International base app and new distribution method needed

[Christiaan]

With the U.S. dollar plummeting and U.S. exports becoming more lucrative I thought it might be a good time to reiterate this idea.

A fundamental problem I've found with Vectorworks over the years is the way it is produced and distributed; my understanding is that NNA produces Vectorworks for the U.S. market and then distributes this directly to U.S. customers and to international vendors who then distribute that app with localised content and changes, if you?re lucky.

The problem here is two-fold: one, international customers effectively subsidise the U.S.-centric content and, two, they end up with an app that contains within it a lot of decisions and content derived from thinking about U.S. customers, resulting in tools and content for international customers that are sometimes unintuitive or worse, that just don?t work.

We may live in an increasingly globalised world but if there's an industry that should understand the importance of one's local environment it is the architectural industry.

At the moment it seems NNA is heading down a road of including everything and the kitchen sink. "Flexibility" I think I've heard it called. While this helps in the short term it doesn't seem like a good long term solution to me, unless they're going to build localisation into the app's preferences. But this could end up being a beast.

The obvious answer, in my mind, is to change the way NNA is set up so that instead of producing Vectorworks directly for the U.S. market and distributing the result to international vendors, they produce a base application that is country neutral, while still including as many tools and as much usable content as possible out of the box, and all optimised as much as possible to be extendable and configurable (for example, to the point of being able to change the terminology used for window parts, etc.).

At this point NNA can do a few things:

1. Maybe retail this base app internationally and in the U.S. (as the new "Fundamentals"?), or maybe better not to (it may compromise neutrality), I don't know.

2. Pass it over to a new division within NNA that does localisation and distribution for the U.S. market.

3. Distribute it to international vendors who are able to localise it, working closely with those vendors to keep the base app as usable and neutral as possible.

4. Where international vendors exist that do not do localisation or only to a limited extent, NNA passes it onto yet another division within NNA that deals with localisation for international markets, before passing it onto the vendor (e.g. the UK).

[Christiaan]

I didn't really touch on this in my first post but I see this issue as crucial to NNA's BIM strategy.

We have to stick strictly to 2D in our office, which limits one's ability to move to BIM in a lot of ways. The reason we need to stick to 2D is because 2D is the only method that provides us the flexibility to present things in the way we need to present them.

The 3D parametric tools in VW don't provide this flexibility, so any small deviation from what we need to present means the tool becomes totally unusable.

I might be wrong about this being a systemic problem relating to distribution methods but what I'm not wrong about is that there is a problem with the inflexibility of parametric tools in VW in dealing with local conditions.

[Pat Stanford]

Maybe I should stay out of this, but here goes.

I think a lot of you are stuck on the Model part of BIM when the important part is the Information part of it.

If you are using the worksheet/database part of VW to help you generate schedules, then you are doing BIM, even if you are only working in 2D.

If you don't like the way the doors and windows work in VW, you can draw your own symbols and attach the door/window records to them so you can still use the worksheets.

Or you can insert the doors/windows and then in the settings tell them to "Use Symbol Geometry" so you will have a door/window that can look exactly the way you want it.

It is not necessary to do a total 3D model of every aspect to qualify as using BIM.

Posted by a non-architect/AEC person who has spent a lot a time discussing this with lots of people.

Pat

But it is possible that BIM is not right for you. Or that VW does not work the way you need it to. In that case, you should explore the other options and see if they wil work better for you. And do a better job of explaining exactly what you do need VW to do to make your job easier.

Edited October 16, 2008 by Pat Stanford

[Christiaan]

Pat, I know as well as the next person that 3D doesn't equal BIM but the fact of the matter is BIM ideally utilises 3D dynamic modelling to increase how productive one is with BIM, especially with regard to building geometry.

What I was trying to point out in my last post is that NNA has a problem marketing its software as a 3D BIM solution when the majority of the 3D parametric tools that ship with VW don't allow for local conditions.

[Christiaan]

Mike Moore has emailed me to say that the current model for plug-in localisation is fine and dandy, which is:

? Rely on distributors to rewrite entire plug-ins, in the process discarding the default plug-ins that come with VW, and paying through the teeth for it.

What I think is a better model:

? Write reasonably internationally usable plug-ins to start with, that are optimised to be modified and extended by either NNA or distributors.

Why reinvent the wheel when all you need to do is tweak a few things?

[panta rhei]

3. Distribute it to international vendors who are able to localise it, working closely with those vendors to keep the base app as usable and neutral as possible.

4. Where international vendors exist that do not do localisation or only to a limited extent, NNA passes it onto yet another division within NNA that deals with localisation for international markets, before passing it onto the vendor (e.g. the UK).

Spot on.