AEC Magazine September / October 2020

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

THE FUTURE OF REVIT ...and the need to re-invent BIM to drive architecture forward

September / October 2020 >> Vol.110 p01_AEC_SEPTOCT20_Cover.indd 1

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

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Industry news 6

Enscape Q&A 34

Micro workstations get graphics boost, HP large format printers get sleek new look, reality capture app uses LiDAR sensor on iPad Pro, plus lots more

Enscape’s new CEO talks BIM objects, issue tracking, point clouds, collaborative VR, RTX ray tracing, and what the future holds for the popular real time viz tool

HP ZCentral R4 13

Data ownership 39

News analysis of HP’s 1U rack workstation which rounds off HP’s ZCentral remote workstation offering

If a digital twin is all about connected data ecosystems, what happens when data ownership and management are brought into the equation?

Cover story: the driving seat 42 The future of Revit 16 In How 4D modelling helped deliver the Autodesk’s recent admission that Revit has lacked development has left many architectural firms wondering what the future holds. We examine the tea leaves

NXT BLD virtual 24 Tune in from 8-14 October 2020 for our first ever virtual conference. Tickets are free, the event is fully interactive, and boy do we have some amazing speakers!

Review: Shapr3D 26 A new 3D modelling application for the iPad, with impressive interactive tools for concept modelling

Revizto 5.0 30 A sneak peek at the forthcoming release of the easy to use collaboration tool which now puts BIM object data at the heart of the issue tracking process

complex A19/A1058 Coast Road junction upgrade project and what future trends we can expect to see in highways design

Leica BLK2GO 44 As demand increases for more portable, rapid scanning, Leica has unleashed its first, handheld SLAM device

The big picture 46 Teradici, with its PCoIP protocol, has always targeted the most demanding users of remote workstations. Now it’s aiming even higher

Lenovo ThinkPad P1 [Gen 3] 49 For CAD on the go, this sleek ultraportable laptop impresses, but it struggles a little to stand out from its predecessors September / October 2020

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News

Micro workstations get graphics boost with RTX

Revit 2021.1 extends focus on automation utodesk has concentrated on automation and computation for the new Revit 2021.1 release, adding new sample studies for Generative Design for Revit, and introducing a new 2.6 version of Dynamo for Revit along with new Dynamo nodes.

The software also offers better interoperability with Autodesk Infraworks and Autodesk FormIt Pro and enhanced data exchange with third party tools including McNeel Rhino and Trimble Sketchup 2020.

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■ autodesk.com/revit

P and Dell have beefed up the graphics in their micro workstations, adding custom versions of the Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000 GPU to the HP Z2 Mini G5 and the new Dell Precision 3240 Compact.

Ultra-small form factor (USFF) workstations typically feature entry-level CAD-focused GPUs like the Quadro P1000, so this is big news for those who want more graphics performance without having to sacrifice valuable desk space, especially when working from home.

The Dell Precision 3240 Compact measures 18.8 x 7.0 x 17.9cm and starts at 1.71kg, while the HP Z2 Mini G5 has a slightly bigger footprint but is 1.2cm thinner. Both machines can be VESA mounted behind a display or under a desk.

The Quadro RTX 3000 GPU features

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dedicated RT cores for ray tracing and Tensor cores for AI denoising, making it suitable for entry-level GPU rendering, as well as real-time viz and VR. It is not a standard desktop graphics card, rather a custom version of an MXM form factor GPU typically found in mobile workstations.

In the HP Z2 Mini G5 and the Dell Precision 3240 Compact we expect it will offer slightly better performance than Quadro RTX 3000 GPUs found in slimline mobile workstations. The HP ZBook Studio G7, for example, uses a ‘Max Q Design’ variant, so is clocked a touch lower.

Both workstations feature 10th Generation Intel Core CPUs with up to 10 cores and up to 64GB of memory.

■ zworkstations.com ■ dell.com/precision

NXT BLD- online & interactive next month

Atkins works with AI startup tkins has formed a partnership with AI technology start up nPlan to explore new contracting models driven by technology and data which could transform major project delivery across the industry.

The work brings together Atkins’ project delivery experience and nPlan’s machine learning technology to identify and assess a new approach to contracting that focuses on collaboration, and changes the way risk is measured, shared and managed across major infrastructure programmes.

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■ atkinsglobal.com ■ nplan.io

EC Magazine will host its first ever virtual conference on 8-14 October, and it’s free to attend.

NXT BLD Virtual will be spread out over a week with five bite sized 90 minute sessions, complete with a live Q&A. Topics include robots in construction, conceptual design, digital fabrication, viz, VR, and lots more. There’ll also be a unmissable panel discussion on Digital Design Futures from the group of AEC practices that sent that Autodesk letter.

■ more on page 24 and nxtbld.com

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Free tickets Online 8-14 October 6

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ROUND UP Geotechnical hub

HP focuses on aesthetics for new large format printers

Bentley Systems has launched OpenGround Cloud, a new service designed to give geotechnical professionals access to a wide range of current and historical geotechnical data.

It can be used on ground investigation projects for planning, data entry, borehole log production, lab data management, reporting, visualisation, and more ■ bentley.com/openground-cloud​

Revit automation Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), an interdisciplinary New York design studio is using a range of tools from Ideate Software to help automate tedious tasks in Autodesk Revit, including the production and maintenance of Revit schedules ■ ideatesoftware.com

Project template DB Station & Service AG, the transport station operator on Germany’s DB Netz AG route network, has worked with Allplan to develop a ‘comprehensive project template’, which is now available to all Allplan users as a free download ■ allplan.com​

Bentley launches IPO Bentley Systems has announced the launch of the initial public offering of 10,750,000 shares of its Class B common stock. The shares of Class B common stock to be sold in the offering will be sold by existing stockholders of Bentley.

■ bentley.com​

HS2 trials AI A new carbon and cost estimating solution powered by AI is being trialled on a number of HS2 sites managed by the Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture. Using the AI tool, the BIM processes are automated so that different design options can be simulated using different types and quantities of construction materials ■ hs2.org.uk​

Revit model health The Ideate Dashboard for Autodesk BIM 360 is a new data visualisation service that pulls design information from Revit models stored within BIM 360 projects in order to identify and flag design warnings and help maintain Revit model health ■ ideatesoftware.com​

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P has taken a fresh look at its large format printer range, launching new machines targeted at SoHo (Small office / Home office) AEC businesses. These include the HP DesignJet Studio, which features a sleek white facia and wood or steel finish, and the DesignJet T200 and T600 Series, which HP claims to be the world’s smallest plotters.

All three DesignJets work with the HP Smart App for iOS and Android that allows users to print and manage jobs from ‘virtually anywhere, anytime’.

Meanwhile, users can send multiple files in one click (PDF, JPEG, TIFF, DWF, and HP-GL/2) from PC or Mac, and with HP Click software, documents of different sizes can be printed automatically (A1/D

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and A3/B or A0/E and A3/B).

With its natural materials and sleek aesthetic, the HP DesignJet Studio printer is not meant to be tucked away in the corner of an office. The printer comes in two sizes - 24” (A1/D) and 36” (A0/E) – and with an automatic A3/B tray, multi-size projects can be printed automatically without manually switching the media source.

The HP DesignJet T200 Printer Series is primarily a desktop 24” (A1/D) printer, built to fit in the smallest of spaces, although there’s an optional stand and optional automatic sheet feeder.

The HP DesignJet T600 Printer Series is available in two sizes - 24” (A1/D) and 36” (A0/E) - and comes with a built in stand and output bin and automatic sheet feeder.

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hp.com/designjet

Performance boost for Vectorworks 2021 ith the new 2021 release of Vectorworks, users with multi-core workstations are said to experience up to five times faster file loading and improved transition time when changing 3D views. According to the developers, the Vectorworks Graphics Module (VGM) also means no delays when navigating in 3D with the flyover tool.

Other new features of

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Vectorworks 2021 include the Project Sharing server that offers a ‘versatile multi-user environment’; better interoperability capabilities with Excel Import/Export and PDF Drawing Marker Links.

Smart Options Display allows users to stay in the modelling space without needing to constantly move their mouse between drawing area and tool palettes.

Elsewhere, the quick search command helps

users find and activate any tool or menu command by typing what they need, while Smart Markers make it easier to use drawing markers when generating documentation.

To support a ‘better BIM workflow’ for architecture and landscape professionals, Vectorworks 2021 features new materials that define both the graphical attributes and data of building materials all in one location.

■ vectorworks.net/2021

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News

Epic Games adds animation and phasing to Twinmotion PROJECT COURTESY OF GRAPHISOFT

Tekla links to Fabsec Fbeam rimble and Fabsec have developed a bi-directional link between Trimble’s design and analysis software Tekla Structural Designer (TSD) 2020, and Fabsec’s FBEAM software, which is used to design long span cellular beams to the Eurocode.

Structural engineers, as well as D&B fabricators of steelframed buildings, can download the software free.

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■ fabsec.co.uk

winmotion 2020.2, the latest release of the AEC focused real-time viz tool, includes new tools for animation and phasing, more realistic materials and effects, and new animated and smart assets.

For animation, the software features a wide range of new door assets that automatically snap and scale to fit within existing openings and can be set to

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automatically open based on the proximity of camera and/or people assets.

Custom objects such as doors, windows, and elevators can also be animated.

A new multi-track timeline-based phasing tool is designed to make it much faster and easier to create phased video of a project’s construction schedule, or to present different variations sequentially.

■ unrealengine.com/twinmotion

Revit models import directly into Arkio rkio, the VR-centric collaborative spatial design tool, has improved its interoperability with Revit, offering a bi-directional workflow.

With the Arkio Revit plug-in users can export a Revit model to Arkio. Once the Revit model is inside Arkio, users can add markups, sketch new design ideas or add

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geometry to create different design options.

To export the design back to Revit, Arkio shapes convert to Revit mass families or generic shapes. Built-in Arkio assets, sketches, imported buildings and models convert to customisable families. Program data even exports as object parameters that can be used in schedules.

■ arkio.io

Laser scan meshes streamed into Unreal intoo is developing a new cloud-client solution that will allow mesh-based laser scans to be streamed from the cloud directly into Unreal Engine.

The idea is to create ‘rich, immersive experiences’ that mix as-built scan data with as-designed CAD and BIM models to address QA/QC workflows for construction.

The technology uses Cintoo’s Cloud platform that turns terrestrial laser scans

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into high resolution meshes that are 10 to 20 times smaller than the source scans and include multiple levels of detail. The datasets are ‘fully cloud compatible’ and can be streamed to a WebGL browser on desktops, laptops, tablets and VR headsets.

The development is being funded in part

by Epic Games, who has awarded Cintoo an ‘Epic MegaGrant’ as part of a $100m program designed to help firms accelerate work done with Unreal Engine.

Graphics boost for VRcollab Rcollab LITE v0.10.26, the latest version of the AEC-focused collaborative VR tool, features improved graphics, easier sharing of meeting links and a new organisation dashboard.

The graphics enhancements include Screen Space Reflections (SSR), which adds reflections, giving objects a glossier look; HDR Bloom, which adds a “glow” to reproduce an imaging artifact of real-world cameras; and an advanced windows (glass) setting that adds realism to glass windows and how light passes through.

The new release also makes it easier to invite others to join a VRcollab coordination, design review or presentation session.

Previously, guests had to manually insert the code generated by the meeting host, but now meeting links automatically open the software.

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■ vrcollab.com/lite

■ cintoo.com

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News

ROUND UP Digital engineering Advanced building materials, smart buildings, BIM, digital twins, and modern methods of construction are among the more transformative technologies set to shape the construction industry, according to Asite’s new ‘Digital Engineering: Optimizing Construction’s Digital Future’ research report ■ asite.com​

VR training for HE Highways England (HE) is using VR for a new training programme to help control room operators better understand the impact of their actions on the experience of motorists using the strategic road network ■ mxtreality.com​

Corona Renderer 6 Corona Renderer 6 for 3ds Max is said to pack more realism, faster rendering and simpler workflows into six new main features, addressing everything from foam to the sky. This includes a new Sky Model that can now accurately depict twilight and dawn ■ corona-renderer.com​

Rendering on Intel Intel is expanding the capabilities of its oneAPI Rendering Toolkit as it looks to encourage software developers to use its open-source rendering and raytracing libraries in their 3D products.

The toolkit is designed to harness the power of Intel CPUs and the soon to be released Intel Xe Graphics GPUs ■ intel.com​

Point cloud boost Elysium’s point-cloud software, InfiPoints, can now automatically extract piping and planar surfaces from scan data collected by UAVs and Mobile Mapping Systems (MMS), in addition to the currently supported feature extraction from tripod scanners ■ elysium-global.com

AI for site safety Winvic Construction, One Big Circle and UWE Bristol are participating in an Innovate UK project designed to improve construction site safety.

‘Computer-Vision-SMART’ uses realtime image and machine learning to detect, recognise and track hazards on site, which will then alert nearby operatives via IoT enabled, GPS devices ■ winvic.co.uk ■ onebigcircle.co.uk

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Reality capture app uses LiDAR sensor on iPad Pro obile mapping startup Sitescape has developed a reality capture app for the 2020 iPad Pro that uses the device’s built in LiDAR sensor to create dimensionally accurate point cloud datasets.

According to company CEO Andy Putch, the AEC industry is a key market for the software where it can be used for progress monitoring, documentation, and remote site access/ collaboration.

Putch told AEC Magazine that the Sitescape solution is not an alternative to SLAM or traditional laser scanners. “It comes at a vastly lower price point, is suitable for novice users, and produces

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results in the field that can be immediately shared,” he says.

Accuracy is said to be around +/- 1” for linear measurements, while the max range of the LiDAR sensor is 15 feet. “We’ve found that indoors, tracking drift is very low (1” - 2”) for distances below 40’ and increases for larger distances,” says Putch.

“A single scan can cover 1,500 sq ft with suitable detail and multiple scans can be captured back to back and then registered into one continuous model.”

The software can export PLY point clouds, but there are plans to add more formats in the future.

■ sitescape.ai

NBS Chorus for Small Works launches BS Chorus for Small Works is a new version of the specification platform NBS Chorus, created specifically for architects, engineers and designers who write specifications for smaller works and projects. The software is cloud-based so multiple users across different locations can develop specifications together.

