B7- Course Reflection - Vogler

AE 510 has increased my knowledge in Revit and in databases. I was able to learn what databases are and how to create and edit one.

Before the course, I had no knowledge on what a database was capable of, and now as I am leaving the course I can incorporate them in my professional future. At my current job, they do not have databases to store any information, and it would be extremely useful to introduce these as a way of organizing information we typically do not store anywhere, such as cost estimating.

I also learned how to make families in Revit, which has proven to be extremely useful. For senior design, we are creating a mussel hatchery, which involves having fish tanks in the laboratory. By knowing how to create a family, I was able to create and add the tanks that are specialized and wouldn’t be found in normal Revit databases. With this, our project increases in value, because this tank is what the entire room and building is based off of.

For my project, I wrote a paper on the value of BIM in existing buildings. From this, I learned a lot about different software that I didn’t know existed. One huge software I learned about is Vasari, which is capable of performing Building Energy analyses, and provide important information about what is using the most energy in the building. BIM has always been an interesting topic to me, and getting to learn more important information on it was extremely useful.

Being able to bring all of this knowledge to my professional life, now and after graduation, helps make me an important asset. Not many people in transportation engineering are exposed to this much digital building applications. I do not think it is seen as important for this type of design as it is for buildings, but it is still very fundamental to knowing what all software is capable of.

Group E: Reflection of the Class

When I originally signed up for AE 410, I expected it to be more about digital design and a focus on the programs like Revit. I did not expect to be talking about artificial intelligence or robots being used in construction, I had no idea that was being incorporated in the construction industry already. Being a Pre-Junior, I have not had much experience with these programs to start with, and after discovering what the class was actually about, I was worried I would not be able to understand the topics with my lack of experience. However, I was so interested in the topics that we have covered, I enjoyed learning about them and was glad that the class was altered based upon levels.

Taking this class was the best decision, as it has altered my view of my field greatly and changed the path I want to take. I still have to decide my concentration, and I’m glad I was able to take this course beforehand. It had shown me the different possibilities within my field and the many different directions I can take. This class has introduced me to new ideas about my future, and has me thinking about what I want to do in the future. I greatly enjoyed the database project, and I can see myself following a path that includes databases and artificial intelligence, which before this term I did not even know was possible in my field.

I thoroughly enjoyed taking the Intelligent Buildings course, Dr. Mitchell is a wonderful and I will miss having him as a teacher. I have learned a lot more than expected during this course and it has been a class I actually look forward to. Overalll this course has been one of the most useful classes I have taken so far with respects to my career.

COMMENTS:

Hayley Seldon: This also has been the only course that I’ve taken that relates to digital building. I’m so glad I decided to take this class, as I have learned so much and I feel like I have a step up over my peers as I know how the digital building is connected to the other parts of the industry and can make connections that they might not know are related. https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/03/selden-b6-course-reflection.html?showComment=1488853156533#c1203713663769843946

David Sanchez: I also learned a lot more than I expected during this class. When reading the course description, considering I had no experience with digital buildings, I expected it to be focused on revit and digital designing programs. But I found I was completely wrong, and have enjoyed this class even more than I expected. https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/03/introduction-last-october-i-was.html?showComment=1488853606590#c413557217024952988

B5 - Singh, Prahlad

Database systems play an important role in almost all parts of building design/construction industry. Databases have made it easier for designers and engineers to have direct access to the information that would help with multiple processes such as cost estimation, energy modelling, and etc. Direct benefits are noted in the reduction of construction costs. This is done with the application of computer analysis to the different forms of data compiled about the project. Specifically, in regard to construction, the biggest benefits come from rooting out scheduling conflicts. Databases in construction firms that are being used presently are mainly for their cost and scheduling purposes.

Database can be used when estimating the price per square foot of a specific type of building/residence. The database uses information and standards for different jobs and shows an average price that can be used to calculate how much your project would cost.

The biggest benefit of having database in construction is having a spreadsheet of all the materials and the schedule, this would be beneficial because the contractor or the project manager can keep track of the materials that arrived on the site and how much of it got used or how much got wasted. If utilized properly this could also aid the manager in ordering materials accordingly to reduce storage costs and wastage. Also, these systems will also allow for contractors to communicate intelligently with designers and other engineers in real-time instead of requesting a meeting to discuss the issues at length. Now changes or mark-ups can be made on models that are representative of the current progress of construction. These changes can be seen by designers and corresponding engineering teams that can make much more intelligent decisions about the design without the constraint of time and commuting.

