The 2010 AEC products

Written by Martyn Day

Published Tue 12 May 2009

 
Let's cut to the chase. In a word the new version of AutoCAD is amazing;. This new version unlocks the potential of 3D design, parametric design and customisation for absolutely everyone. For so long now, AutoCAD has been the competent 2D design tool that has had 3D but really has missed out on the good stuff. Autodesk has taken a brave decision and has decided that AutoCAD should get many of the developments that have, until now, only been available in the higher-cost vertical applications like Revit and Inventor. However before getting too excited and ahead of myself, a pause and deep breath.

AutoCAD 2010 

As you probably know, AutoCAD 2010 is the foundation product for many Autodesk vertical products and so by default adds the core features mentioned here. AutoCAD 2010 has had 2,000 beta testers and some of the features were released to Subscription customers last year. To go with all the powerful new features, unfortunately, 2010 introduces a new DWG file format but there is a built-in ‘SaveAs’ function which allows users to save drawings to and from AutoCAD releases using previous DWG formats. In addition, the SaveAs AutoCAD Release 12 DXF command supports releases prior to AutoCAD 98.

The first thing you will notice is a simplified and intuitive  ribbon interface, which organises tools into tabs, which represent workflows such as creation, annotation and collaboration. Each tab contains a series of panels – a group of tools used to accomplish that part of the workflow. The ribbon is now consistent between most Autodesk programs and allows users to move between programs more smoothly.

Looking at 2D the most obvious enhancement is the introduction of parametrics. To the uninitiated, parametrics allow the user to apply persistent relationships between geometry; parallel lines remain parallel and concentric circles remain centered, all automatically. In AutoCAD 2010 these can be applied manually or automatically to any 2D geometry, with control over tolerances. As constraints are added, icons appear next to the lines giving immediate feedback to the user. Constraints can even be added through dimensions, and by editing the dimension, the drawing updates with the new length or angle. A management dialogue provides  a comprehensive way to see all the constraints in a drawing where all the values can be seen and edited. This is amazingly powerful stuff and will be incredibly useful to many users. 

PDF has been dramatically updated and now you can plot to PDF with much more control. AutoCAD 2010 supports higher resolutions, better font handling for true type fonts (making PDFs searchable). They can also now contain layer information and it’s even possible to attach a PDF as an underlay. To export to DWF or PDF there’s a combined dialogue for the selection of settings.

There are quite a few other improvements to the 2D feature set, like hatch editing and so it’s worth checking the product data sheet or getting a demonstration for your local dealer. However what’s more impressive in this release is just how much AutoCAD has had its 3D capability beefed up, almost out of all recognition.  

AutoCAD 2010 now offers surface freeform modelling. The 3D workspace has been updated and you can start a session from selecting from a range of primitives. Simply push/pull faces, edges, and vertices to model complex shapes, add smooth surfaces, and much more. It’s possible to interactively create any shape you want and it looks really fun and easy to use. The new modelling capabilities provide conceptual designers with something to stick their teeth into and blows away the modelling capabilities of products such as SketchUp.  

So what are you going to do once you have made a cool model? Well Autodesk has enabled AutoCAD 2010 to connect to a remote 3D Print service, so prototypes can be delivered to your door, or if you are advanced enough to have your own desktop prototyping machine, print it in 3D there and then.

AutoCAD LT 2010

The difference between LT and its big brother has been growing for a number of releases now. LT is most certainly a 2D workhorse. This time around, LT gets the following: the updated ribbon interface, the new DWG format with backwards capability, AutoCAD 2010’s PDF improvements and underlay capability, enhanced External Reference commands for in place Reference editing and clipping, more Block Attribute commands and Align Objects.    

AutoCAD Architecture

Formerly Architectural Desktop, AutoCAD Architecture has undergone a considerable realignment within the Autodesk AEC portfolio, specifically with regard to the growing Revit solutions and its exclusion from the world of Building Information Modelling (BIM). It has been noticeable that Revit has been getting many more of the new exciting 3D features, achieving greater product velocity than AutoCAD Architecture.

AutoCAD Architecture gets the great conceptual benefits of the new modelling and surfacing tools in the underlying AutoCAD, as well as all the other UI and 2D goodies. These certainly aren’t inconsequential but there are only a handful of enhancements flagged up for this release.   

Walls have seen some neat updates for drafting productivity. Trim and Extend have been joined by Fillet and Chamfer, providing more control in designing walls and end-caps as they will actually be constructed in the field.

There’s a new ‘Space Separator’ tool, allowing users to automatically divide spaces that are not bound by walls with plain AutoCAD linework. A new flip text position grip for AEC dimensions has been added, giving users additional control over the placement of text. There’s an improved stairs feature, allowing the inclusion of a distinct “ramp” type, which comes complete with its own display and annotation tags (Percentage Tag, Degree Tag and Numeric Tag).  

AutoCAD Architecture is interoperable with certain Autodesk products and third-party applications for specific needs, allowing for more effective collaboration with extended design teams. For instance, part files and assemblies from Autodesk Inventor can be exported to AutoCAD Architecture as MV Blocks, meaning that 2D and 3D views of the imported content is possible. Also when exporting designs via industry foundation class (IFC), relevant space boundary information is now attached for proper energy analysis for AutoCAD MEP software. 

