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CAD on the Web

Example Sites

Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, Inc.

This site demonstrates the use of technical graphics on the Web with several examples that go beyond the technology promoted by CAD software developers alone.

Firstly, it is a very well designed site in terms of structure and graphic design. It projects a professional image, uses HTML and Web technology appropriately and is easy to navigate productively.

It communicates important aspects of the company’s philosophy and professional position, as well as what jobs it has done and where its offices are.

Secondly, HOK has a few Web Technology demonstration pages that allow you to sample the possibilities of various Web communication technologies. All the examples HOK shows are applicable to architecture and the built environment. These pages provide information of value to architectural firms, website designers and technical communicators that is not otherwise easily found presented so well or in this context.

HOK’s demonstration pages show HotSauce, ShockWave, WHIP! and VRML technologies and a demonstration of the use of frames in a presentation and navigation context.

Boral Plasterboard

Boral Plasterboard is one of Australia’s leading plasterboard (drywall) systems companies. Boral Plasterboard is primarily a manufacture of plasterboard products and accessories. It has also designed various construction details some of which carry fire-rating certification and which may be used as required to achieve fire ratings required by the national building code (Australia).

The SelectaCAD product produced by Boral is a catalogue of standard details for Boral Plasterboard products and also provides a materials selection tables. Originally published (and still available) on disk and CD-ROM, much of the SelectaCAD detail drawing content is now available on the WWW.

The SelectaCAD details are provided on the Website in two formats. GIF raster files and AutoCAD DWF files.

GIF files can be viewed directly in most browsers and can be saved to disk for insertion in documents. As low resolution raster files, they have little detail and do not reproduce very well. The advantage is that no special software is needed to view them.

DWF files require the Autodesk WHIP! Plugin for Netscape or ActiveX control for MS Internet Explorer to be viewed. This is a might plugin, topping out at around 3.5 Mb. With WHIP! Installed the DWF drawing appears in an image panel within the browser. Clicking on the right mouse button brings up a control menu that allows panning, zooming, printing and full screen viewing.

Incidentally, this site also includes a ShockWave multimedia component. The animated graphics and audio component make quite a striking addition to the page with very low overhead in filesize or plug-in footprint on your hard-disk.

Denton Corker Marshall

Denton Corker Marshall is a well-known Australian architectural firm operating internationally. The company Website is managed by the Hong Kong office and includes an interesting VRML example of the Melbourne Tower. As close to reality as this project ever got, the VRML model is a compact file that is fast to download and easy to view using the built-in VRML viewer in Netscape Navigator 3.

VRML (virtual reality modeling language) is a description protocol for simulating time and space. The most basic application of VRML is to display 3D models of objects that may eventually become real. Objects such as buildings, interiors, machines and so forth. VRML is capable of easily modeling worlds far beyond these mundane subjects, however useful they may be. VRML can built dynamic worlds based on any type or permutation of data, allowing users to experience virtual realities that extend give fantasy a whole new meaning.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, VRML is very useful for communicating situations that do not yet exist or which may be difficult or even impossible to view under normal circumstances in architectural, mechanical and medical disciplines.

Pima County Arizona - Department of Transportation and Flood Control District

A very interesting Website development that links displays landbase information linked to landholder information. This Web-based GIS application uses two distinct technologies on top of the Webserver.

The graphical information is created in its original form using AutoCAD. The drawings files are converted to DWF format for display on the Web. The index map of the county is sectioned into a grid with each detail area hyperlinked to its respective detail drawing. Hyperlinks allow access to deeper levels of detail, culminating with the landholder name and postal address for each particular parcel in the county. The hyperlinks in the DWF files link either to more detailed DWF files or to a database connectivity tool that extracts non-spatial data from external database and presents as a Web document.

The database connectivity that operates in this example is quite independent from any database links that may (or may not) existing between the base AutoCAD drawing and an external database. The connections are made solely using hyperlinks embedded in the DWF file, the database connector (in this case Cold Fusion) and an external database of landholder information.

Midland Brick

A Western Australian brick company that is doing big business both in WA and internationally. Midland Brick features a large number of excellent paving and structural details online as well as isometric views of the various brick types it manufactures. Drawings are available as GIF imagses, DWF files for use with the WHIP! Plug-in and DWG format to download and use in AutoCAD.

Dowell Windows

Dowell Australia Pty Ltd is a large manufacturer of residential windows and sliding doors. The Dowell site also incorporated GIF and DWF details that can be viewd online and details that can be downloaded and used in AutoCAD.

Sites like Dowell and Midland demostrate how exiting information can be easily adapted for use on the Web and published to allow fast, simple access to valuable information.

Instant Foundations

Screw-in steel stumps or piers are a great new idea to save time and money on the building site. However, being a great idea doesn't guarantee market acceptance and big sales. Educating designers and builders on the product and how to use it could have been a very costly exercise.

Instant Foundations tackled the problem of getting their message out through a good looking Website, that also uses DWF file technology to display details, whcih are also downloadable as DWG for designers to include in their CAD drawings.

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