By allowing many different individuals access to this information, including laborers, a greater understanding of the work can be attained as well as a greater level of analysis.

Comments to Others

Ronald: Your post was very informational. Prior to this I had no knowledge on the Relational Databases. The images were especially informative. SQL sounds very interesting and I would particularly like to understand them better.

Maria: After reading Ronald’s post I was particularly interested in SQL, your post gave me a better understanding regarding the topic. The example you provided really helped with the understanding of the language and its connectivity with data

Maissoun: Again, like the others your images and examples were particularly helpful in explaining the Relational Database Theory. I had one question though. If they relate existing data with each other, why do you say it is not efficient? Doesn’t the fact that it can relate to other data make it more helpful? 

Databases in Construction Firms

The use of databases is growing quickly in all industries, especially the construction industry. It helps the to manage big amounts of data, predict risk, and solve problems quicker and easier. Being able to handle big amounts of data, for multiple projects, the companies are able to focus more on the actual project instead of technical issues. Using certain programs, companies can use the data to predict risks of certain models or designs in advance. This data also helps with problem solving and finding quicker solutions [1].

The use of databases in the construction industry also creates an organizational memory (OM), which makes it easy to go back and gather information from the past. From past projects, parts, or companies [2]. It makes it easier to personalize the information, as each project has unique details and parts. For now, contractors still have challenges in creating database systems which are easy for them to use and learn, which if they can accomplish, gives them a competitive advantage [2]. A lot of construction companies are using web-based databases, such as WEB-CONS, making them low cost, simple requirements, less technical problems, and easier use. As more projects are added to the system, its function improves. Security of the information however, is a risk since it is in the hands of a third party.

I think that as contractors begin to become more accustomed to using databases, and the programs. It will allow the construction industry to advance more, and as it becomes a commodity throughout companies, it will open more opportunities for development and sharing of knowledge if necessary.

RESOURCES:

[1] http://www.constructionglobal.com/equipmentit/399/How-big-data-is-transforming-the-construction-industry

[2] http://ac.els-cdn.com/S187704281402134X/1-s2.0-S187704281402134X-main.pdf?_tid=9c5a9106-f0a7-11e6-847d-00000aacb361&acdnat=1486851515_5c08a7cfe1d1cd73cc2303c9afca46a3

COMMENTS:

Brandon Mengel: I’m really glad I read your post, I had never heard of SQL before. From what you described, SQL seems like it takes the data and picks out the most important aspects. Do you think, as AI is learning, that this is a form of it or could maybe develop into one in the future?

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/sql-post-brandon-mengel.html?showComment=1486853939631#c7904926464541190495

Ronald Herazo: I think you did a good job explaining the relational databases. You made it easy to understand the structure and how they relate. I would like to hear a little more about how these are actually used, as I am new to all of these programs.

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/assignment-b5-group-ronald-herazo.html?showComment=1486854699657#c3499004917947154031

Peter Dannemann: I like how you described object oriented databases.  As I am new to databases and to the programs we are using, it was easy to understand. Do you think that object oriented databases will have any important developments in the future that can help the database use?

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/b5-group-c-peter-dannemann.html?showComment=1486855116568#c4517642192082383874

B4-Individual Project-Yang

Project 

The project I chose is to create a database to support my senior design. In my senior design project, group wants to build a Net Zero Environment Education Center in Glen Fored Historical Park. To achieve the net zero goal, several different systems need to work together. And each system will contain several different kinds of equipment. It’s a huge work to collect the data, organize the data and analysis the data. Also, the database will help us to track the information we need very quick from great amount of information.

Why Chosen

I read a article about database. I remembered one sentence clearly “Personal computing changed America, the Internet changed the world, but Big Data is about to transform the world. Big Data will drive our technological development for the next hundred years.” The big data will help people make decision, innovate, or value products. When I design a building, I properly can’t make any decision without the research information support. Like if I didn’t search the yearly rainwater data, I can’t design the rainwater collection system. Because I feel like that the data is so important for the design, I want to go further to this topic. And I have issue right now to organize my senior design data. I choose to design a database to help me to collect, track and analysis the data.

Relation to IB

Database is a foundation to the intelligent building. All the smart systems in the intelligent building will have their database. For example, in my database, I will have the data of mechanical system and the data of sensors system. When the mechanical system receives the data from sensors system, it will adjust its work to change temperature or humidity or other related things.

