Peter Žalman

Tweaking Scia Engineer 3D Scene

2011-04-22T13:09:00.002+02:00

What is making Scia Engineer unique comparing to most of other FEM or analysis programs is very powerful and easy to use 3D Scene control.

Scia Engineer 3D control supports OpenGL instructions provided by graphic card. There are lot of different graphic card types, therefore using specific instruction might cause compatibility issues. Default settings on Scia Engineer are very conservative – most of the graphic details are set to low precision, and Scia Engineer purposefully switches of all the OpenGL effects provided by graphic card.

However users can already use benefits of their powerful hardware and override these defaults by settings provided by their graphic card. Settings can be different for various graphic card manufacturer (ATI or Nvidia). On above screenshots you can see settings for Nvidia Quadro 4000.

Other options which might be worth to test on your specific hardware are font settings. You might see from the screenshot that I changed main fonts to SegoeUI, which is MS Windows default system font. I also changed font type to truetype with best available smoothing.

The last 2 dialogs which are significantly affecting 3D Scene quality are Geometry/Graphics and Advanced graphic setup. With this you might be little bit more careful, as they are really affecting geometry precisions as well.

So after those adjustment, what is the result ? Take look on couple of screenshots. Note that Scia Engineer is fully responsive and fast on manipulations, but I am using really powerful HP desktop computer. Take closer look on anti-aliased edges.

Scia Engineer and Rhino Data Exchange

2011-04-21T14:11:00.002+02:00

Now it is possible to transfer 3D geometry directly from Rhino to Scia Engineer.

One interesting field that is recognized by a whole new generation of architects and designers is generative design. Generative Design is a design method that is based on a set of rules, or an Algorithm, and provides designers a fast and easy way to quickly explore many design possibilities.

Traditionally, generative design has required designers to learn a computer language to program the design rules. However Robert McNeal, the developers of Rhino, a popular Surface/Solids modeling tool for conceptual design, has introduce Grasshopper® a free add-on to Rhino that provides Rhino users a graphical interface for generative design. With Grasshopper® designers can easily explore the power of generative design without having to learn computer programing.

For structural engineers, Jon Mirtschin, Geometry Gym (a Rhino party developer) has taken the general modeling tools in Rhino, and generative design tools in Grasshopper, and focused them on structural modeling with a new Rhino plug-in called StructDrawRhino (SDR).

StructDrawRhino plug-ins to Rhino and Grasshoper and allows the engineers to convert the generic 3D geometry from Rhino, and generative geometry from Grasshopper, into Structural Models. With StructDrawRhino engineers can generate their structures directly as analysis model - it supports center lines, cross sections, materials or additional model data such as hinges or supports.

Nemetschek Scia work with Jon to link StructDrawRhino with Scia Engineer. The link is called Smart Structural Interpreter (SSI). It provides an easy way to map profiles created with StructDrawRhino to Scia Engineer, giving Rhino access to Scia Engineer’s advanced analysis, design and optimization capabilities and gives Scia Engineer users access to the generative design capabilities of Grasshopper.

Linking generative design to Scia Engineer, has huge potential. Imagine being able to quickly design ambitious structures like you see from architectural designers as Frank Gehry or Zaha Hadid. Then effectively optimize these structures to come up with most effective shapes.

Video demonstrating data exchange

You can see how simple it is to use Rhino’s Grasshopper to generate a form. And, how easily the form can be imported into Scia Engineer for analysis.

In Scia we can perform detailed calculation of internal forces, deformations and stresses. In addition you can code check the structure and even optimize the cross-section using Scia Engineer’s Autodesign capabilities, allowing engineers to find most effective cross section resisting given loads.

For this exchange, Nemetschek Scia developed a new technology called SOI or Scia Open Interface. The Scia SOI, is neutral and independent library that allows developers such as Jon Mirtschin develop their own plugins independently of Scia Engineer. SOI library generates Scia Engineer XML files that can be loaded and updated within Scia Engineer.

