Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Meeting the Vasari developers

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

A large number of architecture and engineering firms currently undergo a major change in their tool infrastructure. BIM software is continuously gaining ground on traditional CAD tools as means for documentation. BIM software developers are not satisfied with limiting their tools to the documentation aspect of design and they aim at introducing options for conceptual modeling within their suite of software.  A prime example these developments is the approach Autodesk has taken for offering tools that assist their clients in early environmental checks. With several (partly complementary) products on the market, the frontrunner in that niche seemed to have been Ecotect  (acquired by ADSK in mid 2008).  When considering the lack of development after its purchase, ADSK rather seemed interested in extracting some of its features than retaining it as a standalone product. A strong indicator for this to be true is the current development of Vasari that is slowly making its way out of the Autodesk Labs.