Challenges

There are two biggest challenges for me to finish this project. One is the logic and another one is relationship. I need to have a clear and continued logic to create the database and write the codes because I have too much massive data. I am a little confused when I wrote the outline. Another one is the relationship. I should find the relationship between different systems to make them work together.

Sources

http://www.cringely.com/2016/07/05/thinking-big-data-part-one/

https://www.ibm.com/big-data/us/en/

Comments

Mridul: (https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/week-4-project-mridul-pareek.html) It’s so cool for you want to do the research about the Structural health monitoring which does the doctor thing for a building's health. It is a new technology that check and upload the information about the building's condition. I like your idea because most people think the intelligent building is only for the new building or the innovation. But few of people will pay attention about the existing building. I believe that the structure health monitoring will keep the building safety and increase the building life.

Paulina: (https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/) I like your project about the BIM and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) can be used to develop more sustainable projects. Both BIM and the sustainable architecture are the popular topics in the future. It is so good that you combine them and to do the research. You are right that construction generates the largest amount of waste, and represents the heaviest use of resources and energy compared to other industries. Using BIM and LCA might save the energy and resources.

Abdullatif: (https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/abdullatif-alkandari-b4-week4.html) The robotics and AI are very interesting topic. Also, I like your relation to intelligent building which maximize the efficiency of A.I. and robotics in construction sites as well as their roles in manufacturing building materials. I believe this topic will be a popular topic in the future.

  

B4 - Singh, Prahlad

My Project

I am planning on writing a paper regarding the future of droned construction in the field of Civil engineering. I am planning to look into the current state of the drones and how technology is improving and the direction in which it is heading and what we can hope to achieve in the coming years.

Why it was chosen

After reading one of the blog posts earlier in the term it really caught my curiosity and I wanted to research more into the topic. On reading some more into the topic I found it was very vast and there was a lot of scope for research within the field. Also with me planning on joining the construction field in some capacity, it will be directly involved with what I will be doing on the job in the future, thus it will help me get a better idea on what is yet to come.

Relation to Intelligent Buildings

Intelligent buildings as discussed in class are buildings that are self-sufficient. Drones will, in the future, be operated by AI and once the AI is capable of being fully self-sufficient the building process will be in essence intelligent. As the AI reach its peak we will be able to see buildings being produced from scratch by AI all the way through the construction phase and maybe even the interiors, but there is no saying on when this will be achieved by though.

Challenges

The challenges faced will be the fact of actually reaching the stage of a fully functional AI in term of creating and then constructing a structure without external help. Another challenge I can see is predicting a correct timeline for future inventions and when they will be fully integrated within the construction field.

Comments to others

Mridul: I find this is an interesting topic. Using wireless sensors this will help reduce the chance of injuries also while still providing a sound check up of the structure.

Ksara: I am really interested in your topic. To be honest I never really looked at it like this. It is an interesting notion that even while the two concepts overlap, there is a difference and that they do not in fact promotes the other.

Frank: I am too working on a similar project but the key difference in the papers is while I am focusing on the drones in particular you are looking at all the aspects of the automated construction. This will be interesting as it will provide a different viewpoint to the construction field. Looking forward to reading your paper

Group Project - Rachel Frank

Topic: Emerging Technologies in the Robotic Assembly and Construction of Buildings

I will be working with my partner, Maria Raggousis, to research the robotic technologies present and developing in the construction industry. We want to focus on three parts, the past, present, and future of the projects and technologies that are being or may be used in the future. We will look at the variations in the purposes of these robots. We will also look at who, what, and how these technologies are being developed. 

Why we chose this topic:I originally was interested in this topic because of the video we watched, and it made me realize how useful artificial intelligence is in the construction industry. I would like to learn more about how it is used, and the potential it has in the immediate future. We wanted to see what kinds of things may be possible in the immediate future, over the next few years. If this is something that may be used consistently in this industry, I'd like to learn more about it to have some  kind of backround when I am exposed to it in the workplace. 

How Its Related to Intelligent Buildings:

Intelligent buildings incorporate artificial intelligence into their systems. If robots with artificial intelligence are building the buildings, then it's possible that they can be connected eventually, and eventually might even be self sustaining through robotics. Robotics, especially on the inside of buildings where it is noticeable, it makes construction easier and possibly more accurate. 

Challenges:

I think one of the biggest challenges of this will be finding a ton of information on one area of robotics. I believe there are so many different ways that robotics are being used in the construction industry that it will be hard to narrow it down. Also, we want to stay close to the word limit, which may be hard. It will be a paper that we will have to develop as we find information. 

