A tale of Three (Capital A) Architects
Yesterday I wrote this other post. You might want to read it first. But you don't need to. In fact your ignorance of that discussion (amazing comments by the way), might help answer the riddle below. A tale of Three (Capital
Maybe Someday I’ll actually Design a Building and see it Built
That's what Architects are supposed to do, right? There's a big series of posts coming about this topic, but I wanted to foreshadow a bit and ask a question. If you were to give a two word description of the following
Augmented Reality and Micro-payments
Sooner than you think. Much sooner than you believe possible. You've reached BIM IV-IV, the pinnacle of Social BIG BIM. You talk with prospective clients about the AECOU relationship. Your BIMs are integrated with the final buildings so that they are a
Emerging Professionals and writing for the CRAN Chronicle
UPDATE 09/11/13 - The AIA CRAN Chronicle is always looking for submissions for current and future issues of the newsletter, so ignore the dates below and send in your stories. So you might recall that I wrote an article for the
The Return of Work Environments: The Basics of setting Work Environments plus importing and exporting them
It's been way too long since I talked about Work Environments in ArchiCAD. We had a good run last spring and summer with close to 10 posts on this subject. Read them all here. I still have a bunch more
Architects are Lazy (plus ArchiCAD 17 news)
News of ArchiCAD 17 The shape and form of ArchiCAD 17 continue to be slowly revealed. I'm not sure if I'm just more aware this year or if more news is getting shared than in the past. Either way, here's a
Who is in the BIM? AECO meet AECOU
I couldn't fit this graph in the previous post on social BIG BIM, so it gets its own post. Which is good because I also want to ruminate on the acronym AECOU. Once we reach Social BIG BIM, IV-IV (augmented reality),
No Hollywood BIM
GRAPHISOFT North America and Trimble Vico Wednesday, February 27, 2013 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (PST) Los Angeles, CA Movie stars, fast cars, and cocktails by the pool. Â That's what people imagine when you say the word Hollywood. Â When you say Hollywood
Picking a Subtype for an ArchiCAD Object (and some other important tips)
One of the greatest improvements in ArchiCAD 16 is how much easier it is to make objects. Not that it was particularly hard before, but along with the Morph Tool there have been some tweaks that mean there's no excuse
Happy Valentine’s Day: One Simple Diagram
It should be obvious by now that I love making charts, graphs, and diagrams. As a Valentine's Day present, I give to you a reproduction of a mood chart that lived on the Banks' family refrigerator for many months last
The Ideal BIM Software
Understanding the Challenge of a BIM Challenge The histories of BIM and CAD are littered with shoot-outs, comparison tests, and pissing contests. By now you probably know my favorite Mine vs Yours, ArchiCAD vs Revit saga:Â The Unkillable Beast with a 1,000
Creating keyboard shortcuts in ArchiCAD, a quick and helpful video
I regularly get questions about keyboard shortcuts. Probably the top two questions are "Is there a keyboard shortcut for Function A?" or "How do I make a keyboard shortcut for Function A?". Well to answer both those questions and some
What’s (BIM) Life Without a Challenge?
There is constant, never ending talk concerning the whole Revit vs ArchiCAD debate. In years past there have been CAD shootouts, though it's been long enough since the last one that they might as well have never happened. But there's
ArchiCAD 16 Hotfix #3 and ArchiCAD 15 Hotfix #5 released today
(NOTE: shortly after its release ArchiCAD 16 Hotfix-3 was suspended do to some unforeseen issues causing lots of instability. Turning off guidelines will help, but Graphisoft recommends you not upgrade until further notice. That means it's probably wisest to wait
GRAPHISOFT Launches EcoDesigner STAR Public Beta
BUDAPEST, February 6, 2013 — GRAPHISOFT®, the leading Building Information Modeling (BIM) architectural software developer, has announced the launch of EcoDesigner STAR Public Beta, the first software that places standard-compliant energy analysis in the heart of the architects' familiar BIM
Primary Benefits of BIM
This is the third part in a series about demystifying BIM. The first post Why you failed at BIM (you were impatient) looked at the struggles with BIM adoption. The second post There are Four BIM Flavors clarified the term
Guest Blogger Kata Danis: [eptar] Tiling Accessory for ArchiCAD
Creating wall and floor tiling plans in ArchiCAD Creating wall and floor tiling plans in ArchiCAD can be a troublesome task. The abilities of built-in elements and textures of ArchiCAD are limited when it comes to modelling and arranging tiles. In
Disabled Java plugin on Mac (new JAVA 7 Update 13 fixes this)
From the ArchiCADwiki: Breaking news - Disabled Java plugin on Mac Update 02/01/2013: Apple has recently blacklisted the Java Web plugin, as a result GRAPHISOFT's key plug programming site (https://upgrade.graphisoft.com/) is not working on Mac systems. In some cases the site returns
There are Four BIM Flavors
"In the short term, we are little bimmers. In the long term, we are Big Bimmers." -David "Joshua" Plager, AIA The comment above was posted on LinkedIN in response to my blog post "Why you failed at BIM". What a great sentiment.
Great Recession Survival Tactics for Generation Y Architects: Become the BIM Manager
The traditional paths for a bright-eyed go-getter were virtually non-existent; both design opportunities and client interactions were meager and sparse.
Why you failed at BIM (you were impatient)
While writing a post about a former coworker, I paused to create a few diagrams explaining why others in his position often fail to make the switch to ArchiCAD and BIM. These three diagrams help illustrate what causes people to
OrthoGraph Architect 4.1 released with simplified drawing
OrthoGraph's intuitive sketching and measuring functionality has been enhanced with a new simplified drawing workflow. The natural way of sketching a floor plan is extended with the Sketch & Tap feature which accelerates the creation of multi-room drawings with a
Switching to BIM? Emulate Paul’s Mindset
Part 1 "I just want you to know that computers are my life now." Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â -former coworker who loves hand drafting Paul never used AutoCAD or any other CAD program. In mid-2011, he got the go ahead from our bosses
Make the ARE Vignette Program HARDER
So I titled my post about the beta-testing of the ARE practice program "The Most Advanced 64-BIT Drafting Program". That was a bit of a snarky, jerk comment. I am so thrilled that it is finally going 64-bit. I have heard