BIMES Highlights of 2012!

2012 was really a good year for BIM! Espeacially in the Middle East.

For me the main BIMES highlights were:

1. ArchiCAD was selected as the BIM Product of the Year and Product of the Year.
2. BIMx was selected as the Mobile Product of the Year.
3. BIMES provided BIM Services to the projects that has total project cost of 1.280.000.000 USD.
4. Two projects from the Middle East are used in the ArchiCAD 16 installers!
5. BIMES BIM Blog has been visited 52,927 times.
6. BIMES Facebook Page reached to 729 likes. (We need to work on this)
7. BIMES YouTube Chanel has been viewed 35,809 times.
8. BIMES has been appointed as BIM Consultant by 2 Project Owners. (First one is the Al Mohanna Holding. I am not allowed to use the second' ones name in our marketing.)
9. BIMES Cairo office hired 10 new BIM Engineers!
10. VICO was acquired by Trimble.

We wish you a happy and more successful new year!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

BIM Assessments

A couple of days ago I found a website that does BIM Assessments.

http://www.bimexcellence.net/assess/192/take/20

Initially it looked very interesting because the tests are under different categories. For example You can check your BIM Level as an individual or as an organization.

You can also check your BIM skills on different categories. For instance you can be technically strong but what about Administration?

So I started with Administration.

It's soooo long. Question after question and since I have not seen any indication of duration or total number of question (I am not sure if there is any), I got really irritated and couldn't finish.

But otherwise, the questions are good. They make you realize all different aspects that you need to consider and develop your skills.

They have a nice dictionary with a quick search engine as well.

I advise this test to all the seniors who are involved with BIM somehow.

Have a great day!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Perfect BIM Engineer

Perfect BIM Engineer!

This is what many companies are expecting form me as the Xmas or New Year's gift.

Let me be more specific about what they want.

An engineer who

• understands BIM process very well
• has experience with large international firms
• knows ArchiCAD, MEP Modeler, Tekla, Vico, CADmep inside out
• is a good architect, engineer, planner, estimator, manager
• with good communication skills
• ready to start working with them immediately
• has a reasonable package expectation

Well, this would be a challenging gift even for the Santa Claus because such person does not exist.

Image courtesy of Feelart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A person can know all the mentioned softwares but he will not be an expert on all of them.

He might be a good architect but he will not be planner and estimator at the same time.

If a miracle happens and he has all the skills, then he will be very busy and won't be able to start with your project immediately.

If a super-duper miracle happens and an engineer with all those qualifications is ready to start immediately then you should prepare your budget accordingly. He will not come with a regular cost.

But it is nice to believe in miracles:) It gives you hope:))

Enjoy your holiday!
PS: I know all of you are on holiday and I am the only one working;(

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com



asas

EcoDesigner Online Seminar, 29 January 2013

We all know both BIM and Sustainability are the super hot topics at the moment.

Now, think of a seminar you spend only one hour and learn about both! Very efficient, isn't it? :))

EcoDesigner Online Seminar!

Graphisoft will present EcoDesigner Star building Energy Modeling Solution. (Please notice it is not "EcoDesigner". It is his big brother "EcoDesigner Star". )

EcoDesigner Star enables architects to use ArchiCAD's building information model (BIM) directly as a building energy model (BEM). This ensures streamlined collaboration between designers and energy consultants. Furthermore, EcoDesigner Star offers standard-compliant energy analyses on the BEM and produces a detailed building performance report, all within the familiar ArchiCAD design environment.

Here comes a "funny" teaser.

The seminar will be on the 29 January 2013, Tuesday at
17:00 - 18:00 Dubai Time
16:00 - 17:00 Kuwait, Jeddah, Doha Time
16:00 - 16:00 Cairo Time

You can register from here.

Have a great day!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

ArchiCAD Video Series - Wall Tool

Have you ever watched BIM software videos and did not learn anything?

It happens to me very often.

I hope to see a video that explains how that tools works but ending up watching a super marketing demo.