According to the developers, NBS Chorus for Small Works is suitable for new build or refurbishment projects that are simple jobs

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and not overly technically complex, such as teaching blocks, retail/industrial units and so on. The software comes with a speciallyselected set of NBS content.

NBS Chorus for Small Works can plug-in to a range of design tools, including Revit, ArchiCAD and Vectorworks and ‘seamlessly’ allows the architectural model to be updated as the specification changes.

‘Specification notes’ record all project decisions directly in the specification.

■ thenbs.com/nbs-chorus/small-works

GroupBC CDE selected for A46 upgrade sborne, the main contractor on Highways England’s upgrade of the A46 Coventry junctions, will be using GroupBC’s CDE for the planning and execution phases.

The rejuvenation of the A46 Coventry junctions is part of a UK-wide, £8.7bn project to improve

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England’s highly-trafficked motorways and major A roads. Osborne is one of 13 Delivery Integration Partners (DIP) that are collaborating with Highways England on a total of 18 packages of work.

Highways England already utilises GroupBC’s CDE to help accelerate project processes and

improve the delivery of its programmes. By using the same CDE technology, Osborne will be able to ‘collaborate seamlessly’ with subcontractors and supply chain, where the CDE will be the primary information management system housing all project data securely.

■ groupbc.com

www.AECmag.com

18/09/2020 14:35

Think Big Print Easy

HP DesignJet Studio Series The world’s easiest plotters

Learn more at: https://www.hpvirtualbooth.com/uk/printer/hp-designjet-studio-printer-series

News analysis

HP launches 1U rack workstation to round off ZCentral remote workstation offering P has filled a big gap in its Z workstation portfolio with the introduction of the HP Z Central 4R, a dedicated 1U rack workstation that allows users of CAD, simulation, rendering and other software to connect remotely over a 1:1 connection. The timing of the launch is extremely relevant, as more and more firms revaluate their work from home strategies due to Covid-19. But this isn’t a knee jerk reaction from HP. The HP Z Central 4R has been in development for some time and is part of a wider remote workstation strategy based around HP ZCentral, a software suite that includes dedicated remoting software and a software broker.

Indeed, we first heard that HP was developing a 1U rack workstation back in 2019, but understood there had been some issues with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) due to concerns about crossover with HPE’s GPU servers.

To our mind the HP Z Central 4R is 100% workstation, and the fact that it’s housed in a datacentre is somewhat irrelevant. The machine does not support virtualisation and each user gets access to a dedicated machine – CPU, GPU, memory and storage – over a 1:1 connection. In fact, the HP Z Central 4R is essentially the desktop HP Z4 in a different form factor.

The HP Z Central 4R packs a lot of power for a 1U workstation, with Intel Xeon W processors up to 18 cores, a single high-end GPU up to the Quadro RTX 8000, and up to 256GB memory. Compared to the 1U Dell Precision 3930 Rack and the Fujitsu Celsius C780, it has a similar choice of GPUs, but more modern CPUs with more cores.

When HP launched its HP ZCentral software in November 2019, it placed a big emphasis on the HP Z2 Mini, a tiny desktop workstation that can be rack mounted, along with HP’s other desktop workstations, the Z2, Z4, Z6 and Z8.

HP confirmed that it will continue to promote the HP Z2 Mini as part of its ZCentral offering, highlighting the fact that users can achieve better density (56 units can be squeezed into a standard 42U rack).

However, we don’t imagine many firms would now actively invest in the Z2 Mini as a remote solution as it lacks the manageability and serviceability of the HP Z Central 4R which is built specfically for racks.

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Instead, firms are more likely to redeploy existing Z2, Z4, Z6 and other desktop machines to protect their investment, rather than buy new ones.

In saying that, in smaller volumes, using desktop workstations as a remote resource still makes sense, as they make a lot less noise and don’t necessarily need an air conditioned cabinet or server room.

In terms of hardware, the HP Z Central 4R has a toolless design for easy access and maintenance. There’s a front security bezel, which prevents access to the front ports, drive bays and PSUs, and a ‘locator LED’, which can be turned on from the ZCentral admin console to help locate specific machines in the event of a failure.

The machine can support up to two 675 watt power supplies, which can be set up in aggregate or redundant mode, and up to four 2.5-inch drive bays (or two 2.5-inch and one 3.5-inch), and two M.2 NVMe SSDs. Of course, hardware is only one part of HP’s ZCentral remote workstation solution, which also includes remoting software ZCentral Remote Boost (formerly known as HP RGS) and a software broker, HP ZCentral Connect.

Like most remoting software, ZCentral Remote Boost works by sending an encrypted and encoded stream from the remote workstation to the client device, while keyboard and mouse signals are sent back. The ZCentral Remote Boost sender software comes free with all HP Z workstations and anyone can download receivers for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. ZCentral Remote Boost supports 4K and multi-display setups and also works with the 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse. HP is

currently in the process of improving support for Wacom tablets to give a more ‘natural inking experience’.

ZCentral Connect provides a management and brokering capability for larger groups of remote workstations.

Rather than typing in IP addresses users can simply click on a system name to connect. Through a console, the IT manager has full control over the pool of machines and can remotely power them on and off, as well as monitor all connections.

System error alerts will pop up if a machine can’t boot or a PSU has failed.

With the launch of the HP Z Central 4R, HP has finally added the missing piece to its remote workstation solution.

While the HP Z2 Mini supported the needs of CAD users, and delivered great density, using desktop workstations in racks isn’t the most elegant solution. In addition, workflows that demanded more GPU and CPU resources could only be supported by the significantly larger desktop HP Z4 (4U).

Now with the new HP Z Central 4R workstation, complete with Xeon W CPUs and Quadro RTX GPUs, HP can pretty much cover all bases, from CAD, all the way up to simulation, design viz and other compute / graphics intensive workflows.

More importantly it can deliver everything in a compact and manageable 1U unit, designed specifically for racks, which, along with the integrated ZCentral software, should present a much more attractive solution for engineering and architecture firms looking to build a remote workstation capability.

■ zworkstations.com

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Š 2020 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Radeon, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Autodesk and Revit are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and other countries. Other product names used in this publication are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Nvidia Quadro P1000 cost of $339.00 on Amazon.com viewed on 14 April 2020. AMD SEP of $199.00. All pricing in USD and may vary regionally. AMD SEP pricing correct as of 01 August 2020.

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Feature

The future of R Autodesk’s recent admission that there’s been a multi-year lack of development of Revit because of the concentration on cloud and construction has left many frustrated architectural practices wondering what the future of this 20 year-old BIM tool will be. Martyn Day examines the tea leaves

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utodesk acquired Revit Technology Corporation (RTC) with its Revit application in 2002 for $133 million cash.

While RTC made a lot of noise, and its core parametric technology was innovative, it did not generate much revenue and, in fact, had few customers. Up to that point Autodesk had been trying to morph AutoCAD into a full-on architectural modelling tool with the unfeasibly complicated ‘Architectural Desktop’ variant.

One of the underlying key driving factors to the acquisition was that five years previously Autodesk dropped out of buying mechanical CAD (MCAD) tool Solidworks (Dassault Systèmes paid $310 million) which then went on to dominate desktop MCAD as users moved from UNIX to Windows.

Autodesk’s CEO at the time, Carl Bass, didn’t want to make the same mistake again. Had Autodesk bought Solidworks, it 16

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would not have spent millions on developing Inventor and then Fusion and would have been the number one player in desktop MCAD. The Revit acquisition protected Autodesk dominance in AEC and eventually proved to be a savvy investment.

The excitement of innovative code and doing things much better than previous generations of software is typically reserved for the early phases of development. Updates can be frequent and big; the potential can be seen. However, this furious initial phase typically slows down as a product ages and competition subsides.

There is a lifecycle of software and to understand this better it helps if you can think a bit more like a software developer.

To generalise, the CAD software industry, on the micro scale, appears to have evolved to deliver the yearly evolution of authoring tools, executed on rolling 3 - 5 year development plans, along with equally evolving business models. For

instance, we had perpetual licensing, where customers bought the perpetual right to access a version of software. Now the trend is for subscription licensing, where customers lease the right to use the software over a set time. The future looks to be heading towards a pay-peruse or subscription hybrid.

However, eventually software applications age; years of new layers of features compound to make products cluttered.

The internal ‘wiring’ gets messy and fundamental changes can cause ‘regressions’ bugs in features that used to work but now don’t. At this point software companies need to make important decisions on how to maintain their success.

In the software world, a ten-year-old software program is deemed old. If a software package is extremely successful, the common-sense thing to do is to stretch it out and to do enough to retain the loyal base and keep the competition at bay. If www.AECmag.com

19/09/2020 07:26

f Revit

‘‘

There is no Revit 2.0 and the future appears to be some kind of slow absorption into a cloud-based construction system with new thick client applications eventually replacing the single monolithic Revit application

you do a good enough job, there are few, if any, competitors and software is ‘sticky’.

But even here, at some point, software developers usually take the risk of writing something new from scratch, or they acquire a start-up that has done that work for them as it’s better for them to kill their most successful products, rather than have a competitor do it.

In this case, Autodesk decided to buy the next generation to kill Architectural Desktop, and switched BIM horses.

Development velocity If you want to understand where your chosen CAD product is in its lifespan, look at the development velocity. The less that is added each year, the more likely it is very mature. If new features appear to be ‘onion skins’ to the application, as opposed to fundamental core rewrites or big new dollops of functionality, it’s most likely that the team don’t want to dig into www.AECmag.com

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the product’s guts for fear of playing Buckaroo with all the dependant code.

Another option is to redevelop applications on the fly, rewriting core features sequentially and doing a lot of under the bonnet work while keeping the same interface and file format – a case in point is ArchiCAD which had good multi-core support added at a platform level and AI added to rewritten features like the stair tool. While this may keep the code refreshed, fundamental principles remain the same and this can come unstuck if industry workflows change or a new upstart comes out without decades of baggage.

Moving to the macro level, every ten or twenty years the fundamental underlying technologies are renewed, and that could be hardware (like processors), operating system (DOS to Windows NT) or the change we see today, to cloud. At each of these technology boundaries,

firms and market leading products can lose market share, even go extinct, if the software firms fail to manage the transition by having planned for change and being the best to leverage the new technology platform. This is why we are seeing so much concentration on, and development around, cloud-based apps, despite the majority of users being fairly happy on their desktop PCs. Historic examples that spring to mind are PTC, which was the leading desktop MCAD player with UNIX-based Pro/ Engineer. It was severely mauled by the new Windows upstart Solidworks because PTC failed to get to Windows quickly enough and kept its prices high. Autodesk had a serious wobble when it went from AutoCAD R12 to AutoCAD R13, from DOS to Windows NT, completely rewriting the code in C++, adding in solids and then trying to build vertical applications on constantly-moving, buggy base code.

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Autodesk was lucky that nobody was there to really pick up on the company’s self-inflicted errors, but the effects lingered long into AutoCAD R14 and partially led to the decision to develop Inventor, which was Autodesk’s first new in-house developed code-base since AutoCAD to tackle the MCAD market and specifically Solidworks. These generational changes are major hurdles for software firms to negotiate and not everyone gets out alive.

complain at price hikes.

Architects in Australia/NZ, Hong Kong and South Africa had all attempted to engage on the same subjects. It seems that in private Autodesk had more than enough warnings that its best and most mature Revit customers were all feeling very frustrated and sought a collective response.

The Open Letter movement (letters-toautodesk.com) now stands at 166 global firms directly signed up at the board level and as we were going to press, Brazil’s National Association of Architecture and Consulting Engineers (sinaenco), representing a whopping 30,000 firms, also released a similar open letter after its members took part in a questionnaire which backed the sentiments of the original UK/Aus letters group.

It cannot be said that these grievances are just the feelings of a few practices in the UK. This is a pandemic in the mature Revit base. These formal and informal groups are now talking and sharing experiences and opinions. We are essentially seeing the ‘unionisation’ of BIM-

some admissions on its lack of development of Revit and gave a commitment to address that. Its other defence, that it needed to allocate resources to BIM 360 and Construction Cloud, was perhaps less persuasive to architects.

Autodesk engaged directly with the Open Letter Group and has since had two meetings, one with the executive team, the other with the Revit development team.

The first executive call was described as a listening meeting, where the Group preThe open letters sented their grievances on a wide range of Coming back to where the current AEC topics (pricing, licence changes, interopermarket is within these various developability, Suites/Collections ‘product stuffment cycles, and we find ourselves at one ing’, development, non-compliance audits) of these key inflection points, as the platand the second revolved around wishlists form transitions from desktop to cloud. and features. Both are ongoing conversaThe prime BIM authoring tool in many tions which will hopefully have some posgeographies is Revit, which has revoluitive impact on licensing, product developtionised AEC design, democratising the ment, productivity enhancements and adoption of model-based methodology. non-compliance ‘audits’. Firms that sign However, it is 20 years old, has a low up to support the letter can be involved in development velocity and doesn’t really this process and be kept up to date on the make much use of modern multi-core progress. computer architectures.

While I do think Autodesk is listening, Revit’s yearly development velocity for the one area in which I think there will be the past six years has disapno change is that of cost of pointed many of its biggest fans ownership. It’s the one area / most mature users, despite Autodesk has pushed back on It’s most likely that the Revit there being no shortage in development team don’t want to dig into and in conversation with Wall requested features to add. This Street analysts Anagnost the product’s guts for fear of playing has long concerned Revit cusdescribed the complainants as Buckaroo with all the dependant code tomers, especially when they the ‘privileged 20%’ as they see Autodesk spending over $1 had ‘moved from maintenance billion developing and acquirto subscription and have really ing technology for its ‘Construction focussed architects and engineers as they pretty deep price protections, relative to Cloud’ offering as an attempt to digitise openly address issues with Autodesk’s the rest of the base.’ and sell tools and services to the current- product development and a range of busiThe first thing to point out here is that ly in vogue construction market. ness practices. this privileged minority who moved from Devoted Revit customers have been maintenance to subscription would by frustrated by this slow pace of develop- Autodesk’s response definition be long paying, mature cusment of the A in AEC from Autodesk. We have seen a number of public tomers who would have made significant Prices have also risen and licence models responses from Autodesk, mainly from investment in Autodesk, its products and changed, too frequently, which have Amy Bunszel, Autodesk vice president of services by buying perpetual licences increased cost of ownership. digital engineering products, and licences which Autodesk first priced up On 22 June 2020, something snapped. Andrew Anagnost the company’s CEO. and now is seeking to move to 25 UK and Australian practices wrote an Firstly, there was recognition that archi- Subscription. open letter to Autodesk’s CEO, Andrew tecture has not been a strong focus of The second point is the PDF generated Anagnost to raise the issue of Revit’s lack development. Anagnost stated, “the pace by Autodesk are in constant USD, hiding of development, the increasing cost of of Revit development has slowed over the the currency fluctuations and correspondownership, its lack of interoperability, last five-plus years,” admitted there were ing price hikes that happened in countries Autodesk’s constant licensing changes “some areas where we need to improve like the UK, and is not representative of and treatment of customers with audits. and take steps to fix,” and “our architec- the historical cross-grading and upgrade On publication, it was quickly shared ture functionality didn’t progress as costs provided by the Letters Group. on social media and in the architectural quickly as it should have.”

