Hi Andrew, I hope you are enjoying Hawaii. I use SketchPro 2015 and have been using SketchUp since its debut back in 2001. After one afternoon with it, I fell in love. It's come a long way as I'm sure you are aware of.
That said I used AutoCAD since ACAD 12 back in the early 90's. I used to write Acad Script and LISP routines to accelerate workflow. Even though it has a powerful 3D engine, no one in our offices used it. I even got our LA office to buy Form-Z for a major theme park project because no one knew how to model in ACAD proficiently. I was very well versed in Form-Z, but the disconnect was between 3D graphics and production drawings. The painful transition between what I modeled and what was industry standard for working drawings required a lot of work. I investigated ArchiCAD, Revit and VectorWorks, 3D Studio and Viz as well as a transition point between 3D modeling and production drawings and they all had their limitations. Then came SketchUp, quick, accurate, no bloat and it became the go to software when 3D was needed and our ACAD operators weren't efficient enough.
I finally left ACAD behind for SketchUp Pro in 2007, but kept an ancient license to access older projects. The enlightenment in our office because of SketchUp is fantastic. We see and solve in 3D now. However, there is a dangerous tendancy to over develop detail that is not necessary at an early stage of development which is a time/fee killer.
For feasibility studies we use systems based estimatation based on architype. We know that certain engineering systems will not work well in certain architypes, but we need not spec them until the spaces and volumes have been worked out. So we use the LOD in our models with designations for intended building systems to make sure we have accounted for building systems of the correct size at the conceptual stage much like one would on a napkin sketch. As the design progresses, we find that those RSVP's building systems components in the model served us well as now our engineers have the room they need to produce their design within our shell. Somethings we have learned not to model and simply reference in notes or in Layout as annotation accordingly. Most of these have to do with contractor means and methods or with variations in manufacturers specifixations. It's not perfect, but incredibility more efficient than the 2D ACAD method, without the expense, bloat or limitations of Revit or ArchiCAD.
Mahalo
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Ricardo Ramos, Assoc. AIA, LEED® AP, CSI
Arcadia CA
Original Message:
Sent: 11-17-2015 17:24
From: Brian Smith
Subject: BIMForum LOD Specification 2015 Now Available for Download
Andrew:
What software do you use?
-Brian