It is nice if you are new to BIM and trying to understand the benefits in general but if you are experienced it feels like watching FOX KIDS.

Most of the time, I search youtube for technical videos that explains the capabilities of the softare or a specific tool in that software.

Well, when it comes to this, Graphisoft is the best!

They are very transparent and crazy about sharing information.

If you agree with me, you will love the new ArchiCAD Video Series. They started with Wall Tool! 3 videos explaining the Wall Tool inside out.

Wall Tool 01/03 ArchiCAD Video Series

 Wall Tool 02/03 ArchiCAD Video Series

Wall Tool 03/03 ArchiCAD Video Series

BIM Forum at Heriot Watt University

I attended a BIM Forum at Heriot Watt University, Dubai Campus few weeks ago.

Let me start conveying my experience from the very beginning.

How I went there?

Well, the campus is located in Dubai Academic City area. An amazing location for universities. It's very easy to go there.

Image courtesy of bplanet / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Start driving on Emirates Road... Once you feel like you are completely lost and you will die soon and nobody will find even your body in the desert, it means you are few kilometers away from the Academic City:))

Taking this trip at night will increase the "thriller" effect with the help of dim street lights. The only missing item was the music however I handled it with the help of my GPS. My dear friend GPS lady constantly signed the song of "recalculating" which absulately worked much better than any other thriller music.

Here I have to admit, I don't have the best sense of direction:)) So there might be some exaggeration on the sentences above:)))

Anyway, after getting lost 38 times, I found the campus.

Let me share the agenda with you.

All the presentations were quite nice and informative but Dr. Ahmet Citipitioglu's and David J. Carey's really caught my attention.

Dr. Ahmet Citipitioglu is the structural design coordinator for TAV. Well Here I need to open a paranthesis and give more information about TAV. It's a Turkish company focusing mainly on Airport Project. They not only built but also operate. For instance, Ataturk Airport (Istanbul) is currently being operated by TAV and works like a perfect machine. They have recently been awarded the Abu Dhabi Airport Project which is "the project" of the region. TAV is in JV with CCC and Arabtec in this project. Himm, I think it's enough of information for now and I can close the parenthesis now:) 

Dr. Ahmet Citipitioglu, Structural Design Coordinator, TAV

 

Dr. Ahmet's presentation was mainly about their strategy on managing the BIM aspect of the airport project. The most striking figure was the BIM Budget. 

25 Million USD! Initial team of 30!

This is the biggest BIM budget I heard so far. I would love to see another presentation upon completing the project:)

David J. Carey, General Manager, National Services and Facilities Management LLC

The next one is David J. Carey. He is the GM of an FM company called National Services and Facilities Management LLC and as you can imagine his presentation was about BIM and IFM (Integrated FM). When his kids used to ask him what does he do, his answer was "he takes care of buildings":)) Quite a clear answer I believe. Leaves no question marks:))

Why I liked his presentation?

1. His presentation skills! He has the "cool" accent and has an interesting sense of humor. Although he makes quite though statements, you can't stop laughing. So it was a fun to listen presentation.
2. He knows his stuff! He has a vast experience of FM and communicates it in a very simple way even people like me who are not very familiar with FM can understand very well.

He also gave some interesting figures. For instance, currently the FM industry alone in the GCC is 6 Billion USD. 4 years ago it was 12 Billion USD!

What does he think about BIM?

Well, he is happy to see that BIM gives a much better platform to architects for visualizing the possible problems their design can cause for FM. Plus, he also likes the idea of storing all the information in a central database like BIM.

So overall, it was a nice conference.

Have a great day!

Diyane Koseoglu

www.bimes.com

3D is the way to go but what about 2D?

Do you remember ArchiCAD 11?

It was the version, which was focused mainly on 2D related new features.

I can remember the big debates just after the release. Some users were so upset and they felt incredibly betrayed.

Their point was, 3D is the way to go and Graphisoft should not spent time on developing the 2D features.

