Autodesk unveiled a host of upgrades to its Building Information Modeling (BIM) suite of applications at an event last week, allowing architects, engineers and owners to work together more closely on environmental issues in building projects.
Autodesk showed off upgrades to its Revit suite of programs -- Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and Revit MEP -- as well as AutoCAD Civil 3D and Autodesk NavisWorks. The company hopes to make it easier for firms across the construction sector to take BIM practices to heart, allowing them to accurately predict performance, cost, resource usage and environmental impact on a digital drawing board before the foundation is even laid.
"Demand for innovation and efficiency in building design, civil engineering and construction continues to drive the AEC industry's adoption of BIM," said Jay Bhatt, Autodesk's senior vice president of AEC Solutions. "Autodesk is continually working to provide our customers with technology that provides competitive advantage and design innovation. Our BIM solutions offer complete, effective design and analysis tools and continue the revolution in AEC workflow catalyzed by our Revit platform."
Among the upgrades to the company's 2009 Revit platform include increased sustainable design and energy analysis capabilities; faster modeling and visualization; and specific modeling capabilities for building elements including air handlers, commercial condensing units, packaged rooftop units, and high-efficiency water source heat pumps.
In the upgraded AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 software package, stormwater, hydraulics and hydrology play a larger role, allowing building professionals to more easily model water use and water handling on building sites. The program also includes functions to import raw data and survey observations more easily, as well as road design options based on user-selected criteria to meet local design codes.
The upgraded programs will be available for purchase on March 25, 2008. More information about the software suites is online at
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