Traditional building design was largely reliant upon two-dimensional drawings (plans, elevations, sections, etc.). Building information modeling or “BIM” extends this beyond 3D, augmenting the three primary spatial dimensions (width, height and depth) with time as the fourth dimension (4D) and cost as the fifth (5D), etc.
BIM therefore covers more than just geometry. It also covers spatial relationships, light analysis, geographic information, and quantities and properties of building components (for example, manufacturers’ details).
The real added value of using BIM is in the supply chain. The interdisciplinary collaboration within a construction project proceeds much more efficiently by integrating BIM models with each other.
For instance, BIM gives tools to detect potential clashes between structural, architectural and MEP systems. This not only enables them to solve the problems but to save a large amount of money. If the clashes are detected well before in time there stays no space for further errors in the model.
Now, when cloud computing meets the BIM, the combination is a force to be reckoned with! BIM enables information from all disciplines to overlap and be compared in 3D and project teams to work together to come up with an integrated solution. It can now go much further than just store the BIM models in the cloud.
However, a number of disadvantages when putting GPU-intensive models in the cloud are still there. Hardware and networking upgrades, more robust computers with more memory, RAM, high end graphics cards and multiple CPUs are required.
WAN devices and bandwidth usage increases due to very large file sizes generated by BIM applications and the volume of information sharing arising from the collaborative nature of BIM projects. Autodesk 360 already gives the possibility for multidiscipline design and construction teams to improve project outcomes by moving computation-intensive tasks to the cloud. This enables more rapid simulation and optimized collaboration with access to intelligent, data-rich models.
But in this situation the end-users still rely on high performance on-premise workstations because they are required for the local design and visualization tasks. The deployment of these workstations for (international) project teams is a time-consuming and costly process and must be coordinated months before the deployment.
That’s where GPU Desktop as a Service (GDaaS) comes in the picture. GDaaS provides the project team members with powerful virtual desktops which are already running in a (private) cloud. For the end-users, there is no difference in look and feel and their CAD/CAE software now runs on the virtual Windows workstation. As a result, these virtual workstations can be used on any device such as tablets, thin-clients, personal laptops, etc.
It is to be expected that this will increase the performance of the whole concept since the cloud-based BIM models can be linked effectively to the GDaaS platform which also resides in the cloud.
As a result, architect-, engineering- and construction firms can reduce costs on different levels by combining cloud-based (integrated) BIMs with high performance virtual workstations. This allows them to easily deploy project infrastructure and gives interdisciplinary project collaborators the possibility to work flexible on any device, at highest possible performance and speed.
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