Scia’s SOI is available for FREE to all software developers and allows them to develop plug-ins that can write geometry directly to Scia Engineer, without need of installing and licensing Scia Engineer.

For more information about SOI and Scia Engineer please contact us at : info@scia-online.com

In case of interest in StructDraw plugins please visit GeomtrGym or contact Jon Mirtschin directly.

3D Connexion support

2011-04-20T16:54:00.003+02:00

Its been a while since we received 3D connexion device. The idea was to give us device for free with expectations that we will implement direct support into Scia Engineer. This implementation never got the right priority, we were not sure how many users already own this device or are at least considering to buy toy like this.

Luckily 3D connexion is releasing new drivers, and even that they are still in beta version phase, the main advantage is that users can map 3D connexion control to any application. I tested this myself in Scia Engineer, and while it certainly has some points for improvements, the main interaction is working good. You simply need to define same controls as are used for manipulating with 3D scene.

I believe that this is step in good direction – developing drivers that can support all kinds of applications instead of drivers dedicated to specific application. Benefits for users are clear – if they already own this device they can simple use it in Scia Engineer, and if they are considering to buy one, they can be sure that they might use it in other applications as well.

Performance in UX Design

2011-01-05T12:32:00.002+01:00

It's been a while since I got new workstation. Even at my my age, I consider myself as IT veteran. My father is an architect, and he was always surrounded by technical savvy people and I guess I also went to right schools. No Atari or Commodore for me, the first home PC that I spend lot of time on was Schneider PC. It’s sometimes quite popular to share nostalgic memoirs with people at my age (or older) about how many kB of RAM was enough at that time, storage capacity of cassette drives or 36oK floppy drives..Funny, but that Schneider PC was working absolutely perfect for applications that it had installed!

Starting my university years, the only PC I used was portable notebook. It was not only handy, but basically also the only option for my lifestyle - I did lot of the school job on the go,visiting classmates and I also had part-time job located in completely different part of the city.

After some time I get used to actual lower performance of portable notebook compared to full desktop PC. It’s a fact, and anybody having different opinion is probably looking on different ends of the pricelists. At some point, I even stopped to care about hardware details at all. Couple of years ago I was into any new type of RAM or graphic card that was released. Now it sometimes looks that my general knowledge is limited to: more GhZ = faster, more GB = better.

As for any purchase decision, you need to start with your priority list. For my new PC, there was one main priority– performance. What was somehow acceptable for me some time ago, drives me crazy these days. Waiting seconds for application to load, waiting minutes to save/open documents, poor performance on 3D. I realized that for my work style, I use lot of different applications - and I run them at the same time. Performance and responsiveness is key aspect of great UI. But how can you judge performance of new software product that will be released next year on 3 years old office notebook.

So with this on my mind, the final resolution comes to desktop workstation PC. After matching my expectations with internal policies, this is what ended up under my desk :

HP Z400
Quad Core Intel Xeon 3,06 GHz
12GB DDR3-1333 ECC Memory
NVIDIA PLUS Quadro 4000 2GB
LSI 3041E 4-port SAS/SATA RAID Card
300GB SAS 3Gb/s 15K HDD
160GB SATA X25-M Solid State Drive
Windows 7 Professional x64

It’s not the fastest gaming machine on the market, but it’s decent PC for any task. So what is my experience from switching from notebook to desktop, having hardware number of times more powerful than before ? Mixed feelings.

It might be obvious that I would judge Scia Engineer, but Scia Engineer is a decade old software, and its not secret that we are cooking up new evolution. I was rather disappointed from some Microsoft applications – performance of Expression Blend Studio is not really what I would expect.

On the other hand, the whole response of Win7 OS brings the experience to another level. Thanks to SSD drive, each start of any application is very fast. With 12GB RAM amount I don’t even care if application is already running or just minimized to tray.

