Are you excited about the new Daft Punk album Random Access Memory coming out on May 21, 2013? I sure am. Let’s dissect a few things and relate it to what we talk about on Shoegnome. Specifically let’s see what Daft Punk has to teach us about the whole digital vs analog debate.

Daft Punk have done some amazing electronic music. If you need proof, check out their song Technologic. Now take a moment and list to a bit of Get Lucky, the first single off of Random Access Memory. Same artists. On their new album Daft Punk eschews digital and only uses live musicians. Beyond that they even recorded on analog tape—pretty much unheard of these days in the music industry. I think that’s pretty interesting. And ballsy for a duo built on 1s and 0s. I highly commend them.

Their latest endeavor is about evolution and pushing barriers they had previously defined. Daft Punk is clearly not afraid to Jump the Shark. Nor (in my opinion) are they stating the superiority of one method over another. They are just using more and different tools to search for the deeper meaning all artists seek.

Now watch this video introducing the new album.

Notice how long it takes them to start those 15 seconds of the song. Sure this is staged. Sure it’s intentionally grandiose and theatrical. But imagine doing something similar with a digital recording. Place CD in CD player. Press the play button. Open iTunes, double-click on the song title. Or how about your experience with watching that video? It was just a click of the mouse. If you are on a mobile device? It’s just a tap of the finger. One finger. Now imagine you’re using Siri, Google Glass, or some other voice automated computer or service (which will only get more ubiquitous in the coming years). You’re not TOUCHING anything. You’re just saying “Siri, play Daft Punk.”

That is Awesome. And Powerful. And Scary. And therefore full of potential for greatness, and equally open to the de-humanizing loss of personal connection that we once had with older tech—like cars you needed to crank or manually shift, phones you had to dial with a rotary, or pencils you had to sharp with manual effort. As with many of my posts this is just a clue towards something bigger. Something much deeper, and at the root of the worldview of many architects. Here is the key to recapturing what so many people in our industry feel we have lost. More soon. I promise.

“Technology has made music accessible in a philosophically interesting way, which is great. But on the other hand, when everybody has the ability to make magic, it’s like there’s no more magic.” -Thomas Bangalter

What on Earth am I hinting at? Follow Shoegnome on Facebook and Twitter so that you don’t miss out. And while you’re at it, the RSS feed is lonely and could use more subscribers.

The post Digital vs Analog: Lessons from Daft Punk appeared first on Shoegnome.

I’ve written another article for the AIA CRAN Chronicle. This time I talk about the relationship between residential architects and technology (for both design and production). Specifically I discuss what holds many small firms back from testing new methods and then I explore Morpholio Trace, which I find to be an interesting app that bridges the divide between digital and analog stalwarts. Enjoy the article.

If you missed my first article for the AIA CRAN Chronicle (Great Recession Survival Tactics for Generation Y Architects: Become the BIM Manager), read that one too.

To keep track of all my thoughts on the future of Architecture and its relationship to technology, follow Shoegnome on Facebook and Twitter. And while you’re at it, the RSS feed is a great way to never miss anything either.

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While building the chimney with the Morph Tool, I had one major issue—I struggled to use the tube command. Well thanks to Gorazd I learned an awesome trick to make the tube command on the pet palette insanely easy.

Here it is:

Awesome, right? It’s little tricks like this that turn the Morph Tool from a nifty new addition to ArchiCAD into the powerhouse super-solution that it really is. Also it’s a good reminder to try the tricks you know in multiple scenarios. I used the Magic Wand with the Morph earlier in my modeling, but didn’t think to try it when I got stuck later. Silly Jared.

And one last time. A HUGE thanks to all my readers and viewers. This series of videos would never have happened without all of you. One reader asked me how to model the chimney, a second challenged me to use the Morph Tool, and a third showed me the answer to my own problem. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Who’s got the next question? E-mail me.

For even more ArchiCAD goodness, make sure to follow Shoegnome on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

The post ArchiCAD Modeling Tips – BONUS VIDEO! appeared first on Shoegnome.

Morphs or Complex Profiles: The verdict.

I’m tempted to just link to this post and let you figure out my answer. But that might be a bit cryptic. When it comes time to model a form like this in ArchiCAD, use BOTH Morphs and Complex Profiles. There are advantages to each. When modeling anything in ArchiCAD don’t limit yourself to one trick or one Tool. Use whatever works best, fastest, or offers some other necessary requirement. Maybe you need to show lots of quick change options. Complex Profiles are great for that (I should probably do a follow up video on that). Maybe you need deep scheduling, or to have the whole form as one element. That might suggest saving the result as an Object or merging it into one big Morph. Morphs in ArchiCAD 17 have some new scheduling functionality, so that might be very useful to you. Maybe you need the best looking model derived floor plan view… whatever your criteria… using a combination of element types is going to serve you well. In other words, before modeling anything in ArchiCAD think Big Picture. What are the requirements. What are your needs?

Two apologies… the sound gets wonky at one point. Don’t worry. It happens when I’m not saying anything important. And I’m sorry about the sniffles. I either have allergies or am getting sick. I hope it’s not too distracting.

MEGA SUPER Bonus Note:

My problem with the tube command solved!

