News
Rhino 7 brings Rhino and Grasshopper inside Revit
Zhongnan Center invests in new VR tool hongnan Center, part of the Zhongnan Group, one of China’s largest property developers, is to use VR software from Norwegian firm Dimension10 (D10) to aid communication and collaboration on projects. This includes a 500m tall skyscraper in Suzhou Industrial Park which, when completed, will contain a hotel as well as residential and office space.
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■ dimension10.com
hino 7 has launched with a typical whisper campaign from its developer Robert McNeel and Associates. The big news for architects is the official release of Rhino.Inside.Revit, which brings Rhino and Grasshopper into the Autodesk Revit environment. According to McNeel, it bridges the gap between Rhino’s freeform modelling and the world of BIM, opening Grasshopper’s rich ecosystem to the Revit environment, enabling completely new design workflows and possibilities. In practice, it means modelling can be done in Rhino and used to drive live geometry creation in Revit. Grasshopper scripts can also be used to create native models using actual Revit components. Data can be round tripped, with geometry sucked out of Revit into Rhino. New Sub-D modelling tools is the other big news for Rhino 7, primed for users new and old to create freeform organic shapes with quick editing ability. McNeel states that, unlike traditional
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SubD objects, which are mesh-based and lend themselves well to more approximate types of modelling; SubD objects in Rhino 7 are ‘high precision’ spline-based surfaces that bring a new level of accuracy to the process of creating complex freeform shapes. Additionally, Rhino 7 has improved its presentation tools, streamlining the workflow with a major update to the Rhino Render engine, meaning that the same look you get in your ray-traced viewport can be rendered without any changes. It has also added support for Physically-Based Rendering materials, a LayerBook command, and more. The display pipeline has also been upgraded to match modern graphics hardware. In Rhino 7, some models will display faster on both Windows and Mac, while several refinements to the Display Modes have been made. We explore Rhino 7 in more detail on page 18 in an interview with the company’s CEO Bob McNeel and Scott Davidson. ■ rhino3d.com
Epic boosts development of new VR tool heia Interactive has been awarded an ‘Epic MegaGrant’ to accelerate the development of its new collaborative VR tool, “BigRoom”, currently in closed beta. Created for use with Epic’s Unreal Engine, BigRoom is billed as a virtual design planning room for distributed teams, including architects, project managers, designers, and contractors.
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The software is designed to make it easy to create and share online meeting rooms where VR and desktop users can interact, review designs, and explore and edit projects created in Unreal. Features include material configurators, presentation boards & live video monitors, task lists & Post-It notes, and bookmarking and comparison tools. ■
theia.io
Immersive 4D to help boost HS2 site safety S2 is looking to boost worksite safety through the use of immersive 4D technology, as the UK’s high speed rail link moves into the full construction phase. Implemented by works contractor Balfour Beatty Vinci (BBV) and software developer 3D Repo, the SafetiBase 4D system is designed to help teams identify, record and resolve site hazards as part of a virtual construction sequence evaluation and training.
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■ 3drepo.com
3D Repo links with Procore loud-based BIM platform, 3D Repo, can now be integrated with construction platform, Procore, to help streamline AEC project management. Procore users can access their 3D Repo models and perform model validation, comparison, and metadata analysis from inside Procore.
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■ 3drepo.com ■ procore.com
www.AECmag.com
27/01/2021 12:58