 Commments:

Taryn Francischetti: I think that you and your group's topic is very interesting. I had no idea that virtual reality could even be used on the job site. I am really looking forward to your presentation. I think the combination of the new technologies, like virtual reality and artificial intelligence will create an amazing environment for the construction industry once we can develop it enough to mesh together. 

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/taryn-francischetti-b4-project.html?showComment=1486446199355#c487212104620642636

David Sanchez: I believe your topic is very similar to ours, as we are doing robotics in the construction industry, which involves artificial intelligence. I agree that finding credible sources will be tough, but the fact that these are so recent is supportive of the quick development and relevance to the industry today. 

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/b4-sanchez-group-e.html?showComment=1486446725254#c8706319711343220453

Andy Dinh: I think this is a good project to see the capabilities of each program. Being new to both softwares, I am looking forward to your presentation and seeing what you an do with them. As I'm sure you have some experience with one or the other, I believe this will be a good opportunity to learn furthur each program and gain more experience and master them. 

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/b3-andy-dinh-term-project.html?showComment=1486446924080#c8395191475336242606

B4 - Vogler - Term project - Group E

Why it was chosen

I chose to do my project on the use of Building Information Modeling throughout the lifecycle of a building. Ever since I learned about BIM and how to use a few of the programs, all I have wanted to do was learn more and more about it. Computer technology is extremely important to me, as I plan on going into design engineering. I want to learn more about how they advance past what I will be doing, and be able to teach others how they can use it.

How it relates to Intelligent Buildings

Intelligent buildings is showing the use of building models, not just in design, but everything. This is important because the use of BIM can be extremely helpful to more than just the design of a building.Showing how this model can be used in construction and use of the building can prove that the cost to train designers on the new software is not a waste. With showing the ways a model can be used, I believe more companies will begin using BIM.

Challenges

This will be challenging to get into the details of the programs, but I will focus on specific reasons why it is good and stick to them specifically. Preventative maintenance, energy efficiency, and lifecycle management are the main topics I plan to cover.

Comments

Nick:

Being able to see what and where the families are stored in your revit project sounds awesome. Being able to automatically export this data would serve as a very important role for Revit use. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/project-description-why-it-was-chosen.html

Joseph:

Creating a three dimensional mobile surveying system sounds so useful. To no longer have any crazy equipment to drag around and the details this could hold pretty much shows how advanced the construction industry can get with technology.

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/chaudhari-b4-team-project.html

Peter:

I would love to read a paper on the use of AI in construction. I never really understood why the use of AI would be so important or possible. Seeing how this can potentially work and advance will be an interesting paper to read.

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/02/b4-group-c-peter-dannemann.html

Selden B4 - Homes and Artificial Intelligence

Title is still pending - but I'm essentially looking at how in the future your home will be able to interact with you (just as you interact with it) via sensors, databases, and artificial intelligence.

Why Did I Choose This Topic?

I was actually inspired by my senior design project - which I will be using as a base for this project. For the winter term of senior design, we will be applying a variety of advanced systems for energy generation, grey-water reuse, septic tank replacement, etc. to a single family home. What I would like to do is have sensors that monitor the functions of these systems, and have an artificial intelligence system that conveys this data to the homeowner in a user friendly fashion.

Think like a version of Alexa that can update you on your home systems verbally or visually on a tablet like display. Then as the database grows she would be able to make suggestions for adjustments.
Ex. "You saved a gallon of water today with your low flow toilets and grey water reuse!"
"Tomorrow will be cloudy, maximum solar energy generation estimated at XX kWh"

Relation to Intelligent Building 

I think this one is pretty self explanatory..but I'll elaborate anyway. Intelligent building is defined as a building "which provides a productive and cost-effective environment through optimization of four basic elements: structure, systems, services and management, and the interrelationship between them.” [1]. This project will relate the systems, services, and management elements this definition refers to.

The systems chosen will optimize each of their functions (determined by extensive research), and they will provide services to the user. The key for this portion of the project will be the productivity and management of the systems by the homeowner. Often times the owner only knows that the system is "good" or "green" but often times doesn't understand the direct correlations. This AI system will help inform the user of the details in a way that is simple to understand - thus both educating them, but also ensuring the proper management of the system if something were to go wrong.

Challenges 

I know nothing about sensors or databases. I'm hoping to be able to research the topic enough to have a good idea of what's feasible, and generate reasonable estimations for this project. I know some components are possible, as they already exist - Alexa, energy use monitoring, etc. - it will be just be a matter of integrating them all for this project.