Well, I did not agree with them at that time and I do not agree with them today as well.

I agree with the "3D is the way to go part" but I do not agree with the rest. Here are my reasons:

Image from bdcnetwork

1- 2D is still the main form of communicating project information. Yes, we all saw these fancy pictures of site engineers playing with models using iPads. But let's be honest, it's not their main media. They still use 2D drawings and the model is just a supportive document. Will this change? Yes, but I don't know when...

2- We always need 2D input even while creating 3D Models. For instance we define the cross section of a complex profile in 2D. So it becomes very important for us how good is our modeling tool's 2D capabilities. Do we have enough methods to define an arc or a spline?

3- Clash detection is mostly considered as a coordination process between MEP and other disciplines. We all know why. MEP is usually the troublemaker of the project:) In this case, many BIM beginers believes clash detection should be in 3D. Not entirely! ArchiCAD 11's Trace Reference (a developed version of Ghost Story) has a vital role in our business. When we coordinate a project, we also check Architecture vs Architecture and Structure vs Structure by using trace reference. We compare the section generated from  our model to the design drawings etc. Believe me we normally find 10s of discrepancies within the same discipline drawings. This would not be possible with tools that provide only 3D Clash Detection Tools!

Please do not get me wrong! I am absolutely in love with the latest developments in ArchiCAD. Morph Tool saved our lives in one of our recent projects:)) I am just saying let's not ignore the relaity of 2D:))

Have a fabulous day!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

ArchiCAD - BIM Product of the Year and Product of the Year

Today I have very good news!

ArchiCAD got Product of the Year and BIM Product of the Year awards at Construction Computing Awards, The Hammers.


Don't think this is it!

BIMx got Mobile Product of the Year award!

Very cool, hey:))

Curious ones can read further details below...

                                                                                                         November 27, 2012

ArchiCAD 16 is Product of the Year in the UK

BUDAPEST, November 27, 2012 – GRAPHISOFT, the leading Building Information Modeling (BIM) software developer for architects, is proud to announce that ArchiCAD 16 has won three prestigious awards at the seventh annual Construction Computing Magazine Awards in the UK.

Affectionately known as ‘The Hammers,’ the Construction Computing Awards showcase and reward the technology, tools and solutions for the effective design, construction, maintenance, and modification of commercial buildings, residential and social housing and civil engineering projects of all sizes.  In addition to the main category of Product of the Year, GRAPHISOFT also took home awards in 2012 for BIM Product of the Year for ArchiCAD 16, and Mobile Product of the Year for BIMx; the company was also runner up for the Environmental Project of the Year involving EuroBuild and their M-Labs project.

About ArchiCAD

ArchiCAD 16, the latest version of GRAPHISOFT’s award-winning design software for architects, introduces a comprehensive ecosystem of solutions to ease the creation, sharing, and finding of custom BIM Components. Built-in Energy Evaluation turns ArchiCAD 16 into the “greenest” BIM solution available on the market today.

About BIMx

BIMx is an interactive environment that allows users to explore full BIM models without holding a license of the professional authoring software in which the building model was originally created. With BIMx, ArchiCAD users have been able to publish self-running BIMx models for their clients to run on desktop computers (Win/Mac); on iOS and Android devices, BIMx puts BIM into the hands of all stakeholders not actively involved in the actual creation of the BIM model such as contractors, builders, clients, owners, and principals of design practices as well.

About GRAPHISOFT

GRAPHISOFT® ignited the BIM revolution with ArchiCAD®, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as the revolutionary GRAPHISOFT BIM Server™, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment, and the GRAPHISOFT EcoDesigner™, the world's first fully integrated building energy modeling application. GRAPHISOFT’s innovative solutions have fundamentally changed the way architects around the world design and collaborate.  GRAPHISOFT has been a part of the Nemetschek Group since its acquisition in 2007.

BIMES Training Schedule Dec 2012 - January 2013

We have been quite busy since April and really did not have chance to conduct classroom trainings.