I think customers can work out for press (including this magazine’s in-depth Anagnost gave a vehement rejection of themselves if they are paying more and if coverage tinyurl.com/autodesk-letter). Then the criticism of Revit price increases, stat- they are seeing value. The concern at the the group started to be contacted by other ing Revit pricing was ‘reasonable’, pro- increasing cost and the value of Revit is ad hoc architectural groups from around ducing a PDF of historic evolving Revit something that is felt globally, from single the world which had similarly banded prices, given in constant USD (income together to ask Autodesk what was hap- free foreign currency movements). u continued on page 22 pening with Revit development and to The positive is that Autodesk made

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BricsCAD BIM

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Feature

u continued from page 19 users to Enterprise Business Agreement customers - it’s not just the privileged few.

I don’t think there will ever be agreement between users and Autodesk on how much is too much, until customers leave for alternative platforms.

The future

development of Project Quantum (tinyurl. com/quantum-aec). The idea was a centralised cloud system, in which all AEC participants would work and be able to see the real time geometry changes of other users. This was a great concept and the dream was that all project participants could work on a single model, a data centric approach.

The problem is it seemed to vanish, with the excuse being made that the technology was in some way re-appropriated to a different team. Talking with Anthony Frausto-Robledo, the owner of Architosh (architosh.com) he seems to have an Autodesk insight that Quantum was little more than a ‘PowerPoint deck’ at the time.

Roll forward to 2018 and Autodesk has Project Plasma (tinyurl.com/plasma-aec), which built on some of Quantum’s core principles, expanding to embrace digital fabrication. Here the future was a central cloud database, with thick and thin clients accessing the data simultaneously and while catering to the needs of current design and build workflows, it would be designed to drive digital fabrication, off-

called Plasma anymore).

The question will be what is the focus of the new system - architecture or construction? From conversations with Autodesk developers the primary focus will be on construction, not design, and this does have good reasoning. To design a workflow, you need to know the output and when defining a software application for AEC for the next 20 years, digital fabrication must be at the core. It’s not something that can be added in as a patch later on.

A single design system that can take customers from conceptual (loose geometry) to 1:1 accurate models to generate Gcode, with everything in between, is a big ask. To some extent Autodesk already has the architecture market with Revit, but it wants to concentrate on cracking construction. As there isn’t anything out there to buy, Autodesk is developing itself.

In talking with the group, one of the most interesting aspects of discussion is ‘what is the future of Revit?’ It’s something that we here at AEC Magazine have been trying to prise out of Autodesk for many years now.

After years of low level development and Autodesk’s focus being elsewhere, customers have a right to wonder what’s the plan?

Will the current Revit be rewritten to make use of modern processors and GPUs? Will Revit be able to handle larger There is no Revit 2.0 models? Will there be a Revit 2.0?

We have seen in the MCAD space Autodesk has been clear; the developAutodesk already make another new modment work it will be doing to Revit, based elling tool called Fusion, which will evenon the current roadmap (tinyurl.com/revittually supersede Inventor as its feature set road), does not involve a bottom up grows, utilising the rewrite. There is no cloud as a data backnext generation rewrite bone. Unlike applicaof Revit coming but Autodesk is technically ‘gapping’ between tions that run in the there is a commitment generations but is now desperate to try and cloud through a browsto improve the roadmap er, so called ‘thin client’ reassure the Revit base that all is well. I’m not sure to include some of the applications as the exe- whether promising them that the same tool will be input from customers. cutable on your machine The question will be on Windows 2030 is an incentive to stay or go? is small, Autodesk has how deep into the guts settled on ‘thick client’ of Revit will the developtechnology which provides a bigger sized site construction and modular. ment team go to improve performance and I got the impression that Revit would functionality. ‘Low hanging fruit’ desktop app which synchronises with the somehow first be hooked up to the cloud, enhancements that do not require a lot of cloud host.

In this market Autodesk competes with the database load would be lifted off the re-engineering work will be more appealOnshape, now owned by PTC, and while desktop app and eventually discipline- ing. The question is will this be enough to Fusion and Onshape offer much promise, specific apps would evolve to dissolve the keep mature, advanced users happy? Will they are still a long way from replacing need for the historic, monolithic Revit the development of Revit be rapid enough their more mature and powerful desktop desktop app we have today. Much of this to feel like it has velocity once more? competition (Autodesk Inventor, Siemens is based off the work Autodesk has put The Revit that is available today is the NX, Dassault Systèmes Catia). Given into Forge, where applications can be only Revit that there will be. In a recent Fusion was launched in 2012, this move quickly built from web components such ‘Inside the Factory’ video, featuring the to the cloud for data authoring in MCAD as viewers, clash detection tools, docu- Revit product leads, Kyle Bernhardt, is taking a long time and AEC has yet to ment management, generative design, director of building design strategy at DWG tools etc. start the journey.

Autodesk, was asked by a customer When we talked to CEO Andrew “where will Revit be in ten years?” He In Autodesk’s Q1 2021 call with analysts Anagnost explained, “We believe that rela- Anagnost in October 2019, progress had replied, “It’ll probably be running on a tively modestly sized to thick clients with a been limited. It was clear to hear his frus- Windows machine of some variety, Revit, really robust cloud backend are the future. tration at the slow development and he as you know it today, in a much more Fusion has a thick client. But it has a very, stated that the essential data backbone inter connected cloud ecosystem of tools, very, very fine-grained multi-tenant cloud work had still to be completed and would and will be able to deliver projects in a data infrastructure hidden behind it. take till Q2 of 2020. The good news is way that no system has ever allowed Fusion’s cloud will get thinner - client will that this work seems to have happened as them to do so before. Revit is not going get thinner over time. You could also see in another Wall Street call, Anagnost away, it does some very useful things for an evolution with Revit that’s similar to hinted that at this year’s AU virtual, the world, like AutoCAD does some very something would be shown from the useful things to the world today.” that. That’s going to take a little longer.”

In 2017, Autodesk announced the Plasma development (and that it was not He added that Autodesk is exploring

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how to decouple some of Revit’s sub services to work better with Autodesk’s Construction Cloud. He then went on to claim that Revit is being ‘modernised’ and ‘broken up into parts’.

Years away Reading this, Revit customers could be excused for wondering what on Earth is going on? Unless there has been a dramatic change of heart at Autodesk in the last week, there is no next version of Revit, no new generation, no fundamental rewrite.

The Letters Group, while their input to the development has been welcomed, have had their expectations tempered to not to expect to see any radical rewrite of Revit.

Autodesk’s historic lack of Revit development seems to have many reasons, a switch to construction, a switch to developing cloud services, while maximising the amount of money it can get (and value for shareholders) for doing as little development work on Revit’s old code.

Thanks to the industry collectively calling Autodesk out, there will be some redress to the development and roadmap situation, a near-term win. This does not answer the long-term question of how can skilled architecture practices move beyond what’s possible today, when they feel limited by their 20-year old tool?

The lack of development and focus gave the distinct impression that Revit was in, at best, maintenance mode and raised the question of its imminent demise. Conversations with users tended towards reciting the Monty Python ‘Dead Parrot Sketch’. The reality according to Autodesk, is that it was ‘only resting’.

While ‘Plasma’ architecture might have a data back bone and new name now, it will be shown in some capacity at AU this year. However, this seems to be very early days and may well take a significant period of time to reach the market and then mainly for construction firms, not architects or design. The speed with which it can be brought to market will be a test for Autodesk’s Forge development system,

which should enable accelerated delivery of tools and workflows, but as I said, this is a massive undertaking.

The Autodesk plan seems to be to try and keep Revit customers happier, in the meantime build the Construction Cloud, under the hood integrate Revit desktop subsystems to better work with its cloud services. Then over time, replace Revit with thick client applications for architecture, MEP and structural. My estimate is this could take a timeframe of six to eight years to complete. I do have serious concerns how the current Revit desktop, even with more development, can be stretched out to keep the attention of demanding architectural users.

Conclusion There is no Revit 2.0 and the future appears to be some kind of slow absorption into a cloud-based construction system with new thick client applications eventually replacing the single monolithic Revit application. Autodesk is technically ‘gapping’ between generations but is now desperate to try and reassure the Revit base that all is well. I’m not sure whether promising them that the same tool will be on Windows 2030 is an incentive to stay or go?

Autodesk’s development focus is clearly on construction; the plan for architectural seems amorphous and not fully fleshed out. Without the intervention of the Letters Group, I doubt we would have seen the Revit product owners so visibly engaging with their users.

With regards to licensing and costs, Autodesk has picked up that customers want pay per use (PPU). Looking at their current Token system, after 8 mins you get charged a whole day’s worth of tokens. 8 mins is the same as 23 hours, 59 mins 59 seconds. Most firms have Revit models that take upwards of 20 minutes to just load. So it costs a day’s worth of tokens to see your own model in Revit, let alone do any modelling.

In PPU I’m hoping that Autodesk is

looking at better granularity on this, but I have concerns about cloud and PPU in general. Software companies will charge you to create your design, to store your design and then will make money from your supply chain accessing your design and using their tools on your data. Your data becomes a commodity in a pay to play system. This has all sorts of data protection and monetisation issues which need to be addressed.

This moment is clearly a time for architectural firms to reassess BIM strategy, its usage, the workflows, the workarounds, partnerships, deployment, product mix. I am seeing clear trends where architects are reclaiming the design portion of the process and pushing BIM tools to the documentation phase, almost to the extent that it becomes a discrete process.

BIM is too constraining for early stage design and seems to have not really delivered in automating the drawing process which was its main objective. From talking with the Letters Group it’s been really thought provoking discussing what comes next for design.

This is something that the Letters Group will cover in detail in an unmissable panel discussion that will take place during AEC Magazine‘s NXT BLD Virtual conference next month (8-14 October 2020 – register free at nxtbld.com).

In talking to Autodesk’s competitors over the last few weeks, many asked me, if Revit customers were so upset, why did they decided to write a letter and not just move to another system? It’s a good question. One of the firms involved in the open letter, described it as ‘having dug a hole so deep, that when you have serious concerns as to the direction you have travelled, and the costs now involved, you look up and see how far it is to get out, and the question is, whether you should climb out of the hole and start again, or keep on digging, in case it gets better.’ In many respects, the multitude of issues that the Open Letters group addresses take this beyond wanting a better Revit, it wants a better Autodesk.

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nxtbld.com

NXT BLD goes virtual From 8-14 October 2020, we’ll be hosting our first virtual conference, taking place entirely online in daily 90 minute sessions. Our line up of speakers is unparalleled, tickets completely free, and the event fully interactive with a live Q&A

A

s 2020 continues to do its flows. The vocal group of architectural ing to building fabrication. worst, NXT BLD (Next practices, who wrote that infamous letter to Elif Erdine, director of Emergent Build), AEC Magazine’s and Autodesk’s CEO, will be discussing what Technologies at the AA, has done some Lenovo’s conference on they’d like to see — and what the industry fascinating research into computational future AEC technology will needs — from future design technologies. design, robotic assisted fabrication and not be suppressed any longer. While the Mollie Claypool is an architecture theo- construction, all of which made her a natuphysical event has been put back to 16 June rist, critic and educator at the Bartlett. Her ral choice for NXT BLD. 2021, for obvious reasons, we will put on recently released book, Robotic Building: Mark Taylor, senior digital construction our first virtual variant starting 8 October Architecture in the Age of Automation manager at Royal BAM Group has been 2020, running 9, 12, 13, 14 October. caught our attention and we are thrilled to involved in developing new technologies NXT BLD Virtual will be broken up into have her speak. for on and offsite construction. Mark will 90 minute instalments to run in the afterNate Miller is founder of Proving look at how technologies like 3D printed noon (UK BST) over the five days.

Ground, assisting some of the biggest concrete are expanding Royal BAM’s Each session will start with three 20 firms with their tricksiest data and compu- capabilities. Meanwhile, Alexander Türk minute presentations of Aeditive will also followed by 30 minutes share new developof live Q&A with the The vocal group of architectural practices, who wrote ments in construction speakers. It’s free to 3D printing. that infamous letter to Autodesk’s CEO, will be register and you’ll also Fo s t e r + P a r t n e r s ’ discussing what they’d like to see — and what the get to view the content Fernando Garcia online afterwards.

Blanco will join Elena industry needs — from future design technologies For those unfamiliar Casini of Most with NXT BLD we Architecture to give a bring together a mix of researchers, prac- tation problems. We asked Nate to look at fascinating insight into how humans and titioners and technologists to give a series the future of conceptual design tools. robots will interact in buildings of the of talks on future technologies, innovative Alex Coulombe of Agile Lens will be future — a future where robots build, projects and updates on the state of looking at the development of VR and its maintain and learn, and coexist with research from around the globe. use in architectural design, through a real humans in a natural environment. world project over a number of years, as Ken Pimentel is AEC Industry Manager Conference lineup the technology matured and the quality at Epic Games. Through Unreal Engine the This year we have an incredible lineup of improved dramatically. company is pioneering high poly, real-time speakers from across the globe.

Bruce Bell of Facit Homes, the first rendering for architectural visualisation We’ve very excited to welcome the Open bespoke design to digital fabrication resi- and Ken will look at what’s coming next.