I still need to work outside the office – not only in cases when I work from home, but also when I am on the go on various meetings. But for this, I can use any notebook around, I just need access to my data. All I need is latest Scia Engineer version and MS Office. For real remote work, I get used to Remote desktop services. The UX is still not the same as sitting behind the same PC, but it’s very close. I know that lot of people might also benefit from more powerful PC - faster builds for developers, faster calculations for engineers, faster and more comfortable response for everybody. But they still use notebook as working PC only because of portability – which can sometimes mean port it from one room to another once a year. There are number of general cloud services available. Some of them (like RevUp Render) are specifically aimed for designers.

My conclusions are, that from my experience I can recommend working with desktop PC on fixed location, whether that is real PC under your office desk or virtual cloud hardware. The performance gain is always worth, and Remote Desktop works just fine for any application that I am using – from Adobe Illustrator to Scia Engineer.

Six Degrees of Model Detail (extract from AECCafe Weekly)

2010-08-19T12:13:00.000+02:00

Six Degrees of Model Detail (extract from AECCafe Weekly)

Software patents

2010-07-30T14:59:00.003+02:00

As reported some time ago, NZ government announced that it will be no longer possible to apply any kind of software patent.

I believe that software patents are not direct source of income for any software company, but it certainly paints picture how innovative company is. It’s natural that company wants to protect its know how, but I can imagine that protecting general algorithms can be very tricky. And explain it to open-source lobby, whose members does their jobs not for the money, but solely for pure passion ;)

I am not sure if there is any worldwide list available, but from U.S. patent list it is clear, that this list is not filled with pure software development companies (maybe except Microsoft). There is not even Apple or Google listed in, which is somehow strange.

This kind of lists might be interesting, but I was rather interested how certain patent is defined.

I wonder if every software company respects current Google(formerly @Last Software) patent for Push/Pull technology. Almost every 3D modeling software out there uses almost same principle to create 3D solids from 2D shape. I will not act smart that I was studying whole 177 pages patent definition. But those pictures can be applied to most of 3D modeling applications..

Actually Apple applies to patent 3D User Interface for navigating in 3D virtual spaces and manipulating 3D objects in these virtual spaces. Another Apple’s patent details a display that can automatically adjust the point of view and angle of 3D objects or 2D objects arranged in a 3D space. It would use a sensor built into the monitor to know when you moved your head and alter the position of the objet to reflect that motion.

Apple is generally very productive when it comes to patents, patenting anything from new touchscreen technologies to 3D virtual stores.

I guess there is certain form and template required by U.S. patent office, since I can imagine Apple or Google producing much more creative and accurate documentation.

We have seen lot of patent feuds in past, from various DWG fights to almost funny Microsoft issues with XML or protected fonts when launching Office. Quite unaware from company that holds patent for Page Up / Page Down page navigation :)

Another Data Exchange with Scia Engineer

2010-07-11T20:26:00.007+02:00

I did this specific data exchange research for client interested in timber structures quite some time ago.

Initial model geometry was created using SEMA 11 software, which is modeling software especially focused on timber structures and its documentation. There are number of file formats that can be used for data exchange, but none of them are object based. It is all about exporting geometry, without cross-sections or material and code definitions.

Even though, there will be obvious issues when doing this kind of model exchange – in SEMA 11, engineer is working with physical 3D model, while in Scia Engineer analysis model idealization is needed in order to be able to use 3D FEM analysis. To create analysis model, it is essential to use two important features in Scia Engineer – Member recognizer and Align tools. Latest member recognizer algorithm is able to recognize cross-section type from general 3D geometry and with Align, beam center lines are aligned and connected properly. This is step-by-step process, so it is not done in completely automatic way. Engineering decisions need to be taken during this process, and advanced knowledge in Scia Engineer modeling is needed as well.