But no worries!

Some new ArchiCAD and VICO trainings have been scheduled for December and January. The details are below.

If you are interested in any of them, please kindly click "Register" link to submit your details to us. We will contact you to verify your information and complete the registration. By the way, trainings will be conducted in Dubai!

Code	Name	Registration	Duration	Schedule	Price	Advised Prerequisite
BIM001	ArchiCAD BIM Essentials Training	Register	3 Days	2, 3, 5 January	3000 AED / per person	None
BIM002	ArchiCAD BIM Advanced Documentation Training	Register	1 Day	6 January	1000 AED / per person	BIM001
BIM003	ArchiCAD BIM Advanced Modeling Training	Register	2 Days	7, 8 January	2000 AED / per person	BIM001
BIM004	ArchiCAD BIM Advanced Quantity Take-off Training	Register	1 Day	9 January	1000 AED / per person	BIM001
BIM005	ArchiCAD BIM Advanced Collaboration Training	Register	1 Day	10 January	1000 AED / per person	BIM001
BIM006	5D BIM VICO Essentials Training	Register	1 Day	13 December	1500 AED / per person	BIM001
BIM007	5D BIM VICO Cost Planning Training	Register	2 Days	20, 27 December	3000 AED / per person	BIM001, BIM006
BIM008	BIM VICO Schedule Planning Training	Register	1 Day	29 December	1500 AED / per person	BIM001, BIM006, BIM007

Have a fabulous day!


Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Cadimage Electrical

Have you heard of the new Cadimage Electrical Tool?

It comes with a library of Power Points, Switches, Jacks etc.

Once installed and loaded, makes the life pretty simple. While placing electrical symbols, you need to set the elevation only, they will automatically rotate and position themselves according to the wall.

I liked the solution for the circuits more! Just select all the elements you want to wire up, and then with the click of one button, Cadimage Electrical automatically draws in the wiring for you.

Curious? Then watch the video here!

Color Elevations and Details in ArchiCAD / Shoegnome

I normally get very very bored of technical posts without videos. Especially if they are documentation related.

However I loved Jared's recent post on colored elevations and details.

Image from Shoegnome

Much faster and easier to understand, isn't it?

Yes, you need to leave your habits and play with your pen-sets. I know setting up the pen-sets again sounds like a lot of work, but not really. He suggests a new system to manage your documentation. I also think it's a very good approach. Here, you can read from his own words:

"Each material type has pen numbers assigned to it. So all concrete has a designated foreground and background pen number. Same with wood, metal, insulation, etc. This logic of material type (not ArchiCAD element type) having corresponding pen numbers allows two things. The first, which we’ll talk about another time, is to change any fill pattern between empty, solid, and a specific vectorial hatch. The second is to switch between specific colors and black and white. Most of us have been using a variant of this trick since ArchiCAD 10: drafting in color, but having a printing Pen Set that is mostly black and white. It’s easy to make the mental leap to a Pen Set that allows you to produce quality black and white details, and also toggle on colors for increased legibility when necessary. This is not an either/or proposition. I think it’s important to develop your details to function in both color and black and white."

Want to read the rest of his post? Here you go!

Have a fabulous day!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Vico Office 4 Trailer - BIM for Construction

When we go to movies with my husband we have a big dilemma!

To get Banana - Nutella Crep or to watch the trailers they show prior to the movie.

These creps at the movies are so good that we have to wait 20-30 minutes in the queue. If we couldn't manage our time well and have only 10 minutes to the movie, we have to make the big, harsh decision!

Crep or Trailer!

My husband is usually more inclined to crep but me... Ohh I love the trailer more than the movies usually:)) They show you the best stuff within 2-3 minutes. Very efficient, isn't it:)

Anyway, VICO recently released the trailer for VICO Office 4 and it is as exciting as movie trailers! (No, there are no visual effects etc but the content is cool:))

Here are my highlights about VICO Office 4 Trailer:

1- In VICO, we were able to store several different models of the same project however no 2D documents. With VICO 4, you can use it as a data container for both 2D, 3D, 4D and 5D.

