The need for visual, searchable information management within complex design processes has been overlooked for quite some time. AECO content is inherently interconnected, interdisciplinary, and uniquely hard to describe with traditional file names or folder systems.
WHY VISUALIZATION MATTERS
The interconnected nature of most BIM content means that it reads like an instruction manual: referential, focused, and parametric - with loads of technical, structural, building code, and historical data embedded into each component. Visually, these elements are well-served by orthographic or axonometric views and shaded for easy comprehension. Thumbnail generators like P.I.G. or AVAIL Harvest help automate and standardize these elements.
GENERATIVE DESIGN: WHY VISUALIZATION MATTERS
Generative design is now being used for the creation of everything from structural systems and building facades to automobiles and other manufactured products, expanding design options and enabling the creation of exponentially more solutions for design teams. Visualized search capabilities - highly beneficial for out of the box Revit and Rhino content - are critical for workflows with their respective scripting plug-ins, Dynamo and Grasshopper. As these generative design processes increase in complexity and frequency, the need to document and visualize elements becomes critical.
GENERATIVE DESIGN: WHY CONTEXT MATTERS
Any assembly within an AECO project may have a massive number of nested components, ranging in file type and file location. A complex roof geometry, for instance, might be built in Rhino, with the use of a Grasshopper script, and then linked into Revit via Rhino.Inside. The benefit of deploying a content management system like AVAIL is the ability to unite like elements by visualizing and then tagging them for interoperability and discovery. Improving context means improving productivity and reducing unnecessary churn.
Want to learn more about Content Visualization? Check out the links below!