For timber structure like this, it is still not complete process of creating final analysis model, which will include also boundary conditions – such as hinges, supports and different kinds of loads.

Click an image below to see it in full screen. Thanks to Jiří Bartoš for SEMA screenshots.

SEMA 11 Project

Initial model import – only 3D Solids are present

Member recognizer for cross-sections definitions

Align beam center lines – define custom UCS planes

Analysis model geometry

Generative Design

2010-06-07T17:39:00.003+02:00

I am quite new to Generative design, I started exploring general principles only couple of weeks ago. You can find lot of descriptions “what is” generative design. At the moment I like most the one from Lars Hesellgren :

“Generative design is not about designing the building – Its’ about designing the system that builds a building.”

My main motivation is not only pure interest in design and architecture, but also couple of Scia Engineer customers interested in data exchange with Rhino. They are using Rhino not only as direct modeler, but as form-finding and geometry generating tool as well. To allow that, couple of interesting plug-ins are available within Rhino. From general Grashopper3D , several specialized applications are available such as Kangaroo or Geometry Gym structural plug-ins. Rhino can be also used along with other software like Forten or FormFinder.

When using more design and analysis tools to achieve final result, data exchange plays a significant role in overall BIM process.

For existing Rhino and Scia Engineer users, plug-in which is able to directly export useful structural model geometry can save lot of time and effort in any phase of the project.

Geometry Gym Structural plug-ins already supports direct data exchange with structural design programs such as Oasys GSA, Sofistik or Space Gass. As addition to direct data exchange, it is possible to use standard SDNF file format.

What seems to be very promising for the future, is planned support for IFC file format. This will allow all software companies benefit from generative design available within Rhino. For Scia Engineer, which already supports optimization tools such as Autodesign, “what-if” generative design exploration might help to produce not only more challenging structures, but also cost-optimized, environmentally-friendly and sustainable building projects.

Generative Design in Scia Engineer

For Scia Engineer, there is no plug-in or scripting tool such as Grasshopper 3D available.

But Scia Engineer supports variety of data exchange formats, including native XML file format. On the top of SOI, which stands for Scia Open Interface, various .NET applications are created for different data exchnage – Etabs, SDNF, Tekla. These .NET applications use SOI to generated XML file, that Scia Engineer is able to import as standard project.

For internal testing, different test scenarios are used. You can consider those testing examples as generative design examples for Scia Engineer – geometry is not defined by list of nodes and beams, but all geometry is generated using algorithm instead.

This is not something that is available for all customers at the moment. It’s just demonstration, that using .NET and SOI, it is technically possible not only to import geometry, but also generate geometry based on any algorithm written in .NET.

Scia Engineer model representations

2010-05-13T11:08:00.010+02:00

One of the unique features of Scia Engineer is, that every project regardless license setup is able to handle more representations of the same model. These model representations are are present as view parameter - they just represents different view on the same object. Based on that, one object can have more representations, and there are various types of them.

This is brief summary of all available options in current Scia Engineer 2010 version.

General Solid

3D volumetric representation of any object. In Scia Engineer terminology called General Solid, and it can exist in one of 3 states – Correct General Solid, Open Shell or General object. General solids are not used for any kind of analysis.

Structural Model

Represents real physical shape, a virtual Building Information Model of the structure. Might contain load bearing and not load bearing parts. Exact member geometry can be used in analysis model as well, to define exact position of steel connections or reinforcement bars which are not used for code check, but only for visualization and Bill of Material.

Analysis Model

Analysis model which is used for FEM analysis, design and checks is always fictive and simplified representation of real structure. Some of the rules are based on code or well known empiric rules, but generally, this is the point where qualified structural engineer is taking decisions. Simplified model has to represent real structure behavior, but also needs to provide results asked for certain type of analysis or code design with reasonable efficiency.

Some typical engineering decisions can be : whether to create 1D or 2D analysis member from certain 3D solid object,different fictive members not present in structural model, mesh size and type, different model data like hinges, rigid arms, supports, eccentricities definitions etc.

