"With the rapidly growing adoption of building information modeling, architectural firms have reached scalability limits with their model-based design and documentation workflow,” said Miklos Szovenyi-Lux, Vice President of Product Management at GRAPHISOFT. “To overcome these limits, ArchiCAD 13 with Delta Server Technology™ introduces design teams to an unprecedented level of accessibility and management of BIM projects. With ArchiCAD 13, the physical location and distribution of your workforce becomes almost immaterial, benefitting both small practices and large, distributed firms."

ArchiCAD 13 Overview

ArchiCAD 13 introduces unique leading-edge technologies that revolutionize design file sharing and deliver mission critical productivity improvements for the design and documentation workflow.

1. Design File Sharing

   Building Information Modeling brings unique challenges to the design team: when implementing BIM on a large scale, architects often run into bottlenecks in model accessibility and workflow management. ArchiCAD 13 includes GRAPHISOFT BIM Server – a first of its kind solution for on-demand access rights management and project access for teams of any size, both within the office and over the Internet.

   • Speed

     In ArchiCAD 13's collaborative environment, long waiting times for server synchronization are a thing of the past. The leading-edge Delta Server technology dramatically decreases network traffic, so team members can collaborate on BIM models in real time. The same technology makes BIM projects accessible through standard Internet connections from virtually anywhere in the world.

   • Data Safety

     Data corruption due to network or hardware failure is a major concern for CAD/BIM Managers: a single faulty computer literally can ruin the work done by the whole office. But the BIM Server's robust system architecture ensures the integrity of the BIM project at all times. Any data errors from malfunctioning components are blocked, preserving the project's integrity on the network.

   • Workflow

     ArchiCAD 13's new Teamwork, with on-demand element access and server-level conflict management, combines the flexibility of 2D workflows with the coordination power of the model-based world. Companies can utilize their workforce much more efficiently with a dynamic and centrally controllable design workflow.

2. Productivity Improvements

   ArchiCAD 13 continues the trend of delivering mission critical productivity improvements in each major release. In this latest version, important global and local user requirements have been fulfilled to further improve ArchiCAD’s workflow. The impressive list of productivity improvements in ArchiCAD 13 includes:

   • Annotated Schedule Drawings

     Door and window previews can be annotated associatively, right in the Interactive Schedule window. This feature alone saves significant drafting time for the documentation team.

   • Oriented Views

     In ArchiCAD 13, the project alignment is completely flexible: simply rotate the view on screen to a perpendicular position. This way, diagonal wings can be edited naturally, while annotations adjust automatically to the final layout orientation.

   • Intelligent "Soft" Insulation

     Although fills have been around since the advent of CAD, modeling soft insulation in composite structures has been always a problem. ArchiCAD 13’s soft insulation is a perfect solution for both 2D and 3D Documents.

   • Improved Object Handling

     Global model view options help control the display and handling of library objects at a project level. Project specific library parts can now be saved into the ArchiCAD project file itself, ensuring the complete integrity of the project now and in the future.

   • DWG Enhancements

     ArchiCAD 13 makes significant progress in the development of DWG file exchange. New features include improved layer management and the ability to export multiple layouts into a single DWG file.

   • Data Exchange with Engineers

     ArchiCAD 13 supports the classification of BIM elements as either load-bearing or non-load-bearing structures, for more accurate export to programs used by structural engineers. Thousands of standard steel products are now available from within ArchiCAD 13.

   • 64-bit Support for Windows

     As the natural next step after introducing multi-processor support for ArchiCAD 12, the latest version of ArchiCAD is available on Windows with native 64-bit support.

Availability

ArchiCAD 13 will ship starting in mid-September with a very compact release schedule that brings all 26 local versions to the market in the fall season. You can find out more about ArchiCAD 13 here: www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/