Letter to Autodesk group who will be dis- dential practice, has spent the last year Andrew Rink of Nvidia will share the latcussing the future of Digital Design work- looking at what new technologies are com- est on Omniverse, an exciting new plat-

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Mollie Claypool Automated Architecture

Nate Miller Proving Ground

Bruce Bell Facit Homes

Fernando Garcia Blanco Foster+Partners

Elif Erdine Architectural Association

Mark Taylor Royal BAM Group

Robots in construction

The future of conceptual tools

The future of digital fabrication

Skyscrapers of the future

Parametrics and materials

3D printed concrete / digital fab

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Online 8-14 October 2020

Fernando Garcia Blanco of Foster+Partners and Elena Casini of MOST Architecture will give a fascinating insight into how humans and robots will interact in buildings of the future

form technology that brings together architects and other stakeholders in a visually rich, real-time collaborative environment.

Scott Ruppert, Chris Ruffo and Mike Leach will discuss survey results and feedback collected by Lenovo about how Covid has changed they way people work.

Meanwhile, AMD will show how Threadripper Pro, a beast of a CPU with up to 64-cores that makes the new Lenovo ThinkStation P620 tick, is transforming AEC workflows.

Finally, Johan Hanegraaf and Hilmar Gunnarsson will give their presentation from within VR, showing the latest developments in their groundbreaking collaborative conceptual design tool Arkio.

Check out nxtbld.com for more details and the full line up of speakers.

Design Computation I/O This year we will also co-host Design Computation I/O, a start-up research conference on computational design methods, which has also gone virtual. If you know anyone in computational design, it’s definitely worth alerting them to this in-depth event designcomputation.org/dcio

Virtual conference details 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 October 2020 90 minute afternoon sessions (BST) Claim your free conference pass at nxtbld.com

Elena Casini MOST Architecture

Alex Coulombe Agile Lens

Andrew Rink Nvidia

Ken Pimentel Epic Games

Chris Ruffo Lenovo Workstations

Hilmar Gunnarsson Arkio

Human-robot interaction

Advanced VR and AR experiences

Collaborative workflows with visual computing

Real-time visualisation

How Covid has changed they way AEC firms work

VR for conceptual design

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Software

Review: Shapr3D With only a handful of 3D modelling applications available for the iPad, it’s not often that you see a decent one. Al Dean takes a look at Shapr3D’s new offering, which promises interactive tools for concept modelling

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he iPad has been something of a – or $20 per month if you pay annually, Tapping it with the Pencil selects the face revelation in the design world. representing a 20% discount. geometry and offers you an offset operaThe idea that you might have a So, what do you get for your $240 per tion. If you double-tap with the Pencil, high-performance computing year? You get a modelling system that the whole body is selected. device that offers both touch and stylus works in the manner you’d imagine for Most of these gestures and interactions input on a highly portable, high-resolu- an interactive device like the iPad. are intuitive, but it is worth spending tion display is something architects have Technically speaking, Sharp3D has been time going through the very well-develbeen crying out for. built on the Parasolid platform (a 3D geo- oped help system to pick up tips. A good Even so, there’s been a distinct lack of metric modelling kernel used in way to think of the interplay between tools available for those looking to create Vectorworks and many of the leading 3D Pencil and finger is that your finger is for 3D concepts on the iPad. There have been mechanical CAD tools) and could be manipulation of the view, while the several for the engineering world (most classed as a direct modelling system. It Pencil is reserved for creation, whether notably Onshape, now owned by PTC) offers a wide range of tools to help you that’s sketching out a profile, creating a and any number of interior/floorplan build geometry from sketches and formal feature or editing geometry position. related tools but these look less than pro- prismatic features, as well as adapt existfessional at best. Then along came ing geometry by pushing, pulling and Getting modelling Hungarian start-up Shapr3D, looking to editing it. If you’ve used Sketchup, you’ll There are four main toolbars of operabring industrial-grade design tools to the already be familiar with the workflow. tions and commands. These can be device with its eponymous app. While its Sketch profiles, push, pull, rotate into found, by default, on the left-hand side of undoubtedly aimed at the the screen. Sketching brings mechanical design commuup a set of sketching tools nity, there are also some for drawing planar profiles.

Consider this as a conceptualisation and 3D tools that make it interesting you’ve got the full set, thinking tool, rather than a fully featured 3D Here, to architects. from lines, circles and arcs design system. Forget about being superto ellipses and polygons, as Understanding the UI well as modifiers such as precise and building complex models The first thing you need, of offset and trim. course, is an iPad, together One sketch entity particuwith the Apple Pencil, Shapr3D won’t shape then use a variety of operations larly worth noting are splines. You have work without it. If you’ve got those (Booleans, chamfers, fillets, shells etc.) to two options: CV-driven (control vectors for already, you’re good to go. If you’re look- combine those primitive forms into the control point splines) or fitted points. To ing at buying an Apple Pencil, then it’s shape you want. lay down your CVs, you drag from the worth noting that the newer Pencil 2 may As you fire up the system and work starting point, then push down on the not be compatible with an older iPad, as through the training exercises, it’s clear Pencil to place the next CV, moving the old devices lack the wireless charging that the team behind this app have made onwards. At the last point, you just lift up offered by the latest versions of the iPad the most of the combination of inputs the Pencil. Those CVs are all editable for Pro. Once you’re up and running with the available – namely, the Apple Pencil and position and, in the case of fitted splines, hardware, it’s time to download Shapr3D your fingers! The system can tell the dif- for curvature too. from the Apple App Store and fire it up. ference between the two and works nicely Alongside the sketch creation entities, As with most such apps, Shapr3D offers around this. For example, if you’re simply there are also constraints available, a number of licensing options. There’s a navigating a model, you can use your fin- including tangency, perpendicularly, con‘freemium’ version, which gives you a lim- gers to spin, pan and zoom as per normal. centricity, parallelism (horizontal/vertical) ited set of tools (e.g. data translation both The Pencil, by contrast, will just rotate. and symmetry, to name but a few. These in and out is limited) as well as a limited When it comes to focusing on a specific can be applied on the fly where the system on the number of designs (just two). With task, double-tapping a face on the model can infer them, or applied after the fact. the paid-for version, you get a one-month with your finger, snaps your view to that One thing that’s difficult to get to used, free trial and thereafter, it’s $25 per month face and you can start sketching profiles. particularly if you’re used to traditional

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sketching in mainstream design systems, is the dimensioning workflow for sketches. Rather than requiring formal dimensions, Shapr3D works on selections and pops up possible dimensions (click line, get a length dimension. Click two lines, get an distance or angular dimension etc.)

- if you formalise then and dial in the values, then they persist during any subsequent edits to that sketch. You are able to construct well-built, robust sketches - it just take a little getting used to.

While the sketch tools give you drawing capabilities, you’ll really want to be able to build those sketches into 3D forms. The majority of tools to do this are found in the Add and Tools toolbars. Add provides you with construction geometry, such as planes and axes, as well as the ability to import geometry from the iPad file system. It will also enable you to bring in an image as a reference - and considering the usefulness of Shapr3D for working up a concept, this makes huge sense.

While those Add tools are useful, the real meat is found in the Tools toolbar.

Here, you’ll get access to a number of standard and familiar feature operations.

All of the classics are there: extrude, revolve, sweep, loft and shell. There are www.AECmag.com

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also a number of Booleans (Union, Subtract, Intersect), as well as geometry projection, offsetting and a face replace.

If you’ve used direct modelling operations before, then you’ll be familiar with how these systems work. It’s not so much about creating a linear history of geometric features, as much as creating, hacking, chopping and removing geometry to achieve the form you want.

In the most recent release, the team has introduced an element of adaptivity to the user interface. Based on your current selection, the interface adapts to present you with a list of operations that can be applied using that selection. For example, if you select a single face, you can carry out a number of operations such as offsets or move, extrusions or cuts. If you then select an edge, then the selection of operations available filters down to operations that might use those two selections – such as a revolve or a loft etc.

If you’ve not used direct modelling tools before, one point that’s worth considering is how the face selection and move tools (found in the Transform toolbar) work, as opposed to the features such as extrude.

If you have an existing face that you

want to either cut into or out of your solid model, you can select the face and a small glyph appears giving you a direction.

Drag that into the part and it cuts. Drag it away from the part and it will extrude that face. If you want a more complex extrusion with, say, draft added, then use the extrude command – you’ll see the draft angle glyph appears on screen.

Assembly organisation While Sharp3D doesn’t have the formal assembly modelling tools of a fullyfledged mechanical design system, it does have enough to allow you to create and manage a more complex set of parts or blocks within a single file.

Obviously, this can be done at the body level, but if you open up the manager dialogue, you’ll see a list of bodies, planes and sketches. These are given default names, but can be easily renamed, by swiping the entry to the left. You can also delete it or zoom it into the window. This window also allows you to group together bodies into folders, which act as informal subassemblies or complex mass models.

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Shapr3D? This is perhaps the most surprising part, considering the nature of the system. With the Pro version, you’re able to export your data as a Parasolid file (either X_t or X_b), STEP, IGES or OBJ. There’s also an STL export option, too the only export option, in fact, in the freemium version.

You’re also able to export a basic 2D drawing from the system as a DWG or DXF file that includes all of the dimensions you’ve placed (and locked). There are also some nice screenshotting tools that remove the UI elements and might be useful for sharing with a colleague or throwing into a presentation.

In conclusion Over the years, a number of 3D modelling-adjacent tools have popped up on the Apple App Store, only to quickly disappear again quite quickly. Why? The answer is that unless a user really understands upfront what they’re doing with the platform, and the various interaction

methods that are not only supported but also expected, it’s very likely that the system will make little sense to them.

I’m delighted to say that the Shapr3D team has taken a very different approach.

Its focus on combining finger-based interactions with the more precise input offered by the Apple Pencil makes complete sense.

If you’ve used a direct modelling system such as SketchUp before and are familiar with its modelling techniques, then you’ll be able to jump right in. If not, then you might need some time to get your head around the workflow. There are a few tutorials that show architecturally focused workflows, but the bulk of the tutorials are for mechanical design – they’re equally as useful for learning the ins and outs of the tool.

If I had just one tip to help you get up to speed, it’s to consider this as a conceptualisation and 3D thinking tool, rather than a fully featured 3D design system.

You just need to forget about being

super-precise and building complex models. Instead, just sketch, hack, slice and experiment and see what you get.

It’s also worth considering Sharp3D purely from a workflow perspective. If you already have an iPad as part of your workflow and day-to-day work toolset, then you’ll probably be receiving CAD geometry in your email and/or via file share. Shapr3D allows you to view those files using robust Parasolid-based tools and potentially make very quick edits to them. Just the ability to view is useful. If the Sharp3D team also built in a few mark-up tools, that would make the app even more useful.

If you’re curious about what this system can do, download it, get yourself an Apple Pencil and give it a whirl. There’s literally nothing to lose. You’ll find a system that lets you sketch out a quick model, try out an idea, and see what you get and it could quickly become an important step in your conceptualisation and ideation process.

■ shapr3d.com

Architectural design & the iPad: what else is there?

To review Sharp3D, I invested in a more up-to-date iPad. To be frank, I’d stopped using these devices after their first generation, for a number of reasons. But it turns out there’s been some wonderful work over the intervening period. The new iPad Pro is a great example of the build quality that Apple offers.

The Apple Pencil is really something else. For those who have been using a lagging stylus and become accustomed to working around parallax problems resulting from poor calibration of pen input devices, it’s a refreshing step change.

The Pencil 2, in particular, with its magnetic attachment and wireless

charging is practically a miracle. (On the subject of charging, I’ve gone fully USB-C of late, so having the iPad use the same connectors makes life a lot easier, should we ever start travelling again).

It’s also worth noting that multitasking on the iPad is vastly improved, particularly using window-in-window or split screen.

It may take a few minutes to work out how to do this, but it makes working with multiple applications much easier.

The other thing that impressed me about the standard device and software set-up is the Sidecar application. If you’re a desktop/ laptop Mac user, this lets you view your main screen on the iPad as a second screen. In these days where we’re all trying to work efficiently from home, that’s really valuable (not

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least in terms of space-saving), especially if you’re missing your office-based multi-monitor set-up.

If you’ve seen Astropad for the iPad/Mac, it’s like that - but being native to your hardware, it doesn’t cost you £10 a month to use. However, Astropad has a few benefits in terms of control and there’s a client application coming soon that would let you use your iPad as a companion, pen-enabled device with Microsoft Windows.

Exploring the App store Since I had the iPad in hand and the kids hadn’t managed yet to steal it to play AR games, I figured now was a good time to explore what other applications for the designer and engineer it could run.

One system I was keen to try out was Procreate for digital sketching.

While I could wax lyrical about how smart Procreate is, how the drawing experience, brush development and user experience is wonderful, the simple fact is that it costs just £9.99 no subscriptions, no ongoing license fee. That’s a ridiculous bargain, especially compared to the cost of a license for Adobe’s Photoshop or Illustrator. If you’re exploring Procreate for design purposes, then I also highly recommend the Procreate

brush sets from Spencer Nugent, available at sketch-a-day.com.

Morphilo’s Trace application also has to be a front runner. While it’s a sketching app, it has some serious tools for the architectural designer – import and scaling of plans and maps (even direct from google maps), AR tools for perspective and much more. Considering it’s $17.99 for a professional license for a year, that’s another bargain that’s worth exploring (there’s a freemium version too).

Another product to consider is the venerable SketchBook from Autodesk - one of the first sketching systems and still one of the best.

Beyond sketching The iPad Pro isn’t just for sketching and modelling - the 2020 model features built-in LiDAR scanning capabilities and mobile mapping startup Sitescape is developing a reality capture app to take advantage. The software allows users to to create dimensionally accurate point cloud datasets that can be used for progress monitoring, documentation, and remote site access/collaboration. According to the developers, accuracy is said to be around +/- 1” for linear measurements, while the max range of the LiDAR sensor is 15 feet.

www.AECmag.com

18/09/2020 06:13

Fast and simple real-time visualization software for architects and designers Seamless integration with your favorite BIM software Realistic 3D simulations with just one click, even in VR Changes are visualized immediately thanks to live-link technology No special knowledge or training required

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Works with

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Software

Revizto 5.0 preview Greg Corke takes a sneak peek at the forthcoming release of the easy to use collaboration tool which now puts BIM object data at the heart of the issue tracking process.