FEM Model

FEM model is numerical representation of Analysis model. FEM model contains only mesh nodes with appropriate data, which are needed to solve stiffness matrix according to FEM theory and selected solver type.

Model representations schematics

Cloud Computing – Documentation

2010-04-13T15:26:00.005+02:00

Couple of days ago, Google released introducing video to new Google Docs. I found interesting not only functionality (0:38) and collaboration capabilities, but mostly the speed and response of the whole application, which runs remotely inside web-browser.

If you scroll to 1:00 min of that video, you will see response of table with couple of thousands rows, running from the "cloud". Any engineering documentation tool should run at least that fast.

Google offers variety of cloud based applications on their Apps Marketplace which can replace desktop applications and Google docs even supports scripts. Judging from positive feedback also very warmly accepted by users.

Application which can be used to compose engineering documentation is not yet available on the market ;)

As a Google fan and regular Google docs user, I am just thinking about how realistic is to compose final engineering documentation (including spreadsheets and pictures) using Google docs. If nothing, Google docs are still for free.

Technologies like this should be taken into account all the time when thinking about the future. It can easily happen, that upcoming 2010 version of Microsoft Office will be one of the last ones "boxed". Starting Office 2010, all the applications will have full cloud capabilities. In fact all the applications are able to run in web-browser and share data.
Microsoft is now saying that they will migrate Office to some "software + service" model, and that can be only one step away from “only service”.

Microsoft Office Labs 2019 Vision looks rather crazy from today's perspective, but who knows..I can see some real background in it.

Scia Engineer and ArchiCAD

2010-04-07T16:51:00.003+02:00

I used these storyboards to explain data exchange between architect and structural engineer. Building model was created in ArchiCAD, and from filtered view transferred to Scia Engineer using IFC file format.

From Structural model Analysis model was worked out and used to generate FEM model for analysis, design,checks and optimizations. Design changes can be tracked back in ArchiCAD using again IFC format which contains only changed entities exported from Scia Engineer Analysis model back to ArchiCAD.

Feel free to use it to promote IFC and ArchiCAD Scia Engnieer data exchange capabilities.

Cloud Computing and Chromium OS

2010-03-29T11:27:00.005+02:00

Personally I am big fan of cloud applications delivery.It is the future of software industry. Pack zeros and ones into paper boxes and deliver it via mailbox sounds really archaic to me. From user point of view, I am tired of all the installations, updates, reinstallations, licensing setups, modules activations..and doing the same again and again because of new updates...

I just want to log in to my tool and use it. When I don’t need it, I don’t want to carry it on.

With respect to hardware virtualization, the performance factor can be very significant benefit for CAE analysis application. After couple of years using notebook for my work, I am considering to switch back to desktop, and keep my old notebook just for remote access using RDP. In fact, I am not the first one having this idea, check out BIM on Cloud from one of my favorite sources AECbytes. Using same budget, I can have some 8-core with 12GB RAM, Crossfire or Fermi Graphics, SSD drive..Show me notebook having that in same price range.

The common misunderstanding is referring to cloud as strictly internet hype. That is not real way to go for software companies like Scia. I can hardly imagine specialized structural engineers sharing results of design for nuclear power plant over web. But in fact, company cloud can bring same benefits, with high level of security and privacy.

I will post more about my ideas and thoughts about this technology in future.

Chromium

I want to start with test drive of one of the available beta versions of Chromium OS, which you can boot from flash drive.

I used Flow build by hexxeh. What to say about author of this build – This guy is just 17 years old, and any company should be already interested in hiring him ;)

Installation, boot and login was smooth. I didn’t noticed any problems when using Chrome at the office or at home, connecting via LAN or wifi. There is not that much to review or describe –it is just web browser with minimum configuration options. Separate application tab is in fact bookmark page for cloud or web applications. Booting time is amazing compared to my Vista PC. I am usually able to prepare morning tea and have short conversation with everybody in the office during Vista boot. This is not the case for Chrome.

