As a license holder of ArchiCAD, you have made the decision to invest in a Quality Product…therefor you deserve Quality Service.
GRAPHISOFT SA have invested over the past 12 months in the development of a Quality Channel Structure, to offer you the best Quality Service throughout SADC. In future, when you make a service call, ensure that you are making that call to one of our Channel Partners, who displays one of the following logos, to ensure that you receive the Quality Service that you and your Quality product deserve:
Details of these service providers are available as follows:
It was not the focus of this week, but it deserves a mention:
We have this week reached 100,000+ unique hits on our blog. It is a proud moment…we would like to thank all our followers and supporters and hope to keep bringing you many more good posts and news bulletins! Thank you
The “REAL” big news for the week has been the announcement of ArchiCAD 17 by GRAPHISOFT. True BIM has arrived! For detailed information, refer to the features breakdown here.
GRAPHISOFT SA were the proud, first in the WORLD (except ofcourse for the GRAPHISOFT DEVELOPMENT TEAM IPC demo), to demonstrate the powerful new features of ArchiCAD 17, to the attendees of the 15th Annual ArchiCAD SADC Conference, at THE VENUE in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, from 7-9 May 2013. The event, attended by GRAPHISOFT SA Channel Partners and Key Clients, saw a full house of delegates, covering a spectrum of local market development topics, which is set to increase ArchiCAD user experience in the SADC market.
An outline of the topics covered:
GRAPHISOFT Key Note address: BIM has become the industry norm, OpenBIM is becoming the industry’s future
K-rith Tower: from 3D to BIM
Homevision: BIM based concept design to complete construction estimation and specification
ArchiCAD SADC Market Integration: more choice to the end user
Workshop Sessions
ArchiCAD 17 introduction
4 training days, including ArchiCAD 17 new features and ArchiCAD Registered Consultant, Trainer & Technical Support
The Day 2 GRAPHISOFT KEYNOTE ADDRESS, by Ferenc Matyas, International Sales Manager, GRAPHISOFT Budapest, reviewed the industry norm of BIM and highlighted the commitment of GRAPHISOFT to build ArchiCAD, as a best in class, Architectural BIM authoring solution with OpenBIM support.
This presentation was followed by 2 local “project” reviews, the first, the K-rith Tower project, presented by Mark Grant of Grant & Whitfield Quantity Surveyors and Project Managers, identified the real world use of ArchiCAD as a project management tool (design coordination, construction sequencing), as well as a facilities management tool (commissioning, space planning, maintenance management, risk management, via ArchiFM and ArchiCAD).
The second of the local “project” reviews, was not a singular construction project, but a “project” taken on in the form of a new business venture, presented by K Kusel of Homevision Cape Town, showed how ArchiCAD was used to create a design response to the needs of a home owner, seeking design solutions, coupled with accurate quantities, specifications and construction costs.
The final presentation of the morning, was made by André Strauss of GRAPHISOFT SA, this presentation was the conclusion of the conference’s segment on localisation and market integration in SADC, reviewing the history and development of ArchiCAD in SADC since the early 90′s and focussing on the end user, with 2 key areas of development being announced for the next 12 months:
the expansion of the support channel and the introduction of the end user controlled “coupon” system in Q3 2013
an intensive localisation program, starting with specification system and manufacturer product integration into ArchiCAD
The Workshop Sessions saw a series of high interest topics covered:
D Steenkamp, student competition winner, presented his project
Integrated IT Solutions, presented their online ArchiCAD financing facility
AutoSpec, presented their online specification system, to be integrated into ArchiCAD
GRAPHISOFT SA, hosted the Educational Internship workshop, some very robust, yet fruitful discussions were had by the educational participants, which was well supported by key clients
The afternoon ofcourse belonged to ArchiCAD 17: GRAPHISOFT have focussed the development of ArchiCAD 17 on BIM detailing accuracy. This version delivers a BIM model of such high accuracy levels, that 1:50 detailing is automatically achieved (this is an accurate claim), further BIM exchange with other design disciplines is accurate as well as energy calculation within the design model. GRAPHISOFT have achieved this industry first, by creating a “construction accurate” workflow and modelling process. Take a moment to review ArchiCAD 17:
Further to the events of Day 2, the conference presented 4 days of ArchiCAD training. This included an ArchiCAD 17 new features training day, which will soon be replicated throughout SADC, to give end users the opportunity to learn the new features first hand, to access installer files and training videos and most importantly to update the ArchiCAD Keyplugs (dongles). On this, we remind all SADC ArchiCAD users of the WIBU expiration notice, we posted on 20 March 2013, this post provides you with the necessary steps to have your WIBU key replaced with a CODEMETER key, as the WIBU key cannot run ArchiCAD 17. The process is free, but must be started before you attend the regional upgrade training, please take a moment to review the steps you must take here.
