AEC Tech News (#208)

Animation Possibilities for AEC

At SIGGRAPH 2007, Massive and Houdini reveal
how technologies from film and game industries might serve the architecture field

At last month's SIGGRAPH 2007, an annual gathering of computer graphics and interactive technologies professionals in San Diego, California, Stephen Regelous, the founder of Massive Software, came to address the computing masses -- the Windows masses, to be precise. Winner of an Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences award in 2004, Regelous is the man who helped Peter Jackson assemble an Orc army for The Lord of the Rings and who kept the traffic flowing smoothly (excepting the intentional accidents Jackson himself demanded) in 1930s New York in King Kong.

Regelous doesn’t speak the Orcs' gibberish or know the traffic conditions of Capone-era New York . He simply gave the computer-generated creatures and vehicles a certain degree of autonomy with Massive, described by his company as a “3D animation system for generating crowd-related visual effects.”

The software, previously available only on Linux, marked its entrance to the Windows environment with the announcement of version 3 at SIGGRAPH. “If there is one single feature that customers have been asking for over others, it would have to be support for Windows,” said Regelous.

Can the artificial intelligence (AI) engine that has served moviemakers also be of service to architects and civil engineers? Can what has entertained moviegoers also be a simulation platform for the building profession? Some windows of opportunity may have just opened on that front. Read more>>

By Greg Kmethy

In architectural practice it's common to have composite wall structures. In some cases, the various skins of a composite wall don't extend to the same height but instead start and end at various heights. This "ArchiCAD Insights" column is about how to create these kinds of structures in ArchiCAD 10 and later releases using complex profiles. Read more>>

Fiatech BIM & ISO 15926 Harmonization Workshop
September 17, 2007
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Much progress is being achieved in the use of BIM and IFCs in major building projects and in the use of ISO 15926 in process plant projects. Despite the overlap in scope, the two standards are being developed largely in isolation. This workshop aims to initiate dialog between the experts of these two standards along with companies that plan to use both, and software vendors. Read more

Fiatech ADI Training Workshop
September 20, 2007
Minneapolis, Minnesota
This training will teach attendees how to map their legacy's system data to the ISO 15926 standard data exchange model using the mapping tools developed in the FIATECH Accelerating Deployment of ISO 15926 (ADI) project. Read more

Ecobuild Fall and AEC-ST Fall
December 10-13, 2007
Washington, D.C.
Ecobuild Fall and AEC-ST Fall is an annual event that goes beyond green to cover the breadth of green building, sustainable design, renewable energy, environmental planning processes, and information collaboration strategies for commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential construction. Read more

For Cadalyst's full calendar of events, click here.