I was expecting to have Scia Engineer running on Chrome OS. Unfortunately, I was not successful using any technology I know. For RDP you need Active X, for VNC javascript. For services like Teamviewer you need to pay or download client. I was only able to stream desktop from the other computer, but obviously this is not making headline “Scia Engineer running on Chrome OS”. I was not successful - this time.

Project Butterfly

I tested couple of more apps I know in Chrome OS environment. Most likely you are not interested in review of Google talk or Facebook.

I pointed Chrome OS Browser to Autodesk Project Butterfly homepage. It is fully working application with great user experience, even supports Google maps.

Solidworks Blueprint

The difference to Solidworks Blueprint is the technology of User Interface.

While Butterfly is using Flash , Blueprint runs Microsoft Silverlight, and Silverlight is not supported in Chrome OS browser yet. This was a bit disappointing to me, since I am starting to be big Silverlight fan. I am planning to do some prototyping using Expression Blend. Just check out how CAD User Interface can look in Silverlight.

Project Twitch

Last apps I wanted to test under Chromium OS were Autodesk Project Twitch application trials. Apparently, I am not living in USA or Canada, so this service is not available for me yet. Log in using IP anonymizer or proxy could result in completely different experience as expected. As described in video below, Project Twitch needs client to download, which is not available under Chromium yet.

What are my conclusions ? Even that Chrome OS is not officially released yet, I can already imagine running client PC with this OS for real engineering work. I would use this PC to access high performance workstation which runs in company network. IT admin will take care about software and hardware updates - in fact about the whole workstation. And what I would do ? Finally just concentrate on engineering and creative work…

Multitouch gestures

2010-03-23T10:13:00.006+01:00

If your laptop is using older synaptics trackpad, then you should consider updating your drivers. Latest synaptics drivers enables basic multitouch support.

Source : Hardware Zone

I updated old drivers on my HP 6710b veteran, and give it a try.

Actually, the multitouch support is not very handy at the moment. You can scroll (pan) the 3D scene in Scia Engineer, but it is not that smooth as I would expect. What is nice is scrolling through document.

The magic trick here is, that I can run Scia Engineer placing 3 fingers on trackpad, how cool :)

Learning from the past

2010-03-23T09:45:00.003+01:00

I am always interested in stories about how certain software changed in time. Sometimes it is edifying to see for how long certain product is around, sometimes it is amazing how the software can make it in such a short period of time.

I enjoyed couple of software story books, like The Graphisoft Story , Inside Steve’s Brain or Planet Google.

Those are personal stories, so I am always happy when I find some blog post or article dedicated directly to software. I still enjoy reading books, but… book about graphic or 3D software…Usually I miss pictures or screenshots, that can immediately paint the picture without long descriptions.

Did you know that Photoshop is around for more Than 20 years now ?

I am not regular Photoshop user, but its impact is impressive. In same way as you are googling information, when speaking about photo, you are never sure if it is shopped or not.

3D Studio first released to public in 1990.

I can remember playing in first MS DOS versions of 3D Studio. I don’t feel that old, but it was literally couple of years ago. Just the story, how I even got 3DS on my fathers 386 is part of that experience. Friend of friends friend gave that set of floppy disks to.. I just can’t continue, I am not sure how current anti-piracy laws can track me in time ;) At that time I did not even realize that I am missing some features considered as standard now - such as undo.

I am using powerpoint regularly to do internal presentations, customer trainings and demos. This typical Microsoft application was originally developed for Mac computers. You can read the whole story on Robert Gaskins webpage, including very first powerpoint presentation.

Cadhistory is another great site, where you can download very interesting and comprehensive The Engineering Revolution book for free,which cover also Analysis companies.