We are also planning on having some pretty unique systems in our home for which a sensor might not already exist. Determining if monitoring these systems is even a possibility will also be a challenge. 

Sources

Below are some of the resources I found of what I'm referring to after doing a few quick searches:

Mark Zuckerberg's "Jarvis" - http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/features/mark-zuckerbergs-jarvis-ai-what-it-is-what-it-can-do-and-more-1640658

Monitoring Solar Panel Performance - https://openenergymonitor.org/emon/applications/solarpv

Monitoring Water Usage - http://www.banyanwater.com/flow-monitoring/

Others used in this post

[1] http://www.commscope.com/Blog/Defining-Todays-Intelligent-Building/

Comments

Peter - As we discussed in class, I think being able to use AI in construction would be a really useful tool. You are right in that one challenges will be to figure out how cheap/common this technology will have to be before everyone one a site will have access to it. Similar to current sites, where the PMs and sometimes supers have an iPad, but the subs are all still using hard copies.

Drew - I'm glad that you guys have already acknowledged that the green and intelligent aren't equal. I think that looking at sustainability specifically will be a great place to see some overlap that I would't have thought of. Seeing as how this is clearly the direction that buildings are headed, hopefully you won't have too difficult of a time finding a case study that incorporates both to compare and contrast.

Joe - I think this is a really good direction to go as far as robotics in the industry. We've discussed many times in class how robotics, although promising, haven't quite reached where they need to be for construction use. But surveying doesn't include any sort of heavy lifting, and has minimal risk management aspects to it as well. I'm eager to see how this one turns out.  

B3-How does Revit relate to Autocad and other drafting programs?-Mengnan Yang

The Revit is a very new software to me. Firstly, I want to write about my personal use feeling about the differences between the Revit, AutoCAD and the Sketch Up which are the three-popular draft software in the industry.

For my feeling, the Revit will be more intelligent than the AutoCAD and the Sketch Up. It will be very easy to make changes in the Revit. For example, when we make the format of the drawing sets, in the Revit, we only need to set a family file and make changes in the family file, and the changes will be applied to every drawing. But in the AutoCAD, we need to use blog or the X-drive to do the same thing. Sometimes, we need to enter by hand one by one to make changes. And when we want to insert a table to the drawing, the Revit needs have the table function, but the AutoCAD needs to enter manually.

Another difference for me is the rendering. The Revit has the inside rendering function. It will be easy to do the simple and quicker rendering in the Revit. But both Sketch Up and AutoCAD needs to download other software to do the rendering work.

But now for me, I will still use Sketch Up to do the outlook draft drawing and use CAD to make detailed plan and section drawing because I am more familiar with that two software.

Now, I read some materials about the differences between Revit and other software. And the last week class study. I feel like I have some official differences between Revit and Auto CAD.

AutoCAD is a great Software to create basic geometry that represents real life, mostly for 2D and drawing of partly details. But the Revit is great for modeling, clash detection, and change management. It is a software for the whole construction process not only for the drawings. AutoCAD Supports a drafting workflow, where individual drawings are created and edited independently. But the Revit support a group people work together at the same time. And the Revit is not only having detail drawings like plan or elevation but also combination with all model, schedule, and other elements in whole work flow.

Sources:

http://www.autodesk.com/solutions/revit-vs-autocad

Ronald: (Link)

I think you had a great post about the advantages of the Revit. Especially for the Sequence, which I didn’t think about that before. The Revit is great that can have different information in different levels, and come with a work path for different steps also make that information visually. There is too much information in the construction process, it is important that the Revit provides some sequences of the information

Andrew:(Link)

I like your analysis about the disadvantages of the Revit/BIM is very comprehensive. Especially about the electrical engineer. I didn’t pay attention about that. It is correct that the electrical engineers only can put the symbols in the drawings which is the same thing they did in the CAD drawing. I think now one of the biggest disadvantages for the BIM/Revit is that the people are not familiar with it and still need a process to learn and get into it.

Arthur: (Link)

I like your analysis that the future program will include capabilities like structural calculations, HVAC flow calculations, electrical component sizing. Which will be very helpful for engineers to work with Revit. And one of my hope about Revit is that paperless. Which the Revit can be used on PC, Pad, Phone and all the equipment to save the paper and paper work time.  

