CADENCE AEC Tech News # 22 (March 17, 2000)

Bricsnet Architecturals is released 

Now available for downloading, and available on CD, the super powerful architectural design software that created so much stir at A/E/C SYSTEMS last year when they teased us with it while it was still in development, is finally here. The current version makes use of Bricsnet IntelliCAD2000 as a core, though actually, when using bricsnet architecturals, you are choosing architectural elements such as walls, doors, etc. The software is sold complete, so you do not need to own IntelliCAD first, and if you do already have any version of IntelliCAD, the bricsnet architecturals will replace it. The versions of bricsnet architecturals that run on top of AutoCAD 14 and AutoCAD 2000 are due out this summer at A/E/C SYSTEMS.

A huge plus for the software is that anyone familiar with either AutoCAD or IntelliCAD already knows most of this program. All the drafting, editing, layers, paperspace layouts use those same standard commands and methods. Where this software takes off as not only a huge timesaver but also as a real architectural design tool is in architecture building components and artificial intelligence. Even more remarkable is that the software is available, complete, for less than $1000, and also is available on an annual subscription basis for a small fraction of that.

For years, architects with AutoCAD have been wishing they could make that leap from 2D CADD drafting to the 3D CADD architecturally smart building model approach (where plans, sections, elevations, and details get generated automatically) without disrupting their whole office (by switching to software other than AutoCAD) and now here with bricsnet architecturals there is a very good way of making that transition.

The software uses a system of organization called Styles, which automatically keep track of how the building is presented on screen and on paper, showing different floor stories, showing proper sections, rendering perspectives, and displaying construction documents as well as presentation drawings. Built into the software is even an ability to automatically post the drawings, if desired, on an architect controlled project web site on the bricsnet Project Center extranet service.

The architectural smarts of the software is impressive. Once a designer designates any given control surface, such as a roof (which can have complex curves if desired) to affect any given element, such as a wall (or a floor or even another roof) it will automatically adjust everything in all drawings any time something is moved or stretched. As an example of this, Kevin Garry, moved and rotated a complex wall in a building already finished with all the notation, related sections, dimensions and everything, and dynamically on the screen every related drawing and perspective automatically updated, perfectly coordinated. The implication of this for the AutoCAD world of architects is huge.

A significant difference of bricsnet architecturals with many of the other architecturally smart CADD softwares available is that designers can also do sloped and curved walls (and frames) in complex ways, giving a design flexibility usually seen only in freeform solid modelers (such as FormZ). This particular flexibility, as well as the extraordinary project management features, should help the Bricsnet Architecturals Team in the upcoming Designers 3D CAD Shootout demonstrate that this new software is now a premiere architectural CADD design software.