I

n a crowd of AEC collaboration add deadlines and priority, then track which would return extremely broad software, Revizto stands out for its each issue until it’s been resolved, with results. In Revizto 5 you can go down to a sharp focus on issue tracking. The full accountability. much more granular level, and search on software combines 2D and 3D modThis process has worked well, not least all types of object data. This could be anyels for a ‘single source of truth’ presented because of its simplicity. However, the thing from a door of a particular type or through a simple user interface that can software has had its limitations because material, a tank of a specific volume in a be accessed by anybody on the project it has placed too much emphasis on the specific system, or a steel section of a certeam. With a cloud or local server-centric model itself, and not enough on the tain size or grade. workflow, data is pushed out to a variety underlying BIM data. Object data has Once found, objects can be highlighted of devices, including desktop (Windows always been there, but you could only in the model at the click of a button, and MacOS) and tablet (iOS and really look at it, and it was very hard to either by making the rest of the model Android) so issues can be resolved in the use it to your advantage. Now with transparent or switching it off entirely. office and on site.

Revizto 5.0, currently in beta and due to Alternatively, selected objects can be When Revizto started out, most of its launch soon, this is set to change. completely hidden from view. This was customers were on the design side, but in just about possible to do in Revizto 4, but the last few years there’s been a big The new engine the process was far from straightforuptake in construction. Customers now From the outside, Revizto 5.0 doesn’t look ward. First you had to hide everything, include Atkins, AECOM, Arup, Balfour that different to Revizto 4. The interface and then start unhiding the objects that Beatty, Foster & Partners, you actually wanted.

Jacobs, Lendlease, Skanska, A common issue with a lot of Vinci, Willmott Dixon and In the past, Revizto has had its limitations BIM-centric software is you many more. This is reflected in on a component only to because it placed too much emphasis on click how the product is marketed. It find you’ve selected the wrong the model itself, and not enough on the used to be ‘BIM collaboration’ one. In MEP projects, for examor ‘BIM co-ordination’ but it’s ple, this could be pipe insulaunderlying BIM data now being pitched as an intetion, instead of the actual pipe. grated collaboration platform.

The new search bar can realWhile the name might suggest a loose still has the same minimal look and feel, ly help here. Simply search on ‘insulaassociation with Revit, the software actu- albeit with a few tweaks, but it’s under tion’ to select every instance of insulation ally works with a huge range of CAD/ the hood that’s there been a massive within the project, and then hide all of BIM tools, focused on buildings and amount of development work, which them from view, making it easy to select infrastructure. There are plug-ins for gives users much more control over the the actual pipe you want.

Revit, ArchiCAD, Tekla Structures, data, down to a granular level.

Objects can also be used to help find Navisworks, SketchUp, AutoCAD Civil This all starts with the intuitive object similar objects within the model. For 3D, Vectorworks and MicroStation tree, which allows you to see the models example, click on a column, then right (including OpenRoads Designer and that have been brought into Revizto, click on its section size to automatically OpenBuilding Designer). The software break them down by level or category, and find similar objects based on that specific can also read in IFC, OBJ, FBX, PDF, then isolate and control them as required. property. point cloud (RCP and RCS) and BCF files.

The new search bar now makes the By using search sets, it’s now much With its ability to bring in data from a software tick, making it much quicker easier to search for and group compovariety of sources, Revizto has become a and easier to find components, and then, nents based on certain criteria or system bit of a hub for BIM model co-ordination. more importantly, visualise them and act classification. You don’t have to get Teams identify issues on site, or within on them accordingly. In Revizto 4, if you bogged down with scrolling through vast the context of the 3D model or 2D draw- wanted to find a specific component, you lists. Instead of having to first choose ing, assign responsibility to individuals, had to use generic terms like door or pipe from a category list, followed by a system

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1 Revizto now makes it much easier to use object data to your advantage. For example, components with identical properties can now be found in a single click 2 Visualisation of selected data has been vastly improved. Objects can now be easily highlighted in the model, either by making the rest of the model transparent or switching it off entirely

type, system classification and so on, you can just type in the classification you want, and Revizto will automatically display which group(s) it comes from. It essentially means you can reclassify the order in which objects are grouped.

For example, simply by typing ‘system’ and clicking the relevant fields, you can now quickly pull out all the components in the model, or those on a specific level, whose system classification equals, for example, either domestic cold water or domestic hot water.

Of course, in large projects this could still bring up thousands of objects, so if you want to search in a particular room, level or building, you can also narrow things down by creating a 3D section box that focuses on a specific volume inside the model.

Search sets can be saved, so common searches don’t have to be redone from scratch. They can also be shared with the team.

The results of any search, complete with object data, can also be exported to Microsoft Excel, which could be used to define basic quantities. For example, to quickly tot up the total length of a specific type of steel column. Unfortunately, it’s not yet possible to do this within the software.

As you’d expect, when importing BIM models, Revizto automatically brings over all of the object data. But, of course, not all of that information is relevant, so you can now set up a list of favourites.

Once an object is selected, all of the most important information appears at the top of the list in the object tree.

This focused data can even be seen when hovering the cursor over an object in the model, giving you much quicker access to object data without having to scan the property panel. A construction www.AECmag.com

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manager, for example, could set up favourites to show the volumes or grades of concrete, and have different favourites for different workflows.

Custom data It’s now possible to add custom data to objects within Revizto and then, of course, use that data to create custom searches. It means Revizto can be used to track a lot more information than it previously could, opening up many new use cases.

On a construction site, for example, it could be used to track whether or not something has been installed or inspected, and on which date. In theory, this could even extend to phasing information, allowing Revizto to be used as a rudimentary 4D tool.

In the design phase, custom properties could help confirm that an engineer has checked and approved a section size change.

All of this data can be thematically displayed in the model. It could be as simple

as green equals yes, red equals no, or something more nuanced.

At the moment, custom data can only be viewed inside Revizto, but longer term, the development team is exploring the possibility of feeding that data back into the original BIM model, which would close the loop.

Performance Revizto is multi-platform and runs on Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android, on laptop, desktop or tablet. The performance and specs of these machines can vary dramatically and when you start working with multiple 3D models, it’s very easy to run out of memory, and for the system to grind to a halt. This is particularly true for those using Revizto on tablets which tend to have limited memory.

In Revizto 4, while it was possible to ‘hide’ models, which would reduce the load on the CPU and GPU, the model would still be held in memory. With Revizto 5 individual models can now be September / October 2020

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Software Object data can now be viewed simply by hovering the cursor over a component in the model

completely unloaded from memory, so, if you’ve got models that you don’t really need to be turned on all the time — MEP, architecture or specific buildings, for example — then simply switch them off.

It’s not just through model management that Revizto 5 can free up memory.

The new release also uses significantly less memory for tracking issues.

According to the developers, version 4 could easily use up 1.5GB for 7,000 issues, which is pretty standard on a project. For the larger projects, where you might have 30,000 issues, this could swell to 6GB. In the new version this memory footprint has been significantly reduced, with 7,000 issues only using 100MB, which of course, will free up space for larger models.

authoring software and correct it. This not only took time but could be particularly challenging if the model came from a third party. With the new version, it’s now possible to change the location of a model within Revizto itself. This also extends to 2D/3D overlays, so if you bring in the 2D drawings from your BIM software, they will automatically be transformed as well.

Raising issues The fundamental part of Revizto is issue tracking and the new release refines how issues are raised.

Issues are now directly attached to an object or objects, whereas previously they were just placed in the general vicinity. This could lead to ambiguity when

ticularly groundbreaking in Revizto 5.0 — the team has simply fixed an issue where ghost points might be left behind when creating sections. However, there is some useful new functionality coming soon, which will allow users to measure point clouds. For example, you might want to quickly measure between a pipe and a wall to check there’s enough room for maintenance.

Conclusion

It feels like version 5.0 is a pivotal release for Revizto. It might not come with headline grabbing features but don’t underestimate the importance of giving users more control over the data.

Rather than having to rely on the model to drive the issue tracking process, users can let the The new focus on data opens up possibilities data do the work for them.

Model control The new focus on data is for project management, the potential to feed also Revizto is all about bringing allowing Revizto to in data from other sources, or even lay the in models from different spread its wings. It opens up sources, and it’s now a lot new possibilities for project foundations for built-in clash detection easier to keep track of what’s management, the potential inside your federated model. to feed in data from other Improvements to the ‘Scenes and trying to resolve specific problems. sources, and it even lays the foundations Scheduler’ mean you can now see where It’s also possible to apply a single issue for built-in clash detection, for which the models have come from, who export- to multiple components but give each Revizto currently relies on Navisworks or ed them and when they were exported. component its own stamp so you can Solibri. However, as Revizto’s Rhys Lewis As data often comes from multiple track them individually. For example, told us in 2018 (tinyurl.com/revizto-AEC), sources, file names are not necessarily you may want to check that a group of adding clash detection to Revizto would consistent, might not be understood by columns, selected through search crite- be more than just a technical challenge — everyone, and can sometimes be quite ria, have been installed correctly. there would be business and relationship bizarre. As a result, it’s now possible to Previously you’d have to create one issue obstacles as well. give files an alias to make it easier for the that covered all of the columns. This not All of this points to an exciting future user to recognise data, while still keeping only made it harder to track, but it meant for a product that starts at £420 per user the original file name to maintain the the issue could only be closed when all of per year. However, the developers will connection to the original source file. the columns had been checked. need to be careful to maintain the good balance between capabilities and ease of Spatial awareness Point clouds use. After all, this is what made the prodIn Revizto 4, if a model was brought in Revizto is no stranger to point clouds, uct so appealing to AEC project teams in and the coordinate system was wrong, which have been supported in the soft- the first place. you’d have to go back into the original ware for some time. There’s nothing par- ■ revizto.com

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Interview

A Q&A with Enscape Greg Corke caught up with Enscape’s new CEO, Christian Lang, to talk BIM objects, issue tracking, RTX ray tracing, collaborative VR, point clouds and what the future holds for the popular real time visualisation tool Greg Corke: When we first looked at Enscape in 2016, the quality of the rendering was good, but nothing special.

Now it’s gone to quite amazing levels and you also have Nvidia RTX ray trace rendering technology built in. How has that changed the way that your customers are using the software in their workflow?

And where does that leave the traditional arch viz ray trace rendering tools?

CL: Definitely. As you were saying, in many, many cases the visual quality is more than good enough for what the architects need when they present to a customer, when they use it for the design development, for Christian Lang: I personally design reviews, absolutely. believe it’s not really changHowever, I think there is ing the way the customers still a kind of a legitimaare using the software. One tion for other renderers, of the key strengths of offline renders.

Enscape is the visual quality, There are things we yes, but it’s much more don’t do at Enscape. We about the integration into don’t do dynamic smoke CAD and BIM, and it’s much simulation, or we don’t do more about the ease of use stained glass shadows, What’s and creating high-perforthings like that. Who mance workflows. And this interesting about knows, maybe we will do integration into BIM has [the integration sometime in the future, never changed. So yes, you’re clearly not today. And with] BIM track, but right there is now a much when it really comes to the is that it really perfect marketing shots, higher quality when it comes provides for the this one picture that you to the visual look of the graphics, but that’s just one need, I think this is someindustry a piece of the value we offer. thing they will always use collaborative some other tools to make it workflow in a GC: We’ve heard that some almost perfect. architects are now using However, I think the gap fully photoEnscape to do visualisations between what we have realistic that previously they may today and what they offer rendered model is closing. Will we be able have passed onto a viz specialist. So, I guess what I to go to one hundred permean is have you found that cent? Most likely not. I your customers are now bypassing other think there will always be space for some rendering tools and your architects are very, very specific things that we don’t do, becoming more hands-on with visualisa- but for most rendering, especially in early tion, for presentations and stuff like that? design, it is exactly what architects need.

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GC: Since the 2.7 release, objects can be selected in Enscape and their associated BIM information displayed. This is great, because I know your customers have been asking for that for ages. Now you’ve delivered, what feedback have you had and how has it changed the way your customers use the software?

CL: The feedback we are getting is, it’s a good first step. However, customers always want more. They now want to have it in the standalone version, they want to have it in VR. So, it’s the first step into that direction, and more to come.

GC: So, you can only access the BIM information if you’re connected to your BIM authoring tool?

CL: Correct, you have to have the connection.

GC: Now you’re on to version 2.8 and one of the most exciting developments is this new focus on design /review. You now have tools for annotation and issue resolution through the integration with cloud-based BIM collaboration platform BIM Track. This takes Enscape beyond its core remit of real-time rendering. Can you explain how this works? www.AECmag.com

19/09/2020 07:28

CL: The new annotation feature allows you to store issue trackers in the Enscape scene. So you can set states, you leave comments there for other team members, you’re getting an immediate overview of the progress in the project. The Enscape rendering is automatically added to the annotation. The discussion points are saved in the CAD project, then it can be exported in BCF [BIM collaboration format] or it can be synced with BIM Track.

And especially this last part. That’s where the information throughout the whole design, you can leverage that full feature set and the interface of BIM Track with your Enscape visualisation without the need to export or import files.

What’s interesting about [the integration with] BIM track is that it really provides for the industry (for the first time ever I think) a collaborative workflow in a fully photorealistic rendered model. So, you can see light and materials and textures and get a feel for the design that you just couldn’t have prior to 2.8.

GC: [smiling] That’s not specific to Enscape, of course, but because the GPU requirements of Revit are so small, has that been a barrier to adoption? For you to get Enscape on every single desk of every single Revit user, for example, they’re going have to update their hardware.

CL: Not that I’m aware of. I think it’s exactly the opposite. I think that the customers appreciate that with Enscape they can even use not the highest performing hardware. Enscape is already optimised in a really good way that it can be used on a slower machine. And if they really want to have the high, high visual graphics, then maybe it’s just one machine they have, where they render the final kind of image.

GC: Enscape was a pioneer of architectural VR. It was amazing how it was so seamless, while all these other tools were going through this long process of exporting and optimising BIM models. How are your customers using VR, and how has that changed over the years?