The training days also included a certification training event, which was a very high level event, designed for the education and certification of channel partners to support you, the end user on technical support, training and project implementation topics. Please keep an eye on the trainer, registered consultant and service provider pages, to see the notifications this week of new certified members of our (YOUR) channel.
At the conclusion of the conference events, we were honoured to have a long list of end user recognition awards and channel partner certifications:
student awards: D Mentz & D Steenkamp, TUT
channel partner awards, VCS, Namibia
channel partner reseller accreditations, iClix, ProData, R Jones, MultiCAD, IT Solutions, Solution Centre, VCS, Wrenjos, ArchiC
channel partner Registered Consultant accreditations: N do Rosario, F Swanepoel, D Naidoo, M Rowland
channel partner service provider accreditation: L Maliwa
end user developer forum recognition awards: S Hopkins, K Kusel, E Bakker, N do Rosario
end user recognition awards: Aziz Tayob Architects Inc., Osmond Lange Planners & Architects, Howard & Chamberlain Architects
staff recognition, 10+ years: D Naidoo
Finally, I thank my team, the participating channel partners and key clients and the organisers at THE VENUE, for a very well organised, informative and enjoyable conference…SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!
This initiative to extend the ArchiCAD service and support base, is part of the Graphisoft SA Broad-based ArchiCAD Market Development Program with the following features:
Graduate education
Commercial sector education
Expert consultancy certification
Multi-tiered service provider structure
Multi-tiered sales structure
Software localization forum
With our ArchiCAD sponsorships for students and universities and our commercial sector accredited training providers, we are hoping to achieve amongst others:
Greater job opportunities for graduates, extending to internship programs, raising the profile of ArchiCAD training during graduate studies.
Development of a partnership between our key clients, our educational partners and ourselves to establish a robust supply and demand base for skilled ArchiCAD operators.
A more accessible and commercial outlook to our product, which allows more access to the software via major and local retailers and IT service providers, extended to public tender and accredited supplier networks, effectively making ArchiCAD an industry standard brand and file format.
BUDAPEST, May 7, 2013 – GRAPHISOFT® announced today ArchiCAD 17, the latest version of its award-winning building information modeling (BIM) software. The new release delivers capabilities that greatly simplify the modeling and documentation of buildings even when the model contains a high level of detail. ArchiCAD’s end-to-end BIM workflow allows the model to stay live until the very end of the project.
“Many architectural practices use their BIM solutions up to the design and development phase only to switch to 2D for construction documentation,” said László Vértesi, Vice President of Product Development at GRAPHISOFT. “ArchiCAD 17’s brand new Priority Based Connections put a real ROI on the work put into the creation of the BIM model by automatically providing construction documentation level sections and details.”
Priority Based Connections – Structurally Correct Details out of the Box
Priority Based Connections, together with Intelligent Building Materials, automatically provide structurally correct sections and details. Further usability improvements such as Intelligent Element Association to Story Heights and Intelligent Reference Line Handling of Elements make ArchiCAD the best BIM-based construction documentation solution available on the market today.
Industry-first Background Processing – Large/Complex Models to Stay Responsive
To further enhance productivity, ArchiCAD 17 takes the next revolutionary step in multi-core processing to support the creation and manipulation of large complex models with industry-first Background Processing Support for faster generation of complex model details. Optimized Scaling of Multiple-core CPUs boosts performance on large complex models. The software features Improved Central Graphics Unit Performance to make 3D navigation even smoother when working with extra large models.
Extended IFC Model View Definitions – OPEN BIM to Support National Standards
ArchiCAD 17 supports Coordination View 2.0 and expands capabilities for defining new IFC data such as Concept Design BIM 2010 (required by GSA (US), Statsbygg (Norway), Senate Properties (Finland), FM Handover (required by COBie), and others. This includes currency unit export, calendar date type IFC properties and IfcSystems Assignment Support for system type elements such as MEP systems.
BIMobject® Partnership – Open Interface to External BIM Component Providers
Direct access to an extensive collection of Manufacturer Content on BIMobject.com offers users a comprehensive range of intelligent BIM components available both in ArchiCAD 17 and on BIMcomponents.com. BIMcomponents.com further strengthens its position as the central portal for GDL content by offering open interfaces to third party content providers.