2 - Do you remember the post which Jothi showed a trick to make 2D DWG files visible in 3D? Well, you do not need it any more if you use VICO Office 4. It allows you to bring in 2D documents (plans, sections, elevations etc) and compare it with the model cut from the same plane in a hybrid 2D / 3D view. I loved this! It's brilliant!

1.  
   
   
   3 - ArchiCAD's slider is one of the most important tools for us. When it comes to checking the collisions within the same discipline such as ARCH-ARCH, it is the best tool ever. Now it's available in VICO too! And as a bonus you can add clouds too:)
    
   
   
   4- I can hear you saying "What is so special introducing a feature in VICO that ArchiCAD already has?". Well, they further developed it! You can use the slider to compare 2 models. Fantastic!
   
   
   
    
   Highlighting the changes in 3D Models and adding clouds in 3D are other bonuses!
   
    
   
   
   These clouds can be reported with comments. VICO supports a collaborative resolution process. You can use it in the meetings as a discussion board and eventually it will be the minutes of the meeting! We have just spend 3 days to write the minutes a 3 days meeting:)) I really wish VICO Office 4 was released last month:))
   
   
    
   
   
   5 - Estimators! You no longer need to hate BIM! You can use VICO to manually take the quantities from 2D Drawings if you are in hurry and no time for modeling.
   
   
    
   
   
   You can even get the quantities of the wall panels that haven't been modeled in 3D!
   
   Curious about the other new features regarding to Schedule Planning, Cost Planning and Server? Here comes the trailer!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   If your company is interested in further developing their BIM Skills with VICO, we can help you with VICO Office Structured Evaluation Program. It is a 30 days program that allows you to fully explore the software and the process with the help of our support and training. Interested? Please contact us at vico@bimes.com
   
   
   PS: Regarding to the crep vs trailer dilemma, we usually end up watching the trailers and eating the crep after the movie:)
   
   
   Have a fabulous day!
   
   
   Diyane Koseoglu
   www.bimes.com
   
   

ArchiCAD's Zone Tool for your sophisticated BIM needs

As you know, I am a big fan of the BIM Guru, Zolna Murray.

I even have a signed copy of her book and I feel very cool about it :)

She has a new blog post which I loved. She managed to explain the real "value" of the Zone Tool very well.

I have always been aware of the hidden gems in the Zone Tool but whenever I tried to explain it to someone else, I failed.

Here is the a trailer from the post:

The mighty zone tool – poetry in BIM-ming 

I’ve been besotted by ArchiCAD’s ‘zone tool’ lately.

I had not always been a fan of it, early in my career, seriously disliked it even, mainly because of its ugly, big zone-stamp.

That was when I was still working and thinking as an ‘architect’ and the aesthetics of the drawings I produced were high in life’s priorities.

Have grown out of that stage, thank’ goodness and amongst other more crucial things in life, I rediscovered the ‘zone tool’.

Sadly, the stamp is still pretty unattractive, yet the tool behind it is pure magic.

Not only can you use it for dynamic space planning with instantaneous monetary feedback on design decisions, it is a de facto massing tool too, you can track your shapes in 3D.

And not just boxes, but almost any shape, cut and trimmed to suit perfectly.

Should try it out, sometimes!

Other programs have ‘room’ tools, area calculators or slabs for massing.

Virtual clay to carve your virtual buildings out.

Yet, there is so much more to this (so poorly named) ‘zone tool’.

It sits somewhere between the real and the imagined – tangible and abstract even in the digital worlds of fuzzy reality.

It treats the user as an adult professional with sophisticated needs. 

Click here to read the full post 

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Have a great day!

Diyane Koseoglu

www.bimes.com

How to show window casing details in interactive schedules?

Good Morning!

Today we have a technical tip. How to show window casing details in interactive schedules?

