Hi guys
I haven´t been here in a while - actually not really since I started my own business last year... Anyway, I´m wondering if anybody has any experience with alternative architectural design/production pipelines... Let me elaborate - Here in Denmark everybody is doing little styrofoam models, sketches and such. Then some 2D sketching on the computer in Cad and bitmap editors. When everything is decided and the documentation phase begins we use AutoCad (mostly ADT 2006). But we seldom use the software to its full extent - most often everything is drawn in a traditional 2D drawing kind of way.
I guess anyone who has been in this kind of situation will recognize the feeling of recreating already existing data to fit your own needs? Its a pain and very costly. You know - you work with like engineers, CG artists etc and everybody likes to recreate something...
On top of that the software is outrageously expensive and nobody knows how to handle its full potential but keeps buying annual updates for something they might as well not have at all because they are afraid of not being able to communicate with everyone else.
This seems silly to me and I was thinking of setting up a test-pipeline at the Studio that I work for.
I just recently held a two-day seminar at the studio introducing people to Sketchup. Big hit - but I´m afraid noone will really use it unless I can show them that we can handle the transferral.
Anyway... the danish government has decreed that from 2007 everything has to be completely BIM - meaning full 3D projects all the way, and I´m seeing everyone locking themselves into the Autodesk way or the Bentley way etc and I´m thinking... hmm, this affects the architecture -especially when us architects are not equipped to fully take advantage of these programs.
I´d like to try an alternative using a pipeline with focus on the interfacing or data-transferall of small and interchangeable programs. This could possible give the whole design process more life if I could go either way using Sketchup, Rhino or even Zbrush in the sketch phase and any CAD documentation tool in the production-dpcumentation phase.
Of course I´d have to be shure that I had a setup tuned to bost my output up to someone handling something else for example the documentaion and construction drawings.
... Now - if these sotware-pieces could be cheap (like Sketchup, qcad, Cadopia, progeCad - yes open source is very interesting)
Right - I hope I´ve made my point... If you know of anyone or somewhere where there might be some hints I´d sure be gratefull to recieve your help. :-)
Thaks a lot!