Workflow Improvements – Integrated Design, Visualization and Analysis Workflow
ArchiCAD 17 delivers a wide array of workflow improvements including anImproved MORPH Tool to support conceptual design with useful zoning information and Real-time 3D Cutting Planes to give extra control of ArchiCAD’s 3D modeling environment. Inclusion of fully functional BIMx in every installation enables users to share BIM projects with their clients in the form of interactive BIM project environments; further improved Energy Evaluation supporting multiple thermal zones allows users to evaluate their designs with standard compliant technology.
Note: Please see separate announcement about EcoDesigner STAR™, GRAPHISOFT’s industry first, BIM integrated, LEED compliant energy certification solution for architects and energy experts.
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ArchiCAD 17 will be released on June 1, 2013, with shipment to customers beginning within a few weeks of the official release. Following a tight release schedule, all 26 local versions are planned to reach the market by the end of Q3 2013. For more information about ArchiCAD 17, please visit: http://www.graphisoft.com/archicad. For a live demonstration of ArchiCAD 17, please register for the upcoming “BIM Lives in the Details” webinar on June 18, 2013.
About GRAPHISOFT
GRAPHISOFT® ignited the BIM revolution with ArchiCAD®, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as the revolutionary GRAPHISOFT BIM Server™, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment, and the GRAPHISOFT EcoDesigner™, the world’s first, fully integrated building energy modeling application. GRAPHISOFT’s innovative solutions have fundamentally changed the way architects around the world design and collaborate. GRAPHISOFT has been part of the Nemetschek Group, since its acquisition in 2007.
In this series, we review on a daily basis, the new features of ArchiCAD 17.
Modeling
Link Element Height to Stories
Enable the height of walls, columns and zones to be linked to a particular story: when the story position changes, the heights of the linked elements are automatically adjusted. This way, you do not have to manually adjust element heights every time the story height changes.
Use a built-in Find and Select criteria set to locate any inverted elements (e.g. with a negative height) with a single click. Such elements are also highlighted on the plan for easy locating.
You still have the option to input a fixed height, and to define a base elevation to a given reference level
Option to retain or ignore toplinks in Hotlinked Modules
Door/Window sills and headers can be linked to the top of the wall, not just to the bottom
Benefits
Automatically managed natural vertical connections among load-bearing elements
Reduce the risk of modeling errors caused by story height changes
Intelligent ArchiCAD model elements behave as you want them to
In this series, we review on a daily basis, the new features of ArchiCAD 17.
Modeling
Automatic Model-Based Junctions
The ability to configure all construction elements so that when they intersect or collide, their display will accurately and automatically reflect their construction – particularly in section views, used as the basis for detail drawings. Most of the junctions of a section will look correct up to 1:50 scale.
Priority-Based Connections Available for All Construction Elements
Extend priority-based connections (currently available only for walls on the floor plan and to a limited degree in section) to all construction elements and composites, and column/beam profiles, in all model views, via the Building Material. Separate intersection priorities can be set for column veneer and core.
A revised interface simplifies these priority settings to make their input easier and the results more predictable.
Other Improvements for Better Junctions
Eliminate common contour lines where construction elements meet, subject to Building Material
Represent the T/L/X connections between walls based on their actual skin/component based connections.
Symbolic representation of connections of any (normal/profiled) vertical columns and non-polygon walls on Floor Plan
Improved dimensioning of structural components in section view – e.g. place dimensions at contour lines or separator lines, or at boundaries of core/finish skins
More flexibility for displaying cut surfaces in Section views (consistent with 3D Document)
Snap to composite separator or any visible edge in 3D as well as Floor Plan
View results of skin-based connections in 3D
Helping modeling interactions for Junctions: better manual editing options and new automated junction command from the Edit menu: Adjust Elements to Slabs
Benefits
Unprecedented level of accuracy in BIM modeling
Real, live BIM models maintained throughout the entire project lifecycle
Structurally correct details at any section of the model up to 1:50 scale or more
Increased documentation productivity since less manual work is needed on detail drawings
accurate quantity take-offs at any design stage
Less model exchange needed with consultants since even the initial structural details are very precise
We have this week reached 100,000+ unique hits on our blog. It is a proud moment…we would like to thank all our followers and supporters and hope to keep bringing you many more good posts and news bulletins! Thank you
The training days also included a certification training event, which was a very high level event, designed for the education and certification of channel partners to support you, the end user on technical support, training and project implementation topics. Please keep an eye on the trainer, registered consultant and service provider pages, to see the notifications this week of new certified members of our (YOUR) channel.
GRAPHISOFT SA is proud to announce the addition of the following trainer to the SADC ArchiCAD channel, effective 10 May 2013:
ArchiCAD 17 – “BIM Lives in the Details”
In this series, we review on a daily basis, the new features of ArchiCAD 17.
Priority-Based Connections Available for All Construction Elements
