Graebert Annual Meeting 2019
Graebert is no stranger to BIM [building information modeling], even though the company is never associated with the ArchiCADs and Vectorworks of the world. It has a subsidiary named iSurvey whose SiteMaster software is used to measure and model the interiors of buildings and kitchens in a BIM context for six years now.
ARES Commander is Graebert's desktop DWG editing software, while ARES Kudo is its cloud-based DWG editor. The 2020 releases of both due early in the new year will introduce the first stage of a multi-year roll-out of BIM-related capabilities. The idea is to use ARES as an engine to generate accurate 2D drawings from 3D BIM models.
The 2020 release adds the following BIM-related functions:
• Import RVT, RFA, and IFC files; export IFC export format
• Examine BIM properties with Properties panel
• View and control BIM-format models with BIM Navigator panel
• Extract data in CSV format and to tables for quantity take-offs
• Generate 2D sections and views of BIM models
Once the BIM models (and associated data) are in ARES Commander, users can employ its drawing and editing commands to further annotate and edit the models as drawings.
For third-party developers, Graebert put together the BIMflow Pack which packages all of the new BIM functions for third-party developers using ARES OEM. The Cloudify Pack adds ARES Commander (including new BIM functions) to ARES Kudo for third-party developers.
Graebert is not alone in producing BIM-compatible DWG software, and so it sees a significant market into which it can step. The company found a number of reasons for why the market for DWG in BIM is still large:
• Fewer than 20% of users in AEC use BIM (the other 80% use CAD), indicating there is a great resistance to BIM, twenty years later.
• Despite BIM allowing firms to work in all-3D, they nevertheless produce large amounts of 2D drawings for use in shops and in the field, partly because 2D is still an accepted standard and partly due to liability reasons.
• There are roughly three to ten CAD users behind each BIM user.
Graebert has significant market presence in Japan, India, and parts of Europe. Where its general desktop and cloud software is already being used gives it an entryway to BIM adjacent drafting.
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