager relinks them.
- The Array along Path tool goes a step further with real-time placement of elements along paths with the correct orientation, or else places them at random distances -- useful in creating forests of trees.
- The new Classification Manager supports local standards through a link to the Graphisoft Web site. Use it to search for specific elements, like footings, and then from this determine the amount of concrete needed.
- The built-in collision detector uses a new engine that is much faster than the one found in MEP Modeler. Set up search criteria, such as MEP elements with walls, columns, slabs, and beams, and then click Check to see a list of problems.
Read Randal Newton's review of ArchiCAD 21 at http://gfxspeak.com/2017/05/08/archicad-algorithmic-creation/.
More on ArchiCAD 21 from Graphisoft at http://www.graphisoft.com/archicad/.
Here is the video of the software demo from the conference: https://youtu.be/MrYI1Mwjxd4
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Next week in part ii: Hearing from Graphisoft Customers
[Disclosure: Graphisoft provided me with airfare, hotel, some meals, and a corporate gift of sake.]
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And Now the Rest of the News...
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JPR is conducting a new survey on the use of multiple monitors and would like your input: "The use of multiple monitors dates back to the beginning of the PC age (1981) when multiple display controller boards (as they were called then) had to be used with custom drivers. Since then multiple concepts for driving multi-screens have been developed and today the Windows and MacOS operating systems easily handle the management of multiple displays; even integrated graphics can (for most situations) drive them. The question "Should you use multi-monitors" has become "Why wouldn’t you?"
You can fill out the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JPR0617
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Altair releases FluxMotor for the pre-design of electric rotating machines, as part of their HyperWorks CAE Suite. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bb9e7786-4fe7-4721-b16a-c3f775f3671e
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Modelon adds a Jet Propulsion Library of gas turbine jet engines for cycle performance analysis to its collection. modelon.com/products/modelica-libraries/
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Delicious rumor was making the rounds concerning three CAD vendors cooperating to take out a large industry player. Turned out to be false.
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New from Vention is their Machine Motion add-on for plug & play equipment automation. It's available on the Vention website at https://www.vention.io/automation
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"US Supreme Court Curbs Patent-Holder Power to Block Resale" of things like printer cartridges. Court ruled that patent rights end once the company sells the product. Lexmark had brought on the case, as it was trying to stop refurbished versions of its printer cartridges from being sold, but lost.
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Granta Design adds JAHM Curve dataset of temperature-dependent material properties to its software. http://www.grantadesign.com
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Lovin' how CAD CEOs talk: "In the short period of time, we have basically gotten back up to that runway and that’s like where we should be."
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New stuff in progeCAD 2019 includes ESRI SHP import, advanced render, PDF to DWG conversion, and more at http://www.progesoft.com/en/products/progecad-professional/
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BETA CAE Systems releases v17.1.1 with lots of fixes from http://www.beta-cae.com/. No, the software is not in beta; BETA is the name of the software company.
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The annual Bricsys conference this year is 25 October at the Louvre, Paris. New this year: tickets from https://www.bricsys.com/conference/
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Opening video at Apple's WWDC shows the horror of relying too much on the cloud. Note to Tim Cook: There is a reason for Android fragmentation: old hardware cannot run new OSes effectively. Forcing iOS upgrades is how Apple forces subsequent hardware upgrades on its customers.
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Bre Pettis, who used to run Makerbot, is back in the game, acquiring Other Machine Company and its (shock, horror!) subtractive 3D printer. Hence the name, Other Machine. It's primarily meant for drilling PCBs (printed circuit boards) . https://othermachine.co/
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"A facile analogy can all too easily be mistaken for fact, particularly when it appeals to professional vanity."
- Nicholas Carr, reviewing "The Tides of Mind" book by David Gelernte |
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