Architectural software comes in many distinct types, prices, features, and quality. I won't talk about all of your options here, as there are positively dozens of distinct small, inexpensive programs available at your local software depot.
Instead, I will focus on the major players in the architectural software store for construct professionals. This will also be useful for beginner designers...especially those who may want to share (or pass-on) their files to an architect or engineer without having compatibility issues.
Autocad For Macintosh
Here are some of the most popular architectural software programs available, along with my comments, based on my 13 years of taste working with some of them. These programs are widely used in construct firms all over the nation, but can also be used by daily consumers, as well.
Key CAD Complete for Macintosh Best
Rate This Product :
Key CAD Complete for Macintosh Feature
- Design absolutely anything with engineered precision!
- Turn your MAC into a powerful design workstation or drafting tool!
- Has many features: modify, cut, copy, paste, skew, scale, radial & linear duplicate, inverse fillet, flip, chamfer & more!
- Free symbol libraries in PICT format! Over 470!
- Drawing, Desining and Viewing!
Key CAD Complete for Macintosh Overview
Until Key CAD Complete the power of CAD was for the techical elite. Because it took an engineer to master the complex commands and concepts required to use Computer Aided Design. No longer. Now there is Key CAD Complete, that puts high perforance CAD at anyone's fingertips.
Customer Reviews
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jan 20, 2012 03:53:26
- Microstation
- Archicad
- Chief Architect
- SketchUp
- AutoDesk Products, such as AutoCad, AutoCad Lt, Revit, Viz, 3ds Max, AutoSketch, Maya, and other plugins and add-ons.
Microstation
Many who are die-hard microstation users will fast point out that it is a much more garage platform to work with, as opposed to the commerce standard AutoCad. Many advise that it is much easier to deal with, and that the programmers did many things much more intelligently in their architectural software design, as it relates to user experience.
One glaring problem is this...
Even If microstation is a good agenda than AutoCad, it's still got some major flaws for the end user. The first and most important flaw, is the fact that it only comprises about 5-10% of the architectural software market. Therefore, if the software is not completely compatible in Both Directions, this poses workflow problems for our construct team...and yes, it has some serious compatibility issues with AutoCad.
No matter how much Microstation users want to deny it, there Are compatibility issus, especially if you use x-refs and images/Ole objects in your AutoCad drawings. When someone opens your AutoCad files in Microstation, often the x-ref's come to be unviewable, and the user will then need to taste the architect to whether "bind" his drawings into one drawing, or other similar method. Or, they will have to convert the drawings themselves. As an architect, this is not practical.
You can find more information about Bentley's Microstation on their website at http://www.bentley.com.
Archicad
Archicad is more of an all-around 2d/3d application that is intended to provide a total task output, together with modeling & rendering, as well as 2 dimensional construction documents. Changes made to the model are updated in all views, such as plans, elevations, 3d model, etc.
Archicad shop all the information about the construction in a central database; changes made in one view are updated in all others, together with floor plans, sections/elevations, 3D models and bills of material.
Although I do not personally have taste with Archicad, they are certainly making an impact in the architectural software industry, any way still only occupying a very small ration of the market. One thing I am not so sure about, is the particular database file structure.
My concern is that I need to be able to delegate distinct responsibilities to distinct team members, and if only one someone can be working on the file at a time, then this poses a major workflow problem. It is possible that Graphisoft (the makers of Archicad) has addressed this, you can find out more information about their goods on their website at http://www.graphisoft.com.
Chief Architect
Chief Architect is one of the leading software products for residential design. Since my business is 99.9% commercial, I cannot speak to it's effectiveness, but I do know they have marketed the goods well. The graphics are limited, with respect to the more costly competition, but it seems to provide a very standard output from that perspective.
I tried a demo about 12 years ago, and fast realized it's limitations in architectural software construct for commercial projects, so I have not pursued it for our construct purposes.
You can find more information here at their website... http://www.chiefarchitect.com.
SketchUp
SketchUp is becoming extremely popular and more well-known, especially now that Google has purchased the software rights. We use SketchUp often to carry construct ideas to our clients, as well as within our construct team.
It's ease of use, and ability to fast create 3-dimensional representations of construction design, make it a very useful piece of architectural software. It's rendering capabilities are limited, compared to 3ds Max, but the price tag is proportional. SketchUp will not break your bank account, whereas 3ds Max is only affordable if you are positively making some good money from your 3d modeling efforts
I extremely advise this product. You can get more information at http://www.sketchup.com.
AutoCad
AutoCad, by AutoDesk, is the standard by which all Cad software programs are compared...not because it's necessarily a good program, but because it occupies, by far, the most market-share for professionals than any other Cad software agenda available.
In fact, for the 13+ years that I've been using AutoCad (since version 10), only about 5% of our consultants or other construct professionals have used anything other than AutoCad, or other AutoDesk products. You can find a link to a large option of AutoDesk products at http://architecturalsoftware.jdlarchitects.com.
Now, of course, AutoDesk will tell you that this Is because their agenda is classic to the others. This may be the case, but you will get differing opinions from all sorts of designers, architects, and engineers. Many of the complaints, together with my own, are that AutoCad is not very user-friendly. This is certainly the case.
The agenda is so powerful, that it could take someone decades to scholar it's features. Often, it is so much easier to just use the features you know, than to keep digging into it's vast feature sets...you could positively spend all of your time trying to learn all of the programs features, but you would never get any real work done.
That being said, I have used AutoCad for 13+ years now, and if it is used correctly, with the allowable sheet setups and reference files, your workflow can be as productive as with any architectural software product.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, even if there are debatable issues about architectural software ability and user-friendliness, it just doesn't make sense to me, to use anything other than AutoDesk's products. I may not be enthused about it, but I have to ensure that my workflow is efficient. The unnecessary hoops to jump through when using Cad software that only 5% of the world is utilizing, is not practical.
I want my file structure to be maintained on my consultant's end, and since the construct process requires back-and-forth transferring of files throughout the process (sometimes dozens or even hundreds of times on large projects), it is obviously an unacceptable clarification if you have compatibility issues to deal with.
Yes, there are abundance of construct teams fighting their way through this process, but the problem is that their upper management, on the average, are not savvy sufficient to current software applications to care about "how" their output happens...they just care that it gets done. What they don't realize, is that if they implemented allowable workflow usage of architectural software, they could save positively hundreds of man-hours on each job.
Architectural Software - Auto Cad Software - What Are My Options?
0 comments:
Post a Comment