GC: Enscape loves powerful GPUs...

CL: [laughing] Show me any real time visualisation software that does not love powerful GPUs. www.AECmag.com

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CL: I can just talk about one customer I met, where I had this specific conversation two weeks ago. The customer told me that they are using it in the same way they

would do a design review or a design development session. So, it’s kind of integrated in their design meetings, where they have questions or they want to show something if they have a topic they want to discuss, then they integrate it into that, but it’s not really fundamentally changing the way how they do the design reviews.

It’s just another tool that they use.

GC: So, at the moment, people are using it as a solo experience? So, if you were doing a design review in VR, you’d have to literally share a headset to get that done?

CL: Yeah, exactly.

GC: Are there any plans for collaborative VR? CL: The only answer I have is it’s on our radar. But I think the moment when we can offer something to the customers, and if they can use VR in a collaborative way, I think that can be a game changer when it comes to how they use it in a design meeting. Because that’s then when you also have the chance to involve someone outside of your company, right? Again, we have it on our radar, but obviously I can’t talk more with regards to that.

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Interview 1

GC: Because of how easy it is to go from BIM to VR with Enscape, are your customers using it day to day - to literally jump in and out of VR? You’ve got a VR headset on your desk, you’re in the design process, you just want to check something, so you hold the headset up to your head to get better understanding of scale, and then you go ‘right OK, that’s great, or maybe I can change this or change that’. Are your customers using it in that way or is it more for design review?

CL: It’s both. It’s while they are working at their desk, and it’s as part of the design review process. A really interesting story that came out recently about VR in preconstruction, where an architectural office actually invited the fire marshal and the building inspector and health inspector all in, for pre-construction to do their inspections. That’s another use case, beyond design review.

2

GC: Point clouds seem to be going crazy in AEC at the moment. Some CAD tools support them to various different degrees of capability. Enscape doesn’t at the moment.

Is that something that you’re looking at?

CL: Well, the same here, it’s on the radar.

[In order to support point clouds] we need to go deep into the core product, so into the programming code and things like that. So, it’s on the radar, absolutely. By the way, we see that as well - point clouds and the explosion of that in AEC is becoming a topic. But we will see how we can support that, if we will support that. Right now, it’s completely open.

GC: What’s Enscape’s long-term vision?

CL: As you can imagine, this is of course a big question. What I can tell you is that, typically, I’m very much ‘outside in’ driven. And this is something that I’ve already figured out here at Enscape where I think we will become better — and this is really listening to our customers and involving the customers much more in the planning

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of the future of Enscape. And this could even go beyond pure real-time rendering.

But at the end of the day, what we are doing here, we are supporting the workflows of the customer. This needs to become the number one, or rather, this is the number one key theme for Enscape. I would love to become mission critical to customers. In our industry, there are still cases where we are ‘nice to have’ and this is changing slightly, but I think the future of Enscape is definitely in that direction.

The new BIM Track + Enscape integration allows users to sync issues created in Enscape (1) with BIM Track’s centralised issuetracking platform (2)

■ enscape3d.com

www.AECmag.com

19/09/2020 07:28

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Comment

Data ownership in a collaborative construction industry If a digital twin – or in the future, National Digital Twin and smart cities – is all about connected data ecosystems, what happens when data ownership and management are brought into the equation? Who owns the data, and how do we ensure the information can still be accessed in 10-30 years’ time. Stuart Bell makes a case for greater clarity around data and accountability, stressing the need for companies to be clear on whose role it is to maintain it.

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he construction industry is highly complex and slow to change. With the industry facing skills shortages and an aging workforce just as the country needs critical infrastructure investment to boost the economy, the ways in which we design, procure and construct are under pressure to evolve.

For the industry to confront these challenges there is a general agreement that the way in which it works needs to change. A culture of genuine collaboration and the sharing of information must happen, and digital technology could be the answer. Digitisation is helping project teams and asset owners drive efficiencies through more effective modelling, design, procurement, mobilisation, construction and operation, yet amongst this there is a great deal of confusion as to who owns data.

These issues should be addressed at the earliest stage of the project, within the contract along with any interoperability expectations. Generally, as it is the client that is procuring the information, they must ensure they specify responsibilities or have the resources and knowledge to manage their model to maintain it. If we look into the not too distant future, it may will be that autonomous systems and robots will be using it for operations and maintenance. Document www.AECmag.com

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naming conventions and standards cre- duty, subject to their contractual responate a futureproof information manage- sibilities. Yet where there is disconnecment framework and are tion, piecing together dispafundamental to the creation rate datasets in order to of scalable, interoperable identify them is all the more ecosystems. The informacomplicated, making for a tion needs to be updatable complex tapestry that takes and maintainable to feed the months to complete. digital twin, otherwise it Pushing the responsibiliwill be a stagnant model. ty of information manageSecurity is another signifiment onto the supply chain cant consideration. If we is not a new phenomenon. have a connected data ecoThis behaviour started back system that shares data, the in the 90s with the advent Rather than client again has to specify of the Private Finance outsource the Initiative. This specific pubwhat data is required to be shared, and ensure data is lic procurement route shiftinformation managed correctly to prevent ed responsibility out onto management risk from supplier insolvency the construction supply service, as well as cyber threats. chains; meaning they were wouldn’t it be in charge of designing, What about asset better for the building and operating priowners insourcing data? vately financed capital projasset owner to ects. The government conGenerally speaking, the insource the fragmentation of the consequently cut their memstruction supply chain combers of staff (construction data so they plicates data ownership, as management have access to information at an information manageprofessionals) who specialment level there can be a the information ised in this field and outgreat deal of disconnection. and audit trail? sourced responsibility to When it comes to maintainthe fragmented construcing a full, clear audit trail of tion industry. communications, it is incumbent upon Moreover, ahead of the 2016 BIM the contracting parties to perform this Level 2 mandate, government advisors

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Comment

noticed the significant inefficiencies in the industry, and suggested digitalised processes and standardisation around common naming conventions would allow 40% of construction project costs to be saved. Whilst ideal in theory, in reality it was problematic to force the industry to take ownership of a 40% cost saving, especially when the industry is perpetually working off tight margins. To alleviate the burden of this mandate the industry cut corners, which had all sorts of negative implications on building delivery and quality.

Where outsourcing becomes a problem If project and asset data is fragmented and then for some reason compromised e.g. the principal contractor falls into administration, all of the project information which is hosted and managed is locked-in, and clients and other project parties are locked out from accessing it.

The onus is then on the asset owner (client) and not the contractor to retrieve and re-procure the thousands of datasets from different parties involved on the project. As an alternative to re-purchasing the data from the design team or supply chain, the built asset may need to be re-surveyed to establish the required data, and this can incur further costs.

What is lacking here is client ownership of a clear, accessible audit trail to ensure all transactions throughout a project and asset’s lifecycle are maintained. Rather than outsource the information management service, wouldn’t it be better for the asset owner to insource the data so they have access to the information and audit trail? Can pressures on the supply chain be lightened by providing a clear destination for data drops and information handover?

What are the alternatives?

Most organisations procure information differently and have multiple systems with different users managing data, and these are some of the main reasons why data can be so fragmented. Often it is better to have a single version of the data in one place to be accessed by many, as it avoids duplication and ensures each piece of data is in its truest and trusted form.

Providing a single version of the truth for all project and asset data, a project and 40

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asset information management system or common data environment (CDE) enables information to be accessed and shared by all parties throughout an asset’s lifecycle.

A CDE enables all parties to securely communicate and collaborate on a structured workflow basis whilst simultaneously continuing a robust audit trail. It might be worthwhile to mention that on most major projects the Tier 1 organisation is often the prime and information management lead, provisioning the CDE on behalf of the client, ensuring project information is delivered, assured and approved prior to formal handover.

With all parties in the chain managing and exchanging information in a CDE, there will never be a missing link. With a clear audit trail of all asset data, the access to and provenance of all records is maintained. This means asset owners can question and query a trusted data store to answer everyday queries about assets in their estate at any stage.

Make it contractual If you use an office analogy, a CDE is essentially an electronic filing cabinet housing copies of audited information.

Yet, asset owners have to be explicit in which information the CDE must contain, and must outline their individual requirements in the contracts to maximise the CDE’s performance.

As an asset owner, at the start of the contract you will procure both the asset and a level of detail of the digital information. A well-written contract must be produced as this will act as a reference point for what the contracting teams have to deliver. It will also be a vital archive if and when maintenance upgrades are required.

With a contract which clearly outlines requirements, there will be a greater understanding of the purpose of the information and who owns it. When asset owners come to operate their buildings, this record will enable them to make proactive decisions, instead of turning to their supply chain to acquire information which should belong to them.

An asset-owned CDE is part of the change towards better data ownership; creating an unbreakable chain where every piece of data regarding a built asset can be retrieved at any time. With data fragmentation and unreliability key concerns for the construction sector, surely the adoption of a system which provides one version of the truth across a building’s lifecycle is a valid solution to ending any disconnection?

Stuart Bell is director of sales & marketing at Business Collaborator from Bentley Systems UK ■ bentley.com ■ groupbc.com

www.AECmag.com

17/09/2020 13:34

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Case study

4D: in the driving seat BIM Academy’s Peter Barker explains how 4D modelling helped deliver the complex A19/A1058 Coast Road junction upgrade project and explores future trends we can expect to see in highways design

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he A19/A1058 Coast Road junction is one of the busiest road intersections in the North East of England. In 2016, work started on a major upgrade to combat congestion and improve consistency in journey time. The £75m improvement project was a part of the UK Government’s £15 billion roads investment programme, which aimed to foster economic growth in the North East as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

The challenging project required the installation of a three-level flyover / underpass and roundabout. To help plan construction and support the critical need to maintain traffic flow throughout, while minimising disruption, it was one of the first major highways infrastructure projects in the UK to utilise 4D BIM.

Construction in a live environment In 2017, BIM Academy was approached by the JV supporting Highways England to work on the project. This was initially as a digital construction expert to assist in achieving compliance with the UK 42

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Government’s mandate for BIM Level 2, but the role quickly expanded to focus on delivering greater practical value throughout the two-year project and helped to bring the project in 31 weeks ahead of schedule.

Design team WSP and construction JV partners Sisk/Lagan worked with BIM Academy on this incredibly complex project. The size and scale of the upgrade were of course a factor, but the real challenge lay in the fact that the junction is a major regional component of the Strategic Roads Network (SRN) – and had to remain active throughout the course of construction.

Working in a busy, and potentially hazardous live environment involved heavy restrictions and constraints on the construction process, posing significant challenges to the timescale and budget of the project – and perhaps most importantly, the safety and logistics considerations of improving road user experience with minimal disruption to transport routes.

An innovative solution was required to enable the project team to meet the safety requirements of a live environment,

while still delivering a high-quality end result. As well as tackling appropriate standards and protocols, providing guidance to design and construction teams, BIM Academy brought forward a proposal to use 4D technologies on the project.

Introducing 4D The idea was to link programme planning tools to the existing 3D digital design and terrain models, in order to more clearly visualise and communicate the construction sequence and potential barriers. Reviewing and assessing the potential construction sequences in a virtual environment became one of the project’s standard design steps before anything reached the live environment on site. Using programmes such as Revit, AutoCAD Civil 3D and Synchro, the team was able to visualise and analyse how construction sequencing would affect the live environment at any given time, by creating a visual dynamic sequence from the 3D model and planning software.

Not only did this approach aid in the planning coordination and buildability, it www.AECmag.com

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also significantly improved design of temporary works, which reduced the risk and negative impact of the project as well as streamlining and optimising the end solution, which incorporated smart traffic monitoring systems (STMS) and automated signalling, in a nod to future highways technologies.

The end result of the approach was that the project team was able to visually communicate and plan activities in the context of time and space, taking account of resources, procurement and spatial constraints. This created the thinking space – and provided the data – to assess alternative approaches to site layout, scheduling and logistics during the construction phase, providing a number of alternative options for contractors to assess all risks and opportunities, and make fully informed decisions around construction costs and sequencing.

This innovative approach to ‘optioneering’, as well as access to new and better data, was influential in the logistical improvement of the A19/A1058 Coastal Road project – so much so that 14 months were cut from the original estimated 42 month construction pro-

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gramme, saving over a year of road disruption and a huge amount of cost.

The future of highways design This of course raises the question – should this approach be applied to all major highways improvements moving forward?

This optioneering process allowed the contractor to assess all risks and opportunities. The future of highway design is certainly focused on leveraging digital tools to assess and optimise alternative solutions whilst factoring in legislative design standards.

There are also other future trends we can expect to see in highways design.

Systems such as Motorway Incident Detection and Automation Signaling (MIDAS) are being developed and implemented by Highways England right now, as a distributed network of traffic sensors.

Radar technology and magneto-resistive wireless sensors are also being trialed and are designed to alert local regional control centres (RCC) of traffic flow and average speed, as well as automating variable message signaling and

advisory speed limits with minimal human intervention.

Improving traffic flow with the use of digital technology is something BIM Academy definitely sees being introduced in more and more projects such as this one, introducing the ability to proactively predict and control traffic with all of the consequent benefits on safety, environmental impact and user experience.

Highway design based purely on design of the physical infrastructure can be risky.

Introducing a combination of sensors and 4D modelling is the way forward in smart infrastructure design, helping to measure the impact before it happens, and allowing for a smoother, less invasive, greener – and cheaper – project.

In the future, I believe we will start to see trends including the increased adoption of in-vehicle technology. The consequent reduction of roadside tech will follow, seeing the introduction of so-called ‘Naked Roads.’ We expect to see this concept escalating over the next two years as the government presses ahead with initiatives promoting vehicle-centric intelligent technologies.

■ bimacademy.global

September / October 2020

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Leica BLK2GO As demand for more portable, rapid scanning solutions increases, Leica has unleashed its first, handheld SLAM device, the BLK2GO, together with a new cloud-based visualisation and collaboration platform, HxDR. Martyn Day reports

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he laser scanning market tends to move glacially. It’s an old and mature technology, and revolution is not in its nature. There have been some glimpses of excitement over the years — when Faro brought out a £20k scanner that could fit in an aeroplane carry on, or when the major CAD software developers built point cloud engines into their core BIM tools, but critical mass has never been achieved.

