Much catching up to do....

[Christiaan]

David Light of HOK London writes:

I am excited to see BIM moving forward in the UK. It seems to have taken a long time for this topic to become a priority. When I first started using Revit, that was 2002, many firms were really not talking about BIM back then. In many cases it was more about generating a model for documentation, scheduling and visualisation, nothing more, nothing less.

Meanwhile, ten years later in Vectorworks land, many of us are only just starting to get round to "generating a [single] model for documentation, scheduling and visualisation" (and still many are not)...

[carefulsmelly]

Christiaan,

I would have to agree. Although may I put forward a question for discussion (with fear of being brought down by the VW police)

"VW has a long way to go before it can truly be considered a viable software solution for the BIM process."

[Christiaan]

In terms of collaborative BIM yes it probably does. But that's not a problem for us (yet). What is a problem is producing traditional 2D documentation, scheduling and 3D visualisation from a single 3D model... economically. At this I know VWA has a long way to go (to say the least), which is vaguely ironic given its 2D-only presentation credentials.

If I was steering the ship it's this aspect of VWA I would thrown huge resources at 10 years ago. I would have built on VWA's 2D-only presentation credentials and built a 3D CAD application with a reputation for producing best-in-class 2D documentation from a single 3D model. I would have put resources into collaborative BIM, of course, but not without establishing the above.

[Vincent C]

I agree 100% and this probably applies for its whole user base, not only architects.......

...a minor but completely incomprihensible example is (still) not being able to apply hatches to PIOs for use in Elevation VPs!?

Edited June 7, 2012 by Vincent C

[Christiaan]

I think it's time Sean Flaherty actually addressed this issue. Where are we going with VWA? What's the point of it? Why should we continue using it? Why should new people start using it? Now that Archicad has freeform modelling where does that leave the mantra that VWA is unique in its flexibility? If VWA is so flexible why is every day such a fight with the single model workflow?

Are there any reasons beyond the negative, such as having an existing usebase to service, or that it's cheaper?

Why should we stick around? Where are we going with VWA if we do? How are we going to compete with architects using Archicad and Revit?

[taoist]

Glad to hear stepping up by users on the Forum's of VW's need to correct the weak / missing issues.

VW is behind the curve in areas / tools we use (or try to) every day.

I would like to think they (VW) have been tryng to make themselves aware of what others in the Industry are doing.

After all, if one does not "keep up" you fall behind.

It is great we have 3D modeling ability, but we should not have to model everything we need, or the endless work arounds.

VW is not alone in this issue, but others (software) have made a much better effort with solutions.

Whether or not one uses BIM does not matter as that is where the industry is heading. Just makes sense. Drawings are not just lines and circles anymore, nor have they been for years. It is a waste of resources to have all this computing power and not utilize it.

Material takeoffs, energy analysis, sun studies, clash detection, code requirements, joist and rafter spans, lighting, glazing (R and U values) solar heat gain coefficient, R values to name a few, are all a small part of what we deal with on every project.

Like you and others, I wonder how well VW "listens" or does things from the end users prospective. End users are the ones that creates the sales. How many of us have been asking for years for tools / abilitites that still have not been met.

Enough of my babbling.

Do the best with what we have at the moment, but always keep an eye on what else is available.

Edited June 9, 2012 by taoist