I don’t have ambition to track history of Scia Engineer predecessors right now.

But just for fun, here are couple of pictures I found interesting.

Feat

MS DOS IDA Prima

Scia Engineer and Spaceclaim

2010-03-12T17:12:00.005+01:00

I created this video describing possible data exchange between SpaceClaim and Scia Engineer as a part of my research about the software itself. I was curious about Spaceclaim after reading about all the background. I must say that it is really powerful modeling tool. What is even more important for me at this stage - it has very intuitive GUI. I love the tooltips and contextual menus.

If you are interested in similar data exchange, let me know. Consider this video only as technology preview, it may be not possible to reproduce this workflow if you grab random versions of both software. I uploaded a speeded up version of the video which was originally meant to be tutorial, but after all, I was too lazy to finish all the tutorial texts. And then my trial version expired.it So this is kind of low resolution sample, how it may look.

Scia Engineer and Spaceclaim

User Attention Heatmap

2010-03-10T11:02:00.013+01:00

Couple of services offers “ Creating visual heatmaps “ for certain document. They are able to analyze website or photo and highlight areas getting most of the attention.

squidoo clickdensity heatmap crazyegg

Some services are able to directly analyze WebPages using their statistics, frequently visitors clicks.

Tools like FENG or attentionwizard are able to analyze certain document or photo using "Eye Tracking Without the Eyes" algorithms to simulate human visual processing and attention.

They are not directly designed to analyze desktop GUIs, which are dynamic, and content of 3D window naturally gets most of the attention. I wonder how interface like Inventor Fusion may look like under eye-tracking study, where technology appeared to be presenting options based on the task with some predictive choices based on contextual next step/options for the selected feature. Preview looks futuristic like a movie interfaces.

Eye-tracking studies are used for desktop UIs interaction research. I advise anyone interested to watch interesting presentation about Office Ribbon story (slide to 110).

I decided to test and play with some of the tools available for free, FENG-GUI and attentionwizard .

Nemetschek Scia website

This is attention heatmap result for Scia Engineer website. It is well organized, and actual content – Release of 2010 - grabs most of the attention. But you can also notice, that there are lot of different hotspots, which is generally evaluated as negative aspect – it is hard to keep focus on most important ones. Hotspot with second most attention points is not linked to any other page.

Microsoft Office

In MS Words empty document, main user focus is on most frequently used text formatting tools – font properties. Situation is different when you use same analysis for document with content – content naturally grabs your attention, since then it is all about the content. Results are similar to available real results for ribbon attention heatmaps.

Scia Engineer

Not frequently used scroll bars holds too many space, it is also most attention hotspot. It makes no difference if different layout is used.

In single check, the natural focus is on the beam stirrups schematics with detailed graphic and text. Results and calculation options are not in main focus.

Peter Žalman

Tweaking Scia Engineer 3D Scene

Scia Engineer and Rhino Data Exchange

3D Connexion support

Performance in UX Design

Six Degrees of Model Detail (extract from AECCafe Weekly)

Software patents

Another Data Exchange with Scia Engineer

SEMA 11 Project

Initial model import – only 3D Solids are present

Member recognizer for cross-sections definitions

Align beam center lines – define custom UCS planes

Analysis model geometry

Generative Design

Generative Design in Scia Engineer

Scia Engineer model representations

General Solid

Structural Model

Analysis Model

FEM Model

Model representations schematics

Cloud Computing – Documentation

Scia Engineer and ArchiCAD

Cloud Computing and Chromium OS

Chromium

Project Butterfly

Solidworks Blueprint

Project Twitch

Multitouch gestures

Learning from the past

Did you know that Photoshop is around for more Than 20 years now ?

3D Studio first released to public in 1990.

Feat

MS DOS IDA Prima

Scia Engineer and Spaceclaim

User Attention Heatmap

Nemetschek Scia website

Microsoft Office

Scia Engineer

Others