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The empire strikes back-or-ADT3 is ready for its close-up.
In academic circles, the concept of integrated 2D/3D, object-oriented CAD has been well established for a quarter century. Yet it is only in the last few business quarters that practicing architects have begun to pay serious attention. Suddenly, the market is awash in new products from new vendors, established products refurbished by old vendors, even some new tricks from the industry's senior dogs-all rabidly competing for brain share among design firm decision makers.
That last caveat is an important distinction, as these software offerings typically are readier for prime time than their would-be purchasers. Mind share does not always translate into market share or usage share, as architects-and the AEC industry contexts in which they practice-are slow to embrace the radical transformations necessary to fully realize the benefits of integrated object CAD. Management guru Peter Drucker observes that, in order to succeed in the marketplace, new technologies have to be ten times better than the technologies they replace. When AEC object CAD programs include compatible tools for all engineering disciplines-civil, structural, MEP, and so on; when their objects are interoperable across related estimating, scheduling, and analysis packages; when thousands of building product manufacturers publish their products in compatibly intelligent object formats; and when downstream users of design data, such as contractors, reviewing agencies, and owner/operators, are prepared to receive, slice and dice object CAD models for their own information needs; then and only then will the current crop of architectural object CAD software be perceived by prospective users as ten times better than the existing and well-established system of arbitrary 2D orthogonal projections that we call "architectural drawings."
Thus, vendors such as Autodesk, Graphisoft (www.graphisoft.com), and Revit (www.revit.com)-to name a few of the most prominent contenders-- are engaged in an escalating arms race on multiple fronts. The flagships-Autodesk Architectural Desktop 3, ArchiCAD 7, and Revit 3-must be positioned for maximum visibility, showing the colors. Yet, just as in real wars, much of the battle is waged on the logistical front. Who has the clearest and best-- executed plan for integrating the engineering disciplines?
Which tool offers the greatest interoperability? What percentage of building product manufacturers and popularly specified catalog items are published in which proprietary...