For even more ArchiCAD goodness, make sure to follow Shoegnome on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

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Modeling tips for Chimneys in ArchiCAD

Of course all this will get tweaked with the improvements in ArchiCAD 17, specifically because of Building Materials and Priority Based Connections; but I can’t start sharing homebrew ArchiCAD 17 images and videos for a few weeks yet. Patience. But now that many of the new features of ArchicAD 17 are public, I am able to mention in the video how these techniques will get even better starting sometime in June 2013!

Bonus Notes:

I glossed over material selection in Complex Profiles. We can talk more about that starting in June or July with ArchiCAD 17, if people want. In the example chimney you’ll notice that the depths of the beams are different. I forgot to show how to do that in the video. But changing the length of a beam is something you should know how to do already. I hope. Also did you notice how when I made those four walls they were instantly a group? Autogroup is a pretty cool feature that I always leave on. Learn more about groups here.

In the above video I mention two other videos about Complex Profiles. If you haven’t watched them, you should. One last note, this was another reader question. Thanks for asking! See a pattern forming? Who’s next? Send me an e-mail or leave a comment.

SUPER Bonus Note:

This chimney could also be modeled with just Morphs. Here’s a video showing you how.

For even more ArchiCAD goodness, make sure to follow Shoegnome on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

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Digital over Paper Documents

I can hear your screams. On site the contractor needs those big sets! Individual subcontractors only want individual sheets! We’ve always done it this way and it works… Excuse, excuse, excuse. No. Have you ever asked to have the contractor build from only digital documents? Is the framer really carrying that 24 x 36 sheet set up to the roof with him? No. Those giant sets are huge and cumbersome and hard to deal with. All digital has issues, but we architects are problem solvers. Let’s solve this problem.

Imagine a typical construction site in the United States. What percentage of the workers on site has a smart phone in his pocket? Or a tablet at home? What about the project supervisors? Whatever the percentage (I’m sure it’s very high), the point is that all the tech needed to go paperless on site is probably already on site. It’s just being used to check Facebook during lunch, text during a breather, or answer a phone call about another project. The more digital we go on site, the more valuable all our BIM data becomes. We have smart, live models in our offices; we should have smart, live data (models, drawings, whatever) on site. Whatever the size of the project.

For some thoughts on making smarter digital documents (specifically PDFs), read these posts I wrote on BIM Engine. For other thoughts on going to digital instruments of service, check out these posts. To hasten the switch to all digital work, follow Shoegnome on Facebook and Twitter. And while you’re at it, the RSS feed is a great way to never miss anything either.

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BIMcomponents.com, GRAPHISOFT’s portal for parametric BIM objects, will automatically channel objects developed, maintained, and published by real manufacturers in the central cloud solution at BIMobject.com.

The brand recognition of BIMobject® is well known and certifies that the objects come from real manufacturers and are real products that can be specified and sourced in real life. The unique channel concept developed by BIMobject allows building product portals to channel the BIM objects used by more and more websites around the world. For manufacturers, this offers convenience by centralizing the hosting and maintenance of their digital product data; the BIMobject® cloud handles all the building product searches to be updated.

The cooperation between GRAPHISOFT and BIMobject® will increase the visibility of the manufacturers’ BIM objects and simplify the way architects and engineers can search for BIM objects and download them to their favorite BIM system.

These high quality BIM objects are guaranteed to be by the manufacturers and quality controlled by BIM experts from BIMobject®.

”The integration with BIMobject.com, the world’s leading manufacturer specific content provider, offers direct access to an extensive collection of high quality BIM content by real manufacturers available both in ArchiCAD 17 and on BIMcomponents.com. This creates a huge value for our users by providing the quality and details very much a standard for the BIMobject® content,” said Akos Pfemeter, Director of Global Marketing, GRAPHISOFT.

”We are very pleased to have BIMcomponents as the latest in a long row of channel partners. We continue to serve building and interior product manufacturers to create a dynamic and maintainable infrastructure for product content   management. We expect the BIMcomponents.com collaboration to be very useful for both ArchiCAD users as well as the manufacturers in the building industry,” said Stefan Larsson, CEO of BIMobject AB.

About BIMobject AB

BIMobject® is a game changer for the construction industry worldwide with its cloud-based portal offering development, maintenance and syndication of digital replicas – BIM objects – of manufactured building and interior products.

The marketing and pre-sales services associated with the portal are channelled and integrated, through specialized software, into CAD/BIM applications to create a business-to-business communication across the globe.

Manufacturers use BIMobject® to promote and deliver their products directly into BIM processes enabling their products to be selected and generate a real improvement in sales.

About GRAPHISOFT

GRAPHISOFT® ignited the BIM revolution with ArchiCAD®, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as the revolutionary GRAPHISOFT BIM Server™, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment, and the GRAPHISOFT EcoDesigner™, the world’s first fully integrated building energy modeling application. GRAPHISOFT’s innovative solutions have fundamentally changed the way architects around the world design and collaborate.  GRAPHISOFT has been a part of the Nemetschek Group since its acquisition in 2007.

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That’s right. It’s time for our 20th Minnesota ArchiCAD User Group meeting since 2009. Who would have thought that almost four years after that warm September evening we’d still be at it. Here are the details:

Date:

Location:

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