Then in 2016 Leica did something atypical - it brought out the ridiculously gorgeous £15k BLK360. The compact laser scanner was ideal for scanning interiors and the device was tied into the equally innovative Autodesk Recap on an iPad, but just as we thought this might be a real catalyst for change, no other firms joined in at that price point. Laser scanning continued to stubbornly stay out of the reach of the masses, compounded by the fact that Leica couldn’t make enough of the BLK360 to satisfy the demand.

Now Leica has a new product and its styling looks like it’s from the future.

Could this be the product that finally democratises point cloud capture?

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Everything from the design of the device, to the ease of one button operation and the speed make the BLK2GO a highly desirable surveying and data capture tool

BLK2GO

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The first thing that has to be said is that Leica must be employing an incredibly talented industrial design team. Both the BLK360 and the new BLK2GO are the most beautiful looking scanning devices that have ever been made. Even if you didn’t know what the BLK2GO did, you’d still want one and would want to hold it and show it to your friends like it was a Fabergé egg.

The BLK360 is a static laser scanning device for rapid point cloud capture over short distances. In contrast, the new BLK2GO is highly portable and adapts SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation And

Mapping) technology, which was originally developed for robots and autonomous vehicles.

There is a price for this liberating scanning technology over a standard tripodmounted laser scanner and that’s accuracy. SLAM point clouds are typically accurate to around 20mm, which is still incredible when you consider a site that would take a day to capture through traditional methods, might be done ten times faster with a SLAM device.

However, this limitation means there will be times when the BLK2GO isn’t appropriate compared to traditional surveying.

Leica’s BLK2GO has been designed to be as simple to use as possible. Featuring one button operation, it wirelessly links with a Leica iPhone app, so the operator can see in real-time the data it gathers in both 2D and 3D. The device features enough internal storage for 24 hours of scanning (compressed), 6 hours uncompressed and has an exchangeable battery which lasts for approximately 50 minutes. The range, however, is not huge — from 0.5m to 25m — but this is a SLAM device so your feet can do the work. It combines a 420,000 pts per second laser scanner with a 12-megapixel camera, together

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Feature 2

with an additional 3 camera panoramic vision system.

Leica states that the BLK2GO can go down to 6-15mm accuracy and to achieve the highest accuracy, its case can be turned into a base for static scans. While the iPhone app is a useful tool for onsite feedback, the BLK version of Leica Cyclone is recommended for importation and scan clean up.

Everything from the design of the device, to the ease of one button operation and the speed make the BLK2GO a highly desirable surveying and data capture tool. The nature of the scanned data makes SLAM scans look a bit different to traditional point clouds, with more visible banding in the variance of point cloud density, but this does not impact the quality of the data captured.

So what’s the downside? Well, while this technology is something that everyone in the industry would absolutely love to have, it does cost around £40k a pop.

For a surveying firm, this is a no brainer — it has the potential to deliver a huge productivity benefit. However, as far as liberating and democratising point cloud capture within the industry, I am afraid this beautiful device is not going to be the one to make that happen.

The BLK2GO is very much aimed at the traditional surveying firms or, as Leica told us, Hollywood, as a number of films have used the device to capture sets and scenes between takes. It will certainly lead to quicker, less obtrusive, more frequent scans and might bring the cost of data capture services down.

HxDR At CES, Leica unveiled its first foray into the cloud, a browser-based service called HxDR which will be a platform for uploading, registering and accessing cuswww.AECmag.com

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3

tomer project point clouds or 1 2 The handheld BLK2GO based on AI that was can scan up to 420,000 even city scale models for digiannounced between Leica points per second tal twins. and BricsCAD last October.

3 Somerset House in With the introduction of When this eventually London - captured with technologies such as the arrives, it will be a game the BLK2GO, viewed in Cyclone Register 360 BLK2GO, the idea is that this changer.

4 Leica currently has data can be uploaded to the the whole of Paris Conclusion cloud from site for post proscanned, textured at high cessing and giving teams access As a company, Leica is cerresolution in its HxDR cloud platform to the captured data. tainly shaking off its image As it stands, the system is of perhaps being the least very much in development and will not reactive of the scanning companies. It is compete with authoring tools like trialing price points and delivering techCyclone, which would still be used to do a nologies and designs that are leading the lot of the grunt work in filtering and pro- industry, while aggressively looking at cessing the data for uploading. addressing rapid scan to textured mesh.

In some ways, HxDR could be seen as BLK2GO and HxDR are two essential the ‘Unreal’ or ‘Unity’ for point clouds - components in that plan but they also the ultimate aim being the automatic reg- work happily in traditional desktop istration and production of an accurate, workflows. I’m fascinated to see what the detailed and textured model with mini- company does next. mal user interaction, enabling rapid The Leica BLK360 is still the closest scan-to-model, especially from BLK scanner at what we would deem to be a products. This could be created from data point cloud liberation price point, and derived from many scans and types of that product is so popular that Leica can’t devices to create what Leica calls a make enough of them to meet demand. ‘supermesh’. As an example of capability, Even the BLK360s that get refurbished Leica currently has the whole of Paris all get snapped up. scanned, textured and in the system at This should be a sign to someone out high resolution. there that there is a volume need for data HxDR will be a subscription-based ser- capture. It might well be that the scanvice, allocating a defined level of cloud ning revolution will really start from the disk space and a number of seats. Users consumer end of the spectrum, as our can upload project work and use the ser- phones and tablet computers start to vice to share them. There will be many have LiDAR capability built in. other possibilities as the platform and With every generation of phone, we API develops. A company could use the know the quality and capabilities will technology to sell access to city models it evolve and rapid innovations in autonohas created, or there could be layers for mous vehicles, robots and consumer AR AI post processing or the ultimate goal of are driving the development of low-cost having real Scan to BIM capabilities, LiDAR technology solutions. which Leica is keenly looking at.

It’s all starting to look like it’s within As part of the Hexagon group of com- reach for all, but it might be trailblazed panies, there are a number of initiatives by games and consumer technology. to address Scan-to-BIM, including one ■ blk2go.com September / October 2020

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Feature

The big picture Teradici, with its PCoIP protocol, has always targeted the most demanding users of remote workstations. Now it’s aiming even higher, delivering ultra-high image quality at 4K and 60 frames per second. Greg Corke caught up with Teradici’s Ian Main to find out more

W

ith 15 million end points using its PC-over-IP (PCoIP) display protocol, Teradici has established a strong footing in high-performance virtual desktops. The company places a big emphasis on high-fidelity ‘lossless’ image quality that preserves every little detail when remotely accessing graphics-intensive applications like 3D CAD, visualisation and visual effects.

The PCoIP protocol is widespread. It is used by VMware for its desktop and app virtualisation software VMware Horizon (although, more recently, VMware has developed its own called Blast Extreme). It helps Nutanix deploy workstations and virtual desktops in on-premise or hybrid cloud environments, and it can be found in the public cloud through Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Computing Services. “Our software product is available as a marketplace instance and along with reference designs, is in all three public clouds,” confirms Ian Main, Teradici’s technical marketing principal.

Teradici’s PCoIP technology is also being used extensively to deliver 1:1 connections to rack workstations from Dell, Fujitsu, Boston and many others. There are plenty more doing similar for desktop workstations.

More recently there has been a lot of interest in PCoIP from smaller managed service providers who are looking to provide remote solutions for their graphicshungry customers through GPUaccelerated cloud workstations. Main explains that service providers are becoming an increasingly popular choice for customers that want to outsource everything. While public cloud means firms don’t need to manage physical workstations, they still need to have some 46

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BOXX uses PCoIP experience of DevOps, he says.

GPU and memory, to run applito give remote There are several service procations including Catia, ‘cloud’ access to its viders that offer PCoIP-based overclocked desktop MicroStation and AutoCAD workstations solutions to the media and enterCivil 3D. This is one of several tainment (M&E) sector, including datacentre VDI user environBeBop technologies. Main explains that ments which come under Avatara’s M&E has proved a key industry for CompleteCloud brand. “Our relationship Teradici over the years because of PCoIP’s with Teradici enables us to deliver a lossless encoding, colour accuracy, security unique solution that incorporates the and, more recently, the ability to support hardware, software, and support into a multiple monitors at 4K. “We think about per user, per month pricing model accessi80% of all remote workloads in the visual ble to businesses of all sizes,” says Rob effects industry are using either our McCormick, CEO of Avatara.

Remote Workstation cards or our Cloud From silicon to software Access Software,” he says.

To date, there hasn’t been as much inter- Teradici made its name using dedicated est in the AEC sector but, with the ongo- hardware for encoding and decoding. ing shift to working from home due to This includes PCIe cards that sit inside a Covid-19, this could now change. In the workstation or server and PCoIP zero clilast few months BOXX and Avatera have ents for the end points. These hardwarelaunched remote graphics services based solutions remain popular with designed specifically for CAD. many customers, but the company’s long BOXX is well known to readers of AEC term strategy is to do the encoding / Magazine for its high-performance over- decoding in software. clocked desktop workstations. Its newly From a product perspective, this startformed Cloud Services Division is now ed out with Teradici’s Workstation making those exact same machines avail- Access Software, which we reviewed in able to customers over a 1:1 remote con- 2015 and was sold by Dell, BOXX and nection via the cloud. others, but this product has since been The big value proposition here is per- discontinued and everything now comes formance. Most cloud workstation servic- under the Cloud Access Software brand. es use dedicated rack workstations, On the client side, Teradici has PCoIP which tend to feature virtualised CPUs software clients for pretty much every with lots of cores and relatively low fre- platform — Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS quencies. BOXX workstations, on the and Android. other hand, are commonly overclocked to Teradici’s first PCoIP software was 5.0GHz+, so CAD users should see a sig- single threaded so it ran on one CPU nificant performance benefit. core, and the original software encoder Cloud computing specialist Avatara is still used inside VMware Horizon. But recently launched its own range of GPU- huge improvements have been made accelerated virtual machines that use over the years and a newer version, Teradici technology. CAD users get access PCoIP Ultra, which uses Intel AVX2 to a dedicated 1:1 resource through a 1U instructions, can take advantage of mulrack mounted server with its own CPU, tiple CPU cores. According to Main, this

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has enabled Teradici to dramatically improve the user experience.

It has gone from being able to deliver 30 Frames Per Second (FPS) at HD resolution to 60 FPS at 4K or 30 FPS at 4K with dual displays. “PCoIP Ultra is a single codec that takes you all the way from lossy to lossless, so we can adapt to the network at any quality level. You get a really fluid experience, no matter what your network bandwidth is,” says Main.

Main adds that firms that use Teradici technology on premise will be able to operate at a very high image quality, compared to the other remote computing protocols. “Our default quality is significantly higher and then we can go all the way up if the network can take it,” he says.

Teradici is not wholly reliant on the CPU though. Working closely with Nvidia, it can now offload the encoding to the GPU using Nvidia’s NVENC encoder.

Teradici is also working on optimisations for AMD GPUs. “You can choose between using the AVX2 for that high quality, up to lossless, encoding, which is what our protocol was renowned for, or for the bandwidth efficiency use cases, or when you want to avoid using CPU encoding at all, you can switch to NVENC encoding,” says Main.

When this magazine first tested PCoIP technology in 2014, everything was done through hardware and Teradici made a big noise about the benefits of using dedicated silicon for encoding / decoding.

However, much has changed since then, as Main explains. “Ten years ago, an encoder would have absolutely saturated the CPU, but I now have machines here with 24 cores. I can dedicate four or six cores to PCoIP encoding for very high performance use cases and the rest are for the [application] workloads. Now, there are a few occasions where you want all the cores for rendering, so then you can use NVENC.” Teradici has not forgotten about its

remote workstation cards which can now support 4K at 30 FPS, but Main admits that PCoIP hardware is really at the end of its lifecycle and the focus is now on software going forward.

“As HDR and 10-bit and all these new resolutions and formats come on board, those will all move forward in the software regime,” he says.

This shift to software is also happening on the client side. “Historically, our zero client was very high performance because you have a dedicated silicon decoder, and our software client was almost like your secondary axis,” says Main. “But over the last year, and as our overall focus shifts to software, we are needing to get that very high performance on Windows, Linux, and Mac — tablet and mobile clients as well.”

The power of the pen

ed in one of two ways: ‘bridged’ or ‘local termination’.

With ‘bridged’, all of the pen data is sent to the driver on the remote workstation, which processes things like pressure, and then sends the response back to the local device. This works fine over LAN (<25ms) but as soon as latency increases, which is typically the case with cloud, the screen can start to lag behind.

Teradici has traditionally worked well with input devices, including the 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse and Wacom tablets and pen displays, which are increasingly being used in architecture. In the early days, Wacom devices were best

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Moving to the cloud The availability of public cloud instances is growing fast, but Main believes that hybrid cloud will continue to be the favoured approach for some time. In addition to firms wanting to make the most of existing on premise hardware investments, there’s also plenty that ISVs could do to make their software fully compatible and optimised for cloud.

Teradici has been working to make it easier for firms to manage local and cloud workstations together through an integrated service called Cloud Access Manager, part of Teradici Cloud Access Software. “[It] does the connection management and connection brokering for on-premise workstations and workstations on any three, or all, of the public clouds under a single management environment,” says Main.

“We’ve been spending a lot of effort on that and, of course, features for brokers take a long time, so the adoption was quite slow because we didn’t have key features like groups and pools and things,” he says.

“We always had that connectivity across

supported through Teradici hardware at both ends, but the company has now expanded the capabilities of its software, so users can get a better experience when using Wacom devices on high latency networks.

Wacom devices are support-

public clouds, and it includes the security gateway component too, so that allows users to be either on site or off site in all these cases.”

Conclusion Teradici has carved out a niche for itself with its PCoIP remote graphics protocol, focussing on high-quality, lossless image compression. While this has traditionally appealed to those in media and entertainment, it’s also extremely relevant to design, engineering and architecture.

Super sharp linework and text is important for CAD, while high-frame rates at 4K resolution are a big benefit for realtime visualisation. Indeed, Teradici has been a key technology partner for Nvidia Omniverse, a new platform technology that brings together architects and other stakeholders in a visually rich, real-time collaborative environment.