Blog Post 3 - Rachel Frank

Revit and AutoCAD are both computer drafting programs for 2D and 3D projects, with the abaility to import and export files. As discussed in class, Revit tends to be seen as a step up from AutoCAD and other programs. Revit is a way to create BIMs, whereas in AutoCAD and other drafting programs, you cannot input as much information into the program, it’s more of a tool to help make drafting easier. It uses families and also adds a time dimension. It makes schedules easier compared to AutoCAD, and allows for multiple users to work on the model simultaneously. Revit is more detailed and can export into excel to show schedules and estimations, a lot easier compared to AutoCAD. A major difference is also the size of Revit files because of this detail. Revit can follow the progress compared to the design.

These differences make Revit more useful and practical compared to the other programs. Contractors and engineers can update each other more easily, can see simulations, access data more easiy, and can work simultaneously as the speaker in class mentioned, instead of moving from step to the other, in a sequence. Revit, because of it’s capabilities will allow the BIM process to advance a lot more and move in different directions to change the way the construction/engineering industry works.

RESOURCES:

http://www.archdaily.com/302490/a-brief-history-of-bim/

http://bimscape.com/module-1/what-is-revit-architecture/

COMMENTS:

Maria Raggousis: I agree that maybe the time it takes to learn Revit and the computer capabilities may be a downfall, but I also think, it is worth it to start advancing and integrating the program into the industry now. As other technology advances, it will be important to have programs that can match its capabilities and professionals that can use them. https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/assignment-b3-group-b-maria-raggousis.html?showComment=1485652896982#c7472844845062298132

Nick Pawlikowski: As I said on Marias post, I agree that BIM, even with the difficulties that are present now, overall simplifies the process of modeling/designing and in the future will be even more important as technologies advance. I think a way of showing this benefit to the client is very important in order to go through the construction process as simply as possible.

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-adoption-of-bim-into.html?showComment=1485653175223#c2640414244655420709

B3 - Singh, Prahlad - How does Revit relate to AutoCAD and other drafting programs?

Post

As discussed during the class, Revit is after all a drafting program and relates to AutoCAD and other drafting programs on different levels. There are many similarities and differences between Revit and other drafting programs. Revit and AutoCAD are both computer aided drafting programs that allow the user to draft models in 2D and 3D.

Similarities between the drafting programs included the ability to import pictures, attachments, etc. into most of the programs. They all can integrate each other’s files but do not have the full range of capabilities as the file would have had in its parent program.

As discussed among our group the major difference between Revit and other drafting programs lies in Revit’s superior 3D modelling capabilities and its ability to edit models in real time over different programs as told to us during the latest lecture. Revit has a higher level of detail than other drafting programs due to its immense detail and size of the families and schedule creation. Revit also has the capability to export to an Excel sheet, showing the scheduling and estimation far more directly and faster as compared to the other programs

A major downfall of Revit and other drafting programs is the requirement of a high level graphics card and the fact that their files are extremely big due to the shear amount of detail in each site. Sketchup does have relatively smaller size files due to the lack of detail and fineness.

The Autodesk website actually allows you to compare Revit and AutoCAD side-by-side, as well as some other drafting programs. If you are to scroll down on this page and find the instances where the section contains a check mark for both Revit and AutoCAD, you will find that there is only one. This is the section for "Point cloud viewing and editing". This is actually something we have discussed previously in class and allows users to create and edit 3-D models across different platforms using the cloud to share the model.

Autodesk Inc. is now the leading software corporation that does not only provide designing programs. It is also looking forward to provide building visualization that involves cinematic-quality 3D animation in its new software called Building Design Suite Premium 2015. Technology keeps advancing each year to provide more ease that help generations to make a better production in designs.

Sources

http://www.autodesk.com/products/autocad/overview

http://www.autodesk.com/products/revit-family/overview

Comments to others

Joe Chaudhari: Joe I love how you mentioned the quote “giving a man a fish will feed him for a day, but teaching him how to fish will feed him forever”. I agree with you 100% slowly as the programs become more and more advanced or “user friendly” the engineer will become lazier and take it all for granted as the software will be doing most of the work.

Chris Sager: As you spoke about the computing power of the programs, I think it too is a very important aspect. As students we do not have huge projects but it still takes time to start the program, I can’t even imagine a project even on a small scale as suppose LeBow would have taken ages to startup leave alone render.

Maissoun Ksara: Don’t you think that the compatibly issue is one of the present also? It could be improved on in the future, but I do agree with you it is one of those very important issues. I agree with you points you brought up on how people will start disregarding the fundamental design theory and begin to make mistakes and just cover it up by troubleshooting, but then a time will come where the design is so far gone that nothing can be done but restart the whole project.