Ken Good, Discover Smart BIM: An Interactive Guide to ArchiCAD

Overview :

The Book Discover Smart BIM- An Interactive Guide to ArchiCAD aims to provide an innovative approach of Interactive Learning while Doing. The book is unique in the world of BIM:Virtual Modeling and provides a live experience of working on 4D platform by running a mock project. The supporting software and files are loaded online and fulfills the definition of Interaction by providing step wise files. The book is targeted towards BIM evaluators, ArchiCAD practitioners in the industry as well as students and researchers in academia.

SWOT Review:

Strength:

The Book:Discover Smart BIM-An Interactive Guide to ArchiCad is a meticulously written book, showing evidence of years of training experience and user interaction than something that has been quickly put together in the course of a few months. It brings together smart interaction of man,machine and guidance to learn or experience BIM in a stepwise interactive environment. The book is well organized with How to Use and ArchiCAD Interface sections at the beginning .The book data is supported by soft data online, both data formats are designed as stepwise in nature and are user friendly. In addition at the end Review Questions and Sample Images are included to enhance the user interest.It carries a focused approach for supporting the Graphisoft Platform.

Weakness:

With respect to its content, there are a few topics that I thought were worth discussing but which I did not find a mention of. There is no summary provided on BIM and why its smart, that is needed to bind a connection with the user and generate enthusiasm. I am surprised that book is all about future technology but does not cover any aspect of Sustainable: BIM and even not printed on green paper or FSC certified paper.

Opportunities:

The potential of the BIM is getting recognized by the AECO Industry.The book provides endless opportunity to evaluators,practitioners and students. BIM or Virtual Building is the future of AECO industry. The book provides an opportunity for AECO industry to do a mock project and then migrate from conventional CAD to BIM. Experience of the book will give the opportunity to the user to explore the fourth dimension and feel freshness of emerging AECO software platform.

Threats:

For overseas members the online downloading of heavy data of 350MB is still a problem area. The Book should have a trial version CD of ArchiCad it saves lots of time to the new user who don't have the Graphisoft platform. The current non green format of the book will not be acceptable to the Green community. Pricing is also very high for the user base in developing countries.

About Author

The book is written by Ken Good, who is a graduate in CAE with a decade of experience in the development and training of ArchiCAD software.This book was endorsed by Graphisoft as there recommended material for implementing BIM- ArchiCAD.

I had used ArchiCAD once in my life prior to opening this book and to me the task of designing the 3D structures seemed impossible. I attempted a few exercises from the book to see if I could get to grips with the software, and the results were pleasantly surprising- I managed to leave a lot more confident than when I went in. The book anticipated my problems when planning and the step-by-step instructions allowed me to trace my way back to the point at which I went wrong.

The books main selling point is the ease with which it can be picked up and used. The index is detailed and allows you to quickly pin point exactly what you need, while the writing style allows for quick understanding; it manages not to be too dense and is relatively easy to follow, even if you've never used ArchiCAD before. The diagrams are well illustrated and labelled so that you're never left wondering what goes where and there are hints and tips throughout the trickier and more detailed sections.