The solution requires some GDL but don't get scared. Nothing major. You will just place some "!"s in the script:))

Enjoy the 10 minutes video!

Jothi Shanmugam
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Pilot Project Selection for BIM Implementation

A very important decision...

Which project to start using BIM?

There are many different approaches...

1- Complex Projects
Some says they need to select a complex project (usually hospital) to get maximum ROI on the BIM Implementation. These people usually think that BIM Implementation is very costly and the project must have a high budget to accommodate it.

I find this approach very risky actually. Complex projects requires very strong skillful and experienced BIM users. Reaching to that level might take longer than expected.

I have seen two cases of this scenario. One of them succeeded however the second one failed.

2- Medium Projects
Most vendors recommends medium size and complexity of projects to be selected as pilot project. I think it makes sense. Lower implementation costs, less stress and higher probability of success.

Interesting but not many people prefers this option. I am not sure why? Maybe they just don't get a medium size project when they plan to implement BIM:)

3-Small Projects
I like this option too. Easy to implement and success is almost guaranteed. Many people believes ROI on small projects are very low so it does not worth to do it in BIM.

I don't agree with this at all. ROI % will be same as it requires less investment.

I wrote about the pilot projects earlier. Why I am bringing it up again?

Well, I had a meeting with a large contractor recently and they told me that they made their decision to go with BIM and selected the pilot project.

I was about to think "Here you go, another landmark project!"

But NO!

A simple, modest building! Perfect for pilot project! More importantly they understand the challenges very well. Instead of being a Don Quixote, they are approaching it with a very down to earth manner.

I am pretty sure that they will suceed:)

Have a great long weekend!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

What is BIM and What is not BIM?

As you know we have been working as BIM Consultant for some developers and project owners. All of them are prestigious names in the market and almost everyone involved in the project are internationally well-known. I mean they are all BIG BOYS!

When we are all around one table, we are having quite interesting discussions. An in my opinion, the most interesting one is defining what is BIM and what is not!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To me BIM Stands for Building Information Modeling and the "I" is the most important letter when you are interested in the complete life cycle of the project.

Why?

Very easy and simple!

 Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You are designing a building so you defined the geometry. Next step will be documenting it, right? So the model has to have information that will help contractor to built it. Contractor should add more information to manage his construction efficiently. Time and cost data should be added at this stage.

The above are the butter and bread of the construction work.
But why an owner is interested in BIM?
What attracts an owner most?

According to IFMA, 75% of a building's life cycle cost is spent on operations and maintenance.

So for an owner, having an as-built model which can be used for Facilities Management is the most important thing.

Having said this, if your model is only "B M" and lacking the "I", then how can you use it for FM?

To sum up, please do not put a software into BIM category if it can not store construction information. Some tools are just for modeling and that's the reason they are developed for. 

I just summed up above but suddenly I remembered an old neighbor of us. Their son was absolutely in love with Excel. Actually he was crazy about it.

One day he was showing us why he is so impressed with Excel! He did some tricks in front of us and started to play a video in one of the cells.

Yes, that was interesting but in a very strange way.

Why would a developer spend time to make excel play videos!

That was the first question that came to my mind:)

Have a great day!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Auto Grid Height Adjustment

Are you tired of seeing the grid marker heads inside the columns and beams?

Well, I used to be!

Thanks to ArchiCAD 15 it is no longer an issue but we thought some of you may not know this little trick so Jothi prepared the video below:

Enjoy!

Jothi Shanmugam
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Build Qatar Live

Have you heard of these crazy competitions!

BIMers team up and they try to design and virtually collborate a project within 48 hours. Non-stop!

Image from BuildQatarLive

Well, in BIM industry it is pretty prestigious competition.

As a person who needs to sleep min 8 hours a day, I highly respect the every and each team member. Yes, not only the ones who win:)

This time the site is located in Qatar and teams from all over the world are invited! It will start on November 27th, Tuesday and will be completed on Thursday!

More information is available from here!