AutoCAD MEP 2010

Talking of AutoCAD MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing), there’s been a range of drafting and coordination improvements. Workspaces are better tailored for tasks such as HVAC and piping systems in ready-made formats, which are also highly customisable. Gravity-based designs for sanitary drain, waste, vent and storm/sewer drainage systems can now be drawn more easily with the new sloped piping functionality. Pipe routing preferences have been expanded to include parts with male and female connections. 

Catalogue support has been enhanced, supporting individual catalogues for different material types, allowing for easier part selection. There’s also better migration of existing customised catalogues with tools to redefine the catalogue based content in existing drawings ; upgrade and add new parameters automatically. It’s also possible to import manufactured building components from Autodesk Inventor.

As you’d expect, new part content has been added and there have been enhancements to the content builder, allowing  users to create custom parametric parts with male, female or a combination of both connectors based on real-world piping requirements. Autodesk’s Seek web service has also be integrated, enabling designers to search a vast library of 2D and 3D building products and publish customised designs to the service. 

AutoCAD Civil 2010

On top of the 2010 AutoCAD enhancements, Civil gets some attention to its surveying and design components.A new ‘Intersection Design’ Wizard helps take the complexity out of modelling typical intersections and facilitates the creation of dynamic 3D intersection models, helping to automate the creation of intelligent intersections that can be updated more easily when the design changes. 

Survey data can be processed directly from the field without tedious translations or conversions and parcel generation offers a more streamlined workflow, based on frontage offset, minimum width, and minimum and maximum depths.  

Two new design tools have also been introduced: Alignment Offsets for synchronising offsets to the original alignment, and Alignment Masking for controlling alignment and label displays beyond the functionality of the alignment styles.   

Conclusion

We’re itching to get hold of AutoCAD 2010 and Revit to see if their conceptual design capabilities are  as good as the demos imply. 

The DWG change, which is understandable when you consider the amount of new technology that has been shoe-horned into AutoCAD 2010, may delay implementations on projects in process. Also there will be a 5% price increase, across the board, which is due to kick in very soon. It’s best to contact your dealer to get local information on how this may affect you.

There are many other products that have been updated, like NavisWorks 2010, which has seen a much better UI and a speed boost,and Design Review 2010, which now enables  all project participants to easily share and view documents - to name but two. We will come back next issue with more comprehensive reviews.

Revit 2010: First impressions. By Paul Woddy

I have been using Revit pretty much every day since release 2.1 and for the first time since those early days, I stare at the screen in confusion, wondering where to start.  It is not that a lot has changed in what the software does, or the principles of how it does it, and if you use keyboard shortcuts you should hardly miss a beat. The changes to the user interface (UI) have been threatened / promised for several years and have arrived with a bang so where the old interface felt like a pair of comfortable old carpet slippers, I now appear to be wearing a sparkly gold pair of Jimmy Choo’s.

Gone are the design bars down the left of the screen; gone are the toolbars across the top of the screen; no more the ever-present Type Selector pull-down and the Element Properties button. All my constants in life have evaporated!  In return we get Ribbons, in a move mirrored by most of the Autodesk product range.  The concept is not dissimilar to the old design bars in that commands are grouped by context; the difference here is that the whole screen adapts to the task in hand so that almost all available menu space is dedicated to the current operation. Sounds great, assuming that the boffins have correctly understood how our minds work when we operate Revit. Early signs show a strong logic to the grouping and it is obvious that the UI designers did not bear in mind any of the historical Revit influence on this one, but started with a blank sheet and some impressive ideas.

If you have used any of a myriad of applications including the MS Office 2007 tools then you will know that the Ribbons phenomenon is not unique, but I am guessing that some hefty ergonomics research has shown that it is more efficient.  Time, as always, will be the decider from a user perspective...

So here we are on paragraph four and we come to some new features at last. So the big headline I suppose would be that we have a new concept modelling notion within Revit, with some great improvements to the old Revit form creation and brand new tools; one or two ideas reminiscent of SketchUp, but others that probably have a genealogy based in the games and movie world rather than AEC design.  So far, I love it…

For the architects, we have a revised curtain walling toolset to sit alongside our new modelling forms, but in true beta fashion, the version I have got my hands on does not want to let me use them! From what I can understand, we have a new type of curtain wall panel which is classed as a Curtain Panel by Pattern, and which is available as a replacement to the standard panels, offering more flexibility.

On the MEP side of things, we have new tools for automatically identifying rooms within a floor-plan and improved extraction of room and zone data from the linked Revit Architecture models. Heating/cooling loads analysis and a much improved gbXML interface are also very smart. The ability in a single run to vary the fall of individual pipe runs is one of those quiet little features that are a blessing to the ears of many. The improved interaction with Inventor could prove very useful to the MEP crew as well the Architects, assuming we can keep control of the levels of geometry detail.

Structural fans get sloped columns at last and subscription customers also get the new connection features which are a great move towards producing a complete model. When used in conjunction with AutoCAD Structural Detailing (ASD) and better links with Robot Structural Analysis we have a very credible workflow incorporating 3D coordination models and 2D manufacturing details. I have not had chance yet to fully explore the bridge tools and the links to Civil 3D promised through the new adsk file exchange format, but I will get my teeth into those in the near future, so watch this space.

All-in-all, my first impression is fear of the unknown. My second impression is good; the new UI is different but no-one claimed the old UI was perfect, so as we get to grips with this, we should see worthwhile efficiency improvements. Under the skin, I really like the new modelling capabilities and can’t wait to investigate the small changes and improvements of the less exalted developments.