The challenge for Teradici is how to effectively communicate these benefits to its customers. In the public cloud, PCoIP is generally offered as an option, with most providers having default protocols, so firms would actively need to make the switch. For those using smaller service providers like Avatara and BOXX Cloud Services, education is less important as PCoIP is only one part of a complete managed solution.

While Teradici’s main focus is on cloud or on-premise virtual machines, it still gets good business from adding remote capabilities to desktop workstations. Here, it faces increased competition from HP, which is finally making some noise about its RGS software (now rebranded ZCentral Remote Boost), which comes free with HP Z workstations. Meanwhile, there’s also Mechdyne, which recently partnered with Lenovo ThinkStations over its TGX technology. Microsoft RDP is also prevalent, but this is at the other end of the scale in terms of end user experience.

■ teradici.com

‘Local termination’ improves this responsiveness by adding a lightweight version of the driver, client side, which displays a local cursor. It means the user can instantly see lines as they are drawn, with the detail then filled in a split second later once it’s been processed by the full Wacom driver on the

remote workstation.

‘Local termination’ was first supported in the firmware of the Zero client but has now been added to the Cloud Access Software.

September / October 2020

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17/09/2020 13:20

Data Management for Information Managers

Capture is an information management toolkit that sits on top of the already powerful Twinview platform.

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Review

Lenovo ThinkPad P1 [Gen 3] For CAD on the go, this sleek ultraportable 15.6-inch laptop impresses, but it struggles a little to stand out from its predecessors, writes Greg Corke The ThinkPad P1 was Lenovo’s response to the ultra-portable 15.6-inch mobile workstations that had been flying out the doors at Dell and HP. This year’s Gen 3 model is more evolution than revolution, featuring the same chassis as the Gen 1/ Gen 2, but there’s still plenty for CAD users in search of a good balance of performance and portability from their mobile workstation.

Stand-out features of the Gen 3 model include a new super-bright 600nit UHD (3,840 x 2,160) LCD display, optional LTE WWAN for mobile broadband and enhanced cooling. In terms of core specs, there’s a choice of 10th Gen Intel Core CPUs up to eight cores and 5.3GHz, a small improvement over the 9th Gen Intel Core CPUs in the ThinkPad P1 Gen 2, but the same choice of Turing-based Nvidia Quadro T1000 or T2000 GPUs.

Sleek & minimal The ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 is a stylish machine. It’s thin (18.4mm) and light (starting at 1.7kg) and comes with a new matt black ‘anti smudge’ soft-touch finish that significantly reduces marks from greasy fingerprints, a bugbear of the Gen 1/Gen 2 models. There’s an understated carbon fibre weave on the rear of the panel to show off the premium materials.

Like its predecessors, the ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 has been designed to withstand (and is Mil-Spec tested for) cold, heat, vibration, shock, dust and other hazards.

Built with a magnesium chassis, the laptop has a really solid feel to it: the hinge is firm, the display is rigid and the keyboard has very little give. All of this is trademark ThinkPad. The keyboard is seamless, so it blends in with the palm rest, but there’s no numeric keypad. There’s just about the right amount of travel on the keys, making typing a pleasure, a reminder of just how unimpressed I am with my 2019 MacBook Pro’s ‘butterfly’ keyboard. Equally, the glass touchpad has the perfect amount of resistance with full multitouch support.

For those who prefer their input device to be old school, there’s the classic trackpoint, along with three physical www.AECmag.com

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mouse buttons. To the right WiFi, but the built-in card is a Product spec of the keyboard, there’s a much more elegant solution for fingerprint reader that uses those frequently on the road.

■ Intel Core i9 10885H CPU touch rather than swipe for The ThinkPad P1 is (8 Cores) 2.4GHz, easier authentication, and eminently serviceable, with a 5.3GHz Turbo) Windows Hello technology is metal and carbon fibre bottom ■ Nvidia Quadro T2000 GPU (4GB built into the optional Hybrid panel that’s attached with seven GDDR5 memory) IR camera, complete with captive Phillips head screws.

■ 32GB (2 x 16GB) privacy shutter. The Dolby There are two slots for RAM DDR4 memory Atmos speaker system is said and two for M.2 SSDs, as well as ■ 1TB NVMe SSD to be an improvement over the access to the WiFi/WWAN and ■ Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + Bluetooth Gen 2. The clarity is superb and the 4 cell Li-Polymer 80Wh ■ Integrated Mobile volume loud, which is great for battery, though this is quite Broadband 4G LTE-A, video calls, but it lacks bass. fiddly to replace. Rapid Charge Fibocom L860-GL The Gen 3 comes with a Technology means you can go ■ 15.6”UHD (3,840 x 2,160) LCD IPS choice of 15.6-inch panels from zero to 80% charge in 30 600nit, Anti-Glare 100% Adobe panel — two FHD (1,920 x 1,080) mins and from zero to 40% in ■ From 1.7kg and two 4K (3,840 x 2,160).

15 mins after plugging in.

■ 362 (w) x 246 (d) Our test machine’s new Finally, the ports: there’s a x 18.4mm (h) colour-calibrated 4K LCD decent selection, including ■ Windows 10 Pro IPS 600nit panel is a thing of two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 for Workstation beauty, delivering incredible (one of which is always on), ■ 3 year warranty brightness, super-sharp detail, two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 and ■ £2,933 (Ex VAT) and an impressive range of HDMi 2.0. The machine is too lenovo.com colour and contrast, with slender for a full-sized Ethernet support for Dolby Vision HDR port, so Lenovo bundles a and 100% Adobe. The bundled Pantone USB-C to Ethernet adapter instead.

X-Rite Color Assistant software allows you to choose between colour profiles, Specs and performance including sRGB, Adobe RGB and DCI-P3. For a machine of this size, you get a decent Blacks appear really black and, with amount of processing power, although an anti-glare finish, there’s virtually no it’s not a marked improvement over the reflection. It really is a joy to behold.

ThinkPad P1 Gen 2 — the main difference Connectivity is bang up to date with being ‘Comet Lake’ 10th Gen Intel Core integrated Wi-Fi 6, a relatively new WiFi CPUs instead of ‘Coffee Lake’ 9th Gen. standard previously called 802.11ax. Our test configuration is one of the highest It replaces 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) and not performing models, equipped with an Intel only boasts faster speeds (up to 9.6 Gbps Core i9-10885H processor (eight cores, 2.4GHz, 5.3GHz Turbo), 32GB of DDR4 (2 x 16GB) memory, an Nvidia Quadro T2000 GPU, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. On paper, the Core i9-10885H might have a 5.3GHz Turbo, but this is a theoretical maximum and in our singlethreaded Solidworks CAD benchmark, we mostly saw it hovering around 4.6GHz/4.7GHz, with very occasional bursts of 5.0GHz. But performance is good. It took 79 secs to export our IGES test model, three seconds quicker than a ‘Coffee Lake’ Intel Xeon E2286M in a Dell compared to 3.5 Gbps) but is also said to Precision 7540 and only 4 secs slower work much better on congested networks than the Intel Core i9-10900K, which is with lots of connected devices. Of course, a the current fastest desktop CPU for singleWi-Fi 6 router is needed to take advantage. threaded workflows.

Wi-Fi 6 was also available on the In our multithreaded render tests, the Gen 2, but the new model increases the ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 did well, on par with connectivity choice with an optional LTE the Dell Precision 7540, which has a much WWAN card for mobile broadband – larger chassis so more substantial cooling. simply insert a Nano-SIM card on the side But don’t expect to get similar performance of the machine, just as you would for a to an equivalent desktop CPU, which can mobile phone. You can of course tether the clock much higher when all eight cores laptop to your smartphone via Bluetooth or are in use. That said, the ThinkPad P1 September / October 2020

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Review Gen 3 does run steady and maintained an all-core frequency of around 3.30GHz, even when rendering for well over an hour. Impressively, fan noise was quite acceptable and the chassis — the palm rest in particular — remained cool to the touch.

Importantly, the P1 also performs well when running off battery, completing our render test in 442 secs, only a touch slower than the 397 secs it took when plugged into the mains.

In the point cloud processing software Leica Cyclone Register 360, the P1 did well, but as this multithreaded application is heavily dependent on available RAM, it would have done a lot better if the machine was configured with its maximum 64GB. It imported and registered our 100GB test dataset in 3,843 secs, 28% slower than an equivalent 8-core desktop CPU, also supported by 32GB RAM. The Quadro T2000 GPU is a Max-Q Design variant, which means it’s clocked slower than a standard T2000 in a larger mobile workstation like the ThinkPad P15 or HP ZBook 15. However, it’s still perfectly adequate for 3D design work, particularly as most CAD and BIM applications are CPU limited so they can’t even take advantage of a more powerful GPU. 3D performance will likely fall short in real-time viz applications, not just in terms of processing power but also in terms of GPU memory (4GB), though this can be offset to some extent by dialling down the display resolution or increasing scaling. In real-time arch viz tool Enscape, for example, we got an unworkable two frames per second at 4K resolution, but this jumped up to 24 FPS when the display was scaled to 250%. But this means you won’t get the most out of the beautiful 4K display.

Or, you could buy a FHD panel instead.

Ultra performance mode?

When Lenovo first announced the ThinkPad P1 Gen 3, it made a lot of noise about a new Ultra Performance Mode that would allow users to dial up system performance as and when required, by effectively pumping more power into the CPU and GPU. Unfortunately, Lenovo ran into problems during testing and validation, which meant the system didn’t perform as hoped. As a result, for this Gen 3 release, UPM isn’t the market differentiator that Lenovo was aiming for. The company puts this down to the fans, which wouldn’t spin fast enough to take advantage of the new cooling solution.

Lenovo told this magazine that UPM still offers some benefits in this current iteration, mostly during longer duration workflows, which may explain 50

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its relatively high clock speeds when rendering. It added that it has already sourced a higher-powered fan for the next generation and the UPM design philosophy will continue going forward.

Conclusion The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 is an impressive professional laptop for CAD

on the go — powerful, thin, light and extremely well-built.

It’s a great upgrade from a bulkier mainstream 15-inch mobile workstation, but if you already own a ThinkPad P1, then it’s a harder sell. An improved display and WWAN support will be important to some, but in terms of raw performance, it won’t be a huge step up.

When laptop processing power isn’t enough Mobile workstations, even slimline models like the ThinkPad P1, are perfect for CAD and pretty much offer the same performance as a powerful desktop workstation.

But it’s for more demanding workflows like ray trace rendering, real-time viz, or simulation that laptops often fall short.

Even models with more powerful GPUs like the ThinkPad P15 can’t truly compete and you’ll always be limited by an 8-core CPU and 128GB of memory.

Some users get round this by having a meaty desktop in the office and a laptop for remote work. But, in this day and age, this is a bit of a luxury, and with Covid-19, the definition of office is becoming increasingly fluid.

There is another way to do this and that is to give laptop users a boost with a remote resource.

This can be done via the cloud, through ondemand access to a GPU-accelerated virtual machine, but this capability can also be brought in-house with an on-premise data centre solution.

The Lenovo ThinkStation P920 Rack is a dedicated 2U rack workstation with dual Intel Xeon Gold CPUs, Nvidia Quadro RTX graphics and up to 3TB of DDR4 memory. The idea is that a user can remote into the machine from a laptop, and use its vast resources as and when required.

This isn’t just for heavy duty batch processing. With Mechdyne’s TGX Remote Workstation software, it’s possible to remote into the workstation and use it as if it were a local machine, with full 3D acceleration.

TGX Software works by compressing and sending the desktop pixels on the rack workstation to a receiver on the laptop where it is decoded and rendered. You get the best performance when using Quadro GPUs at both ends, but decoding can also be done on the CPU, so you could use a standard office laptop.

We tested this remote graphics solution with the ThinkPad P1, connecting into a ThinkStation P920 Rack with 2 x Intel Xeon Gold 6246 CPUs (24 cores), 192GB DDR4 memory, an Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 GPU and Windows 10 Pro. Getting connected is incredible easy — simply download the TGX client, punch in the IP address, user and password and away you go.

Despite us being in London and the P920 Rack being in Raleigh, North Carolina in the US, the experience was excellent.

In Solidworks, for example, a large assembly responded instantly to our mouse movements, with only a barely discernible lag. This was more

than comparable with other remote graphics testing we’ve done with other protocols in data centres in the UK and Europe where the latency is much lower due to the shorter distance.

Impressively, we did this over WiFi 5, connecting to a 100Mbps Virgin home broadband.

We had intended to plug straight into the router over Ethernet to minimise latency at our end, but there really was no need.

We also connected over 4G, tethering the laptop to an iPhone, and while it felt a tiny bit laggy, it was still perfectly usable.

By tapping into the power of the P920, we were able to significantly accelerate some of our more demanding workflows.

In KeyShot, for example, it completed our render in 120 secs, significantly faster than the ThinkPad P1 (397 secs). We had a similar experience with the V-Ray NEXT benchmark with CPU rendering 3.28 times faster and GPU rendering 3.12 times faster.

With complex simulation, we would expect the potential gains to be much bigger, as the P920 can tap into so much memory.

Importantly, it also transformed our real-time 3D experience in Enscape, going from 2 FPS on the ThinkPad P1 up to a silky smooth 25 FPS on the ThinkStation P920, taking full advantage of the 16GB Quadro RTX 5000 GPU. This could be great for client presentations when high frame rates can make a real difference.

Optimising workflows between the two machines will require careful consideration, not least how to share data effectively. Copying data from the P1 to the P920 was slow, bottlenecked by the 10Mbps upload speed of our home connection.

Dropbox quickly become our preferred solution.

Overall, the ThinkStation P920 with TGX software is an interesting way to address workflows with different hardware demands. You could give designers lightweight laptops for everyday CAD work, then on-demand access to vast GPU and multithreaded CPU resources as and when workflows dictate. Resources can also be shared by teams, to make things more costeffective, and software brokers used to manage access to large pools of machines.

Finally, multiple users can also connect to a single remote desktop for a collaborative session.

You only need to license the TGX software on the sender/host — the Receiver software is free.

Lenovo is currently offering a free 120-day trial of Mechdyne TGX Remote Workstation software.

■ lenovoremoteworkstations.com ■ mechdyne.com

www.AECmag.com

17/09/2020 12:32

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