By the way, they are giving out some prizes as well. I think free software etc.

Come on... Register... You can do it:)

How to snap 2D Lines in 3D View? by Mahmoud Qenawi

Hi All,

I received a very nice comment to my previous post. It's from Mahmoud Qenawi.

I don't know him at all but I think I am missing a lot.

He sent me a video which is very very nice and smart. He basically developed Jothi's methods to make 2D Drawings visible in 3D.

Jothi's method is great for quickly importing DWG and compare the with the model in 3D however if you want to play in 3D, you can not snap to the line end etc.

Is it a big problem? No!

But it's a so cool to have that option too.

This is what Mahmoud Qenawi shows in the following video:

He basically takes Jothi method one step further and converts the drawing to Morhp so that we can see and snap to it in 3D View!

Very cool, isn't it?

Mahmoud,

We are waiting for more videos from you:))

Have a fabulous day!

Cheers,
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

BIM Checklist

Hi All,

I know it has been very long time since my last post and I am sorry about it. I was in Turkey for my sister's wedding and then a lot of business travels within GCC. I hardly found time to sleep during last month.

However I am back and ready with a new post.

The following is one of the most common questions I have encountered.

"Which BIM Software is the best?"

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Well the answer changes from person to person because all the BIM Softwares developed significantly during the last few years. They are all good but some of them are better. What makes some of them better is your requirements.

For instance you can do concrete modeling in ArchiCAD but if you want rebar then you have to send the model to Tekla. Or Graphisoft MEP Modeler is good for coordination however for Fabrication I would recommend CADmep+.

But really, I don't find it very analytic and scientific to ask this question to the vendors. I understand they are the ones who knows the products best but they don't know you.

 Image courtesy of Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If I were you, I would create a "BIM Checklist" containing the items that your company needs and give it to the vendors and let them fill. Then you just need to compare.

None of them will fulfill all the requirements but then you can assign priority to certain items.

A Contractor recently did this in the UAE and I think it was very smart of them.

I can hear you asking which software they selected:) Well, first of all  they are still evaluating. Secondly, even after evaluation that may not mean anything for your company since these evaluations can differ from project to project.

Himm! I talked so much and gave lots of advise. If I were you, I would say "Enough of talk, give us something useful."

And yes, I think this is what I should do:)

Here comes a draft checklist to help you creating yours:)

BIM CHECKLIST

1. Repository for all project related documents and models
2. Drawing version comparison
3. Model version comparison
4. Change management report for 2D drawings and 3D models
5. Integrated communication system
6. Ability to assign different access rights
7. Integrated RFI Management
8. Create Models from LOD 100 to LOD 500
9. Physical work area location breakdown structure and location systems. This should be done without effecting documentation.
10. Costs and quantities per location
11. Schedule comparison of baseline to actual to forecast
12. and more....

Good luck!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

10 ways to guarantee BIM failure!

First 9 of them are real case stories that led to failure. 10th has not yet but still very dangerous;)

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

1- Don't hire an experienced BIM Manager.

 

2- Don't train your team properly.

3- Find someone from your organization whose maximum interaction with latest technology is iPhone and make him BIM Manager.

4- Make sure that the above BIM Manager thinks that he knows all about BIM because he attended some seminars and read some case studies.

5- Don't get training and never ever run a small pilot project to fully understand the capabilities of the BIM Tool before making mass number of license. Instead, just rely on vendor's word.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 
6- See the BIM requirement chapter in the tender documents and say "oh well, we will think about it if we get the project".

7- Believe that there is only one "way" to succeed with BIM on each project.

 Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 
8- Believe that having a model only for coordination is BIM and you can produce shop drawing with the traditional method which has nothing to do with BIM. Further more claim this is much cheaper.

9- Prefer ideal workflows to realistic ones.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

10- Final and the most important one: Be arrogant to Diyane and irritate her although she is nice, kind and respectful towards you:)


Congratulations! You are ready to fail now:)))

Have a wonderful day without any failures!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com