Graphisoft - RoboBAT Meet to Provide Virtual Building Engineering Solution

ArchiCAD�, seamlessly integrated with CBS Pro, creates a highly user-friendly 3D structural engineering approach in the Virtual Building� environment. 

Budapest, March 08, 2006 - Graphisoft announced today that its award-winning 3D building design solution ArchiCAD can now work on the same Virtual Building model data as leading structural design and analysis solution CBS Pro. Sharing this data, through IFC 2x2, means that the structure of the architectural model will not only be analyzed, but even new structural design elements will be added to it in a highly intuitive and user-friendly work environment. "With more than two decades as the lead developers of intuitive, easy-to-use software for architects," says Bence Kovacs, Vice President of ArchiCAD Product Management from Graphisoft, "we are proud to integrate with a structural design solution that provides a similar user-friendly and smartly designed interface for engineers as well. The ROI survey of our users (see: http://www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/roi) confirmed that choosing an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn software justifies the investment over a shorter time period." "Our product is a very sophisticated analysis and object-oriented structural design engine, hidden behind a user-friendly interface for engineers," says Andre Niznik, CEO of RoboBAT. "It not only performs structural analysis, but is also integrated "tightly" to the Robot Office product family (ROBOT Millennium, RCAD Steel, RCAD Reinforcement, RCAD Formwork Drawings and ESOP) allowing the structural designer to produce a powerful and flexible structural model for all stages of the design process - from import of architectural data, through calculation and design and to the final detailed drawings." When importing intelligent 3D data from ArchiCAD into CBS Pro, an intelligent filtering method separates the load-bearing 3D structures (such as walls, columns, beams and slabs) from the furniture and mechanical "non structural" engineering parts of the building. The option of visualizing them is retained. After adding the loads in CBS Pro to these structural elements, not only the analysis and optimization are performed, but new elements typically designed by structural engineers such as foundations (in 3D) can be added to the Virtual Building and then exported back into ArchiCAD. In ArchiCAD, these new structural elements will appear as part of the Virtual Building model marked with a new color to draw attention to the changes. Communicating through IFC in an intelligent bi-directional way, the same 3D Virtual Building model is used for architectural and structural design by companies using ArchiCAD 9 and CBS Pro 19.0 respectively. The 3D exchanges between the two applications are not only continuously up-to-date, but optimized in each application for each profession to perform their own sophisticated design tasks easily.

About RoboBAT: 

RoboBAT is recognized worldwide as an innovative leader in the development of software tools for the analysis and design of civil structures. RoboBAT products are licensed to thousands of structural engineering firms worldwide across more than 80 other countries. 

www.robobat.com

About Graphisoft: 

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it," Alan Kay. 

Graphisoft is the pioneer and leader in developing Virtual Building� solutions. It is widely acknowledged as the world's #1 supplier of model-based software and services for the building industry. Our clients are at the forefront of the industry - delivering projects that are better designed, more predictable to construct and less expensive to operate. 

www.graphisoft.com

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